Our First Day Home

After rooming in with Addy, we were discharged from the hospital yesterday morning.  Before we could leave, we had to do a CPR demonstration, sign a bunch of paperwork, take pictures, and get a hearing test (she passed!).  Finally, about 2 o'clock, we loaded up our red wagon with Addy and all of her stuff and left the NICU for good!!  Addyson was great in the car and slept the entire way home.  It was so great to finally get our little girl home and lay her down to sleep in her own bed. While we were in the hospital, Addy was on a really nice 3 hour schedule, but she has decided now that she is home, she would like to eat more often (so much for being worried about her eating!).  She seems to be a pretty good sleeper (when she's not ready to eat), and she really loves to cuddle with her mommy and daddy on the couch.  Today we are expecting visits from our families.  Ben's parents will be staying with us for a little while, and they will get to hold their granddaughter for the first time.  Thank you everyone for your prayers and support.  It feels so incredibly good to have our little girl home with us.  We can't wait for everyone to meet our precious baby!

Its Official!!!

The doctor (that we don't like because he has been delaying Addy's release) came around this morning and saw that she had taken over 95% of her feedings yesterday and said she could get the tube out today and we can leave tomorrow morning (as long as she continues feeding like she has)!!!!  We are so excited!  They will be doing all of our discharge procedures today.  We have to do a carseat check to make sure her breathing stays good while she is in her carseat as well as demonstrate that we can do infant CPR and basic childcare techniques.  We will be rooming out with her tonight, and as soon as the doctor comes in tomorrow morning to write the discharge orders we can leave.  We are so thrilled to be able to take our little girl home!

Addyson is doing incredibly well.  She has been more and more awake and alert as her biliruben levels drop, and she is eating like a little pig at every feeding.  We couldn't be happier with the progress she has made.  She is more than ready to get her NG  tube out.  She ended up pulling it out 4 times yesterday herself.  We can finally get some pictures of her without being connected to any machines! 

We thank everyone for your prayers and support.  We couldn't have gotten through this time without you.  We are planning to take a day for ourselves without any visitors when we get back.  We really need some time together as a family.  We want to get Daisy back into her routine and settle into one of our own for the three of us.  Ben's family is coming for the weekend to help us out, and my parents will be in and out as well.  We would love to have visitors to see Addy when she comes home, but we ask two things. 1) Please don't come if you are sick at all.  Addy's immune system is still very delicate, and we want to keep her as healthy as possible.  2) Please call us before you come over.  We don't want to overwhelm her with a house full of people.  She is on a really good schedule, and she is still sleeping a lot, so if you call and let us know you would like to visit, we can let you know when a good time would be.

We will update you on how things go today, and we should be home sometime late tomorrow morning!  Yay!

Finally Some Good News!

While the past few days have been quite discouraging, today has provided a little light at the end of the tunnel.  Addy has been eating really well again today.  Her percentages for yesterday were about 85, and so far today, she is at about 94% for feedings.  Praise God!  She is very alert for feedings, and she is starting to let us know when she is hungry.  We spoke with another doctor this afternoon, and he told us that with the way she has been feeding, we should be able to take Addyson home Thursday (Friday at the very latest).  The hospital has a "rooming out" program here where on the last night before your child is discharged, they let you stay the night with them and their care is completely up to you.  We are scheduled to be rooming out with Addy tomorrow, so that means we only have to spend one more night away from her!!  They told us that even if she does need to stay until Friday, we would just room out with her for one more night.  It is such a relief that after tonight we don't have to leave without our baby anymore!  God is so good, and we are so grateful to see the end in sight.  Please continue to pray for patience and rest for Ben and I.  We are so looking forward to being at home, and more importantly, we are looking forward to having our family together for the first time.
Beth

So Far, So Good

Addyson's percentage of what she took on her own was over 85% for all day yesterday!  She's doing great.  This morning so far she took all but 9 cc of a 62 cc bottle, so she is off to a good start today too.  The doctor hasn't come around yet, but Beth and I are hoping that the NG tube will come out today.  If not today, then if she has another good day it should at the latest come out tomorrow.

Some sad news...I dropped our camera off the arm of one of the chairs last night and it fell right on the lens.  Now the lens is stuck about halfway out and the camera says 'Lens Error' when you try to turn it on.  So sadly enough, no more pictures until we can either get our camera fixed or get a new camera.
Got the camera fixed! I guess I just had to push on the lens a little harder than I felt comfortable with at first.  It is working now so there will be more pictures to come.  When I got it fixed Beth said, "Now you can resume being our child's paparazzi."  I guess it's true, but I can't get enough of taking pictures of my little girl.

Beth is doing well today and is getting at least 10 cc of breastmilk each time she pumps, so we're hoping that will pick up and we can get more milk for Addy soon.  We will post if anything changes.  Keep praying!

From Beth

Hey Everyone,
I figured that since Ben has been doing all of the updating so far, I'd  give one myself since I seem to have lots of free time waiting in here for Addy's next feedings.  As Ben said before, Addy is doing really well today.  Today is the first time that she has really acted hungry before feedings, and she sure does let us know she is ready!  She has only had one low amount for bottles, but she has taken more or less all of the rest of them. Yay!!  Please pray that she keeps this up throughout the night.  The nurse thinks that if she does, they might remove her ng tube tomorrow.  She has been a lot more awake and alert today, so I have really enjoyed seeing her beautiful eyes.  I knew she would be beautiful, but I never could have imagined she would be this perfect!
Ben and I are surviving, but its getting harder and harder.  It has been really tough on me to have to recover away from home, and we aren't getting much sleep so that makes things that much more difficult.  It is hard to hear so many different estimates on when we will get to take her home, and as each predicted departure day comes and goes, I get more and more frustrated.  I am just trying to keep in mind that we WILL come home, and we won't be here forever (even though sometimes it feels that way).  We are surrounded by so many people that have been here for weeks and even months, so I know we are blessed that we don't have to endure that agony.  But even though things could be worse, it is still really hard, and we appreciate everyone's prayers for us.  It just seems so wrong to walk out of the hospital every night without your child.
Areas that need your prayers:
  Please pray that Addy will continue to eat as much as possible and that her biliruben levels will continue to drop.
  Please pray that Ben and I will be able to get some more rest.
  Please pray for patience and perserverence for us as well.
  Pray for all of the other families who have babies here--some of them for months.  I can't imagine what that would be like.
  Finally, please just pray that we can come home soon!!
We really appreciate everyone's prayers, and we can't wait to come home so you can meet our beautiful little girl!
Beth

A New Day, A New Doctor

Addyson is doing awesome today!  She took all of her first bottle at 8 am and all but 2 cc of her 11 am bottle.  She was also more alert and awake today than she has ever been.  She was awake from her first feeding all the way until she was done with her second.  Her bilirubin levels were at a 12.1 as well, which are down from yesterday as well.

But...

The doctor that has been seeing Addyson is on vacation this week, so she saw a new doctor today.  When he came around right before her 11 am feeding, he said that he wants her to be eating 80% of her bottles for two days before they take her off her NG tube, as opposed to the 75% for one day that we were hearing.  We were also told likely one day after the tube comes out, but this doctor is saying two now.  Our other doctor said that if he got a third bilirubin level that was lower then he wouldn't worry about it anymore and just call the 13.9 her peak, but this doctor is saying it's still something to be concerned about.

It is most likely just a case of differing opinions, but you can imagine how frustrating and a little disheartening is is for Beth and I to hear.   Keep praying for Addy, she is doing so well and your prayers are much appreciated.  Keep praying for Beth and I as well, as this news is not so fun to hear, especially when it feels like she could be doing this at home just as easily.  Pray for the doctors to decide that she can come home soon.  Thank you all for your prayers and support.

More Progress

The doctor came by today and told us that Addy's bilirubin levels were about 12 this morning, which means that she is on the downward slope and will not need the treatment for her jaundice.  He also said that for a kid her age and weight, the cutoff level for bilirubin is now 18 instead of 15, so there's even less of a chance of her needing the lights.  They are going to check her levels again in the morning, but he said he fully expects them to be down again, and if they are it will be the last time they need to check them.

Addyson got her first bath from Beth today, other than the initial one that they gave her in the nursery the first night.  She doesn't like being naked (which is a good thing, at least from my point of view) and really didn't like her bath.

The doctor also boosted her feeding amount to her full 60 cc.  She took all but 5 cc the first time, only 24 the next, and 48 at 8 pm.  I checked the numbers for all of her feedings so far today and they were just over 75%, but they measure them by day, so if she keeps it up overnight, then she should have a pretty good percentage tomorrow.

Please be praying for Beth and I.  This whole thing is really beginning to take a toll on us, and our sleep, and even though things are looking way up, it is getting harder and harder to leave her in the hospital each night, even though we are right across the street.

Also pray that Addyson feeds well tonight.  Getting her eating percentage up to 75% is her last task before she can come home, so as long as she can do that consistently, she has a good shot at coming home really soon.

Thanks for all the prayers and support!