Dress Up

 

The girls have kept us laughing with their dress up clothes! I am so excited to see that finally some of my garage sale items are being used. I had to share the fun with others!

Luke Trio

It's been awhile, and I feel like I don't have much new news to share. I guess that is a good thing. Sadie is doing great! We are finished having the home health nurse come. Even though Sadie doesn't need this anymore, I will miss the times with our nurse. She was always very encouraging, and now we won't have the weekly weight check. Last Thursday, she was up to 9-5. She is doing really well for being off her
O2 during the day. She seems the same as always! It is SO nice not having our 25 foot range of tubing to be tied to in the house, and it's much easier going somewhere. Sadie is full of smiles and loves to look at faces and coos quite a bit, too, esp. when you sing to her. Maybe she is telling me to be quiet. :)
Sadie is sleeping well at night, and I like the schedule we are on. She goes to bed between 6:30-7, and then I feed her before I go to bed. I am only feeding her once through the night, and then she gets up between 7 and 8:00.
I have decreased the amount of formula I am putting in her bottle (shhh...don't tell my doc!), and I am giving her some Reliv (a nutrition formula the whole family is on). She is doing great - not gassy and backed up like she used to be. All our noses are thankful. :)
Since things are "calming down" in the life of Sadie, I thought I would expand this blog to include my other two daughters. My grandmother refered to my three girls once as a trio, and I like that. I always love reading my friends' blogs about their life and families, so I am going to head that direction. I will update about the girls and their activities, but I want to be "safe" and not share too much info, and I will try not to use other peoples names or pictures without their permission first.
As you can tell in the pictures, we decorated the driveway the other night with sidewalk chalk. The girls love it and have lots of fun, and I only allow them to do it on a bath night. After playing with chalk, their clothes need a bath, too!
This afternoon we went to the county fair to ride some rides, thank to grandparents. The girls had a blast riding rides with their cousins. Analise rode the rollercoaster, so she was thrilled. Maisie enjoyed her little rides; it's the first year she's been big enough to ride. She isn't afraid of anything, so we knew she'd have fun. The weather was 100 degrees, so we enjoyed snowcones, lemonades and the AC when we got back in the van. I hope you're staying cool where you are!

God's Faithfulness

Sweet Sadie's dedication was this past Sunday, and it was a special time. Each of our girl's dedication was special, but this one may have been a little more sentimental. It was a bonus having my parents here for the service. We promised before the congregation to raise Sadie in a home that taught her about God's love and grace. The pastor then did something different and had everyone in the sanctuary stand if they had prayed for us over the last several months. I don't share this to brag - it was overwhelming. I'm not good at numbers, but I bet ~500 people stood. Needless to say, I cried. I know many of you reading this would have stood if you had been there. We can't thank you enough for those countless and endless prayers! We read the verse that we have claimed for Sadie. I have felt that God gave a verse for each of our girls, and Sadie's is from Numbers: "The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord's face shine upon you and be gracious. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."
Your prayers continue to be answered! We saw the pulmunolgist yesterday and got a good report. We can turn off the O2 during the day and leave her on 1/32 at night! It's such good news it's almost frightening. :) He had her O2 turned off for about 10 minutes, and her levels were 96-98. We will keep her on the apnea monitor another month or so. One less tail is already making a big difference!
We went up to the hospital while in Lincoln to see nurse friends, and we even met one for lunch! It was a fun time. May the Lord bless you and keep you...

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.