4 Months

Time is moving along quickly, and Sadie is already four months old. I can hardly believe it! She seems to be doing well. At the doctor yesterday she weighed 9-3; that's up 15 ounces in 17 days! Her lungs continue to show signs of growth. We are now to 1/32 of a liter of O2. We go see the pulmunologist this week, so I am excited to see what he has to say. I know people are praying, because those lungs seem to be growing.
Sadie is smiling more and more and gives us a nice "coo" every now and then. We love it! She is sleeping longer at night; I let her sleep 5-6 hours before I wake her up to feed her. I could probably let her go longer, but since I have seen signs of lung growth, I want to continue what we've been doing. If I went to bed at 7:30 like she did, I'd get a great night's sleep. :)
We are dedicating Sadie in church this week. It will be an extra special dedication for us because there was a time we didn't think we'd have the chance to do this.
Hope you're staying cool!

Getting Bigger

HI! Obviously one of the pictures isn't Sadie; she hasn't grown that much. :) Our oldest daughter was in a wedding this weekend, and this proud mama couldn't resist posting a picture.
On to Sadie...last Thursday she weighed 8-8, and today she was up to 8-12! That's four ounces in five days...more than the half an ounce a day that they want to see. That's not the only good news. We turned down her O2 from 1/8 to 1/16 to see how she would do. It was awesome! She was statting at 96 consistently. Thanks for praying; God is working! I finally feel like there is hope again for those lungs to grow.
We still have the apnea monitor and may possibly have it for quite some time. The apnea center likes babies to have their monitor for a month after she is done with the oxygen. We have no idea when that will be. But after today, it's a little more encouraging.
Since she seems to be growing so well, the nurse is giving me permission to let Sadie wake me up in the middle of the night instead of me waking her up every four hours. Yeah! It's much easier waking up to a fussy baby instead of an alarm. I find myself turning off the alarm in my sleep, so sometimes it's much longer then the four hours.
Sadie did well at the wedding and being out of her normal "schedule" for a couple of days. She is staying awake for longer periods of time, and after supper she is especially smiley. We love it!

Ups and Downs

Happy 4th of July! We will be celebrating at a wedding with our own three firecrackers. Sadie is doing well and is pretty easy going. I took her to church for the first time last Sunday, so she was able to meet lots of people who have been praying for her.
Last week, Brandon and I went to a small group and was able to share our testimony on God's faithfulness over the last few months. Our "theme" was God going before us, and we were amazed again how many times He moved ahead of us in so many ways. It was a blessing to us to share and give God the glory.
We went to the doctor yesterday, and Sadie weighs 8-4! The doctor would have liked to have seen a little more weight gain, but we are close to being on track. The scale at the clinic had her gaining 9 oz in 19 days, where the home health nurse scale had her gaining 9 oz in 9 days. That's quite a difference. I continue to add the Neosure to her bottles, but I'm not giving up nursing. It's too precious to me. We also still have two tails, and I am SO ready to be finished with the apnea monitor. We haven't had many alarms and none in the last two weeks. I've tried to get the word we can be finished, but it's turning into a wild goose chase to find someone to tell me that. This doctor thinks one thing, another thinks something different, and so my home doctor will make the decision, and she's out of the office. All I want to hear is, "all done!" :)
Not only is Sadie gaining weight, but she is now 21.5 inches long; that's 2.5 inches growth since she has been home. I treasure each time I snuggle with her...my miracle baby.

Weight Gain

Sorry I don't have any new pictures...baby number 3 - can you tell? :) Sadie is packing on the ounces. The home health nurse came this past Thursday for a check-up. Just looking at Sadie she could tell that Sadie looked bigger. She asked me how nursing was going. I told her it was going really well, and that I was nursing more often. She said, "let's check her weight." When she had been here the previous Tues., Sadie had weighed 7-5. We put her on the scale, and she weighed 7-14! 9 ounces in 9 days! I gave a silent cheer. :) The nurse told me to go ahead and keep doing what I was doing. Yeah!
Sadie keeps holding her head up better and better, and she is getting a little more generous with her smiles. In fact, she finally smiled for me yesterday. I told her I deserved one since I take care of her all the time. She then gave me one.
I hope this isn't too personal for Sadie, but I have to say, she is the gassiest baby I've ever had! It's amazing what someone so little can sound like. I have a feeling it's the formula that does this to her, but I nursed her several times on Sat. without formula, and she was still gassy. I will ask the doctor about it next time, because I want to make sure that her digestive system is okay.
Please continue to pray for her lungs to grow. After being off the O2 for 20 minutes this week, she was still at 89-91%. We turned the O2 back on, and the number went up to 96%. I'd LOVE for those lungs to grow so they can do what they're supposed to.
We are getting a little more adventurous in going out. She has had her first zoo experience, and she slept the whole time. What a good girl! She's also gone to Target and a couple of her cousin's little league games. One of these Sundays we will attempt in going to church. For the most part, she is a home body.

Three months

It's amazing how the time flies. I remember being in the hospital turning my calendar to February and thinking, "If I could only be in June - home and settled." Here we are halfway through June already. I think we are feeling a little settled. :) I took Sadie to see the doctor last Weds, and she weighed 7-11! They were very pleased with her weight gain. We also turned off her oxygen for about 20 minutes to see how she did. They want her oxygen level to be 90 or above. When they checked after the 20 minutes, she was hanging at the 88-89 mark. My doctor suggested I turn the O2 back on and leave it on. There is no need to have her dipping below
90. The home health nurse will continue to come about once a week so we can check again. I'm glad I know this so I'm not turning it off when I probably shouldn't be. We keep praying though for those lungs to heal and grow!
I am nursing her more than I had been and possibly more than I should be. Some say it takes more work for her to nurse, but I am not convinced. She does such a good job and looks like a natural. So I give her about one ounce of her bottle with the Neosure and meds and then nurse. It seems to be working well.
She is still sleeping about four hours at night and sleeps a lot during the day. I'll be honest and says that's nice. We try and make the most of the time she is awake. We got out with her a couple of times this weekend. We went for a walk with friends and then to the grandparents. It's quite the adventure loading her and the other girls.
We are coming up to week four of the apnea monitor, and I am hoping that means we are almost finished with it. One less tail would be nice!

Growing

It's hard to believe that Sadie has been home almost three weeks. She has passed the 7 lb mark and weighs about 7-5. I was so excited last week with her weight gain. I'm never as excited with my own weight gain. :) Also last week I made an "executive mom decision" on a couple of things. First, the three hour feeding schedule at night just wasn't working-for either of us. It was so hard to arouse her, and then she wouldn't always eat well. So, I began to stretch her to 3.5-4 hours between feedings. Not only does she eat better, but I get three hours of sleep between feedings. It doesn't sound like much but it feels better than the two I was getting. I also got to thinking (and after talking with other moms of preemies) that I was going to give her all breast milk with the Neosure formula added to that to boost the calories. I had been alternating bottles with breast milk and formula. The good news is after making these decisions, I got the doctor's okay with everything. :) To see her weight gain with these changes was very encouraging.
She is beginning to give us some smiles. Analise was the first one to earn a smile. I almost didn't believe it at first, but we've seen some more. She's also beginning to lift her hear some and gaining strength there.
We went to Lincoln today to see the pediatric pulmunologist. He showed me the x-rays showing her lungs are a little small, but it's nothing to worry about. They will grow. We will continue to have her on the oxygen, but he wants me to turn it off while she's awake to see how she does. We go back in six weeks for a follow up. We keep praying for those lungs to grow and catch up with her body.
After seeing the doctor, we went up to the NICU to see nurses/friends. It was so fun! I miss both my nurses and the ones who took care of Sadie. They all have a special place in my heart. Sadie was a great traveler and slept the entire time.
Anyway, that's the latest with Sadie. Thanks for tuning in!

Adjusting

We are adjusting to having three children at home, but I don't know if we will ever be adjusted to being outnumbered. :) Thankfully Brandon is very involved and helps out. Sadie has experienced and survived her first tornado! We hunkered down in the basement storage room for over an hour, and she slept through the entire event. Thankfully we didn't have any major damage. We also are thankful that we didn't have to go long without power. It's an important thing to have with her monitor.
She is slowly growing; last week she was up to 6 lb. 11. oz. We are still doing some formula to add extra calories to keep her growing. Grow lungs, grow!
She is sleeping well and is usually pretty content. She did have a rough day on Saturday, but we all managed. I am still waking her up every three hours during the night to feed her, and I am still tired most days! We are getting quicker though during the night, so I am not up as long.
Thanks for your continued support during the transition home. We all feel loved!