Wide awake and ready to grow

I had two great visits with the tiny bird today.  This morning we had a quiet cuddle that was so relaxing for both of us that I almost fell asleep too.  I think that my stress level goes down significantly when   I hold her.  Tonight when Grandpa "Berries" (just arrived from Toronto), and I arrived, we were greeted by this bright eyed little thing.  She put on a good show for Grandpa and was wide awake for about half an hour while we were there.

Look closely and you can see the double chin just starting and her cheeks are filling in too.

She wasn't so calm and content a few minutes later when she was weighed, but it was just a quick moment out in the cool air before she was tucked back in for her bedtime snack.  We're up to 19mL per feed, so while she's not exactly burning through the milk, she's got a pretty full round tummy after that amount goes in.  Her nurses have been plotting her weight gain on the growth chart and her curve is going up quite nicely right now.  She chomped away on her soother for a few minutes tonight before she was fed as well, another good sign that she is getting ready for bottles and breastfeeding.

She's looking better every day isn't she!

Thank you all so much for your love, support, wishes and prayers.  She is doing miraculously well.

busybusybusy

Just a quick update tonight.  We are on night two in our new house and our internet got hooked up today so we're back in action.  The kitchen is almost organized, but the rest of the house is a crazy mess.  We've hardly moved any of our furniture so it's a bit like camping.  The house is painted many, many shades of pink which pleases Sophie immensely.  We grown-ups can't wait to have some time to get at it with a paintbrush.  Sophie and Ollie are happily settling in, making new friends and discovering the neighbourhood.  Greg and Ollie are fighting a cold and I am trying really hard not to get it.  Somebody has to stay healthy to be able to visit the little babe.
Sadie was sleeping soundly this morning, so I just peeked at her for a while while I delivered her daily dairy.  She had a few bradys last night so they are keeping an eye on that, but it doesn't seem to be a big issue.  Her brain still sometimes forgets to tell her lungs to keep breathing.  She will grow out of this alarming habit soon we hope!  Her nurse tonight tells us she is starting to learn how to swallow a little bit of milk from a syringe while they are feeding her, and seems to be getting the hang of it.  She even had a few slurps on a bottle yesterday but got tired very quickly.  It's a lot more work for her to drink the milk herself than it is to have it dumped into her tummy through her tube.  She should start to co-ordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing more in the next week.  Her weight gains have been great, considering her poops have also been plentiful.  She is at 1260 grams or 2lbs10.  My pictures wouldn't upload tonight so I'm giving up and going to bed.  I'll try again tomorrow to post a fresh pic of our positively gigantic baby and maybe even a glimpse of the pink palace.

The weighting game

Yesterday, when the doctors came by on rounds, they started to talk about Sadie coming home.  "Now don't get excited" they said, she's not coming home for a while.  They just wanted to prepare us for the weeks ahead.  Their best guess was about another month in hospital, depending of course on how Miss Princess performs.  She is gaining weight well now, so hopefully that continues.  She is 1140g (two and a half pounds)  and they hope to have her at four pounds by the time she comes home.  She also needs to be feeding well (bottle and breast) and hopefully she'll be done with any oxygen by that time.  So our job for now continues to be primarily cheerleading with some skin-to-skin cuddles and tube feeds thrown in.  

Tonight we are going to attend a block party for our new street.  It's such good timing for us to meet our neighbours.  Aside from the fact that it's a potluck and we are supposed to bring a main dish and I have no time or energy to cook (pizza anyone?),  it should be a nice couple of hours of diversion from our part-time jobs (Sadie and moving).  The kids are looking forward to checking out the new playground too.  I had a dream last night that some people came to look at our Cochrane house.  Here's hoping they materialize and make us an offer!  

Bulking up

This is what lunch looks like for Sadie (and the other 11 feedings a day).  The nurses call it a "drop-in" feed, as opposed to a bottle feed.  It takes about five minutes for the milk to drain slowly into her tummy,  and she doesn't even have to be awake to have a meal.

Today Greg did the honours.  We are enjoying the more hands-on nature of the Rockyview.

We can now officially claim to have a baby in the Kilo club.  She is 1060g as of this morning (2lbs 5oz).    They don't have the mini diapers at the Rockyview, so she wears the big preemie size.  They are more like pants for her, and they come up to her armpits if you don't fold them down.  She has to be at least in the newborn size by the time she comes home because the preemie dipes come in tiny packages and they are fairly pricey (even for a princess).  She is able to tolerate a bit more handling this week and isn't as jumpy as she was even a week ago.  We both held her for a good amount of time today and have noticed that she doesn't seem to mind a little gentle rocking.  Aaah, how soothing.  I confess I had a little nap myself in the comfy glider chair.

Off for a date with the pump, then bed.  The demands of the kindergarden schedule are killing us in the morning so we can't stay up too late.  Sophie is loving school and has some great little friends there.  Ollie would like to go too, but is happy wherever he is as long as he is clutching his favourite ball of the day, his comfort item of choice.  

Five days until we move.  Looking forward to unpacking the non-maternity pants.  Not looking forward to a weekend of packing.  I think I can I think I can I think I can.

New Digs

The tiny bird seems to have settled in to the new nest very quickly.  The atmosphere is more relaxed at the Rockyview, probably because there are more big babies with less serious issues there.  Sadie has impressed her new docs with her feistiness and strength despite her size.  They are figuring out if they can pump up her feeds and nutrition even more to maximize her growth.  We are in support of anything that can fatten her up!

Her new bed is nicely tucked away in the back of the NICU.

She seems to settle better on her tummy still, and is less able to pull out her tubes than when she is on her back.  She looked great to us today.  She must be a well adjusted kid to have adapted to all of these changes so quickly.  Grow baby grow.

Hittin' the road

   

This is what four week old Sadie looked like this morning when I went in to visit.  Sleepy, sweet and swathed in pink.  I'm hoping that the weeks to come will pass as quickly as the last four.

Not long after I arrived, the sad news came that she had to pack her bags and hit the road.  The baby hotel at the Foothills was filled to capacity and they needed to free up some beds for sicker babies.  They arranged for her to be transported this afternoon to the Rockyview Hospital's NICU.  On one hand,  we were very sad to leave the Foothills, as they have taken such great care of us there, and on the other hand,  Sadie being stable enough to move is something  to celebrate.  I admit I wallowed in self-pity for a few minutes and there were tears.  I like familiarity, and since we have had very little life outside the hospital in the last month, we have made friends there and become comfortable with the staff and procedures.  Alas, I couldn't talk them out of evicting us, so the transport team arrived to pick up the precious cargo.

She looked very sweet and settled in her traveling bed.

Such a tiny little person on that big stretcher full of gear (with cases of frozen breastmilk perched on top)

We met her at the Rockyview, and once she had been settled into her new home, we set off for home.  It will take a few days to settle into the new environment ourselves, but hopefully it will be where we stay until she is big enough to bring home.  Our kids were so tired after waiting around all afternoon for everything to happen, so we will head back in the morning for a good visit.  We are all pretty pooped.

The kids always manage to add a bit of levity to even the most stressful day.  They found some pull-ups in the van and made fancy hats out of them!  Laughter, tears and travels all packed into one very long day.  Oh, and a milestone of sorts.  Sadie weighed in at just over a kilogram when we arrived at the Rockyview.  It's probably not very accurate, since she has never gained that much in a day before, but she's close!

Nearing One Month!

It's hard to believe, but we are edging ever closer to "celebrating" a full month in the Foothills NICU.  Sadie was born on August 24th, making today her 28th day.  Reaching the one month point on Wednesday will be an important milestone, as a high percentage of the complications that can negatively impact preemies, occur during the first 30 days.  Including Christy's three week stay, we are edging ever closer to our third month at the Foothills!

Fortunately, Sadie has managed to dodge several rounds of baby transfers to the Peter Lougheed Centre and to the Rocky View Hospital!  Listening to the news, we know there are bed shortages and funding issues in health care, but it has been very interesting to see the impact first hand. The Foothills NICU has a mandate to keep a minimum number of level 3 beds open (Highest level of care), and so they have to constantly shuffle babies around to other hospitals to make room.  When they know they have new arrivals coming, they quickly jump into action and search for babies that are stable enough to move to another hospital.  "If your baby is stable enough to move", they tell us, "you should be happy with her progress!"  This is absolutely true, however, for the most part we have a hand picked team of nurses looking after our little princess, good relationships with her doctors and we have good routines established.  Moving to another hospital, although likely inevitable, will force us to re-establish these routines and start the process of building new relationships.  Our preference, should we have to move, is to go to the Rocky View, which will be significantly easier to get to from our new house, rather than traversing the city to get to the PLC.  Unfortunately, the decision is based on where there is a bed, although they do make every effort to avoid major inconvenience to the families.  I wonder if the Rocky View has a Good Earth Cafe?

Anyway, Sadie continues to be on auto-pilot.  Her weight bounces up and down daily, but is trending up and she is edging ever closer to the 1 kg mark.  As of last night, she weighed roughly 950 grams.  She continues to receive oxygen through nasal prongs, which is clearly still necessary, as her sats drop almost instantly when she manages to pull them out of her nose.  At her present weight, there is not a huge amount of room in her gut for both a full stomach and fully inflated lungs.  Something has to give and so her sats typically drop and her work of breathing increases when her tummy is full of milk.  As she grows and creates more real-estate, her dependency on oxygen should abate, but it is not uncommon for babies to be sent home on oxygen.  We likely have another full month to go before we bring Sadie home and our family feels complete once again, and so hopefully this month will speed by as quickly as the first.  Have a good week everyone.   G  

Baby Trivia:

Smallest surviving Baby on record: 244 g (September 2004)   Sadie = 720 g (August 2009)

Notable Preemies: Johannes Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein...

"Incavator"

Sophie is a nurturer.  She has been baby crazy since before she could say baby.  Her first doll at age one was baby Stella who she would rock and pat and put to bed endlessly.  She is completely thrilled with her little sister Sadie, who is basically all of her wishes come true.  While Greg and I have been visiting the real NICU,  Sophie has created her own little ward in the basement.  The babies are in their "incavators" and take turns being on the change table (a.k.a. the operating table) for various procedures.  I am surprised at what she has picked up from our discussions.  These babies get injections, have their blood pressure taken, diapers changed, I.V. lines and feeding tubes inserted.  Big cousin Kendra, who has been our superstar sitter lately, has helped her write each babies name on a kleenex bandage wrapped around their heads.  Sometimes it is so quiet down there that I think she is up to some kind of mischief, so I peek in on her and she is rocking a baby and singing it a sweet little song.  The girl loves babies.  If she doesn't have a doll on hand, she will sometimes pretend she is holding an imaginary baby.  Last week she carried pretend baby Levi (her newest cousin) around constantly.  It is so interesting for us to watch how she has been impacted by her new sibling, and encouraging too.  We have taught her how to say Pediatrician and Neonatologist and realistically, either career choice would allow her to take care of us in our old age.  We'd better keep putting money into her RESP's!

Seriously though, it would be hard to love this tender, sweet, gentle girl more than we do.  She is a very special little person and we just adore her.

The babies in the Bearspaw NICU

Sadie was doing well today and is now edging ever closer to the 1kilo mark with her current weigh-in of 953g.  It seems they have figured out the right amount of calories to add to her milk and have increased her feeds as well.

I think that waiting for this sweet little bird to join us in the new nest is going to be like waiting for Christmas.

How to hold a tiny bird

It's pretty different to hold a baby the size of Sadie.  In fact, it isn't really like holding a baby at all.  I think most of us have some natural things that we do while holding a baby.  We sway, we pat, we rock, we stroke, we bounce.  After Ollie,  I was so used to constantly holding a baby that I would sway side to side even when I wasn't holding him.  With Sadie it is so different.  They have these big vinyl recliners in the nursery, and once you are all gowned up and sitting, the nurse hands you the baby.  It can be a little tricky to get the wires and tubes all out of the isolette and not tangle the baby up in them.  Once she is settled on your chest, you basically sit very still and try not to over-stimulate her.  So no rocking, bouncing, swaying, patting, stroking.  It is really important to keep her airway straight so she can breathe properly, you can tell right away if her head is slouching onto her chest because her oxygen levels start to dip.  If she gets fed while she is lying on you, she usually falls asleep really soundly.  I find that when I relax, Sadie relaxes, so it usually takes us a few minutes to find our snuggle groove.  We like to hold her little hand if we can.
I know that in the next several weeks she will mature and grow to the point where we can truly cuddle her. She is still about 7 weeks away from her due date so we have to be patient.  She lasted 15 hours without her nasal prongs the other night, so she is still acting like her tiny superhero self.  

In other news, we narrowly escaped transfer to another hospital that is a MUCH longer drive, so cross your fingers that we can stay at the Foothills for a while longer.  We are in the midst of a pile of boxes packing up our house to move in 11 days (also cross your fingers that the house SELLS soon so we can move our furniture too).  More details on the move-in party to come.....

Tiny bird flies solo

Oh this baby.  She never ceases to amaze me.  When I got to her bedside last night I stood there gazing at her, admiring how sweet she looked in her p.j.'s,  and how much she has changed in three weeks.  Then it hit me.  Something was different. The reason her nose was looking so cute was because there was nothing in it.  No nasal prongs.  So I looked up at the monitor to see how she was doing and her oxygen levels were the same as always.  She was breathing all by herself, and apparently had been free of any extra air-flow since noon.  Apparently they decided to give it a try because her nose was a bit irritated from the air blowing constantly and she was having lots of secretions (boogies) that were keeping her from taking big breaths.  I am fully expecting we will see her with nasal prongs again, it's a bit more work for her without the little whiff of air helping her out, but it was so nice to see more of that little face.

The nurse getting ready to assess Sadie.

Then, if that wasn't enough, her nurse decided to change the feeding tube so I got a full-face view.  She still has the little stickers that keep her tubes in place on her cheeks, but the rest of her was looking great.  The yellow tube behind her is a bit of extra oxygen for her while we were changing her and getting her new feeding tube in.  She tends to lose a bit of oxygen when she is mad!  Our next small victory was when we weighed her, and she is back above 2lbs, (916g) which hopefully means all of the goodies they have been adding to her milk are going to help her fatten up.

                                      

Sadie without tape moustache (a little grouchy).

Once her feeding tube had been re-positioned into her left nostril, the nurse had me sit in the comfy cuddle chair and we put her snuggled up to my breast as a little experiment.  Well that teeny tiny little girl knew just what to do.  I wasn't expecting anything but a cuddle, but she opened her mouth and we managed to get her latched on for a couple of small strong sucks.  As we were trying this new skill, the nurse fed her through her tube and we had a great cuddle.  She was so happy and her vitals on the monitor were better than ever.  There is a full page brochure that they have taped near her bed about the development of feeding behaviours.  We are just at the beginning of the process, and she is figuring out what's called "non-nutrititive" sucking, which basically means she will suck on a soother once in a while.  Over the next couple of weeks she is going to be able to coordinate breathing and sucking and swallowing so will be able to start bottle-feeding and nursing for real.  It was a really encouraging first step for us.  I was so proud and it felt like one of the first "normal" moments we've shared as mom and baby. She's so advanced for her age!

I got her dressed in a nice cozy sleeper and settled onto her new gel pillow (so her head doesn't get flat spots) and off I went with the picture of my smart, heavy, tubeless baby tucked in my pocket.

Chugging Along!

Sadie continues to do well, with nothing major to report!  Her team has been tweaking her nutrition to get her growing again after her small weight loss this week.  We are told that this is not a big deal, and that they are taking slow, cautious steps in order to avoid causing her immature digestive system any problems.  At her weigh in tonight, she dropped a bit more, but the nurse showed me how she is still holding her growth curve, which is encouraging.  Apparently most babies her size in the NICU take about 3 weeks to regain their birth weight and she did that a long time ago!  She gets weighed every night around 8 pm just before our evening cuddle!  Tonight it was my turn (daddy's) to go hold the peanut, but don't worry, we take turns.  We are both beginning to get proficient at feeding her through her tube, and changing diapers through the portholes of the isolette.  

 

The biggest happening of the day was that young miss Sophie had her first day of Kindergarden.  She was a bit stressed out beforehand, citing her inability to do a lower case "e" as the reason she couldn't possibly go to school. She also said she was never wearing anything but pajamas again.  Luckily we talked her out of that one so she wouldn't look like the weird kid right off the bat!  

As anticipated she was nonchalant when we dropped her off and said, "you can go now" to her emotional and clingy parents who were acting a bit like the paparazzi.  In the end, it was a successful morning for all, with Ollie having a date with Nana, a visit with the featherweight champion of the NICU,  and even a 15 minute coffee date with JUST US.  Apparently kindergarden was great too.  And so our daily routines continue to evolve.....

the naked truth

Sadie apparently had enough lounging around in her birthday suit and put on her first little sleeper.  She looks like a real baby, or at least one of those real-looking dollies.  After her weigh-in tonight, we have decided to report on her weight weekly, instead of daily, because she...... um.... well, she shrunk a bit.  It's probably nothing to worry about, but when they pulled out her IV, she had a bit less fluid going in, and she's bound to be a little lighter after conducting her business in her wee diaper.  Pees, poops and feedings can all have a big impact on her tiny little body and so the timing of the weigh-ins can have a significant influence on the daily figure.  To maintain our sanity, we will try to ignore these small daily setbacks or increases, and focus instead on her week over week gains.  It is amazing how much anxiety one can feel when reading the digital display on the side of the scale in the nursery.  Have a great weekend everyone!    

(Sadie being weighed outside of her Isolette - Apparently she didn't like being stripped of all her warm blankies, because she was not very happy when this picture was taken!  She is definitely a feisty little girl!)

Movin' on up!

Sadie got promoted today.  When we peeked in on her earlier, she was not in her usual parking space.  Having been prepared for this by a previous move, I didn't panic.  Ok, I panicked a little bit.  The nurse in her old room told me to go down the hall, past the milk fridge and turn left and she would be the second baby I would come to.  Sure enough, there she was, sleeping away in her gazillion dollar princess bed.  No longer on the I.C.U. side, but on the Special Care side of the nursery.  This means that she is doing very well, and doesn't need quite as high a level of care anymore.  The nurses in the Special Care area usually take care of 3 babies at a time, instead of 2 in the I.C.U. side.  
She has been on nasal prongs exclusively for the last day and a half, and seems to be mature enough to handle the breathing on her own for the most part.  She is almost at full feeds (150 mL per Kg per day), and they have started fortifying my breastmilk with the extras that she was receiving through her I.V. line.  She's still not making a dent in the approximately 14L surplus I have stashed in the hospital deep-freeze, but at this rate will be catching up in no time.  Apparently her IV is going to be removed at midnight tonight so she will start tomorrow as "Sadie Unplugged".  
Greg has gone back in to be papa kangaroo for the evening with the camera in his pocket, and I promised I would go to bed early, so I don't have any new photos for tonight's update.  I do have some favourite pics that I don't think you have seen yet.

The first time we held hands.

Greg with our little handful.

Sophie's first peek.

Sadie's "beach" day under the lamps to treat mild jaundice on day 3. 

Note the cool shades.

More to come on how our little superhero is doing tomorrow.  I feel like I should sew her a tiny cape.  Or maybe I should go to bed.

A weighty subject

Things that weigh two pounds (or so):
A costco bag of coffee
A pair of shoes (big shoes)
2 good books
A 32oz steak
8 big macs
2 blocks of butter
A container of baby wipes
1L of water
SADIE ROBIN!!!!

Tonight she weighed in at 910 grams.  She is edging closer to being fed exclusively by mouth and will likely be able to have her IV taken out in a couple of days.  She's doing really well with her breathing and is much easier to cuddle with less tubes strapped to her face.

Sadie the champ!

A pat on the back from dad!

We are so proud!  

Two Weeks Old!

Yesterday we decided to hit the annual Labour Day parade in Cochrane, a good old-fashioned small town parade.  It is not overly long, like the Stampede parade, has a good selection of horses, floats, clowns, and funny vehicles, but best of all THEY THROW CANDY!  We ran into some of our neighbours, grabbed a bit of curb and enjoyed the show (and the "Olliepops")

One of those semi-rare moments of mutual sibling adoration.

Greg went in to the hospital for the afternoon shift and apparently Sadie was being "boring".  That means she was sleeping soundly, breathing evenly and not making any of her machines beep.  

When I went back in the evening, she was a bit more alert, and ready to cuddle.  The red glow on her face is the Oxygen saturation monitor strapped to her hand.  The gave me a mirror so I could see her face better while we sat together.  She looked so cute and cozy in her little toque and she was awake, so we had some great discussions.  I taught her the alphabet and some other essentials, tomorrow we will work on fractions and algebra.

When we tucked her in for the night,  we weighed her and she is up to 873g, only a couple more days and she should hit 2lbs.  She waved goodnight to me when I left.  What a clever baby!

Daddy's "Fuzzy" Cuddle

    Today I snuck into the hospital before anyone was out of bed and had a quick visit with all 834g of Sadie.  She was very tired because they had her on nasal prongs for 15 hours last night.  That's like running a marathon for her.  They are trying to ease her off of the cpap, (the mask and tubes over her nose) because it is a bit more invasive, and get her doing all the breathing work by herself.  I changed her tiny poopy diaper for the first time. Not bad, 13 days old and I've only changed one!   Instead of disturbing her by getting her out to cuddle, I came home and played with the big kids.

    Sophie is a super little biker and Ollie has just figured out pedaling and steering so he's pretty keen to try to keep up.  It's nice to have these little interludes of "normal" in the day.  

   Greg and I went back to the hospital tonight and checked in on the little princess, who now apparently is up to 851g.  Her feeds have increased to almost 5mL every 2 hours.  As she gains weight, she is also getting more fats and proteins through her IV.  

It was time for a skin to skin cuddle with Greg, so he bared his fuzzy chest and she settled right in.  I'm not sure who enjoyed it more.

   Although Sadie is doing very well, we are feeling that this is going to be a long road.  We are starting to have those fierce parental feelings of wanting to protect her and keep her safe, but there is so much right now that is out of our control.  It is good to have our other little ones close and to have all of your love and caring to wrap around us like a warm blanket when we are feeling stressed.  We will reach another milestone tomorrow when Sadie turns two weeks old!  

Ollie gets his turn to meet Sadie!

We missed posting last night because I was at the hospital until late cuddling with the little princess.  When I got back to my dad's house, the kids were cuddled together in one bed (Ollie starts in a separate bed but seems to sneak in beside Sophie most nights), and my dad was chasing a giant porcupine off of his deck with a golf club. It's never boring lately.
Earlier in the day we had a quick visit with both kids in tow.  Ollie had expressed interest in meeting Sadie, so Greg scrubbed him in and took him for a peek.  When I asked what he thought he said "She's really small" and went back to colouring.  Apparently he was quite interested in all the other babies.  Maybe he thinks it's like a baby store where you choose one to bring home!

Ollie's first peek

Evenings are a good time to visit Sadie when the big kids are busy with one of us doing bedtime.  Sadie's nurse offered up a snuggle around 9:00, so we put her on my chest and she held my thumb for an hour while we cuddled.  I know the words to about a million songs, but I couldn't think of any, so I made up my own little humming version of my Grandma Grace's famous LaLa's that used to bore all the babies to sleep and she settled right in.  She is very strong, which she proved with her grip on me, and her ability to lift and turn her head- wow!  When we put her back in and changed her diaper she peed all over the place so she obviously has her brother's sense of humour.  Her little bottom is the funniest thing because there is no fat in her cheeks.  It's like a little monkey bum! 

Sadie's tiny diaper beside Ollie's big one.  The funny thing is that her diapers are really baggy on her, but they don't make a size smaller!  Sophie's doll is wearing one of them too.

Dressed for bed

Sadie has a new IV line in her foot that replaces the one in her umbilicus that delivers her amino acids, fats, and a whole mixture of other things to keep her healthy and balanced.  She gets caffeine to stimulate her breathing because without it, she sometimes forgets.  Babies in utero would just be "practice breathing" intermittently, so she is developing that part of her nervous system faster out of necessity.  I just got off the phone to the hospital (there is a Sadie hotline that we can call at any hour for an update) and the best news of all is that she weighed 820 grams  with a whopping weight gain of 24 grams.  Thats 1lb 13oz.  Keep cheering for her.  It's working!

Daddy Gets a Cuddle

Daddy got to have his first cuddle tonight.  Sadie was pretty relaxed, but eventually she started to cry like a tiny kitten, so we put her back in her Isolette.  Speaking of which, she got a new home tonight.  The NICU only has 8 of the fancy Isolettes, which apparently cost $80,000 each and they reserve these for high risk babies.  Because Sadie is doing so well, they gave her a new, less fancy Isolette tonight.  She doesn't seem to mind her new home, and I'm sure she loves the Tigger, Piglet and Pooh Bear blanket they gave her today!  Just before we left tonight, the nurse weighed her in at 796 g, which isn't a huge increase from yesterday, but we'll take it! Her feeds have once again increased to 3mL every 2 hours so she will hopefully hit the 800g mark tomorrow.  Stay tuned!   

Sleeping Beauty

When we left Wednesday night, Sadie was having her beauty sleep!   She is tolerating her feeds and is up to 1.8 ml every 2 hours.  She seems to enjoy having a full tummy.  Good night Sadie, dream of tiny ponies!

Thank you for your incredible generosity!

Christy and I need to send out a HUGE THANK YOU for the incredible gifts, cards and well wishes we received this week!  Staff at the Calgary Science School rallied together and provided us with all kinds of gifts for Sadie, along with many thoughtful things to help us out.  We are really touched and feel overwhelmed by all the support we are receiving from everyone.  Thank you!  

Kangaroo care begins!

Tonight I had my first skin to skin cuddle with Sadie.  It was AWESOME.  She really seemed to enjoy it too, I watched her heart rate and her breathing even out as we snuggled. Mine too! She really does feel more like a little bird than a baby with her delicate little body.  The skin to skin contact is apparently very good for growth in these little babes, so I can imagine that I will be spending a great deal more time like this.  Greg is patiently waiting for his turn to cuddle.  I don't think she will mind his furry chest one bit!

While we were putting her back to bed, she had a few minutes with no tubes, or air blowing in her nose.  Aside from the tape on her top lip that holds her feeding tube in place, you can get a pretty good sense of what she looks like.  Her eyes are a bit puffy from the cpap mask that she usually has on, otherwise she is a perfect little skinny-mini version of me when I was born.

We are also very pleased to report that the latest tests came back and everything checked out ok!  We were worried about a genetic test they were running, but she passed this one too!  Way to go Sadie!

Sadie turns 8 (days old) and is growing!

Sadie waves to the camera as she enjoys her beauty sleep.  As of Tuesday September 1 at 5:13 pm, Sadie has increased her weight to 792 grams.  This means she has gained 72 grams since her birth.  She is still breathing room air but the tube you can see in the picture (called CPap), is blowing the air into her nose.  The nurses compare it to driving down the highway and sticking your head out the window!  This makes it easier for her to breathe, reducing the number of calories she has to burn, and helps her keep the weight she is slowly putting on.  She is now getting 1.6 mL of breast milk every two hours!  At that rate, mommy is making enough milk for 10 Sadies, and the box of milk in the fridge at the hospital is starting to get pretty full!  G and C!  

Sadie has her first Snuggle with Mommy!

  

Sadie turned 1 week old today.  Her first week has been a very busy one with doctors and nurses doing lots of tests to make sure that she is ok!  When she was born, she weighed 720 grams.  Over the week, her weight has bounced up and down, but she is now slightly above her birthweight (749 g), which is great.  They are feeding her ever so slowly with just a few milliliters of breast milk every few hours through a tube in her tummy.  They start out slowly to make sure her digestive system is working properly.  They will steadily increase the amount of milk she receives as she gets bigger.  The nurses tell us that everything in the NICU is done by weight!  They also tell us that Sadie is the boss and that she tells them what she needs.  Apparently cuddling is a great way to help the baby relax and so mommy got her first cuddle this week.  Daddy hasn’t had a cuddle yet, but he did get to hold her in his hands while her bedding and diaper were changed.  Sadie’s big sister Sophie got her first chance to meet her little sister on Saturday and she was absolutely thrilled.  

As we move into Sadie’s second week in the NICU, we will get more test results back.  These results should give us a clearer picture of how she is doing.  Please check back for more updates soon!