Trick or Treat!

update

Yesterday Nina received her first RSV shot.
At this appt she weighed in at 11.14 so we are just shy of 12 pounds!!
Nina's been enjoying oatmeal and sweet potatoes this week. She eats more oatmeal than she ever did rice cereal so looks like we found a new fav. She almost ate 1/4 cup (normal kid serving)in one sitting yesterday and that was after a 5oz bottle!

Here she is kinda sitting with the aid of her sun/flower toy. She actually held this position for a few minutes.

We're fine over here!

After about 1 and and half weeks of feeling under the weather, Nina pulled through and she's fine.
I am glad she was exposed to germs. It's good for her and will make her stronger!
We go in for the first of 5 months worth of RSV shots tomorrow. They will weigh Nina to make sure they give her the correct dose.
She's eating really well the past 4 days-About 24-25 oz in 24 hours. The trick to feeding Nina is a quiet room. She gets distracted easily so if the TV is on the drinking does not go so well... The solids are also going good. She is getting cereal twice a day (about 1 TB a sitting) and some sweet potatoes We are so fortunate she eats from spoon without any issues. She just opens up and swallows like it's no big deal. (knock on wood)
I read about so many preemie kids that just refuse to take food orally. It breaks my heart to read about these struggles.

Spoke too soon

Still sick over here! Stuffy and getting some relief with the humidifier! She is not coughing as much, just congestion. At least she is acting her usual happy self (not in these pictures)

This past week Nina has found her voice and loves to look at herself in the crib mirror and babble and sing and smile! It's super cute.

PS. She's not sitting up on her own, I put her in the corner and she can stay that way. I have been trying to sit her up during play time and she can sit for a couple seconds.

We made it through cold #1

Nina is feeling better and finally eating better...It's hard to drink a bottle all stuffed up.
Here's a new video, Mainly put it up for my Maine people! I wanted cousins Ada and Ben to check her out!

A few firsts

Today Nina tried her first real food: Peas. She liked them (I think...she did not gag or spit back up, so I take that as a good sign)
She also has her first case of the sniffles...Yep...no fever (knock on wood) just nice gross boogies...stuffed up...we broke out the humidifier at 5am last night... So being the cool parents we are, remembering when we were kids and feeling not so hot, we did what all parents do---Let the kid watch TV!!! Nina was introduced to Sesame Street tonight.

So that's our day in a nutshell: Boogies, Peas and Big Bird: All Nina's firsts!

Baptism Day

We had a lovely day for Nina's christening! She was a good girl all day and was well behaved in church. Our priest, Father G was wonderful and let us have a private ceremony. After the ceremony we went outside and released two white balloons in honor of Georgia and Livia.
We then all went back to our house for a luncheon. Nina's great grandmom, her grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousin Ally, as well as her godparents were all there! Nina took a little nap and then joined the party. It was a great day!

Goal: To weigh more than the 14 pound cat

Birth story

Realized today on Nina’s 7 month birthday that I never told the babies birth story.

On January 17 (16 weeks) we found out that we were having three girls. Jason was crazy with excitement and I was just thrilled all the babies were growing and were healthy. Also in the back of my mind I thought “girls do better in the NICU than boys”…

At 18 weeks I went to hospital for my first triage visit for contractions. Was sent home.

Morning of Feb 17 I lost mucus plug, called Dr and went to hospital…was not having contractions at this time and Resident on call checked me and said I could go home, she then called Dr to tell him I was good to go and he asked if she checked me ‘digitally’. She checked me and I was a fingertip dilated. Thank goodness my Dr made her check me again b/c I would have been discharged….do not want to even play that ‘what if’ game. I was admitted to hospital that day and the next day had a cerclage. I was on strict bed rest, using a bedpan and my husband was my rock during the first few days where I cried so much in fear of losing the babies. After the first few days, I settled in, had bathroom privileges, had to wearing those stockings, changed rooms I think 3 times, hooked up to contraction monitor, drank tons of water, and was in the bathroom all the time. I was put on Indosin (a drug to quiet the uterus) for contractions.

One happy moment was Jason and I were watching the Oscars and I felt one of my babies kick for the first time. It was Baby C. That was the first and last kick I felt.

The days melted into one another… my mom came every afternoon to visit me. I would watch the clock waiting for her visit everyday and Jason came every night.

I hated being there…but it was the best thing for the babies and I was in it for the long haul. Fast forward to March 9 and 10 --I was given my steroid shots to help the babies lung development if I were to go into labor. …Night of March 10 I could not sleep for the contractions were a bit much. I remember having them in the middle of the night and yanking off the belt and going to the bathroom thinking I could stop them by just peeing… That next morning March 11 I felt OK, my inlaws came to visit and I was feeling good. I was showing them how big my stomach was getting and I was happy. They left around 1 and I started to watch some TV. Around 2, I felt some pressure like I had to have a BM. I went to bathroom and I felt something start to come out…I reached down and it felt like a sac…I called for nurse and was quickly put in bed--- legs higher than head position in the bed. Resident came in with lots of nurses and I was freaking out. They checked me…I saw the babies on the monitor, they were fine…They paged my Doctor, he came in, I asked him to please just take one baby and keep the others in, but my cervix was now at 7 and there was not way to stop this. My husband had come to hospital by now and was with me.. It was horrible…Babies were coming now. I was wheeled down for C-section and was prepped while Jason waited by himself in hallway.

He came in and was by my side while our parents waited. Before they started Dr Snyder (who was to be one of our NICU Docs, asked me before the section started if we wanted them to intervene. We said yes.

And then the babies were born. Georgia actually was born with a slight bruise on her leg from kicking her way out. Then came Nina, then came Livia. And you all know the rest of the story.

I wish I had a happy story of the birth where a Dr did not have to ask if they should intervene. And all the babies lived and blah blah blah. But this is our story. Prematurity sucks.

Neonatal followup

Nina is 3 months corrected age so we had our first, of I am sure many appts, with the neonatal follow up clinic today. It went really well...Nina was alert and pleasant during the exam.
Nina stats: weight: 11.1, length: 21 1/4: head 15 3/4. Dr was happy with her growth!
The Dr checked her eyes, lungs, heart, ears and all are normal! (whew!) Nina tracked "beautifully" and turned to see the bell ringing...She checked her reflexes and Nina's newborn reflexes are almost gone which is great. Nina showed some mild low (loose) muscle tone around her shoulder girth, Dr said this is very common for preemies and as of now it is "trivial" . I told them that she had started cereal (spoon feed) about 2 weeks ago and they were surprised Nina was actually taking it. (My Ped told me to start so I did) However Nina is getting about 95% of her calories from Enfacare formula.

The Dr told us that Nina is doing better than the average 24 weeker she has seen.
YOU GO NINA!

"If lungs were trees"

It's hard to believe that we are entering our first FLU/RSV season(especially with 80 degree temps this week) I am glad Nina had the full summer to "hardy up". She gets her 2nd flu booster mid month and first RSV shot beginning next month.

Found this site about preemie lungs and how they are sooo different from full term babes. It's called If Lungs Were Trees. I remember Dr Chang explaining it that way in the NICU so many moons ago. It just goes to show you Nina looks so healthy on the outside, but her insides are still fragile and immature.

October Baseball-Gotta Love them Phils!