September 17th, 2007

We are home!!! Our first overnight with Megan went very well. We had to wake her up every 3 hours to eat. She just slept in between all the feedings. Dr. Omar said we will probably continue to do the feedings every 3 hours for at least 6-8 weeks. That way she will get enough calories and keep gaining weight! Right now she is 4 lbs 14.8 oz. We already have our appointments scheduled for next week - pediatrician and eye doctor.

She did great on the car ride home - no problems. She has slept pretty much all day which is what she will do for at least another few weeks. We are keeping her on the same schedule as we had at the hospital. At 7pm, we gave her a short bath since she had one yesterday and changed her clothes. We keep taking her temperature at every diaper change just to make sure she is warm enough.

The home monitor is not that bad - only 2 false alarms today. We opted to use the leads instead of the chest strap. The leads work much better because she is a stomach breather, not a chest breather. The bad things is they won't be sticky for as long as we need them to be. I love having it because it has lights that flash every time she breaths and every time her heart beats. It definitely gives us some peace of mind.

Today was one of the best days of my life. Nothing has felt better than finally walking out of that hospital with my husband and our daughter. The nurses all gave us hugs and made us promise to keep in touch with pictures. They are definitely very special people!!

September 15th, 2007

It's official - our discharge day is Monday!! We are rooming in with Megan at the hospital tomorrow night so we can get used to the home monitor and adjust to being with her without the nurses there.

Today we were running around like crazy people getting the house clean, making last minute purchases and getting ready for Megan - while running back and forth from the hospital :) We did get a new camera so we can take millions of beautiful pictures of Megan and send them to everyone.

Megan will be getting her second car seat test done tonight - I am keeping my fingers crossed! If she doesn't pass, they will just send her home in the car bed. However, I really want her to be in her car seat - we'll see! Dr. Omar saw her yesterday and said she is ready to go. I am so glad he will be her pediatrician since he already knows her so well and was even in the delivery room when she was born!

Panic mode is starting to set in for me. I thought I was all ready and prepared, but suddenly I started to freak out. Up to this point, I have been handling almost all her care during the day, but that was with the nurses telling me what to do. Now I am on my own - SCARY! It is a scary thought that Bob and I are now responsible for this little girl's life!

I don't think we'll hit the 5 lb club before we leave. Last night she was 4 lbs 13.6 oz. However, she did have 3 enormous dirty diapers since she has been holding out on us for a few days. She ate very well all day and I expect to see that number go up tomorrow!

September 15th, 2007

Unfortunately, today is my last day on my parking pass...back to the world of the enormously overcharged drivers. That's okay - it's only for a couple days!

Megan had her first car seat test on Thursday night, but failed. I suspected that she wouldn't pass for two reasons: 1) she is VERY particular about how she wants to be held. If she is kinked in any way, she won't take deep breaths. 2) she had a very long day on Thursday because she just had her feeding tube taken out and was also fitted for her home monitor strap. Of course, the home monitor people had to test it on her and it kept beeping off. I'm sure she didn't like that too much. They just need to wait 24 hours and will try the car seat again. If that doesn't work, they are going to try the car seat they have in the gift shop that is supposedly for smaller babies. If that doesn't work, she will be sent home in an infant car bed and retested next week once she gets a little bigger.

Megan continues to get bigger - now a whopping 4 lbs 14 oz! We are SOOO close to the 5 lb club!! If she doesn't reach it before we leave, I'll make her a sign at home :)

We got her crib pictures taken yesterday. I can't view her picture yet, but it is at www.cherished-memories.com : hospital code: B57, ID# 25903. I am assuming it will be up later today. I don't know if we will buy any because we have taken some that I'm sure at a million times cuter. I may get a small package since it is her first professional picture (sort of) and she won't get out for pictures until next Spring.

Today I am going crazy trying to get everything ready for Megan. I want to get the house very clean between my visits and get all laundry and such done so that Bob and I don't have to fuss with it next week. I also need to get a new rug for Megan's tummy time in the living room and a new lamp since everyone complains about the lighting in my house (Carey!) :) Right now it is 6am and I'm hoping to get most of it done this morning before leaving for the hospital. Bob is trying to wrap up all of his work stuff so that he can spend lots of time with Megan next week.

My radio time was fun yesterday. I had just a few minutes on the air, but the radio people were very nice. They came up to see Megan before the show and looked at all her pictures. Naturally, they commented on how cute she is :)

We still don't know exactly what day Megan is coming home - it all depends on that car seat test. That is the last thing she needs to do. It sounds like we will be staying over either tomorrow night or Monday night. Either way - it is very soon! I am not as nervous as I thought I would be. I am just so ready for her to come home! I know I can take care of her and do everything that needs done. It's just a matter of doing that 24 hours a day :) Our first thing will be to put on our pj's, sit on the couch with Megan, watch TV and just relax.

I think I may have to purchase another memory card for the camera. I have a feeling we will be taking an excessive amount of pictures.

September 13th, 2007

Megan has had an eventful week! The doctors are preparing her for discharge by making sure all her evaluations are done.

She passed her hearing test this week. That was great news for me. I was actually worried that she had problems with her hearing since she can sleep through all the noise in the NICU!

She also had her 3rd eye exam which went great! He said we will follow up in about 2 weeks. Since she will be at home, we will have to give her the eye drops at home and take her into the doctor's office. I'm not thrilled about giving her eye drops, but I watched the nurses do it twice.

The occupations therapist came in to see how Megan is progressing and she is still right on track. However, she didn't get to evaluate her eyes to see if she can focus on a red ball because Megan had just gotten her eye drops. Everything else looks great.

Megan is holding her temperature well and still in the open crib. Over the past week or two, she has been more alert when she is awake and it has been so much fun to play with her! She is nursing so well that the doctor has decreased her supplement from 20 cc down to 10 cc. They give her that supplement through her tube after she nurses to make sure she is getting enough food. She is still steadily gaining weight, so we are pretty sure that she is getting plenty of breastmilk. She is now 4 lbs 12.8 oz!!! She has been getting better and better with bottlefeeding. Monday night she took all 4 bottles, Tuesday night she took 3 of the 4 bottles and I have yet to find out how she did last night. Tuesday night they gave her a break on the one because the nurse thought she was just too tired.

I spoke with Dr. Voora yesterday. Dr. Voora and Dr. Omar did accept Megan as a patient, so Bob and I were so happy about that. It's so nice that her pediatrician already knows her so well! Dr. Voora said that he expects to see the feeding tube come out Friday or Saturday and for her to be discharged early next week - still around Monday or Tuesday. He is very pleased with her progress!

We have the home monitor set up and we are scheduled for training tomorrow afternoon. From they way they describe it, it seems pretty easy to operate. On the plus side, Megan has not had any serious apneas or brady's since going off of caffeine (knock on wood!!). Apnea shouldn't be a serious problem; however, she still may have some. She does do periodic breathing which is what I am concerned with because the monitor won't necessarily pick that up. She will take a cluster of breaths and then pause in breathing for a few seconds, take a cluster of breaths, pause, etc. It usually doesn't affect her stats, but sometimes I can see her change color when doing it. We then have to remind her to breathe by tickling her foot or rubbing her neck. Not exactly what a Mother wants to see!!

I have also been asked to talk on the radio tomorrow during a Children's Miracle Network radio-thon. They will just ask questions about Megan and the equipment that she has used. A lot of the equipment that Megan used during her stay was either donated or partially donated by the Children's Miracle Network. I know Bob and I will be more apt to donate to them or the March of Dimes now! Both of them support premature babies.

I took an autograph mat in to the hospital for all of Megan's nurses to sign - exactly like the one that was at the shower. I thought it would be a great momento for Megan to have when she is older so she can remember all the men and women that saved her life. All the nurses comment on how much they love Megan and how much they will miss her. We will definitely keep in touch with pictures and I already look forward to the NICU picnic next year.

These past couple weeks have gone by so fast, probably because they have been soooo busy!! Many people have been telling us to get prepared because soon our days will be so buys and we won't get any sleep. Bob and I are actually really looking forward to her coming home. No more trips to the hospital 4 times a day, no more going off of someone else's schedule, no more leaving our daughter when we just want to sit by her bedside for hours.... We can't wait for Bob to come home from work and we can all sit in our pj's as a family, hanging out. Even Molly is excited for Meg to come home. She can smell her actual sister instead of just her clothes :)

Well, time to get ready to go see my little girl!!

September 9th, 2007

We are now in an open crib! Megan started her open crib test at 10am today. She needs to maintain her body temp for 24 hours to pass. She has been doing well and about 36.8 the past couple times. She needs to stay above 36.5.

Her feedings are really starting to go well. She breastfeeds like an old pro :) The past 3 nights she has taken both bottles overnight. Tonight will be the first night that they will try all 4 overnight feeds as bottle feeds. We will keep our fingers crossed that she doesn't get too tired.

She is still gaining weight very well - is now at 4 lbs 10 oz! She is creeping up on the 5 lb club. She told me today that she really wants to get a 5 lb club sign before she leaves :)

We got the good news that Dr. Omar expects she will be going home next week - probably Monday or Tuesday!! We knew the discharge date was coming up, but it is another thing to hear it for sure from the doctor! Bob and I are very excited and nervous - the countdown starts!!! We do have everything ready for her, so we are set to go! Bob and I watched the required CPR video today, so we now both know how to do infant CPR. All we have left to do on discharge day is some paperwork and learn what to do with the apnea monitor.

I cannot believe that we are nearing the end of the NICU chapter and starting the "homecoming" chapter. It is amazing that nearly 10 weeks have passed since this all began. Time goes faster and faster now that we spend so much time at the hospital - I'm sure discharge day will be here before we can blink!! :)

September 6th, 2007

Discharge Day is rapidly approaching! We estimate that Megan will be able to come home in 2 weeks.

She is still in the process of thermal weaning. Her bed is now at 27 degrees, so only one degree to go. I can't wait to have her in an open crib! Then I will just worry about all the germs in the air.

We are still working on the feeding process. She is breast feeding very well and we have no problem with that (as long as she is awake :) ) She is still having a little struggle with bottle feeding. On Monday, they started her on breast / bottle every feed and gavage tube if needed. If she breast feeds well, they give her 20 cc as a supplement to make sure she is getting enough food. The nurses give her the bottle overnight and she still relies heavily on the tube. Yesterday, the doctors changed it so the nurses only give her a bottle every other feed over night, so she get's 2 bottles and 2 tube feedings overnight. We are hoping that will give her the rest she needs to improve her bottle feeding. Last night she did a little better and took one entire bottle and half of the second. Bottle feeding is a lot of work for her and she gets so tired.

We had her baby shower this past weekend and it was a blast! It was surreal to me to actually be at my own baby shower and not someone else's. I have been waiting to attend my own shower for years! The day after I went on a huge baby shopping trip with my sister (Oh, dear sweet Karen) and it was the most fun I have ever had in my life! Bob and I have had a blast putting everything away and assembling all of her toys and goodies :) We are just amazed at all the cool stuff there is for babies!

I know go to the hospital at about 9am until 8pm, coming home for lunch and dinner. I have started taking my pump in the afternoon so I don't have to take that extra trip home and back. That way I can have a little relax time where I grab a cup of decaf and read my book at the hospital. I have really gotten to know all the nurses well and will miss them when we leave. I will be excited to keep in touch with them and send them pictures of Megan as she gets bigger.

Speaking of bigger, Megan is now at 4 lbs 6.4 oz. She is getting so big!! I am pretty sure she will be at least 5 lbs when she comes home. She has been off the caffeine for over a week and has not had any apneas or bradys. She has had a few almost apneas when she was bottle feeding, but that is expected. She sleeps pretty much all day, but looks adorable!!

We have started giving her bath which has been interesting. She is quite the wiggle worm, so it is difficult to bathe her. It's so fun, though, because she is wide awake after her bath and very alert. That's my favorite time to see her because I feel like she is looking right at us. Plus I get to dress her in a different adorable outfit each day :)

Because she is now 2 months old, she will be getting her immunizations this week. They are just waiting for her to be at least 2000 grams. She is only 5 grams away! Most new mothers dread those first shots, but Meg is an old pro at shots and pricks :) She is such a strong little girl!! Bob and I just beam with pride when the nurses tell us how exceptional she is, even though we already knew that. :)

Well, off to the hospital!!

August 30th, 2007

Well, we have had a busy few days!

Megan's nursing / bottlefeeding is going so much better! We have been nursing for the 10am feeding and the 4pm feeding. The nurses then give her the bottle overnight. She has been doing great with her bottlefeedings and taking the entire bottle (32 cc). Yesterday and today she nursed for 25 minutes each time! The nurse said she is advanced in her nursing! Bob and I go back when he gets home from work for her bath and so Bob can hold her. The nurse said that she holds her numbers very well when he holds her, so she must be a Daddy's girl :)

She just made it to the 4 lb club today at 4 lbs, 1.2 oz!!! She is getting so big! They have started thermal weaning. They dress her in additional clothes and start turning the temp in the bed down. She only has 1.5 degrees to go :) After that, she will be in an open crib.

Tomorrow we are going to start bottle or breastfeeding every other feeding. She is getting so close to coming home! She will definitely be coming home on a monitor. That will just strap around her chest and monitor her breathing and heartrate. She will wear it all the time and it will alarm if she has an apnea.

I have some new pictures that I'm trying to post, but having trouble. I'll try to post them tomorrow.

August 27th, 2007

Well, bottle feeding is still an up-hill battle. Yesterday, she didn't nurse well in the morning. She nursed for about one minute and then had no interest. I just put her back in the isolette and gave her a break. When I later looked at her chart, I saw that right after that session, she had a poopy diaper.

Last night, she did 15 cc of her bottle which was pretty good. After that, she seemed pretty tired. She still didn't need any oxygen and was holding her own.

This morning I did a bottle with her and she only had 3cc of the bottle. Seconds into the feeding I recognized that dreaded poop face. Of course, right after our feeding attempt, we checked her diaper -- poopy. Megan has a great ability to hold her poops until I'm trying to feed her. Then, she lets it loose and is too tired for bottle feeding. Right now, it takes her so much of her energy for fairly simple tasks such as feeding, bathing and, yes, pooping. The nurses reassure me that feeding will get so much easier after the next couple of weeks and she is still young. Then I wonder, well, if she is still young for feeding, why am I trying to shove a bottle in her mouth? Aye.

They are also starting to turn down the temperature in her bed. She is down to 30 degrees and holding her temp which is great. They are turning down her bed very gradually. At least we can do her bath outside of her isolette now, which I still have yet to do.

With the feeding, I can't kangaroo with her anymore. She needs to go back in the isolette shortly afterwards to conserve her energy. I really miss that time we spent together and now I feel like I'm not there enough. I may just start taking a book and sitting with her for most of the day.

She is now up to 3 lbs, 13 oz. I can't believe how big she is getting! I don't know what I'll do when she gets over 4 lbs - that seems so big to me!

August 25th, 2007

First - Happy 20th Birthday, Rob!

Bottle feeding when MUCH better today. The nurse showed me a different way to hold Megan for feeding. I lay her on my lap, perpendicular to me, supporting her head and neck in my left hand and feeding with my right. That seemed to help a lot! Megan took her entire feeding by bottle - 30 ccs! We took it slow and gave her breaks in between, but she eventually got it all down! She didn't even need any help from the oxygen. After eating, she slept on her Daddy for a while and it was adorable!

The doctor wants me to start doing two feedings - one nursing and one by bottle. Yesterday, I decided to just do the bottle feeding since she ate so much. I didn't want her to be overwhelmed. Tomorrow we will do both. The nurse said it helps to put her back in her isolette shortly after the feedings if I'm going to do both in one day so that she has some resting time. We don't want her to be overstimulated.

I did overhear the nurse giving someone discharge instructions. They are very thorough and encourage any questions. We will probably be asking questions for hours :) She was saying that RSV season is the biggest risk for preemies when they are young which lasts from about October to May. During that time, they recommend that we don't go out in public with Megan. She can go outside in her stroller for a walk if it's not too cold, we just need to avoid busy places full of germs like malls, restaurants, etc. She will probably qualify for an injection that doesn't prevent RSV, but will give her a boost in case she gets it to help her fight it. Either way, if she would get RSV, she would be back in the hospital. I guess the worrying doesn't stop once she comes home!

They did move Megan's isolette again. She is now in the "annex" which is across the hall from the NICU. They have so many small babies in the NICU right now, that a few of the stable babies are in the annex. She now weighs 3 lbs 12.4 oz, so she is gaining quickly! I can't believe how fast she will be up to 4 lbs! When holding her, Bob and I can definitely tell she is getting bigger and heavier :) That is what we want!

This week I am sure we will continue to work on her feedings. Once she is settled with feeding, we will start to turn down the temperature in her isolette and she will soon be home! Bob and I put her swing together and it really started to sink in that she will be coming home. We are soooo excited!! (and extremely nervous) We are just hoping that they give us plenty of notice when she is coming home. I have been in the room when they surprise couples and tell them they can take their baby home. Bob and I would need time to mentally prepare ourselved since we are both "planners". I guess it doesn't matter because our plan is already a little off since Miss Megan decided to come 15 weeks early!

August 24th, 2007

Well, bottle feeding is turning out to be a lot tougher than I anticipated. Swallowing is another great wonder you can add to the list that full term babies can do at birth.

This morning we started with nursing. I had to use a nursing shield to help Megan to latch on. She did pretty well and had about 7 good minutes of sucking. She did need a little oxygen help afterwards. The nurse just sits with me with a little tube that is hooked up to oxygen. She can then just put the tube up by Megan's nose to give her a little boost of oxygen.

This evening we went back to do the bottle feed. That has been a tough road. She started off pretty good. We would give her about 4 good sucks before pulling the bottle away and giving her a break. After the 3rd time, she needed some oxygen help and started to turn blue. I sat her up to make sure she wasn't choking. She had a burp and that just made everything worse. The nurse said that the burp probably just gave her a little reflux. Her stats went pretty low and she wasn't breathing very well. It was very scary and makes me very hesitant to try bottle feeding again. The nurse said that we have to start somewhere and she is just learning. It is just so difficult to see her go through that.

She was so tired after that and fell right asleep on my chest. We are really hoping that it goes a little better tomorrow.

August 23rd, 2007

Here is a picture I took of Megan today. However, she wasn't cooperating with the camera and I had to take 5 pictures before I got one where she was staying relatively still!

She did well with the bottle today and took 3 cc. She was concentrating on creating a dirty diaper at the same time, she she wasn't too interested in eating! I'm looking forward to our feeding tomorrow. I just want to see her get better and better!

A therapist met with Megan today to check her motor skills / development. She said that Meg is right on track and doing great. She is going to watch her suck / swallow functions while we progress with feedings to see how she is doing.

She is up to 3 lbs 10 oz which is AWESOME! She is now growing so fast! I think we will soon be members of the 4 lb club :)

August 22nd, 2007

Megan took her first bottle today! She ate about 8 cc of her 30 cc feeding which was great! We got her all swaddled in a blanket and the nurse put her in my arms. I put the bottle in her mouth and she went to town! She at the first little bit and then took a break for a few seconds. We then gave her some more. Once we could see that she was working hard to breathe and eat at the same time, we figured that was enough for her first time. Her stats stayed great while she was eating which is a great sign!! She then just takes the rest of her feeding through the tube so she doesn't get stressed out.

I am getting used to changing her diaper. While I do that, she just looks up at me and looks around, checking things out. I feel as if she can recognize my voice and Bob's voice which is an awesome feeling!

Dr. Omar came back today from a 3 week vacation in Egypt (where he is from). He was pleased to see how far Megan has come since he left! He was especially happy to see her breathing on her own and getting so big! She is now 3 lbs 8.6 oz - 3 1/2 pounds!! That seems so big to me :)

Lately, when I get home, I let our dog, Molly, smell my shirt. I want her to get used to Megan's smell. The other day, the neighbor's 4 year old and 1 year old were outside when Molly and I went out. They came over with their parents to pet Molly. She was so good and calmed down as soon as the kids went to pet her. She just sat and let them pet her - it was so cute! I'm sure she will be a great companion for Megan!

August 21st, 2007

I had a surprise when I went in to see Megan - she was off the nasal cannula and breathing on her own! It was great and scary at the same time. I was a little worried if she would be okay, but she did great while I was there.

She also had on one of her larger preemie outfits - up to 5 lbs. She had on a onesie and pants. They were so big on her! :) She still looked adorable, though! She also had these adorable socks on. The nurse had to stuff one of her socks with tissue to keep it on her foot.

We were discussing the possibility of Megan coming home on an apnea monitor. They think it is probable since she was born so young. It would just be a easy to use monitor that she would wear when sleeping. It would beep when she is having an apnea or pause in breathing. The doctor would want to monitor how many she had and for how long. Knock on wood, she hasn't had one since the 11th. If she continues until this weekend without one, they can stop the caffeine.

When nuzzling today, she did great and actually got some breastmilk! I was afraid that she would choke, but she didn't have a problem. We will keep working on it every day.

I got a bunch of scrapbook stuff last night and I'm all ready to get started. The scrapbook club is meeting tomorrow night, so I am pumped to get started. I did find at least one picture of me when I was pregnant...I didn't have time to take too many!! :)

August 19th, 2007

We are in the process of weaning Megan off the nasal cannula. They had her down to 3/4 liters, so not much to go! She seems to be doing well with it, so I'm hopeful that she will be breathing on her own by the end of this week!

Now that she is over 1500 grams, they have started "thermal" weaning. In a few days they will start turning down the temperature in her bed. I am still waiting for that first bottle feed...shouldn't be long!

I changed two diapers today. The first one went well and the second one she decided to pee on me:) The nurse had me just put her on a pillow on my lap to change her. She decided to pee on the blanket and my hand. Ha! I held her for about 2 hours and she did great!

Her isolette has moved. She is no longer right by the door, but is now in the back room behind where she used to be.

Well, I guess there isn't too much to report - she is doing great!

August 18th, 2007

Today was a busy day!

Bob and I went in this morning to see Megan. Bob changed his first diaper :) He said that he was a little nervous at first because she is still small, but quickly felt comfortable. He did a great job! Bob then held Megan for about 2 hours! She did great the entire time and slept comfortably on her Daddy!

We went back at night so we could observe the nurse giving her a bath. We would like to start doing that as well. After watching the nurse give her a bath, we decided that we need to observe at least one more time :) She still needs to stay in the isolette for her sponge bath, so it's tought to do! The nurse said that in about a week or so she should be able to get her bath outside the isolette.

Megan was so adorable when her bath was all done. She was all clean and in a new outfit. She was wide awake and looking around. It was funny to see her hair sticking up all over the place.

She did gain some weight and is about 3 lbs 5.5 oz! She just keeps growing :) Some of that weight gain is due to some fluid retention. She went off the diuretic about a week ago or so. Now her kidneys are working on catching up to get rid of that extra fluid. Her pooping is going great and hasn't needed a suppository in about a week which is awesome!

She is slowly being weaned off the nasal cannula and then she will do all her breathing on her own!

Breastmilk bottles update - our chest freezer is now about full. We have 700 bottles in stock!!

August 17th, 2007

I went in a little earlier for my visit so I could change her diaper twice. Yesterday she let me know that I needed more practice by peeing the bed! :) She did great nuzzling this morning! However, she did pull out her feeding tube during her feeding. No big deal, the nurse just put a new one in.

The nurse estimated she probably has about one month until she can come home :) That's about what we calculated. She is going to be a busy girl over the next month. She has to breath on her own, breastfeed and maintain her body temperature.

Tomorrow night I am planning on going in later in the evening so I can do her bath :) It is nice that we can learn all this stuff and practice before she comes home. The nurse did say that she will most likely still be under 5 lbs when she comes home. Bob and I tried to find a bubble we could put our baby in for the first year, but they don't seem to sell any! :)

All the nurses comment on how big Megan is getting and how cute she is. Look at our little snuggle bunny!

August 16th, 2007

I guess every day I will experience a "first" for a while. Today I was changing Megan's diaper (poopy diaper, I must add). I had her old diaper off and was going to grab a new diaper. Before I could, she peed! She peed all over her outfit and bed! Ha! That will teach me to get that new diaper on ASAP!! :)

She is up to 3 lbs 3.5 oz! She was doing great today and looked so cute in a little pink outfit. I did a load of her laundry last night and took in some outfits for her to wear. She was just hanging out and resting pretty comfortably.

Not much else to report - just watching our feeder-grower :)

August 15th, 2007



Two special birthdays to celebrate today...Megan is 6 weeks old and her Aunt Karen is 22 years old!! Happy Birthday!


Megan hit another milestone today and is now in the 3 lb club! She was 3 lbs 1.7 oz last night! Of course, that was before she had two large poops (on her own - no suppository!)


She is also starting to wear clothes. They had a cute shirt on her today. I did my first load of baby clothes and washed a few outfits for Megan and also the preemie outfits from Grandma Klinger. I'm going to take those in for Meggers. Right now she has to wear clothes that button in the front to make it easy to take off and put on.


We had a great day today. I changed another diaper on my own with Dad taking her temperature. They are currently weaning her off the nasal cannula so she can just breath on her own. Then she will start bottle feeding and nursing. They will also gradually decrease the temperature in her bed so she can learn to keep herself warm. Right now her bed is at 31 degrees and it will need to get to 26 degrees before she can try the "open crib" test. She has to be able to maintain her body temperature in a regular nursery crib for 24 hours before going home.


In case you are wondering, her face is wrinkly in the picture because they us special tape to keep the nasal cannula and feeding tube in place. They take it off very gently and it doesn't hurt her at all - nothing like if we would put clear mailing tape on our face!

August 14th, 2007

I had another great day with Megan today!

The doctors did not make many changes. She is no longer receiving potassium and is down to 2 doses of sodium a day instead of 4. She is up to 2 lbs 14 oz and 37 cm long.

I changed her diaper today. It was easy - just a #1. I was holding her and the nurse had me lay her on a pillow on my lap. She was wide awake and looking at me while I removed the dirty diaper, wiped her butt (something I understand is my duty to remind her of later in life) and put on a new diaper. I think we did pretty well considering I was very nervous to change the diaper of a 3 lb baby! She's a lot stronger than she looks! I also took her temp. I then played with her for a short time before putting her back on my chest to sleep.

I held her for about 3 hours today. We discovered that they did not change her gestational age, but just accidentally skipped a week. So, she is actually 31 weeks tomorrow. (On Mommy count, she is 32 weeks Saturday :) ) Our bottle feeding won't happen until at least next week. However, she is doing great with nuzzling and actually got some milk in her mouth. Of course, I then leaked all over her arm...I am obviously new at this whole nursing thing.

There are many new babies in the NICU. I think Megan still has seniority, though. I am hoping that by the time my monthly parking pass expires, Meggers will be coming home! I am REALLY looking forward to the three of us having a chance to bond outside of the NICU. Bob and I are even just excited to have her with us in the nest-in room before we leave the hospital, just the 3 of us :) That is when it will really sink in that this is our little girl!

August 13th, 2007

No more CPAP for Megan! She has been doing great on her O2 saturation, so she is only on the nasal cannula. Basically now, she doesn't get any extra ventilator help, just some air to help keep her lungs open.

She got her first eye exam today. While I was holding her, the nurse gave her eye drops (which she didn't like at all ). She then slept with me for about an hour before the eye doctor came. They are looking for ROP or Retinopathy of Prematurity. He said her eyes look good. Her right eye looked clear and the left had only minimum stage 1 ROP which does not require treatment. He will follow up in 2 weeks, but so far so good! Mild cases such as stage 1 or stage 2 typically clear up without treatment.

I did also convince Bob to let me put up a pic of him with Megan...

August 12th, 2007

Megan is no longer the only girl...she now has a partner in crime. I don't know her name, yet, but I heard the nurses referring to another girl. I did have another nurse tell me that Megan has "quite the temper" and that I should have fun when she comes home. Hmmm...

Megan is up to 2 lbs 13 oz! I could tell she was a little bigger when I held her today :) We hung out for about 1 1/2 hours and she did great! She rested comfortably on top of my newly acquired sunburn. ( I just wanted to make sure she kept warm...right.)

They did make a few changes today. They have stopped the diuretic. Both the steriods and the diuretic had been making it easier for Megan to breathe, so we'll see how she does. Her last dose for both was yesterday and she is still doing well. She is still on room air (21%) and keeping her O2 saturation stable. If she continues to keep her saturation stable over the next 48 hours, she will no longer go on the CPAP. Instead, she will only be on a nasal cannula. From what I understand, the CPAP delivers pressure to her lungs and gives her more assistance where the nasal cannula just delivers a stream of air to her lungs. Being done with the CPAP would be a step in the right direction!

Because they are stopping the diuretic, she will no longer need extra potassium, so that is being stopped as well.

She is doing great, we are now just waiting for her to grow. This week, she will start bottle feeding and we will work more towards nursing. The one thing she is having some trouble with is having regular stools without a suppository. That is one thing she will have to do before being discharged. The nurse said that constipation is very common among preemies as their digestive system matures. Bob and I are hoping that getting rid of some of these medications may help.

Today, Megan visited with Grandma and Grandpa Foster. Grandpa Foster had not seen Megan for a few weeks and was shocked at how big she was (relatively speaking, of course :) )

Everyday, I feel more and more like a Mom. I still feel pangs of jealousy when I see parents with their babies. I just want to scream out that I am a Mom and I have a beautiful little girl. My pregnant belly should have been immediately replaced with a stroller to show off my baby. I compensate by telling as many people as possible about Megan - cashiers, other shoppers, mailman, etc. I also thoroughly enjoy shopping for her at Babies R Us. It was so satisfying to grab a pack of sleep and plays on clearance because I know my daughter will need them eventually and not for someone else's baby shower.

August 11th, 2007

Bob and I had a great visit with Megan today!

First, Megan and I tried nuzzling again and she did very well! She even did a little non-nutritive sucking which is great! I look forward to nursing with her and think she will do very well.

I then held her for about 1 1/2 hours. She was so peaceful the entire time and slept comfortably. Then, Bob held her for a while. He said he was much less nervous this time. She fussed while we switched from me to Bob. Bob then calmed her down until she fell asleep on him. It was a priceless moment!

They have increased her feedings just a little to 25 cc every 3 hours. They are decreasing the time it takes her to eat from one hour to 45 minutes. They will decrease that gradually because she is still learning to eat / digest while breathing.

There have been a few new babies coming into the NICU, but we found out today that Megan is the only girl! Bob will go around the NICU and have a talk with all these boys... With her being the only girl, the nurses come over frequently and comment on how cute she is :)

We purchased her crib and dresser last night. They look great! However, the dresser does have a little damage on it, so they ordered us a replacement. We should be able to pick it up in a few days.

August 10th, 2007

Well, it's about that time to purchase a monthly parking pass for the hospital!

Megan and I spent about 3 hours together today. She slept very well despite all the commotion in the NICU today. Today was the first day that she could nuzzle to prepare for breastfeeding. We are trying to stimulate her sucking reflex but putting her into position for nursing. Although, today she didn't do much of anything and probably just wondered what the heck I was trying to do to her :)

She really is doing well and I hope it is not a big "steriods curtain". Tomorrow is her last dose of steriods and I just hope she can keep up her excellent breathing on her own.

I spotted her old giraffe bed in the NICU which means there must be a little baby in there. I wish all the best to those parents and hope things will go well. I would certainly love to support any other NICU parents, especially for micro-preemies. I now know how it feels when your preemie is first born!

This weekend I am hoping to get started on Megan's scrapbook. There is so much to scrap already!!

August 9th, 2007

Today I got to hold Megan for 4 hours! The nurse was so nice and he made me a chicken salad sandwich and cut it into quarters so I could eat lunch while holding her. He also put some juice in a cup with a straw :) She did so well that entire time and just snoozed with me. About 2 hours into it, he had to change her diaper, take her vitals, etc. She got so mad and was crying. She also lifted her head up off my chest and moved it around to the other side. She is so strong!

He said she was having a great day. Even when she did push her nasal piece out, her numbers were still great. Dr. Farrag also thought she was doing very well and gaining weight! Today she was 2 lbs 11.5 oz - a small gain on yesterday's weight. They haven't really changed any of her medications. She will have the steriods for two more days. Then we'll see how that affects her breathing.

Bob and I went back after dinner so that Bob could visit with her. The nurse had just gotten finished bathing her. She smelled soo good and was all clean :) We got to see her pretty face before the nurse put her nasal piece back on. About 4 nurses were standing around Megan when we came in to see how cute she is :) She also had a HUGE poo! Yay Megan!

Today we got new blinds for her nursery. I also got her froggy tales curtains and light switch to put in her room. It looks awesome!

August 8th, 2007

Guess who is 5 weeks old... :)

She is doing great on her nasal cannula. The nurse said this morning that the nasal piece is everywhere expect where it is supposed to be. As soon as they put the piece in her nose, she takes it out.

Her weight last night was 2 lbs 11.2 oz. I remember the nurses telling the parents of the baby next to Megan a few weeks ago that he was 2 lbs 11 oz and that sounded so big to me! I can't believe that now she is that big :)

They are doing a culture to check the bacteria this afternoon. If that culture comes back negative, they are going to stop the antibiotic. We'll see how that goes!

It is true that having a baby in the NICU is a waiting game. Unfortunately, I am not the type of person that likes to wait! We are done painting Megan's room and are planning on buying her furniture. I have this nagging spot in my brain of cautious thoughts that are wondering if I should wait to buy her furniture. I am 95% sure that Megan will come home, but there is still that 5% that worries. I think part of it is because of the two losses we have experienced. I am afraid of having a nursery without a baby. However, the postive thoughts are winning!

My visit went great with Megan! I took in the preemie clothes that Grandma and Grandpa Klinger got for Megan and the nurses loved them! The clothes are made for babies up to 3 lbs, so Meggers may grow out of them soon! I left them in her "dresser" at the NICU.

Her culture came back negative for bacteria, so she is done with the antibiotics. However, since they didn't do a full 7-10 days, that antibiotic would still be effective against that particular bacteria. Now she doesn't have that IV in her arm anymore!

Great news...Bob is going to hold Megan tonight. They said that now we can do kangaroo care every day! She is now off the vent and holding her temp well, so Dad is going to hold her. I know he is pretty nervous, but he will relax as soon as she is in his arms. I remember being surprised how sturdy and strong she felt for being so small! I will take my camera, but so far Bob is insisting on no "public" pictures. You know how men are.... :) I just got him some button down shirts, so he is all set! Also, everyone think encouraging thoughts for Bob because he is quitting smoking today. He knows how much this would mean not only for himself, but also for his little girl. It will be a tough road for him, but I know he can do it! I hope he knows how proud I am of him, even for just taking the first step!!!

All in all, Megan is doing great! I spoke with Dr. Farrag and he said she is doing very well. They did adjust her gestational age to 26 weeks at birth. So, today she is 31 weeks!

August 7th, 2007



Megan is getting quite the reputation in the NICU. Every nurse tells us that she is a wild woman, pistol and a little firecracker. Her nurse overnight said she heard a *ping* against the isolette. Here, Megan had pulled her nasal piece out and threw it against the side of the isolette. Hmmm, she must not like it too much!



She is doing great with her breathing. A lot of that is from the steroids, but Megan is working as well. They will stop the steriods on Sunday, so we'll she how she does after that. For right now, she is breathing room air and not using any oxygen. She is doing great!



We talked to Dr. Farrag more about her bacteria. It is leftover from the infection she had before, but is now resistant to the antibiotic that they had used orignally. Now they are fighting it with two different anitbiotics. However, they are going to stop the antibiotics after 2 more days. The dr. explained that will kill most of the bacteria, but will not make the remaining bacteria immune to the antibiotic. Now that her vent tube is out, the bacteria won't have somewhere to thrive anymore. I still don't quite understand how it works, but he is optimistic. He said it is a great sign that she is clinically healthy and is not currently affected by the bacteria.



We got to hear her cry for the first time today :) It is still pretty raspy, but cute! She also sneeezes quite a bit since that piece is in her nose.



I got to hold her again today. She was crying when we first got there and then fell asleep as soon as I held her. I loved it :) She was holding Daddy's hand while I held her and holding my shirt. Her stats were great while I was holding her which means she liked it! She then cried as soon as they went to put her back in her bed :)



At first, I was very scared when they described her bacteria, but I feel much better after Dr. Farrag's explanation today. I just need a nurse or doctor to tell me that my baby is going to be okay!



Well, I will close with this goofy (but cute) picture of Miss Megan - apparatus free! We are putting the last coat of paint in Megan's room tonight :)

August 6th, 2007

Megan is going to be famous! Dr. Farrag, the physican filling in for Dr. Omar, would like to take a picture of Megan with her neo bar for his hospital. The neo bar is the white plastic bar across her mouth that holds her tubes in place. Dr. Farrag's hospital does not use them and he would like to get his hospital to order them. He wants to take a picture of Meggers to show one in use. 4 1/2 weeks old and a star already!

She is back up to 2 lbs 10 oz. Her breathing is showing definite improvements. She started the day at 25% oxygen when she usually starts off at 30-32%. Great! She is keeping her saturation stable which is also good news.

Her feedings are going well (now that Mom stopped eating chocolate!). In less than 2 weeks she will start taking one feeding a day from the bottle. That will be so exciting! She is expected to be off the ventilator today or tomorrow - then we can see her cute face!

Well, guess who is now off the ventilator.... :) The nurse took Megan off the vent at 10am and put her on a CPAP which is a piece that goes in her nose. We got to see her face and we heard her sneeze! The nurse said that now she can cry. She has been crying a bit, but her voice will be raspy / hoarse for a little bit from the vent tube.

They did do a culture before starting the steroids and she does still have some bacteria leftover from her infection. Dr. Farrag said they normally wouldn't treat it until after the steroids, but it is a bad strain that is resistant to many antibiotics and there is a lot of it. So, he started her on two antibiotics to treat it aggresively. With her being on steriods, it is harder for her to fight infections, so he is going to attack this bacteria before it affects her. Right now, she is still acting very healthy, so I'm glad we caught this early! He said that today was her best check up and her lungs sounded great.

She also got a small blood transfusion this morning. Bob's blood was about to expire and they decided to give her a little since they had the IV in for the antibiotics.

She looked great at our visit! She is even doing better than they expected on the CPAP, so we hope that she keeps u the good work!

August 5th, 2007

Last night Megan had some more gas problems. The good news is that she was fine by this morning. The bad news is that they suspect it may have been something in my breastmilk. I can no longer eat chocolate :( I also have to avoid beans, cauliflower, broccoli and spicy foods. It's very difficult to know what I can and can not eat since I am not feeding her. Even if the nurse would tell me what day breastmilk she is eating, I still don't know what I ate that day.

She gained 21 grams and is back to 2 lbs 9.3 oz. Dr. Farrag saw Megan this morning. He said she looked great! He was talking to Megan and told her that he wants her off the ventilator in 2 days :) Let's hope that she listened! I talked to the nurse while we were visiting Megan. She said that we can see tomorrow if the quality of her breaths has improved. Fortunately, they can still provide oxygen through the nasal cannula. That way, if she needs extra oxygen throughout this process, they can turn it up.

She looked great on our visit! Her color is fantastic and she was resting peacefully on her tummy. She has really filled out and even has chubby cheeks! Her progress has been great - we just need to get her off the ventilator!

Today we bought the paint for Megan's room! Bob is now taping off the room so that we can start painting tomorrow night. We are hoping to have it done by the end of the week! Her room will be pale yellow and the color is called "cuddle". I think it's perfect :)

August 4th, 2007

Happy one month birthday Megan and Happy 27th Birthday Mommy! :)

Megan had a good night. Her feedings have been going well and she was at 24% oxygen this morning. They also increased her dose of caffeine yesterday because she has gotten bigger. She basically grew out of the previous dosage.

The doctor called this morning. Dr. Omar, her regular doctor, is on vacation for 3 weeks and Dr. Farag is filling in for him. They are both fantastic neonatalogists from Egypt and have been great to Megan!

He went over the changes with me from yesterday. He spoke with the nurses today and they feel that Megan is still only taking very shallow breaths. In order to wean her off the ventilator, they are going to start her on a hopefully brief treatment of steriods. The steriods will help to reduce inflammation in her lungs and speed up the process of getting rid of the ventilator. The Dr. said we should see some results from today's treatment in about 36-48 hours.

There are risks involved with steriods. It will typically cause an increase in her blood sugar and blood pressure. It will also dampen her immune system which puts her at higher risk for infection (the part I really don't like!!). Obviously, the doctors and nurses will be monitoring her very closely to watch for these risks. We really had to weigh the benefits and the risks of steroids and feel it's the best thing for her right now. They will keep the doses small and the treatment brief to lessen the risks.

He did say that she was doing well. They just like to see babies come off the vent after about a month and she just needs an extra boost. They want to at least get her on a CPAP within a few days to lesser her risk for lung damage from the vent.

After all this, it is amazing to me that full term babies come out able to breath!

August 3rd, 2007

Megan had an okay night last night. She gave Mommy a few more gray hairs by raising her temperature last night to 37.7.

The nurses did say that it was probably caused by her isolette which was turned up the day before. She had the humidity turned off in her isolette. Sometimes the humidity can cool the baby down, even though it is supposed to be heated.

When I checked this morning, her temp was back to normal and all was well. Her feedings are still going well. She is at 15 cc every 2 hours which is 180 cc a day! She kept her oxygen saturation pretty stable overnight and was only set at 23% oxygen which is grrreat!

Bob and I are heading to the hospital, so I will report back if the dr. has made any changes!

They have made quite a few changes for Megan.

Her feedings have been changed from every 2 hours to 23cc every 3 hours. They have it set up to give her one hour to eat. They would like to eventually get that down to 30 minutes for her to eat.

Because she is on a diuretic to get rid of fluids, that sometimes will decrease the potassium and sodium levels. They are now giving her sodium and potassium supplements in the breastmilk as a precaution.

On our visit with Megan, she was sucking her thumb the entire time - it was the cutest thing in the world! She is up to 2 lbs 10 oz.

August 2nd, 2007

Megan had a great night last night! She is up to 2 lbs 9.3 oz!

Today she got to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Klinger. Because I have to pump now, I would like to introduce a guest author for the first post - Grandma Klinger.

**Clap Clap**

Susie says that I had better type this blog because some fans are getting pretty impatient to see today's news.

Megan looks very good today. It's hard to believe how much she has changed in one month's time. Her color is great and it is obvious that she has really grown. She was kicking and stretching this morning and looked so comfy in her bed. The nurses made tiny little body pillows for her that she can hold. She was hugging one for quite a while until she pushed it out of the way. She is wearing a much bigger diaper (preemie size) now and it goes up to her shoulders in the back. While we were visiting this morning, she opened her eyes and looked right at her mommy. One of the tubes was laying right on her face so Susie reached in and moved it for her. She rubbed Megan's head lightly which seemed soothing to Megan. Susie showed us Megan's awards posted on her isolette. She has an award for being 2 lbs and another one for being one month old. It is so cute how the NICU gives Megan and her family colorful benchmarks so everyone can see her progress. I think Megan will be just like her mommy, getting awards right and left.

We were excited today to bring a donation of three whole bags of preemie hats, made lovingly by a group from the Christ Lutheran Church in Elizabethtown, PA. and given to Grandpa Klinger from Pam at work. The NICU at St. Vincent's was thrilled to receive the hats and said that the many sizes included would fit all sizes of babies at the St. Vincent's NICU. Megan's friends will all love to have a new comfy hat.

I'm sure Susie will add more to the blog later. We are still on a mission to find some button down shirts that Susie can wear when she holds Megan.

Susie, signing in.

I now have two button down shirts for kangaroo care! I'm sure Megan will think I'm pretty stylish.

As Mom said, the visit went great. Megan is now on a diuretic that will help drain some fluids to help her get off the vent. She is right where she should be for her age and we are hoping everything will just get better!

August 1st, 2007

Well, not only is it the start of the best month of the year, but it is also Megan's 4 week birthday!! Today she is getting a little toy that hangs off the car seat / stroller :)

Good check in today - she is taking her feedings well and just hanging out. She is pretty stable on her oxygen, depending on if they are doing anything with her.

I am going to head in early today to see if I can catch the doctor. I am still waiting to hear about the head scan. However, I'm sure they would have called last night if there was anything we should be concerned about.


I'll have my hands full today because my other girl, Molly, is sick today. I think she ate one too many rocks while we were outside yesterday. Why dogs believe they have indestructible stomachs is beyond me!





I just got back from visiting Megan. I spoke with Dr. Voora. He is happy with Megan's progress! They have decreased her ventilator settings and increased the calories on her feeds.

Her head scan came back negative for any bleeding or hemmoraging. The cyst she had originally has significantly decreased and will soon be gone. Whew!

He said that if she would pull her tube out again, try to just use the nasal CPAP. Of course, that worries me that she may not be ready yet, but we'll see. The best news is that I am going to hold her again today! I am going over at 2:30p and hold her as long as she tolerates it. They would like me to hold her or do Kangaroo Care two times a week for now. That is awesome! It is the most incredible feeling to finally hold my little girl!!

July 31st, 2007

It was an uneventful check in call this morning - the kind I like!

Megan had a good night. She had some residual from her feeding this morning, but she was fine after the nurse put her on her tummy. She does go up and down a bit still with her saturation numbers. They would like to see that stabalize some more before taking her off the vent.

All else is going well. She is still on caffeine and sodium. They have not had to add fortifiers to her breastmilk, yet. They will as soon as she needs that extra boost to gain weight.

Every Tuesday, a team of doctors and specialists go around to all the babies in the NICU. We'll see if they have made any changes for Meggers!

Our visit went okay today. We got there the same time she was having her follow up head scan. First they had a student do the head scan and then it had to be redone / checked by another technician. Megan was not happy at all about it and was pretty agitated. She started to calm down a bit just as we were leaving.

She is still having a few apneas / brady's per day. The nurse said it is very normal for her age, but we still don't like to see them. I read that preemies tend to grow out of the "a's and b's" anywhere from 32-36 weeks. We asked if her feedings were going to be increased since she has been at 14 cc every 2 hours for the past couple days, but the nurse said she is at a full feeding for her age.

Her current weight is 2 lbs 8.7 oz - big girl! She is nearly a pound heavier than her lowest weight which was 1 lb 10 oz.

July 30th, 2007

Megan does have a crazy sister, Molly, that she has to deal with. For those of you fortunate folks that are not familiar with Molly, that is our 9 month old black lab. As I am writing my blog this morning, she is ripping all of the stuffing out of her bed and trying to bury it in my living room. Megan is a little familiar with Molly. I'm sure she heard Molly barking while she was in Mommy's belly. In fact, we joke that is why she came out early kicking and punching...she was ready to fight the dog!

Megan had a good night. Her oxygen level is about 25 which is great and we'll see if Dr. Omar will decrease her settings even more. The nurse said that she hadn't worked with Megan since before she was on the oscillator and she can definitely see her getting bigger! She said that she looks like Mommy :)

They did have to retape her feeding tube to her vent this morning because Megan tried to rip that off. I did get some clarification on what she does to pull her vent tube. She doesn't pull out the entire apparatus, just the small tube that is taped onto it. She has such small fingers that she can get a good hold on that tiny tube (about the size of a piece of yarn) and pull it out.

She had 3 poopy diapers overnight which means she won't need a suppository today - whew! It is a standing order in the NICU for the babies to get a suppository every 48 hours unless they poop on their own. There was not blood in her stool and it was green / yellow (normal for babies I guess, but remember I still haven't seen her poopy diaper!) She did have a blood gas test this morning, but it wasn't back yet. We were anxious to check her red blood cell count to make sure it went up from her transfusion.

Our visit with Megan went very well! She is now 2 lbs 6 oz and is 36 cm long! She was peacefully resting on her belly. Both Bob and I stroked her tiny head and she really liked it. Her feedings are going great and the nurse said she had a huge poop today that tested negative for any blood which is great!

Her vent settings were turned down again today. She is expected to change to a CPAP very soon. It just goes in her nose instead of her throat which would be great!

The nurse said that we start some bottle feedings around 32 weeks. At that time she will also nuzzle with me to prepare for nursing. That is only a couple weeks away!! Her red blood cell count was great and her blood gas was excellent.

The nurse said that earlier she was resting her elbow on the vent tube. She would press down to make her numbers crazy and let go when the nurse came over. I am certainly convinced that I have passed on my need for attention to my daughter!

She is doing so well - Bob and I couldn't be more proud of her!!

July 29th, 2007



Megan must have known that I was telling everything that she was having a good day and decided to get some more attention..


When I called last night, the nurse was in the process of re-intubating her because she pulled out her vent tube. They were just going to leave it out, but she was having some digestive problems at the same time. She was constipated yesterday and got a small tear in her rectum. ( I know in 20 years she will be so mad at me for writing that!) Anyway, the nurse believes that is what is causing a small streak of blood in her stool. They are still watching it to be sure, though. Her abdomen was also a little enlarged and loopy again. However, by the time I called again at 2:30am, that had gone down and she was doing better with her feedings.



They didn't alter her feedings at all which is good. By this morning, she was doing well and getting no residual from her feedings. She was just constipated. Her abdomen is doing fine and is soft. She still has a small streak of blood in her stool, but it is now barely showing positive.



Her oxygen was back down to 30 and we hope to see that continue to decrease throughout the day. I guess she just wants to give Mommy and Daddy a few more gray hairs!



We are going to see her around 2pm, so we'll see how she is doing!

Our visit went pretty well with Megan. Just before we got there, they removed her PICC line from her arm, so she was still a bit mad about that. She had also just gotten her 2pm feeding which was going well.

Her machine did go off quite a bit while we were there. The nurse showed me how she liked to have her head rubbed. It was nice that Bob and I could do that to soothe her. She looked great and very comfortable. Her feedings are up to 14cc every 2 hours. She is now eating over 2 bottles a day!

They still feel that her progress is good!

July 28th, 2007

Megan had a great night! The nurse said that she is "as cute as ever!" (Naturally!!)

She has been stable with her stats, tolerating her feedings well and maintaining body temperature. We are so proud of her! Her oxygen level is at about 23-24 which is great. I think we are getting closer and closer to getting her off the ventilator!

She is at 10 cc every 2 hours - that's 120 cc or 3 oz a day - what a big girl! I don't know yet if she gained or lost weight, so we'll find out on our visit.

Today turned out to be the best day EVER! I got a call from the hospital around noon saying that if I came in around 3:30pm, that I could hold Megan!!! She was getting her blood transfusion at noon and that had to go through for 2 hours.

The nurse said that they expect to take out her PICC line in a day or two. She also said that if Megan would pull our her vent tube, they would leave it out and just do a CPAP which is just prongs in her nose. They would keep her air sacs open. She is making such awesome progress!

They said her weight was 1145 grams or 2 lbs 8 oz. That number is a little skewed because she just had her blood transfusion, though. She will probably lose some weight tomorrow.

The experience of holding her was incredible. She was so warm against my skin for such a small little girl. I could hold her little butt in the palm of my hand. Her hands and fingers would move across my chest and she even pinched me! She was soothed by the sound of my voice and the nurse said that she maintained her body temperature on me better than in her bed. At first she seemed to light and small, but after an hour and a half she felt like she weighed 20 lbs!

Bob sat next to me while I held our daughter. We both talked to her and told her how much we loved her. He took her temperature a couple times while I held her to make sure she was warm enough. I could tell he was very cautious when moving her tiny arm! It was so nice for the three of us to sit there as a family!

The nurse said that I will hold her a couple times a week. Once she is off her ventilator and maintaining her temperature, Bob can hold her as well. I know that will just be the best thing in the world to him!

July 27th, 2007

We have reached to 1000 gram club! Megan weighs 1029 grams or 2 lbs 4 oz. It's funny to think that the 5 lbs most women struggle with on a daily basis is more than twice Megan's body weight. Bob gave blood...I would certainly be willing to donate some fat cells :)

She had a great night. The nurse said that she is getting a little more stable on her saturation each day. They turned down the settings a little more on her ventilator and she's tolerating that well. However, when I called I could hear her machine beeping in the background and the nurse said she new her Mommy was on the phone. Ha! Her blood gas test this morning was excellent.

She is still tolerating her feedings well. I'm anxious to see if they have added fortifiers to her breastmilk today.

I cleaned out her nursery this morning - next step is paint! Too bad I didn't realize earlier that 75% of the stuff I was storing in that room was junk!

Great visit with Meggers today! She was much more stable on her saturation rate and didn't beep once while we were in there. They took off the heart sticker that would maintain her temperature and she was doing very well on her own. She is no longer on Lipids or TPN since she is doing well with the breast milk. She is also getting fortifiers today, so she should be gaining weight!!

Her settings on the ventilator were turned down. Yesterday the machine was set to deliver 27 "breaths" per minute to Megan and today it was turned down to 18. She looked so cute in her HUGE pampers preemie swaddler diaper.

We were telling her all about what we are doing with her nursery and the plans for her baby shower. She opened her eyes wide open, so I think she was very exicted. I told her it was going to be decorated in frogs - green and yellow - she seemed to approve :)

July 26th, 2007

Last night, Megan graduated to a different isolette. She was in the "giraffe" isolette which is used for the smallest babies so the nurses can have the easiest access to the babies. Now they needed to free it up for another small baby. Imagine that - a baby smaller than Megan. I hope that baby has the strength and good fortune that Megan has had. I would imagine that now Megan has the same feeling as when you are not the newest employee anymore :)

She has been doing well. Her feedings have been going well which is a relief to me. She goes up and down with how much oxygen she needs from her ventilator, but the nurse said that was normal. I am going to ask today how they know when a baby is ready to wean off the ventilator.

She has also graduated in diaper size, but not because of her size.... She is now in the newborn swaddler because she pees so much :) However, the diaper has a lot of gaps in it, so I think she can still manage to pee the bed!

Our visit went well. The nurse said that in order for Megan to start to wean off the ventilator, two things would have to happen. One, she would have to maintain her "saturation" level on her monitor. This is the number that needs to stay between 85 and 95. It tells the nurse if she needs to turn the oxygen level up or down. Two, she would have to have several good blood gas tests. Right now hers are okay, but her CO2 levels are a little higher than what they are looking for. The nurse said that is normal for her gestational age, though.

The good news is that the settings on her vent are very low and she is doing a lot of work on her own. They have been turning it down a little each day which causes Megan to have to adjust to that and work more on her own. That is why her saturation levels still go up and down.

Her new isolette is pretty nice and is in the same spot that she has been in. She now has a red blanket that covers the isolette to keep light out. It's not as cute as the giraffes :)

Her feedings have been increased to 8.5 cc every 2 hours and will go up to 9 cc every 2 hours tonight. Tomorrow they expect to increase to 10 cc every 2 hours and also add a fortifier to her milk to add calories. She will be eating 3 oz of breastmilk per day! That is a long way from the 2 cc every 6 hours that she started with :)

July 25th, 2007

Happy 3 week birthday, Megan!!!

I cannot believe that it has been 3 weeks! Megan is getting so big! Last night she weighed in at 2 lbs, 3 oz which is the perfect weight gain.

Last night we got news that she was being switched back to the conventional ventilator. Most of the day yesterday, she was fighting the high frequency ventilator and trying to breathe on her own. Once she was switched back, the nurse said she loved it! She was soon breathing 10-20 times above the ventilator which is great! She also had the best blood gas test that she has had in a week. We are really hoping this is the step before she can start getting off the vent!

She also had a great night, just resting. Today they will either increase her feedings, or add fortifiers to the breast milk that will just add calories. That way she can grow and grow!

Today she is 28 week gestational age. Preemies are typically discharged from the hospital at 35-36 gestational age, depending on their breathing, eating, etc. I just get excited every day because I know we are closer and closer to having our baby girl at home!





We got a new picture on our visit! It is sooo cute!

Megan was doing great. She seems to like this ventilator better than the other one. I got to hold her hand again and talk to her. She even opened her eyes while we were there! The doctor increased her feedings, but changed the frequency. She gets 8cc every 2 hours which allows the nurses to suction her more often to keep her lungs and mouth clear of mucus. That will help her breathe easier and start the process of getting her off the vent.

Since her antibiotics are done, they started to back on the caffeine - still as a preventative measure against apneas and bradycardias. Tomorrow they expect to stop her TPN IV since she is getting enough from the breastmilk. The TPN was a nutrition IV that gave her different vitamins and electrolytes.

I am very excited to hear her weight tonight - she is only 10 grams away from hitting 1000 grams! :)

July 24th, 2007

Well, my OB GYN called yesterday to remind me that I have a sonogram / prenatal appointment tomorrow morning. I had to call and remind them that they can do a sonogram, but I doubt that they would see anything! (At least I hope not!) Not quite the sharpest tools in the shed!

We had a great visit today with Megan and she got to visit with Grandma Foster. Again, she looked so great! Her feedings are going well. She is at 10 cc every 3 hours. Her carbon dioxide was slightly elevated on her blood gas this morning, but was already down 2 hours later.

She did get another chest xray today to follow up on her pneumonia. They said her lungs are pretty clear. They were a little over extended, so they were adjusting the settings on the ventilator so her lungs could deflate a bit. Overall, they were happy with the xray and her progress.

Megan gave the morning nurse some trouble because she peed through her diaper and all over her bed :) That reminds me to put a waterproof mattress cover on the registry!! They are decreasing her IV since she is eating more breastmilk.

Today I touched her foot and leg on our visit. I constantly wonder if she will know who her parents are. We make sure to talk to her every day and touch her whenever we can. I'm sure once we can hold her on a daily basis, we will be able to bond with her. It's so strange that my daughter is almost 3 weeks old and I haven't held her yet. It's not exactly how I pictured the birth of my baby, but now I don't care what we have to go through, I just want to bring my girl home!

July 23rd, 2007

Last night they weighed Megan accurately by temporarily taking her off the ventilator. She weighs 2 lbs and 1.9 oz! I am so glad that she didn't lose much weight from being off her feedings and is still in the 2 lb club!

The nurse said that she did great with her oxygen - still in the 20's and most of the time at 21 (no extra oxygen). She slept well and is dirtying diapers with the best of them.

All is going well with her feedings. I am nervous about her getting back up to 10 cc and I hope she will be able to tolerate it. She is going to 7 cc today every 3 hours.

Our visit went well and we got a new picture! Now I can definitely see those big blue eyes! We spoke with Dr. Omar. He said that she is doing well and now we just wait for her to grow. They will watch her closely over the next couple days because today is the last day of her antibiotic for pneumonia. The will only repeat her culture if she shows any symptoms. They are probably going to give her another blood transfusion b/c they took a lot of blood over the past week for her blood gas tests. He said she won't need much, though. Her feedings are actually being increased to 8 cc every three hours.

They have these tiny preemie booties in her isolette that they had on her feet earlier. They are pink and say "cutie" on the bottom. I will have to get a picture of them! She looked like she was comfortable and resting which is great b/c we want her to get big and strong!

The Breastmilk Post

I decided that the breastmilk has earned its own post. Bob and I finally transferred to breastmilk to the new chest freezer today. We counted 199 bottles. Yes, nearly 200 bottles of breastmilk made in 15 days.


Sorry that you may have to crane your neck to the side. I obviously have not figured out how to flip the picture yet. As you can see, the bottles took up 4 shelves.


















I do have to post a picture of my husband's ingenious design to fit as many bottles in the bag while keeping it flat. That's what I get for marrying an engineer :) In case anyone needs the plan, the blueprints are available for a small fee...






And finally, all the bagged bottles before they were transferred to the freezer! Fortunately, there is still plenty of room in the chest freezer. Something tells me that we are going to need it!

July 22nd, 2007

Megan had a good night last night and slept well. I'm hoping these sleeping patterns continue when she comes home :)

Her blood gas tests have been good, so she now only gets one per day. That makes Mommy happy because they had to prick her little heel each time!

She had a good poopy diaper this morning! She hadn't had one since they took her off the feedings. She must have known that they were going to give her a suppository today if she didn't :)

We are going in to visit her very shortly, so I'll add more later...

Megan looked great on our visit! Her color looks good and I can see her face filling out a bit - starting to get those chubby cheeks! She looked so comfortable, except that she was pulling her diaper off.

The nurse turned off her oxygen. Although she is still on the ventilator, she is breathing the same air we are which is 21% oxygen. They are going to keep her on the high frequency ventilator until she doesn't need one anymore. The dr. said it is gentler on her lungs plus she seems to like it. She is doing so well and Mommy and Daddy are so proud! She is doing well with her feedings and is up to 6 cc every 3 hours. They are still watching her closely for any swelling in her abdomen, but so far, so good. Unfortunately, we can't get an accurate weight when she is on this ventilator. We'll just have to wait until she no longer needs the vent!

The nurse even said she was sucking her thumb! She would squeeze her thumb under the vent tube so she could suck her thumb. Like mother, like daughter. Hopefully she will stop before she is 8 unlike someone else I know...

I am really excited about her progress and hope she just continues to do well and grow over the next 8 weeks!

July 21st, 2007

Well, not too much to report today, but I guess that's a good thing! Megan had a good night. She rested comfortably and did well with her ventilator. She has been tolerating her feedings, so they are increasing her to 4cc every 3 hours.

Now the nurse asked me to fill some bottles only to the halfway mark so they aren't wasting any breast milk. I figure they can go ahead and waste some so I can give them some more bottles! I tried to explain to her that if I would fill the bottles to only the halfway mark, I would fill 40 of their bottles per day. That would mean that I would use over 2200 bottles before Megan would come home!

We also had a good visit with Meggers. I got to take her temperature. I had to lift her little arm and take her temp in her armpit. I thought I would break her arm! She is actually pretty strong and was pulling her arm from me. The nurse said she never likes to have her temp taken :) We were there as the nurse gave her the breast milk, which is just through her IV. She also changed her diaper and suctioned any mucus from her lungs. She said that she is getting less and less mucus from the suctioning which is good. After all that, she put Megan on her stomach so she could rest.

We finally have the chest freezer hooked up. It is cooling down and we are planning on filling it with bottles tonight. Now my freezer will look empty!

July 20th, 2007

Good check in this morning! The nurse (whose name is also Megan) said that our Megan had a very good night. She did well with her oxygen levels, staying at 28-30 throughout the night. She weighed in at 950 grams which is still about 2 lbs 2 oz. She only had a loss of 20 grams which is good considering that she was off feedings for 24 hours. She had a blood gas test at 6am which was good - normal levels.

She has not had any more problems with her abdomen, so they are resuming feedings today. Of course, they will be watching her closely to make sure there is no swelling.

The nurse did get a picture of her last night when she had her eyes open. She said that Megan was on her belly, so I'll be excited to see the picture! Megan is so adorable when she sleeps on her belly. I see there is a way to add an image on the blog, so I'll try to figure that out this afternoon.



Here is our new picture!! She is on her belly which is her favorite position! I can definitely see her big blue eyes! I couldn't figure out how to flip it though. She was so great on our visit. The nurse said that her lungs sound good and her abdomen xray this morning was fine.


She is starting feedings again, slowly. She is on 4cc every 4 hours. I'm hoping they will take it a little slower this time so my peanut doesn't get gas.

She is doing well on her ventilator and has been at about 25 all morning which is great! I still don't know when she will go back on the regular ventilator, but I bet she will wean off of it soon. They did adjust some of her settings down this morning which is good.


That was about all that she had to report. We got to touch her today - I touched her leg and her hand :) She was laying on her right side and looked very comfortable.


Today I am overwhelmingly (is that a word?) excited for when she comes home! We still don't have anything ready for her, but I can't wait for her to come home! I guess I'll have to add a cot to our nursery furniture, so I can sleep with her when she comes home :)

July 19th, 2007

Well, slight scare last night. We called in before bed and found out that Megan's abdomen was slightly distended. That means that her intestines were swollen. They did an abdomen xray which was fine and also tested her stool which was fine. They were making sure they didn't see signs of NEC which is a digestive disease that affects about 5% of preemies.

Of course, hearing that news about 10:30 at night really took the wind out of our sails after such a good day. I called this morning at 4:30 am after pumping and they said she was doing better and the swelling has gone down. They will, however, hold her feedings now for several days. She is still getting her IV's for nutrients.

I called at 9:30 am and her second abdomen xray was also fine. The swelling has completely gone down. They think they just increased her feedings a little too quickly. The nurse said that otherwise she is doing well. Her oxygen settings are going down. Last night she was at 30 at the highest and spent most of the time in the 20's which is great. Her vitals / stats have been great and she's just resting. The nurse said that when she was with Megan this morning, Megan had her eyes wide open and was very alert.

The doctor was doing his rounds when I called, so we should find out a little later if they decided to change anything.

I also had a disaster in the middle of the night. I went to the freezer to put the bottles in and the inevitable happened....about 30 frozen bottles came crashing down on me. Poor Bob came running down the stairs to find me desperately trying to keep those dang bottles in the fridge while uncontrollably sobbing. I could be the poster girl for post-pregnancy hormones. My knight in shining armor took care of getting all the bottles put in the freezer and washed the bottles for my pump so I could go back to bed. Only one more day until our freezer comes....

Our visit went okay today. The nurse said that Megan was doing well. Her stomach is all better. She said it was a combo of too much too fast and gas. They expect to resume feedings tomorrow or the day after. She has been doing well with her oxygen settings. The nurse said that Megan is showing many good signs such as moving around, opening her eyes and fighting the nurses. Megan is now notorious for getting mad when the nurses try to move her around.

Her heart rate was pretty high when we were in. I was very worried, but the nurse said she was just agitated at the time. It is just very difficult not to worry when her machine keeps beeping.

We did get to touch her head today. It is soo tiny! Her hair is so soft that you almost can't feel it. When we touch her, it has to be a solid touch. We can't caress her or rub her head b/c that would irritate her and send her heartrate up. She held Bob's finger again today and squeezed his finger. She even tried to pull it a bit! She is certainly a strong little girl (we will have to remember that!)