Let me preface my story by saying that Sofia had been doing great since Halloween. She had so much fun in her costume and apparently enjoyed herself SO much that she hit 1000 grams on Halloween night! It must have been all the candy she had. It seemed she adjusted great to her new room and was progressing well.

That leads us to the last 4 days. Well Mommy ended up with Mastitis again this week and had to take 2 more days out of the NICU. Daddy did a great job, as usual, of picking up the slack and making sure that Sofia got at least one Kangaroo a day. She had a great week and of course I suspected blue skies and smooth sailing going into today, right? WRONG! So, from the top…

I went in to meet a new nurse today who delivered the news that Sofia’s nutrition had been changed today to half breast milk and half formula in order to get her off the fortifiers and get her more calories. The fortifiers can be hard to digest especially at the levels she had, she tolerated it fine but they wanted to give her a break. The change wasn’t a huge surprise but the Neonatalogists are concerned with the lags on her growth chart. It’s concerning when the Doc’s are concerned…enter stressor numero uno.

I went on with my visit and decided that maybe me and the munchkin just needed a skin-to-skin snuggle to reduce the tension. Well that turned into a desat/Brady bonanza! She had a huge Brady that required quite a bit of stimulation (aka back rubs and gentle shakes) to bring her around, a rise in her oxygen levels and a suggestion by the nurse that she be put back in her isolette. Snuggle time revoked. Thankfully Jonathan arrived just as this was all happening. As we put her back in the isolette she began to react as if she was choking. The nurse sat her up, suctioned her nose and mouth and as we attempted to set her up to go back to sleep, we realized her feeding tube was dislodged. Putting that back in we watched as she chocked, gagged and had a sneezing attack as it went back in place. To make matters worse, her temperature probe malfunctioned and needed to be replaced. It’s attached to her skin with a very thick and sticky duck shaped sticker, this is like a band-aid on steroids.

As they were attempting to remove this she started to cry out for the first time during all this chaos. Around this point my heart broke for everything that she was going through. This put me over the top in terms of feeling helpless. I couldn’t even give her a hug or kiss to comfort her. I managed to make it to the hallway of the NICU before letting the tears flow. Not like she would know if I cried at the bedside but I just didn’t want to break apart around her. She rarely cries and just chugs through all of her challenges as they come, as content and peaceful as possible. I felt I needed to be her rock. So in the hallway I leaned on my rock, I was so grateful to have had Jonathan to just hug me in that moment. Even if we were both equally as helpless. It may have been a culmination of all things NICU that made me break but at least it was a release point and a clean slate for tomorrow. Chin up and the positive vibes are in place for a new day!

Let me preface my story by saying that Sofia had been doing great since Halloween. She had so much fun in her costume and apparently enjoyed herself SO much that she hit 1000 grams on Halloween night! It must have been all the candy she had. It seemed she adjusted great to her new room and was progressing well.

That leads us to the last 4 days. Well Mommy ended up with Mastitis again this week and had to take 2 more days out of the NICU. Daddy did a great job, as usual, of picking up the slack and making sure that Sofia got at least one Kangaroo a day. She had a great week and of course I suspected blue skies and smooth sailing going into today, right? WRONG! So, from the top…

I went in to meet a new nurse today who delivered the news that Sofia’s nutrition had been changed today to half breast milk and half formula in order to get her off the fortifiers and get her more calories. The fortifiers can be hard to digest especially at the levels she had, she tolerated it fine but they wanted to give her a break. The change wasn’t a huge surprise but the Neonatalogists are concerned with the lags on her growth chart. It’s concerning when the Doc’s are concerned…enter stressor numero uno.

I went on with my visit and decided that maybe me and the munchkin just needed a skin-to-skin snuggle to reduce the tension. Well that turned into a desat/Brady bonanza! She had a huge Brady that required quite a bit of stimulation (aka back rubs and gentle shakes) to bring her around, a rise in her oxygen levels and a suggestion by the nurse that she be put back in her isolette. Snuggle time revoked. Thankfully Jonathan arrived just as this was all happening. As we put her back in the isolette she began to react as if she was choking. The nurse sat her up, suctioned her nose and mouth and as we attempted to set her up to go back to sleep, we realized her feeding tube was dislodged. Putting that back in we watched as she chocked, gagged and had a sneezing attack as it went back in place. To make matters worse, her temperature probe malfunctioned and needed to be replaced. It’s attached to her skin with a very thick and sticky duck shaped sticker, this is like a band-aid on steroids.

As they were attempting to remove this she started to cry out for the first time during all this chaos. Around this point my heart broke for everything that she was going through. This put me over the top in terms of feeling helpless. I couldn’t even give her a hug or kiss to comfort her. I managed to make it to the hallway of the NICU before letting the tears flow. Not like she would know if I cried at the bedside but I just didn’t want to break apart around her. She rarely cries and just chugs through all of her challenges as they come, as content and peaceful as possible. I felt I needed to be her rock. So in the hallway I leaned on my rock, I was so grateful to have had Jonathan to just hug me in that moment. Even if we were both equally as helpless. It may have been a culmination of all things NICU that made me break but at least it was a release point and a clean slate for tomorrow. Chin up and the positive vibes are in place for a new day!

Let me preface my story by saying that Sofia had been doing great since Halloween. She had so much fun in her costume and apparently enjoyed herself SO much that she hit 1000 grams on Halloween night! It must have been all the candy she had. It seemed she adjusted great to her new room and was progressing well.

That leads us to the last 4 days. Well Mommy ended up with Mastitis again this week and had to take 2 more days out of the NICU. Daddy did a great job, as usual, of picking up the slack and making sure that Sofia got at least one Kangaroo a day. She had a great week and of course I suspected blue skies and smooth sailing going into today, right? WRONG! So, from the top…

I went in to meet a new nurse today who delivered the news that Sofia’s nutrition had been changed today to half breast milk and half formula in order to get her off the fortifiers and get her more calories. The fortifiers can be hard to digest especially at the levels she had, she tolerated it fine but they wanted to give her a break. The change wasn’t a huge surprise but the Neonatalogists are concerned with the lags on her growth chart. It’s concerning when the Doc’s are concerned…enter stressor numero uno.

I went on with my visit and decided that maybe me and the munchkin just needed a skin-to-skin snuggle to reduce the tension. Well that turned into a desat/Brady bonanza! She had a huge Brady that required quite a bit of stimulation (aka back rubs and gentle shakes) to bring her around, a rise in her oxygen levels and a suggestion by the nurse that she be put back in her isolette. Snuggle time revoked. Thankfully Jonathan arrived just as this was all happening. As we put her back in the isolette she began to react as if she was choking. The nurse sat her up, suctioned her nose and mouth and as we attempted to set her up to go back to sleep, we realized her feeding tube was dislodged. Putting that back in we watched as she chocked, gagged and had a sneezing attack as it went back in place. To make matters worse, her temperature probe malfunctioned and needed to be replaced. It’s attached to her skin with a very thick and sticky duck shaped sticker, this is like a band-aid on steroids.

As they were attempting to remove this she started to cry out for the first time during all this chaos. Around this point my heart broke for everything that she was going through. This put me over the top in terms of feeling helpless. I couldn’t even give her a hug or kiss to comfort her. I managed to make it to the hallway of the NICU before letting the tears flow. Not like she would know if I cried at the bedside but I just didn’t want to break apart around her. She rarely cries and just chugs through all of her challenges as they come, as content and peaceful as possible. I felt I needed to be her rock. So in the hallway I leaned on my rock, I was so grateful to have had Jonathan to just hug me in that moment. Even if we were both equally as helpless. It may have been a culmination of all things NICU that made me break but at least it was a release point and a clean slate for tomorrow. Chin up and the positive vibes are in place for a new day!

Sofia had quite the busy weekend, lots of things to celebrate. Friday was her 4 Weekaversary and Glama and Papa Max drove all the way up from FL to visit. So this little baby girl had new faces bedside all weekend. Sofia even got some Daddy only time when Mommy left with Glama for a fee hours. Sunday was her 1 month mark! We can’t even believe she’s already 1 month old.And today is her first Halloween!

That is a whole lot of celebrating for someone so teeny. Of course there were some setbacks as always. Oxygen levels have been lowered to 21% oxygen, that’s considered room air-that’s what we all breath. But her weight gain stalled out and then dropped yesterday so we are back down to 2lbs1oz. The Neonatalogists are working on increasing the amount of her feeds and have added additional fortifiers. It’s a trial and error process to get her the nutrition balance just right for her and Mommy’s milk just might need a little something extra to help her gain.

But all in all a great weekend…plus, she got to wear her first Halloween costume! She is a little froggy since she looks like she has little froggy legs!!! Haha

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

Sofia had quite the busy weekend, lots of things to celebrate. Friday was her 4 Weekaversary and Glama and Papa Max drove all the way up from FL to visit. So this little baby girl had new faces bedside all weekend. Sofia even got some Daddy only time when Mommy left with Glama for a fee hours. Sunday was her 1 month mark! We can’t even believe she’s already 1 month old.And today is her first Halloween!

That is a whole lot of celebrating for someone so teeny. Of course there were some setbacks as always. Oxygen levels have been lowered to 21% oxygen, that’s considered room air-that’s what we all breath. But her weight gain stalled out and then dropped yesterday so we are back down to 2lbs1oz. The Neonatalogists are working on increasing the amount of her feeds and have added additional fortifiers. It’s a trial and error process to get her the nutrition balance just right for her and Mommy’s milk just might need a little something extra to help her gain.

But all in all a great weekend…plus, she got to wear her first Halloween costume! She is a little froggy since she looks like she has little froggy legs!!! Haha

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

Sofia had quite the busy weekend, lots of things to celebrate. Friday was her 4 Weekaversary and Glama and Papa Max drove all the way up from FL to visit. So this little baby girl had new faces bedside all weekend. Sofia even got some Daddy only time when Mommy left with Glama for a fee hours. Sunday was her 1 month mark! We can’t even believe she’s already 1 month old.And today is her first Halloween!

That is a whole lot of celebrating for someone so teeny. Of course there were some setbacks as always. Oxygen levels have been lowered to 21% oxygen, that’s considered room air-that’s what we all breath. But her weight gain stalled out and then dropped yesterday so we are back down to 2lbs1oz. The Neonatalogists are working on increasing the amount of her feeds and have added additional fortifiers. It’s a trial and error process to get her the nutrition balance just right for her and Mommy’s milk just might need a little something extra to help her gain.

But all in all a great weekend…plus, she got to wear her first Halloween costume! She is a little froggy since she looks like she has little froggy legs!!! Haha

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

“…for the troubles we see will soon be over; but the joys to come will last forever” 2 Corinthians 4:18
(inspired by a friends FB status)

I can’t believe it’s been four full weeks since my tiny baby girl was born. I feel like we are in a time warp, some days fly by and other times it feels like time is standing still and it’s such a long time till we get to bring her home.

She made some great strides this week. She made it to 2lbs and exceeded that to a big 2lbs2oz. Way to grow, Sweet pea! We got upgraded to the “glass rooms” yesterday. This means we were the strongest in the front room but now we are the little fish in the bigger baby pond. Our new room has less privacy, it’s a lot louder and much brighter. Sofie wasn’t a big fan on her first day in here yesterday but she’s adjusting little by little. A stressed out micro-preemie means more times they forget to breath or keep that heart rate up. Sometimes it means more time awake which leads to burning more calories and a lack or drop in weight gain. Her adjustment period is still in the works.

We still have our daily battles anyhow with oxygen desaturations, Brady’s and apnea spells and our newest issue is reflux…which causes all of the above, fantastic. It makes snuggle times during feedings quite the adventure when she has a big Brady while laying with me, it’s almost enough for me to need an oxygen mask myself from not breathing as I rub her back to get that tiny heart beating again and convincing her taking a big deep breath is a good thing. I’m destined for a few new grey hair by the end of this story, I’m sure.

But with all of the not so typical baby issues there are the very typical baby things. She’s already a total paci addict! She loves to just lay there, sucking on her paci and looking around. Oh, and don’t think tiny baby, easy diapers! No, no, that’s so not the case. Blow outs are not just for full term Mommas. Preemies have blow outs too! Big, stinky diapers are a Mommy rite of passage no matter how big or small our little miracles are.

“…for the troubles we see will soon be over; but the joys to come will last forever” 2 Corinthians 4:18
(inspired by a friends FB status)

I can’t believe it’s been four full weeks since my tiny baby girl was born. I feel like we are in a time warp, some days fly by and other times it feels like time is standing still and it’s such a long time till we get to bring her home.

She made some great strides this week. She made it to 2lbs and exceeded that to a big 2lbs2oz. Way to grow, Sweet pea! We got upgraded to the “glass rooms” yesterday. This means we were the strongest in the front room but now we are the little fish in the bigger baby pond. Our new room has less privacy, it’s a lot louder and much brighter. Sofie wasn’t a big fan on her first day in here yesterday but she’s adjusting little by little. A stressed out micro-preemie means more times they forget to breath or keep that heart rate up. Sometimes it means more time awake which leads to burning more calories and a lack or drop in weight gain. Her adjustment period is still in the works.

We still have our daily battles anyhow with oxygen desaturations, Brady’s and apnea spells and our newest issue is reflux…which causes all of the above, fantastic. It makes snuggle times during feedings quite the adventure when she has a big Brady while laying with me, it’s almost enough for me to need an oxygen mask myself from not breathing as I rub her back to get that tiny heart beating again and convincing her taking a big deep breath is a good thing. I’m destined for a few new grey hair by the end of this story, I’m sure.

But with all of the not so typical baby issues there are the very typical baby things. She’s already a total paci addict! She loves to just lay there, sucking on her paci and looking around. Oh, and don’t think tiny baby, easy diapers! No, no, that’s so not the case. Blow outs are not just for full term Mommas. Preemies have blow outs too! Big, stinky diapers are a Mommy rite of passage no matter how big or small our little miracles are.

“…for the troubles we see will soon be over; but the joys to come will last forever” 2 Corinthians 4:18
(inspired by a friends FB status)

I can’t believe it’s been four full weeks since my tiny baby girl was born. I feel like we are in a time warp, some days fly by and other times it feels like time is standing still and it’s such a long time till we get to bring her home.

She made some great strides this week. She made it to 2lbs and exceeded that to a big 2lbs2oz. Way to grow, Sweet pea! We got upgraded to the “glass rooms” yesterday. This means we were the strongest in the front room but now we are the little fish in the bigger baby pond. Our new room has less privacy, it’s a lot louder and much brighter. Sofie wasn’t a big fan on her first day in here yesterday but she’s adjusting little by little. A stressed out micro-preemie means more times they forget to breath or keep that heart rate up. Sometimes it means more time awake which leads to burning more calories and a lack or drop in weight gain. Her adjustment period is still in the works.

We still have our daily battles anyhow with oxygen desaturations, Brady’s and apnea spells and our newest issue is reflux…which causes all of the above, fantastic. It makes snuggle times during feedings quite the adventure when she has a big Brady while laying with me, it’s almost enough for me to need an oxygen mask myself from not breathing as I rub her back to get that tiny heart beating again and convincing her taking a big deep breath is a good thing. I’m destined for a few new grey hair by the end of this story, I’m sure.

But with all of the not so typical baby issues there are the very typical baby things. She’s already a total paci addict! She loves to just lay there, sucking on her paci and looking around. Oh, and don’t think tiny baby, easy diapers! No, no, that’s so not the case. Blow outs are not just for full term Mommas. Preemies have blow outs too! Big, stinky diapers are a Mommy rite of passage no matter how big or small our little miracles are.

Today Sofia is 29 weeks and she had a really great day. Drum roll please on the weight verdict…

We hit the 2lb mark!!!

So excited that she’s putting on weight so well. We had a great weekend with her too.

She kangarooed and watched football with Daddy on Sunday. On Saturday we distributed pumpkins to all our NICU neighbors to pay forward some of the kindness that we have received from friends, family and perfect strangers. We hope to keep getting the opportunity to pay it forward.

Congrats Sofie on hitting TWO POUNDS!!!