Anna

Guess Who Turned One?

2011-07-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

Three Little Birds / Elizabeth Mitchell

One year ago, on July 7^th, a beautiful girl named Anna was born. Incredibly, this past year has just flown by and with the amount of growth and progress our little girl has gone through, one can't even tell she was born 14 weeks early. We are extremely lucky that she has had no major issues this past year and by the strength and intelligence she shows now, we are certain she will thrive in her coming years.

She has come such a long way and finally she was able to celebrate this tremendous milestone of turning 1. With no lack of love and attention Anna leaps towards her 2^nd year of life with smiles, giggles and an unprecedented eagerness to learn.

As Anna soon starts crawling, walking, talking (and of course occupying herself with innocent mischief) we will be faced with new challenges but we take comfort and pride in the fact that these are challenges filled with enjoyment and prosperity with and for Anna.

From being fed through tubes and unable to breathe on her own a year ago, to eating (and sometimes throwing) mashed potatoes and showing off her own little language to anyone who is willing to listen, she just surprises us every day! There is not a single day that we take for granted. We are immensely proud of our beautiful daughter and we look forward to the future and sharing many-many more years and milestones to come.

Here are just a couple of videos of Anna; the first one was about 2 months ago when she was learning how to roll over and mastering her "monster growl" voice --turn up the volume haha -- and the second one is from a few weeks ago of her playing/babbling. What a difference a few weeks make!

Marta & Arthur

Anna's 9 month Update

2011-04-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Anna had her visit from the nurses today and all good news again! She is developmentally where an 8 month old would be so again, she's not quite where a baby her real age would be, but definitely not in the range of a 6 month old (she is 6 months and 4 days corrected and about 9.5 months old true age) ~ are you as confused as I am?? :)

She is now able to sit by herself for a few minutes, although the reflex to not fall backwards won't kick in for another couple of months. I'm not sure when this happened, it sort of happened really slowly but I really noticed it today when she sat unassisted for almost 5 minutes without tipping over!

She's not crawling yet, nowhere near actually, that's the only thing she is a bit delayed with -- the tummy time part of it anyway (again from the weakness in her arms/chest but that's nothing new). So we'll just keep practicing and hopefully one day she'll stop hating tummy time and get stronger and stronger!

She is eating big girl rice cookies and bread, along with her purees that we make here. The nurse even suggested we start giving her smaller things to eat/play with because her pincer reflex has already developed (that's a 9 month old milestone!). Another big milestone is her banging things, it represents something about her being aware of object permanence. They also showed us how to practice some things with her so she doesn't become dependant on only using her voice to communicate. This way she will learn that she can verbalize through body language as well, and in the long run this means she will be more independent instead of just crying for someone to do things for her. Cool stuff...I would never know any of this if these wonderful nurses didn't come by every few months!

She also had an appointment with her Pediatrician this week and she is 18 pounds on the dot (8.2kg) and 27 1/4 inches (69.2 cm) --> which is in the 95 percentile range of babies at 6 months old and her weight, well that's off the charts and is more in the range of where a 9 month old would be. But, that means she only gained one pound since her last visit a few weeks back. So she is starting to burn more calories and get more lean since she started sitting and moving around a lot more in the last few weeks. The nurses even commented today on what a long baby she is!

Showing off her new sunglasses!


Taking a break from her busy life :)

I say, start 'em early!

Always laughing at something

Daddy's Girl

Sitting like a big girl in her new highchair :)

Our first meal together at the table

We are so proud of her accomplishments and I can't believe still to this day that she was born at 25 weeks and 5 days and has absolutely nothing wrong with her; physically or developmentally. I am so glad that our biggest problem is what she puts in her mouth, or crying because she is too tired! She came out of this whole ordeal unscathed; she is one strong baby and her big brother was definitely watching over her!

M.A.A.

Oh how time flies!

2011-02-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a difference a month makes! Anna has sure grown, physically and developmentally! You would never think that she was a micro-preemie, born so early. I'm often reminiscing about how small she used to be, not that I miss it, I love that she has some nice drumsticks and a little belly to blow bubbles on. I'm just always comparing because she used to be so frail and I wanted her to grow so badly, now that she is, I'm just really happy to see her thriving.

We visited the Pediatrician today for her RSV shot, she will get her last set on March 4th and then we are done for this season. I hope hope hope that we succeeded in her avoiding getting sick. But I can't speak too soon, there's still a month and a half of winter left to battle through.

In any case, she is doing great and you can tell she's really growing now. She's starting to grab things on purpose (so cute!), she's putting everything in her mouth and I mean everything that lands in her hands. She also watches us eat and drink which the Pediatrician said is a good sign that she is ready for solids. So we will be starting her on the rice cereal soon in a bowl. We did this a few weeks ago just to try it out and she really took to it like a big girl so I'm sure she won't have problems at all.

Here's a few pictures of the big Monkey from recently. Oh and she is now officially 7 months old (3 months and 3 weeks corrected).

Here's a little video of her learning how to laugh :)

M.A.A.

Anna's Monthly Weigh In

2011-01-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

So, a bit of a misunderstanding with the Pediatrician last time. We were told she was 12 pounds at the last appointment but she was in fact 10 pounds. So this puts her at 13 pounds today which is a healthy weight gain of 3 pounds in one month. She is already fitting very comfortably in 6 month size clothing, and I don't think it will be too long before she reaches the 9 month size. She is almost outgrowing her car seat soon too, a couple of more inches and we'll have to get her a big girl seat. Which means no more click and go for me :) She'll be coming out of the seat every time which is a bit hard at this point because she's still too little to sit on her own.

It's so wonderful to see her growing so big though! Her development seems to be on track as well:

She coos and smiles (and even lets out a few giggles now and then)
She kicks and waves her arms and legs when she is excited
She is able to recognize people
She sees quite far and is able to smile back at you even if you are a few feet away
She is able to follow objects from side to side
She can hold things when something touches her hand or if you put something in her hand, and she has discovered how to bring her fist to her mouth
Although she hates "tummy time" she is very good at it when she tries! Her head control is amazing but she just really dislikes being on her tummy and being frustrated.

But all in all, she is still such a good baby, just has a really nice demeanor and doesn't cry much. Today at the Pediatrician's appointment she was such a good girl when she received her shots. Now she will only have 2 RSV shots left for the season (until March) and then she will get her regular baby shots again when she reaches 1 in July.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that she doesn't get sick this season. We are washing our hands every time we come home from the store or appointments and trying to be very careful not to get sick.

So that's all that is new, here are a few pictures from today before her appointment. :)

M.A.A

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2010-12-26T18:10:00.000-08:00

With having Anna here with us and moving into our new home, this has pretty much been the perfect Christmas for us in a long time. We couldn't have asked for more than to share it with family and our little girl. We're still astounded to see her at times; knowing how much we wished to have a healthy baby with us to share this holiday.

It's been a hectic few days/weeks and here's a few pictures to capture baby's first Christmas:

Anna LOVES all of her gifts from family and friends and she wanted Mommy to send everyone a big Merry Christmas and thank everyone for the wonderful presents and for thinking of her! :)

Marta, Arthur and Anna

Memories

2010-12-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

As we approach almost five months with Anna being with us, it's hard not to look back at the second hardest thing we've all had to face as a family, but with a happy outcome this time.

Just wanted to thank everyone again for their support, we know it hasn't been the easiest 5 months and Anna's birth was so unexpected; you could say we are still in shock. So here's to getting through 66 days in the NICU!

Thanks everyone for your continued support!

Please press play for both :)

You are my sunshine - Elizabeth Mitchell

Create a Free Slideshow

Speak into my good ear(s)?

2010-12-02T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

As you all remember, Anna had a hearing test back in the NICU last September and got a 'referral' for her left ear. This means that they couldn't quite pass her, which could have meant she had just slept on her ear, had some dirt in there or she could not hear from that side.

She had her referral appointment yesterday and it was really interesting. They hooked her up to four probes, two on her forehead and two behind her ears, and one probe went into her actual ear during the test. Then we made sure that she was fully asleep so that her readings would be clear (that was quite the task!!). If she wasn't fully asleep then there would be spikes in her readings from normal alertness so this way if she was completely in dream land the spikes would only come if she was able to hear the sounds from the test.

We are happy to announce that she passed on both ears!! She will of course have to go back when she is one year old next July, just to follow up since due to her extreme prematurity there is still the risk of her losing some of her hearing up until that age, but I think she will be fine. She seemed to have beat the odds so far with every single thing in her life so I have no doubts that she will beat this too.

Anyways that's the update for now! She has her second RSV shot tomorrow and a checkup with the Pediatrician, and next Wednesday we are starting a program with Durham Health where they send a Nurse out every few weeks to check on Anna's development. So far, from my conversations with them on the phone, it looks like she is right on par with where she is supposed to be. :)

M.A.A.

She Graduated!!

2010-11-24T06:39:00.000-08:00


"Na-na-na-naaa-na!" she says to having any more eye exams!

She is officially done her eye exams!! What a relief it was to hear that she's graduated and doesn't have to come back anymore. I overheard the eye doctor mention before she got started that she's 45 weeks "gestation" now so she would be fully developed at this exam... and she was! I'm not sure who is more happier that she doesn't have to go through that again; her or us.

*Insert sigh of relief here* :)

When you're smiling :)

2010-11-21T18:39:00.000-08:00

Louis Prima - When You're Smiling

We're having so much fun with the wee munchkin now that she's smiling regularly! I don't know why people miss the baby stage of their kids, well I guess I won't know myself until she's a toddler HA, but I definitely can't wait until she's older and cooing and "goo-goo ga-ga"-ing or hearing her laugh out loud. She's got her Daddy's dimples too so it'll be really nice to see her laughing one day soon! She's already smiling at her mobiles and people's faces every day!
She's such a big girl now and I can feel that we're slowly reaching those "fun" milestones, and soon we'll even be able to play with her.

Here she is smiling away at her toys:

This weekend was busy busy busy, with all the showings for our house and Arthur busy with work, there wasn't much time left to relax. So needless to say, Monkey had quite the weekend as well, and she behaved like a perfect little munchkin, always content to just "be".

Anyways we finally got to take her out to the infamous Korean Grill House during our outings this weekend. We've been joking and talking for years about going there one day with our kids and we were finally able to take her! Of course she was out cold the entire time, but it was an enjoyable day for us! Those of you who know us well know what this means to us haha! :)

Here she is working with Daddy on Saturday at his office, (I wasn't kidding, he really IS training her to be a future Global student!!):

Here she is hanging out with our friendly Kitty while having dinner, I can't wait until she realizes what and who cats and dogs are! :)

Here she is just sitting, but I can't get over how cute her little bunny feet are!

A video of her smiling finally!! We've been trying to catch it on video since she started but she just likes to stare at the camera so much and gets so serious once it's near her that it's hard to capture it. But here she is...there's another surprise in there (mind the compulsive cackling from me at the end):

Here is another video of her being a little piggy:

And finally, her being such a good girl in the car:

We're going to have a long week ahead of us as well!She has another eye appointment this coming week and we hope hope hope that finally it will be her last one!

M.A.A.

10 Pound Turkey!!

2010-11-13T04:28:00.000-08:00

Looks like we're going to have a 10 pound turkey for Christmas this year! At least 10 pounds that is! Anna had her checkup with the Pediatrician yesterday and she has hit the big 1-0 mark! On the dot to be exact! I would have never guessed it, I almost fell off my chair. She is also now 22 inches long (which is about 57 centimeters) which is not that long if you think about it, some babies are born 21 inches (like Liam who I think was just right at 21 inches at birth). So Anna clearly is a shortie like her Mommy. :)

She received all of her shots yesterday, including the RSV shot for the cold/flu season, so we have been keeping an eye on her. Other than some big swelling at the vaccine site, she didn't have any problems at all. She was such a good girl, she cried for maybe 20 seconds while the shots were given to her and then she was over it. I guess for her it's nothing compared to those dreaded eye exams.

Which reminds me, she had one this week and she has to still come back in another two weeks. The Pediatrician explained that all that they are looking for is for her blood vessels in her eyes to reach all the way to the sides which hasn't happened for her yet. It doesn't mean that that she can see any less than another baby her age, it just means that the vessels and muscles of her eyes have not yet fully developed. Let's hope that the next eye exam will be her last. She was quite upset at the last one, I think because now she has a lot of energy during the day so she didn't want any part of being touched.

One of the reasons why she has so much energy during the day is that she is sleeping through the night. She eats about 5 times a day now, 200mls per feed and her last barrage is usually around 8pm at which point it takes her an hour or two until she falls asleep and then she is asleep for somewhere between 10-12 hours. I'm not sure if this is normal behaviour for a baby this young but we'll enjoy it while it lasts, I'm sure it won't be like this once her teeth start to cut in.

Which is something we've noticed...she has a couple of white spots in her mouth, and they are quite sharp, but likely that doesn't mean that her teeth will come any time soon, just that they are definitely there and waiting to poke through! :)

Speaking of her mouth....Anna officially smiled her first real smile just about a week ago! Since then she has given us a few more here and there, yesterday she smiled at me after she ate and it was just so adorable. There's nothing like the toothless grin of a tiny baby to make your worries melt away!!

So she's still such a wonderful little girl. She only cries if she is hungry or has tummy pain (which is not that often). Overall she's just a content little girl, I guess she was so happy to make it into this world and she's enjoying every minute of it. So are we!!

M.A.A.

Happy Hallowe'en!

2010-10-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

It was Anna's first Hallowe'en and first 'real' snowfall even though it was short lived. Although we didn't celebrate Hallowe'en this year (or well any year so far for that matter) I was so tempted to dress her up as a little devil but I couldn't find a suitable costume small enough for a wee baby. :) Oh well, maybe next year!

Anna was so excited this week, she finally got to meet her wonderful Auntie from Ireland! They spent quite some time getting to know each other and I am pretty sure Anna is already attached. We can't wait for her to meet her cute cousins Eva and Finn, maybe next summer?? In any case, she sends hugs and kisses all the way from Canada to her cousins and her uncle Sven.

Looking at her first snowfall

Auntie Inez and Anna, gazing into each others eyes and having a smile :)


Feeding time with Inez

Little Miss Baldie at bath time

Daddy multitasking with work and cuddles ~ Anna now knows the ins-and outs of Underwriting :)

Future Global Aerospace Rookie

So as you can tell, Anna is still quite the content little baby. She is spoiled with cuddles and gifts from everyone so she doesn't really have much to complain about except maybe a tummy ache or two. :) She still really only cries if she is very hungry or if she startles from a bad dream. She loves being held which makes it quite difficult to get anything done around the house each day but well worth it. We can't seem to get enough of her and each time we see her in the morning, it's like seeing her for the first time all over again.

We are loving every single day with her!

M.A.A.

"I'm a big kid now!"

2010-10-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

Anna has been very busy growing the last few weeks. It's incredible how big she has gotten, and to think she is still less than 10 pounds! I guess when you compare it to how much she has grown from her birth weight, this is a massive size for her. She is slowly starting to outgrow most of her newborn outfits, the same outfits that were far too big when she came home only a month and a half ago. She's starting to fit into size 0-3 month now, and thanks to our friend Stefanie who has handed down a lot of both of her cute daughters' outfits, she has a ton of clothes waiting to be worn!

Speaking of inherited items...Anna has also graciously inherited her Great Great Grandma's bassinet! The history is definitely there, I think Liz mentioned that it dates back to 1905 when her mother and siblings were babies, who then used it for their children, and then passed on to be used with Arthur and his siblings (Inez who was able to use it with her children), and now passed down again to Anna and one day to Arthur's brother Floris and his children.

Here is Anna with Grandma soaking in the history:

So other than that nothing much is new. She will get her second set of immunizations November 12th, as well as her first set of RSV shots (she gets one every month until February for the cold/flu season). We have to be extra careful now taking her out, it's tough having a baby home in the flu season months since I need to run errands but it's just so risky now with everyone coughing. Having said that, both Daddy and I have been sick since Anna's homecoming and she hasn't caught either of our horrid colds. I guess all that pumping did pay off! :)

Anna also had ~what we thought was her last~ eye exam last week when she reached her due date, unfortunately her vision is not up to par yet with a newborn so we have to go back again November 2nd. We will try to reschedule that of course for the next day if possible since that's Liam's birthday, but I highly doubt that will be feasible with the eye doctor. In any case, she did well physically during her eye drops, but she had no change in her results from 2 weeks prior, so that's why we have to return again. Let's hope this eye exam will be her last, I just feel so terrible putting her through that but we know it has to be done for the sake of her vision.

But we will keep everyone updated on any new changes or developments. So far Anna is acting just like a newborn still, she is almost 2 weeks corrected age so she is exhibiting whatever is expected of a 2 week old baby. She's able to hold her head up quite well but not much change since a few weeks ago. She's eating about 130mls per feed, every 3-4 hours and sleeps most of the day away up until recently. She will go three hours fully awake, eat and then pass out for three hours, then wake up again to eat and stay awake for three hours. It makes it hard to get much done around the house but if it means she'll sleep through the night longer, then I'll take it! :)

M.A.A.

Anna's Due Date!!

2010-10-15T20:36:00.001-07:00

We have been taking it all in today, all 100 days. I can't believe Anna was 100 days early, that she is 100 days old already, considering that pregnancy is only about 250 days long, give or take a few weeks. I say only...ha-ha, doesn't seem that short at the time you're going through it!

Anyways, today is Anna's official due date. I feel like she has so many momentous days that we can't keep track. July 7th, October 4th and October 15th; all of which are special days for us! She is happily snoring away on my one shoulder as I write this, probably oblivious to how proud she has made us. I think often about the day she joined us, and despite the terrifying way in which she joined us; how lucky we are to have her here healthy and thriving.

Speaking of thriving, she had an appointment with her Pediatrician today and she is now 7 pounds and 11 ounces! She is now on a "big girl" formula as of today (no more of that high calorie preemie stuff for Skinny Minnies - now she's drinking the stuff for Chunky Monkeys!) and we are thickening it with rice cereal to try and combat her recent and very frequent bouts of spit up. Seems to be doing the trick so far so let's keep our fingers crossed.Oh, not to mention buying me some extra down time between feeds! :) Yessss!!

While I had her out today, we had the normal barrage of spectators asking me how old she is etc., and one lady asked me when she was born and I told her at 25 weeks and 5 days to be exact. She then had the audacity to say "oh well that's not too early at all". If she only knew...I guess her comment hit home for me because we have gone through so much, Anna has fought so hard to be here and I think being born at almost 26 weeks is incredible and deserves some merit!! And yes incredibly early if you ask me! I just like to give her credit where it's due. :)

So from here on, Anna will have a "true" age and a "corrected/adjusted" age -- however you want to say it. I'd like to refer to it as her 'real' age and her 'fake' age. As of October 16th, she is 14 weeks old true age, and 1 day old corrected age. Did I confuse everyone?? :) I barely understand it myself but I'll catch on to it one day!

Anyways, today also marks a couple of other things. Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in Canada and is almost 2 weeks before Liam would have been two years old. So of course, lots of overtime in my mind and many many cuddles with Anna for appreciation. Also today, Anna's Great Great Aunt whom she sadly never got to meet, passed away at age 102 in her sleep. It is amazing how the circle of life can be so long and carried through to so many generations. It is just such a shame that we couldn't physically connect the circle, although spiritually it certainly is.

So that is today...October 15th, 2010.

M.A.A.

The First Thanksgiving

2010-10-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Anna's had her first Thanksgiving. I remember when we were in Women's College with her, the one nurse had mentioned that we will definitely have her home by Thanksgiving, and she was right!! She was such a good girl and she was loving every minute of the company! Here are a few pictures of the day (she was eyeballing the turkey the entire time, I'm not kidding!) :)

M.A.A.

Anna's Ex-birthdate!

2010-10-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today was the day that Anna was supposed to be born! October 4th in the morning sometime. Unbelievable. What a long journey for this little fighter. It's hard to imagine that she would still be inside of me until today, I feel like she is so big. I don't realize how little she is until I take her out to run errands once in a while and people stop me to tell me how tiny she is. The little monkey would have been 38 weeks and 3 days gestation, the same age that her big brother was when he was born.

She still pretty much acts like a newborn, sleeps most of the time with the exception of 2-3 hours a day of 'alert' time. She also still rarely cries, only when she is hungry, so she still has such a lovely demeanor. She's just overall very content and loves being held.

But Anna is doing well, she eats like a little champion now, I'm almost scared at how much she can eat most days. She is up to 20 ounces a day, which is around 600 mls. I have a little pamphlet from Enfacare and it outlines feeding habits of newborns. It stated that around 1 month of age a newborn would be eating around 680 mls per day. So she is doing pretty good, even ahead of the game a little bit.The only thing we have issues with is that she has very dry skin and has reactions to lotions. Today she has a nice rash on the side of her face because she had a bath which meant lots of lotion. We've tried a couple of non oil based lotions and even a few drops of olive oil in her bath water but she seems to always get a reaction. So it's a line we have to choose...dry skin or rash/zits.

The other thing we noticed lately with her is that she is able to hold her head up by herself. It's still wobbling a lot so we always have to keep support handy but it's amazing how much she has changed in one week. And no wonder, the little girl is now 6 pounds and 10 ounces as of today so she is slowly getting strong.

Most of her appointments are done, she will have at least one more eye exam, and she will have one more pediatrician appointment on October 15th, after that she will have monthly appointments for her RSV shot. Then the last few things will be the follow up with Women's College and her hearing test, both in December.

Speaking of December, we are SO anxious to put the Christmas tree up and celebrate with Anna. We have been waiting so long to share Christmas as a family with children, it almost seems unreal that we are finally able to do it. I don't think a day goes by where we aren't grateful for her little presence.

Here is a video of the little munchkin yesterday showing off to the camera. The video is cropped but in the rest of the movie it's obvious that she follows the camera around with her eyes and loves the attention. :) I think she may or may not be a star in training!

M&A&A

She made it through the eye exam!

2010-09-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

The dreaded eye exam is over! Liz and I arrived at 3pm to the hospital where the nurses administered the eye drops and hooked her up to a heart monitor which also displayed her breathing and saturation and she did wonderfully! She was even allowed to eat and she didn't have any reactions at all. Of course the eye exam itself is not much fun for her but she was such a good girl through the whole thing. We're not sure how many more of these she will have in the upcoming weeks, but she is definitely scheduled for another one in two weeks time. The eye doctor said that her eyes are getting stronger and she received an even better score this time than the last four times. So typically they stop the eye exams once the babies reach 40 weeks gestation (Anna is 37.5 and will be almost 40 weeks at her next eye exam) but it is all dependant on the eye doctor's discretion and whether or not she feels that Anna is out of the woods.

Anna was so pooped after the exam that she had a meal at 1am and didn't wake up until I woke her up at 9am this morning to eat. Hmmm...can't wait until those days are here for good! :) She is eating wonderfully now, about 80-100mls on average per feed. I think in total she has about 16-20 ounces of formula per day, spanned over 7 feeds. She has also gained an incredible amount of weight since this weekend, so she is now 6lbs 1.5 ounces as of this morning (which is just over 2760 grams)!! Looks like she gains about .5 oz each day so at this rate she will be a big girl in no time!

Her demeanor is still the same, she just hangs out and doesn't complain much. But that is expected at this point because she's so little. She really only cries if something significant is bothering her which doesn't happen often.

I finally got in touch with the hearing centre for Anna's follow up hearing test and they informed me that she won't need one again until December when she will be 2 months 'corrected' age and 5 months 'true' age. So I guess we sit and wait, although that doesn't seem right to me so I'm going to definitely bring it up with the Pediatrician.

Speaking of Pediatrician, we have another appointment for her tomorrow so it will be decided then whether or not she should take anything for reflux. It seems to be under control so long as we don't overfeed her or lye her flat. I found her today 2 hours after her feed, she woke herself and threw up just five minutes after I came into watch why she was stirring. So it's still a bit of an issue but not enough that she's not gaining weight, which is when the real concern would begin.

So not much is happening (hence the lack of posts). Between the long feeds and the numerous doctors appointments, she pretty much just sleeps her days away, maybe has about 2-4 hours of awake time.

Here's a short video of her today after her bath and lunch trying to doze away into sleepy land:

M.A.A.

Reminiscing again...

2010-09-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

I was just browsing through all of our media files from when Anna was born and I can't believe how far she's come. It is really hard to watch her earlier videos, I guess at the time I didn't feel sad, I felt happy that she was alive. Now that I look back I feel so sad for all of her hardships, I feel sad that she was ripped off from a normal life in utero and that she had to endure nine weeks of NICU life. Having said that, I am really happy that she's alive, healthy and from what I can see happy as well. That was the only life she knew, but hopefully all that difficult time in the NICU is just a distant memory for her and is replaced with new happy (and easy) life.

She was so tiny, she could fit into Arthur's one hand

I can't believe that a Preemie sized diaper reached her armpits back then


Here she is sucking on a Preemie soother which covered almost all of her face. She could probably swallow that entire thing now...

Here she is today! Although she's only 5lbs and change, to others she is still tiny but she is so grown up and healthy to us!


Here we are today having some "home-style" Kangaroo care! No nurses, no machines, no breathing tubes, just good ol' fashion lovins'! :)


Finally! Here she is with Grandpa getting some cuddles today. We waited a long time for this! :)

We still look at her in amazement today and can't believe that she's finally home, here in her own little room, farting and belching as if the last three months never even phased her. :) It's great!

M.A.A.

Developments...

2010-09-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

Nothing much new to report lately. Now that she is off the machines she's able to just relax and sleep most of her days away. I try to videotape her when she's awake and alert but most times it's only because she is hungry so it's just a fine (2-5 minute) line between "awake to screaming for food". :)

Yesterday, while she was awake I tried to test her hearing. I'm not sure, I'm still a bit confused as to whether or not she really can hear out of her left ear. It looks like she had an easy time looking to the right when the rattle was to her right but when it was to her left it took her a while to clue in. So she might have just been looking to the left because she saw a shadow of something. I've been trying to book a hearing test for her since last week. I've been playing phone tag with the lady who books these as she never answers the phone; only has voicemail. Whenever she calls me back, I'm either at an appointment with Anna or feeding her and not able to pick up the phone. So hopefully one day we'll be able to connect and set this thing up for Anna before the crazy cold weather and flu season starts.That way we can also eliminate the curiosity of whether or not she is able to hear in the left ear.In any case, she seemed amused by the rattling noise, we can't wait until she is able to reach for them and play with them:

The other thing we've noticed with her lately is that she has much more strength in her legs now. When she is doing tummy time it almost looks like she tries to kick herself upwards, like a crawl but not so much. Here is a video of what I mean:

It's difficult to tell where she will be in terms of development. I am just amazed at things she can do now because she is not supposed to be born yet. We don't take a single day for granted with her. Every little thing that might be the norm with a full term baby is a huge accomplishment for her and she amazes us tremendously on a daily basis. :)

M.A.A.

PS - Blogspot is doing some redesigning and it's really messing with the formatting of the blog. My apologies for the jumbled look.

Just truckin' along...

2010-09-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

Anna had her very first Pediatrician appointment today! It went really well, we covered all sorts of things that I have been (as a mother) wondering and worrying about the last two weeks.

First thing's first, she checked for fluid in her lungs and yes as Dr. A had mentioned, she is all clear! But she would still like to keep her on the diuretic until the next eye appointment passes; which should be sometime next Tuesday or Wednesday, however we have still not received a call from the NICU regarding this so I will have to follow-up with them.

She also had her head ultrasound yesterday which I 'think' went well. You never know with those technicians as they are not allowed to tell you anything. But we should have the results in by next week to the Pediatrician's office.

I brought up the issue of her possible reflux and the doctor agrees that it sounds like she has reflux which is very common in young babies and even more in premature babies. We will monitor it for one more week and if it's still there, then she will go on Zantac to control the acid. This reflux makes it quite difficult sometimes with her feeds and having to keep her upright for long periods of time (not to mention the fun projectile vomiting). It can't be too comfortable either for the poor little wee. In any case, she was not too concerned as long as Anna is gaining weight and still eating. Which reminds me, she is up to 5lbs 5oz!

She also checked her head shape and it looks like the plagiocephaly is not there anymore. The pediatrician just noted that she has a typical preemie head, which is long in shape for now because of 9 weeks of lying on her sides constantly. But she is not concerned over that and encouraged that she will grow out of this.

She was also very impressed with how alert Anna was. For a baby that was not to be born yet, she is doing really great! The doctor explained to me how we will be referring to Anna's age from here on for medical and developmental purposes. So as soon as we pass her original due date of October 15th we can start using this new method. For example, November 15th she will be 4 months 'true' age, and 1 month 'corrected' age. It's really tough explaining to strangers her true age though. (Every appointment we have been to lately, strangers are constantly stopping to take a look at her and of course, they all think merely by her size that she was practically born yesterday. Although very repetitive, it sometimes makes for an interesting conversation piece. I have never spoken to so many strangers as I have in the last week or so. :) It's nice hearing that almost everyone knows of someone who was born early and has no health issues and are doing really well).

Anyways, speaking of November, Anna will start her monthly RSV shots in November. RSV stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus which is "a common respiratory virus that infects virtually all children before age two. The virus usually causes mild "cold" symptoms but, in some infants at risk, can cause a life-threatening illness". So it basically presents itself as a cold, and it essentially is. But for babies that are premature like Anna, it can cause severe distress and problems. So the Pediatrician advised that at the first sign of any illness with her, as simple or as non severe as it may seem, we should immediately take her to her office or if that is closed, then to the Emergency. This is to be the routine should this happen up until the end of January. After that, we should be alright in treating her ourselves since she will be old enough and will have been exposed to the vaccine multiple times by then. She didn't want to scare me but she said 90% of infants will contract RSV at least once between the time they are born until they turn 1 year old.

So that's that...Anna is doing great, she is still such a little angel so we're keeping our fingers crossed that it will last! :) She will be 3 months old next week, can you believe it?? Also, as of tomorrow, she will be 37 weeks gestation which technically means full term. She would have been born October 4th via a c-section at 38 weeks and 3 days gestation. The little trooper...she has come such a long way!!

PS - Anna if you're reading this one day, thank you for farting so loud in every waiting room we are in :) They are so loud that everybody thinks it's Mommy farting!!! :)

M.A.A.

Crunch Time

2010-09-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie, I'm finally starting to feel the crunch. It just seems like there's not enough hours in the day most days. With Anna having reflux issues, and it taking about 1 hour each time she has a bottle, I'm spending about 12 hours out of 24 feeding/holding her upright. That doesn't leave much time in between for sleep, cleaning (as you all know I'm a freak with this so that's been tough to let go of), eating, sterilizing her bottles, mixing her formula or anything else. I really have to invest in some sort of a sling so I can carry her around while I do things around the house.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE hanging out with her and just holding her while her tummy settles. Today, I just hugged and kissed her so much, and couldn't believe that we have her here. I can't believe how many people mistreat babies/children of their own when they are such a blessing to have. I have this strange but nice ticklish feeling in my stomach when I hold her, this feeling that I'm complete, that nothing else matters in the world, and just utter love that you have never felt before.

So yes, as sleep deprived as I feel, as dirty as our house is, as much as I don't accomplish during the day, it's still all worth every second of it for her.

Anyways, finishing my sob story, let's move on to the events of today. We visited the doctor who had been looking after Anna during her stay in the Oshawa NICU. The prognosis is good; he didn't hear any fluid in her lungs but he would still like for her to finish the remainder of her prescription or let her Pediatrician decide on Thursday whether or not she would like her to finish it. He also didn't order any blood work because she didn't look dehydrated or ill, again leaving it up to the Pedi on Thursday. He weighed her and got the same number we had at home, 5lbs 4oz which is good. He said just to keep up with her feeds and not let her go too long without eating. At one point he did hook her up to a mini monitor to quickly check her vitals. He was really pleased, her saturations were good, and her heart rate was good. So he said that the issues we had after she had her eye drops were just from that; the eye drops. That was really reassuring to hear, but needless to say we are SO nervous for the next eye exam!!

So that's the story for today, the little munchkin is starting to be more and more alert each day. Today she was awake for a full 4 hours! We did some tummy time, some gym time and some "stare at random things" time. It almost looks like she can see some things now, she really tries to focus on objects. I'm still curious as to where she is supposed to be development wise; where a 3 month old is, or where a newborn would be at this point. These are some of the the things we'll have to discuss with the Pediatrician on Thursday.

Here she is during her awake time today, she was just staring around her taking in all the sights and sounds:

(PS - she may or may not think her name is Monkey :) woops!! )

M.A.A.

Back in Business!

2010-09-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

So, after a few days away from the blog, we are back in business! Looks like my cold took a turn for the worse and I was out of commission for a couple of days there. Daddy was super busy taking care of Anna and I so he is pooped I'm sure, and has to face a week of work now. I am really glad to see that Anna is not sick (yet??) though. I know her first cold/flu I am going to be SO worried. Especially because we're not used to her not being content, so when she's upset it's for good reason and can get quite concerning.

As I have been taking a turn for the worse, Anna has actually been blossoming with her feeds and weight gain. She is up to 95ml feeds every 4 hours or so and in total she's eating about 14-15 ounces of formula per day. She has also gained a bit of weight, as of this morning she is 5lbs 4ounces which is great to finally see. I hope the trend continues in the upward direction.

She has an appointment tomorrow morning with the doctor who discharged her (and the same one who checked her after her eye exam). He will check her over to make sure she is not too dehydrated from the diuretic and to check her progress regarding the fluid in the lungs.

The one thing we did notice this weekend is that we think she might have some reflux issues. It looks like we have to keep her upright after a feed for a good 30 minutes, otherwise she'll throw up, arch her head backwards and cry from pain. I'll ask the doctor about this tomorrow, although I suspect he might let it go until she has her first appointment with her full time Pediatrician.

So that's the quick update on the little munchkin, lets all keep our fingers crossed that she's able to stay healthy and flu free as long as possible during this upcoming flu season!

Here she is tonight at midnight, we were waiting for her bottle to warm up, as you can see she gets quite alert before a feed. Wait a bit too long and she might even let out a cry or two :)

Marta, Arthur & Anna

Karate Kid!

2010-09-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

Anna wanted me to post so she can tell everyone that she has officially taken up Karate! :) Here's the little Miss in her Kimono today having some fun (I'm amazed at how alert she is today!!) I also checked her weight and she is now back up to 5lbs and 0.5oz which is great!! She is being such a good girl eating all of her formula and hopefully it's finally starting to show. Anyways, here she is showing off some moves (I now know what all those nurses were talking about!):

Here she is practicing her Karate chop -- "Hiyaa!!"

And here she is doing the 'praying mantis':

Here she is having some tummy time, I can't believe how strong her head is already!

Here are a couple of videos of her as well:

Marta & Arthur (& Baby Anna)

My First Day as a "Stay-at-home-mom"

2010-09-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

Lots of fun today! Anna and I spent the day getting to know each other and learning a new routine together.

We're trying to get her to eat a bit more since it looks like as of this morning she is still only about 4lbs and 16oz. We called the NICU and they basically said to try and make her eat more, but that she is probably fine so long as she is peeing and pooing a normal amount. I don't know what normal is at this point because she is on a diuretic medication which means exponential diaper changes. But since she won't eat more during a feed, I've decided to increase the number of feeds she gets instead. This means that Miss Princess has to be woken up sometimes every 2 hours and other times she just wakes herself up after 3-4 hours and talks to herself in the crib for a while...or well I should say 'grunts' to herself.

She is such a pleasant baby and she still rarely cries unless she is cold or hungry. Except last night she did let out a few whimpers so I picked her up and all the little girl needed was a good burp and a warm cuddle and she was back to sleep in no time.

We had some tummy time today and she is quite strong! But we knew that already when she tried to literally walk away in the NICU at Women's a few times. :) She also tried out her baby gym today but she wasn't too interested since she can't even see as little as a newborn baby yet.

I'm not sure where she is supposed to be developmentally at this point since she is technically only 36 weeks gestation. But soon enough she will start doing the typical newborn things so it'll get easier to guess what we can and can't do in terms of stimulating her senses.

So we both survived our first day together and there will be many more to come! I can tell she missed Daddy's cuddles though but he is so good, he still gets up to feed her in the early AM for some bonding time (and so I can catch a few zzz's).

Here is a video of Anna on her baby gym today:

Marta & Arthur

The Circle of Life...

2010-09-15T18:46:00.001-07:00

Great G & Great A finally got to squeeze in a visit with Anna today! We were especially proud to see how the long circle of life is continued...from the eldest all the way to the smallest member of our family. We have been waiting quite a while for these days so it's especially treasured when the time comes.

In the meantime, Anna is doing great, it's as if nothing happened. I will be enrolling in First Aid CPR, it's always good to have and after yesterdays scare (even though it was an isolated incident), we don't want to take any chances.

She is taking her feeds well, somewhere between 30-60mls per feed, so every 3-4 hours. I'm not sure but I think she is packing on the pounds. We forgot to weigh her tonight after her bath but we'll do that tomorrow morning after her change.

Daddy is returning to work tomorrow so it'll be our first day alone as Mommy and Daughter, hopefully the transition will be smooth! Unfortunately, I think I'm coming down with a cold, so it's going to be tough trying to limit our contact together. I can't believe after all this time we finally get her home, and here I go getting sick. I'm going to try and keep her in the nursery, she sleeps pretty much 22 out of 24 hours of the day so that won't be hard. So hopefully she won't catch what I have, but we'll see, only time will tell.

Anna also started her diuretic tonight so we have to keep a close eye on her so that she doesn't dehydrate. There will tons more poopy and wet diapers to take care of for the next 2 weeks as well!

Her appointments will start next week, first on Monday at Lakeridge again to check her electrolytes from the diuretic, then Tuesday she will have a routine head ultrasound as she was due for one the day before discharge but someone dropped the ball, and lastly Thursday will be her first of many weekly appointment with her Pediatrician. That will only leave her hearing appointment which we have yet to book, and her follow up appointment with Women's College in December.

Which reminds me, I went to the St. John's car seat clinic and after lots of maneuvering, sweating, yanking, pulling, pushing, and swearing by both Daddy AND the St. John's crew... the car seat is installed and approved by an MTO supervisor! So Anna will be driving around to her appointments not only in fashion but safe and sound as well!

So that's it for little Anna today! :)

Marta & Arthur

Scary Day

2010-09-14T17:34:00.001-07:00

As most of you know, Anna was going in to the hospital today for a routine eye exam. One that she has had three times already.

For some reason, today she had a reaction to the eye drops. The eye drops are vasoconstrictors which means that they narrow the blood vessels and sometimes because it's systematic, it might narrow other blood vessels in the body, causing a negative reaction.

In Anna's case, about one hour after she received the drops, she stopped breathing. The nurses had to resuscitate her and she was hooked up to monitors immediately. But once she was stabilized, she did really well.

The eye exam was performed later on and her vitals were great during the exam so they let us take her home. This was a localized incident and we were told that we just have to inform the staff next time she is in for an eye exam, to keep her on monitors at all times and to stay after the exam for a short period to make sure she is stable.

Apparently these reactions are not unheard of. Some babies have negative reactions to the drops and the doctor that has been taking care of Anna while in the NICU in Oshawa was confident to send her home. We will go back to see him on Monday because while there today, he noticed that she has some fluid in her lungs. So he ordered for her to take some diuretics (which are medications which increase the excretion of fluids from the body) for two weeks and since he has a lab there at his office upstairs, he can do some blood work on her to check her electrolytes (it is common for the body to dehydrate while on diuretics). So now Anna is on iron supplements, multivitamins and the diuretic.

I can't even describe how emotional and scary today was for us. We watched our daughter lose all consciousness and all that ran through my mind was that we were going to lose her. We weren't informed prior to the drops being administered that there could be such a fatal side effect. Had I known this, I still would have panicked but would have kept a closer eye out for it.

We are in a state of shock, panic, fear and disbelief right now. But little Anna is trucking along, sleeping soundly as if nothing happened. What a poor little girl, the things she has had to go through all her life, not to mention today's incident and also how terribly invasive these eye exams are. :(

Anyways we will keep you posted on her progress...

Marta & Arthur

Busy Bee

2010-09-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

A quick update: quick because there is not much to report other than growth and the fact that it looks like we have found somewhat of a routine.

Today Anna is due for another eye exam. This means a trip to the hospital and what is probably going to be quite the wait. But at least we can say hello to all the nurses who I am sure would love to see Anna again.

Yesterday Anna had visits from her Grandpa who was stopping by and her Aunt who finally had the well deserved opportunity to hold Anna for a bit. Amongst the balloons, the cards, the clothes

and the toys is this little girl that looks incredibly peaceful, as if nothing happened. The pictures and the video's remind us of the long road we have traveled to get here. And after all she has been through, to see her in the arms of family, breathing, eating, burping and farting like a pro-star is a fantastic experience.

So, for the next little while Anna will be busy with follow-up appointments at the hospital and various medical clinics. We will update as we go along.

M&A&A

We Survived the First Night! :)

2010-09-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Anna is now safe and sound at home, and all three of us seem to manage life together smoothly. A little too smoothly if you ask me :) maybe it's just the calm before the storm who knows. But at this point Anna seems to be a content little monkey, nothing really bothers her and if she does cry, it's only for a short few moments and then it's done.

The animals are taking nicely to her as well. They were a little curious the first day she was here because she's their size but not quite one of them and she is too little to be "human" in their eyes so they were certainly a bit thrown off. All of her funky pushing and grunting noises also throw them off but I think they are over it for the most part. The dog seems protective of her which is cute. We have to watch all of them very carefully since this is their first time being exposed 24/7 to a baby (or a child of any age for that matter).

It was a bit of a rough go at feeding once she first came home, she didn't like her new powder formula (as opposed to having it all premixed) but now she seems a bit more used to it. She is still not eating as much as she was at the hospital; 80-100mls per feed. At home it's more like 30-60mls per feed but it's also a bit more often. Her grandpa rented her a hospital grade scale so we are able to keep track of her weight which is important when she is this little. Any major weight loss and she would have to go back to the hospital since she was so tiny to begin with at discharge. According to our scale, she was 4lbs 7oz on Saturday evening (she lost some weight the evening before discharge as well) and this morning she is 5lbs on the dot. So she gained around 88 grams which is great!!

We are also working hard to try and shape her head back to a normal shape. As you can see in the picture, she has some supervised "head shaping" time each day, along with some supervised tummy time to relieve the pressure on the sides of her head. She was still classified as having plagiocephaly (flattening of the side of the skull) at discharge so we want to keep on top of that so she doesn't have any long term effects. It's tough because we are trying to undo 9 weeks of flattening.

Anyway, we have quite a few appointments for her in the upcoming weeks, which seem to be exponentially increasing. But better to have many appointments so we can ask all the necessary questions. Things are a bit different when raising a baby that shouldn't even be born yet.

Anyways we are coping wonderfully and we're just so happy to finally have her home!

Here she is having her first bath at home, she didn't quite like it but didn't make too much of a fuss:

Marta & Arthur

Home-coming Queen!

2010-09-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

She's finally home and doing great!!! We can't believe she's home, it's such a dream come true!

We arrived at the hospital to pick her up at around 10am, met with the doctor and discussed some things. She will have quite a few follow up appointments in the upcoming days/weeks but that is expected for a premature baby.

She lost 20 grams last night but that was because the hospital fed her 22 calorie formula for the day instead of 24. It's amazing how much a couple of calories here or there affect them when they are so little. She can't over-exert herself in any way because she'll burn too many calories and that's not good. So we just have to keep the little princess content and peaceful.

She is sound asleep now so the real test will begin once she is up and our routines start with her. But we are so excited and so thrilled to have her home that words can't even describe!

Here's a little video of her leaving the hospital:

Marta & Arthur

Comments for Anna

2010-09-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

I hope that one day Anna can read this blog and see her wonderful progress and how supportive and proud we all are of her.

Please feel free to post a comment or a few words so she can read this one day and see what great support she had and how many people were cheering her on while she was fighting to grow strong these few months! :)

(You can do this by clicking on "Comments" at the bottom of this post, and once you finish the comment, click on "Name/Url" to enter your name as you would like it to appear.)

We are all so proud of you, go Anna go!!

The Last Night

2010-09-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

So I definitely wasn't premature posting the last bit of information. They will release Anna sometime tomorrow morning after the doctor examines her and goes over some information with us.

She is on a premature formula for an indefinite amount of time. This just means that it has a slightly higher calorie content and has a much higher nutritional content compared to a normal formula. We will have quite a few follow up appointments to attend in the following months with her pediatrician, with Women's College, with Lakeridge and with the COT study we signed up for. Anna will also have to have a preventative vaccine every month to get her through the cold and flu season while she is still so young and small. I hope we don't have any major problems with her health during this winter season.

Tonight has been so surreal for us. We are numb, but anxious, if that makes any sense. We have been waiting for this day for nearly 2 years now and to think that it's only a few short hours away. It just doesn't seem real, but it's such a dream come true finally.

Things will be tough, we will be doing a lot of adjusting, but we are so anxious to finally have a healthy baby of ours come home from a hospital and finally fill that empty nursery.

It has been such a long journey...but now we begin a new and wonderful journey with Anna at home.

Oh and of course, we were so excited to see her tonight that we forgot the camera. :) We will DEFINITELY remember it tomorrow though!

G'nite,
Marta & Arthur

Anna is Going to be Discharged!!

2010-09-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

I hope I am not premature with this post but I just had to share the good news! We spoke with the doctor on call today and she did indicate that they do plan on discharging Anna from the hospital tomorrow for sure! :) <--- I can't put a big enough smile to show how happy we are!!

She passed her car seat test and got her feeding orders all set up to be discussed tomorrow.

We will update more details after our visit tonight!

Marta & Arthur

Hit the 5 Pound Mark!

2010-09-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

So she finally made it to the 5 pound mark! 5 pounds and 1.5oz to be exact! She was weighed in tonight at 2302 grams which is another jump of 73 grams. She is getting quite hefty and we love it because the bigger she gets the more comfortable we get with handling her.

There is not much new to report, things are going pretty slowly these last few days (at the hospital) and very hectic at home. With Arthur working and us wrapping up things for Anna's unexpectedly early (but welcomed) arrival, there is not much time left for anything else...except a quick midnight blog session of course. :)

She is up to 80 mls of food the last couple of feedings which is a big jump from 60, and even bigger jump from 44mls which is what she was not too long ago. I hope we are able to keep up with her big appetite at home!

All the nurses just love her at the NICU, they even posted a little sticker for her on her cot which reads something along the lines of "Dancing Queen". Apparently she is quite the dancer, and just like the nurses from Women's College, the nurses at Lakeridge seem to think she will be a ballerina or a swimmer, or a gymnast. :) Cute...

Anyways, it looks now that they will attempt to do the car seat test tonight, if not the latest tomorrow night and have her released Saturday at some point in time. I was arranging the nursery and washing her clothes and bedding and realized that it is such a bitter sweet time. As happy as we are to bring her home, it's hard not to think of the wonderful life Liam was robbed of. But knowing how quickly a life is created and then taken from us, makes us cherish every moment with Anna that much more.

We can't wait to have her home...

Marta & Arthur

Wrapping Things Up (T-minus 3 Days??)...

2010-09-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

So just to quickly update Anna's progress; not much is new on the Anna-front today. She is still taking her bottles on demand and doing good with taking them. It's a bit tough feeding her at this point because she is still learning the whole suck-swallow-breathe technique. But I am sure once she is home we will figure out what works best for Anna to help her out. It will also be a bit easier since she won't be on such a tight hospital schedule. Even though they have her on an 'on demand' feed, they still get very antsy if she doesn't finish her bottle fully in an allotted time. Whereas if Anna was home, SHE would be the boss. :)

Also, we have been asked to bring in the car seat tomorrow so they can perform the car seat test soon. There is no sense in getting us all excited to bring her home if she fails the test. If she passes the test, then we are now looking at a discharge of no later than Sunday. It's sort of borderline Saturday/Sunday because it will all depend on the doctors' discretion. She will be 5 days off caffeine technically on Saturday, but who knows if he wants to wait an extra day just to be safe.

We will have to bring her back in to the hospital on Tuesday because she will be due for her routine eye exam. I also have a car seat clinic appointment on Wednesday, so I hope Daddy is able to have some time off work because it's really important that I go to that clinic since she will be riding in my car most of the time.

Also, she had her first hearing test today and her left ears' results came out as inconclusive at this point. This just means that she has been referred for an additional and more in depth hearing test. They informed us not to worry too much because sometimes there is debris in the ear, or other environmental causes which can affect her test results. We look at it this way, if that is her biggest problem after being born so early at such a low birth weight, then we are really lucky! She is healthy and we'd like to think that she is happy too! ;) So we are pleased with that!

Unfortunately, due to Anna's small size, and very early age at the time of her discharge (35 weeks gestation), we would like to temporarily limit the number of visitors to only immediate family for a few more weeks. She is very susceptible at this point to infections and viruses and would probably have to be hospitalized if she catches even a common cold due to the fact that she's still a preemie (can't wait for flu season to officially begin *sense the sarcasm*). So lots of washing hands around her, and being careful not to visit if sick or suspecting that a cold is coming, etc.

So that's all that is new...we are SO anxious to finally have the little munchkin home with us! After 9 weeks in the NICU, it just seems so surreal that the journey is finally coming to a closing.

Marta & Arthur

The Clock Has Begun Ticking...

2010-09-07T20:06:00.001-07:00

You know that feeling of the calm before the storm? That's sort of our life right now. We're slowly preparing for Anna's homecoming and realizing how incredibly unprepared we are. It's going to be really tough to live life without those monitors, to have to depend on our own parental instincts. All you parents out there, geesh, now we know what you felt all these years. Like the one nurse said tonight, there are two emotions of parents; worry and guilt. She hit the nail on the head there. If we're not worrying about Anna or how we will take care of her, then we're feeling guilty about our self seen inadequacies or again how we will take care of her. This little life depends on us fully and I think it's all just starting to sink in now. No more nurses, doctors, nutritionists, no more monitors, just Arthur, Anna and I. Oh and all of our precious fur-babies too. Yes, our life will now feel more complete, but in a sense it will also just begin again.

In any case, we are quickly preparing for Anna's departure from the not so glamorous hospital life because she in fact is just as quickly proving herself to be ready to come home. She has still taken every feed by bottle but that's also touch and go at the moment because it has only been one full day of bottle feeding. She has gained an amazing 71 grams overnight and now weighs 2221 grams which is about 4lbs and 14oz; almost to the big 5 pound mark! They also took her off caffeine, which we only learned tonight was a prerequisite for discharge. The caffeine to this day was helping her remember to breathe and prevent her from having spells. So as of today she is off, and she has to stay off of it for 5 days without any spells. That combined with the feeding and passing the car seat test and she will be discharged without problems! So based on the caffeine test, her earliest discharge at this point would be Sunday. Which is still amazing! The possibility of having her home with us by the weekend is just great. But we still have to see how she will cope with all of these changes. She might tire out, or she might just do great.

She has also developed quite the set of lungs in the last few days. I think since she is actually able to feel "hunger" now she's not as tranquil as she was in her earlier days. :) Here she is right before a feed...I just got a small snippet of her screech-fest caught on tape:

Marta & Arthur

She's all grown up!

2010-09-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

Anna has officially graduated to a big girl bed! No more isolette, she is such a big girl now! So now she gets to finally wear clothes every day and get bundled up into a baby burrito to keep warm. They are trying to 'normalize' her for life outside of the NICU. This will help us all transition to life at home, which is nothing like it has been in the hospital the last few months.

Anna also finished 2 full bottles today on her own! The nurse said that she finishes them in about 15 minutes which shows that she has good coordination and does not have any visible issues at this point so it will only be a matter of a short time before she takes all of her feeds by mouth. She said sometimes they will take all of their feeds and then have to retract back to the tube feeding to get a break but that doesn't last too long. So the night nurse is also going to try her on an "on demand" feed as well tonight and see how she does (instead of feeding her on the hospitals' schedule). This is also more like how it would be at home.

In terms of when Anna would 'realistically' be home, the nurse stated that maybe even as early as next weekend. Now, we're not going to get our hopes by any means or think that she in fact will be home next weekend, but realistically in our minds maybe in another 1.5-2 weeks she should be home at the rate she is going now. She is just such a little champion and has really sailed through the last 9 weeks in the NICU.

So she is now 2150 grams on the dot, which is 4lbs 11 oz, so she will definitely be over the 5lb mark once she is released home. She is also on full formula feeds now which she has been tolerating quite well and her feeds I believe are 44 or 45 mls still.

There's just a few odds and ends we have to take care of before she comes home; shave the dog (haha), get some newborn sleepers (we never ended up getting too many, thinking that she would be full term and they would be too small -- HA) and we have to double-check our car seat because we are not sure if the weight requirement is on par with Anna's weight. The nurse mentioned to be on alert because they will just call us one day and tell us to bring the car seat in for the final test that she has to pass, and then the day after she would be home. So we have to start preparing.

So exciting!! Sounds like she will definitely be home before two weeks are up!! :) We are on cloud nine right now!!

Here she is tonight after her bath and fully dressed in her first little outfit:

Here she is getting woken up to eat, she lets out quite the cry:

Marta & Arthur

Num-nums!!

2010-09-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Anna had such a good day today! She had nice cuddles from Daddy and then she had her Auntie visit later on as well. We brought in some clothes for her to wear so from here on she'll be wearing only clothes from home. The nursing staff will make a note on her isolette and we will be responsible for bringing in new outfits and washing her dirty ones. It's really nice to finally be able to see her in all her little clothes that have been waiting for her since I was pregnant. It gives you a little control and feeling of parenting in this crazy whirlwind of the NICU lifestyle.

The other good news is that Anna's feedings have really taken off today. She had two tries at the bottle during the day where she took 15 mls each time, slowly but surely! However, tonight the nurse called us at home to let us know that Anna had her first FULL bottle of 44mls at her 9 o'clock feeding, and all in 15 minutes!! She was so amazed that she had to call us right away. She also made a note on the nurse's chart that Anna is to only have slow flow nipples (as we have been advocating for a while now). But it's so nice to finally see our wishes/thoughts/gut feelings play out in real time. She did wonderfully so hopefully she will be able to take a full bottle again tomorrow.

Speaking of full bottles, Anna now weighs 2100 grams on the dot, so it's only a matter of time before she is put into a crib! We think she will respond much better once she's in a crib since they will able to swaddle her with blankets (that way she won't crawl around as much). We, along with the day nurse, have a suspicion that she's crawling around her incubator a lot right now because she was so used to being swaddled at Women's and they don't swaddle her here at Oshawa because her incubator temperature is so much higher.

So all in all, a big and very successful day for Anna!

Here we are having some fun with her while she sleeps. It's just a quick snip-it taken with her Aunt's Iphone. Yes, many more torturous days await Anna when she comes home! :)

Marta & Arthur

Just another day in Level II....

2010-09-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Anna had a long day of squirming and trying to crawl out of her incubator again today! :) She just won't take no for an answer. Apparently all the nurses are saying we're going to have a feisty redhead on our hands here. She is quite the talk of the NICU already!

She will be out of her incubator soon enough though, I spoke with the nurse today and apparently she says most babies leave between 36-38 weeks gestation. Anna will be 35 weeks this Wednesday so that's really a nice thing to hear. She also will be put in a crib at the NICU once she reaches 2500 grams. Which is not really that far away since at today's weigh in she was already 2054 grams which is about 4lbs 8oz. I can't believe that she's almost 5lbs!

I also can't believe that she's having baths every other day now! She HAAATES baths but that's what makes it that much fun. :) Who doesn't love to watch a little cranky baby getting a bath? And let me tell you, she was SO cranky today! Cute...

We tried Anna on the bottle again today, she wasn't as interested today because she was working on some gas, both down yonder and up north too. But I think she managed to eat 10mls which is still pretty good. It seems slow at this point but one day it will all just click for her and she will just get "it".

The other thing is, I casually asked the nurse if they are still applying the butterfly pillow for her and she said absolutely. Apparently they are not worried about the shape of her head at this point the way they were at Women's College. The nurse mentioned that as she grows bigger and she's held more and has more tummy time, her head will mold itself back to a more round shape. So no worries there...phew...the Nurse Practitioner really had me worried about the long term consequences of lying on the sides of her head all the time.

So that's all the news from today, will keep you all updated on her feeding progress. I'm really excited because these last couple of weeks will just fly by. Next week we have the car seat clinic, and the week after she might slowly be ready to come home. Can't wait!!

Here's a couple of videos of Miss Cranky Pants from today (the nurses were kind enough to let us use our camcorder today):

Marta & Arthur

2 Kilograms, Yeah Baby!

2010-09-03T20:24:00.001-07:00

She did it!! She reached (and exceeded if I might add) 2 kilograms! She is now 2029 grams which is about 4lbs and 7.5oz. What a big girl!

And no wonder, she is now having 43mls of milk every 3 hours and tolerating them quite well. The great thing is (although I don't have pictures of this) that she took her first bottle today! She had a full 15mls of milk by bottle and she did it so well. We weren't sure if she got tired so we hooked her feeding tube back up to continue her feed through her NG tube and she burped a real big one and then she started looking for the bottle again. So I think she would have definitely had more milk by bottle if offered. So maybe tomorrow we will try her on a bit more. The nurse and I were both amazed at how well she did the whole "suck swallow breathe" thing. We knew she had it in her all along!! What a little trooper!

This little trooper apparently has made quite the name for herself in her new home. The nurses call her "Little Houdini" because they settle her in all nice and comfy and 20 minutes later she appears at the other end of the isolette, facing in a different direction, upside down, inside out, legs all over the place, you name it. :) The nurses have no idea how or why she does it but I think it's because she's trying to tell us "Look at meee! I'm ready to go home!!".

As you can tell, we are still in "isolation mode" but we did receive a few results back and we were able to get rid of the uncomfortable face masks so that's great news. So, slowly as this isolation bit ends, we will start to visit her more often and get more involved in her care. Hopefully she'll have that tube out of her nose in no time!

Hangin' out with Daddy:
Here is Miss Anna getting her nightly weigh-in (and fighting through the whole thing!):

Marta & Arthur

Splish splash, we're having a bath!

2010-09-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

Anna had her first bath today!! We just can't believe how relaxed everything is in a level II in comparison to a level III NICU. Not only did she get her first bath today, but she also got to have a break from her COT monitor (this is the machine that monitors her desaturations) for over an hour! This was her first time off the COT machine and the nurse on duty today mentioned that as she progresses they will slowly keep her off of it during her feeds and baths etc to sort of get us and her used to not having to rely on a monitor.

The nurse on duty today was really wonderful today too. She was so supportive of bottle feeding our baby and she even mentioned that they will probably start her on the first bottle tomorrow with the approval of the Neonatologist. She emphasized that the main criteria for Anna to come home is to be able to eat on her own for 48 hours straight. This will take some time for her to master, but it's not unheard of that a baby might go home well before their due date (40 weeks). In fact, she mentioned that many babies go home well before they even reach full term (37 weeks). That's really comforting to hear because it means that just because she is not full term, doesn't mean that she can't be just as healthy and thrive just as much as one that is full term. Also, it means that we might have her home as early as 36-37 weeks if she does well with her feeds. She is now 34 weeks and 1 day old so that's just around the corner for her if she does as well as she has been for the last 8 weeks.

Anyways, as you can see from the pictures, we are still suited up for isolation. We had some fun with our outfits today to make light of the fact that it was so uncomfortable. Apparently when her first cultures come back tomorrow we can ditch the masks. But the gloves and gowns have to stay probably until Saturday's visit still.

Oh, but the big news today (other than her first bath) is that she is now on feeds that are every 3 hours and they have upped her milk to 42 mls now to compensate for the increase in the time. It still runs through a one hour course but I'm sure eventually that will be decreased to half an hour as well. She also now weighs 1983 grams which is about 4lbs 6oz!

Here she is getting her hair washed before her bath (the quality is not so good compared to the prior videos and there is no sound; but that's because I wasn't supposed to be video taping but I just had my little still picture camera in my hand pretending to be taking pictures without flash the whole time muahaha!) :

Here she is having her quick bath, it looks rough but it's not. The nurse had to hurry it along because Anna is still a bit fragile and it is quite cooler in this hospital:

She did really good today and she barely let out a couple of squeaks, she has such a cute demeanor still! :) She is also really handling being in Oshawa well. I think she is loving how much quieter this NICU is than her last one. So we are very relieved, the nurses are nice, they are not bullying us into anything, the place is bigger, cleaner, newer and Anna seems very content with her new home!

Marta & Arthur

She's Here!!!!

2010-09-02T00:24:00.000-07:00

Anna is finally one step closer to home! What a way to ring in her 2 month birthday! Her new temporary isolette resides in the Lakeridge Health Oshawa Level II NICU. Exactly where she was on the day she was born. Tonight has been quite long, so I'll try to keep this entry short since it's almost 4am now.

We got to Women's College around 9pm and did some Kangaroo care with her from 10pm until it was time to prep her for the big move. The Ambutrans people didn't arrive until 12:30am so they set everything up and took her on her way. She did really well during the ride and slept the entire time. Once she arrived at Oshawa around 1:30am, she woke up since they skipped her last feed in case the ride would upset her tummy. So it was really nice to see her alert and waving around again (even though it was only because she was hungry).

The nurse at Oshawa was pretty nice, she took us through the way things work there and I'll be honest, it's all a little bit overwhelming, but so was the Level III at first and we somehow adjusted eventually. Anna is currently in isolation for the next 2-4 days until her cultures come back. This is normal protocol to screen every new patient like this because every hospital carries its own germs. So it's just a safety thing. But this means that when we visit her we will have to wear gowns and gloves (and possibly face masks depending on the nurse??) until her results come back negative. After that, we can possibly get into a nice routine with her again.

So level II seems nice, apparently it's quite the busy place during the day and things are the same with visitors, only 2 people at a time and one must be a parent of the baby. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to have cameras there since they don't want anyone recording sensitive conversations. So from here on for the next few weeks we will have to use the still camera (which also takes videos but without sound). I will try to sneak in our regular camcorder here and there when it's not busy though. I would hate to miss out videotaping her development to keep for the rest of our lives because of some silly rule.

But Level II is a good place for her and she is definitely ready for it. Here is where she will start to bottle feed, she will have her first bath once she regulates her body temperature and we can have longer cuddles with her once she is more stable during her feeds. So it should be nice and certainly great preparation for life at home!

Anyhow, she is doing well, she has gained more weight and is now 1953 grams which is 4lbs 4oz. They said at Women's that usually once babies hit the 2kg mark they qualify to be transferred into a crib (so long as they can maintain their temperature) which Anna still can't fully do. But she will soon meet the first requirement, within the next day or so in any case! :)

Here are some pictures of her journey to Oshawa:

Here are some videos; the first one is of Anna having some Kangaroo cuddles before we left Women's College, the second is of the nurses at Women's College getting Anna into her travel incubator and the third one is of Anna settled in at Oshawa in her new incubator. She was so hungry at this point :)

Today was really tough and we are nervous to say the least with the new surroundings, new nurses, new routines but we look forward to her journey here at the Oshawa Level II NICU and hope that it's a short one at that! It feels really great to have her so close to home!!

Marta & Arthur

Goodbye T-dot and Hello O-town!!!

2010-09-01T10:44:00.001-07:00

We received some wonderful news today that Anna will have her eye exam tonight around 6pm and they will transfer her around midnight to Oshawa!

We will go visit her around 9pm tonight and then follow her over to Oshawa just to see her get settled in. I really hope this is it and they're not toying with us so let's keep our fingies crossed that she makes the big trek tonight!

In the meantime, Anna is gaining nicely, she is now up to 1904 grams from last night! Go Anna baby!!!

Marta & Arthur

Passed the 4 Pound Mark!!

2010-08-31T18:29:00.000-07:00

Anna is now a huuuge 4 pounds and 1 ounces (1850 grams)!!! She ballooned a whopping 53 grams overnight and she is doing so well with her weight gain, I can see her hitting the 5 pound mark fairly soon in the future.

We tried mouth feeding her today. I won't get into details for the sheer reason that I might work myself up again. But after trying the bottle and the breast (she wasn't interested more in one or the other because she was so tired) we were basically told it's breastfeeding only, or if we want to bottle feed we would have to wait until she is 37 weeks gestation. Which makes absolutely NO sense at all; why would she know how to suck swallow and breathe at the breast and not at the bottle? She either has this reflex or she doesn't, no matter what she is drinking from. In any case, we will stand our ground with the bottle feeding for our own reasons and hopefully my nerves can last these next few weeks. It has been such a struggle with these nurses and lactation consultants. They really know how to kick a NICU mother down while on the ground instead of being supportive and encouraging.

In any case, Anna is still being tube fed 24mls of breast milk every 2 hours and has been tolerating her feeds very well. They are still fortified but the fortification will be taken away sometime once we go to the Level II hospital to see how she is doing with weight gain on her own. If she doesn't gain enough during that time off, then they will give us some fortifier to continue her for after she comes home. That is also pretty routine, a lot of babies take formula fortifier along with iron fortifiers after birth.

She also has a new pillow, the butterfly pillow I mentioned in an earlier post. It is to help her head get back to a round shape. Right now it is quite extended because of the simple fact that she lies on the sides of her head all day, 24/7. So, with this butterfly pillow there has been a doctors order to give her 1 hour of butterfly pillow time (on her back) each 24 hour period. The nurse practitioner explained to us today that we must insist that Oshawa does the same for her because if she is left to sleep on her sides at all times then she might have long term implications. So in other words, her head might be 'long' up until she's a toddler and it will take her a lot of time to grow out of it if we don't try and fix it now. I have noticed that most of the preemies have this same issue, so it's not anything out of the norm.

So very exciting, tomorrow is her eye exam and they said they will also have to squeeze in a routine ultrasound as well. Anna will also be due for her 2 month immunizations probably later on this week once she is in Oshawa. She is a big girl now for sure!!!

She just has such a lovely demeanor still, just very quiet and taking in the world around her. Loving life, sleeping and a full tummy!!

(We don't have many videos/pictures from today because she slept so sound and she barely even opened her eyes).

Marta & Arthur

T-minus 3 Days??

2010-08-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

So I had a little chat with the charge nurse today and rumour had it that the eye doctor would be coming in to the NICU either today or September 1st. We initially weren't sure which day he would come in but it is now definitely Wednesday, September 1st. They don't like to move babies after an eye exam so the earliest she would be transferred is Thursday of this week, pending the bed, and ambulance transfer, yaddi yaddi yadda etc. It's all a big coordinated dance number, and everything has to coincide perfectly for the transition to be smooth.

I also spoke with the charge nurse and let her know that when we go in to see Anna tomorrow we can try to feed her by mouth. We have been having such a struggle with this as some nurses don't feel comfortable and refuse to give us the opportunity to feed her and some advocate for us explaining that we should have already started feeding her by mouth. I just couldn't handle the flip-flop attitudes of everyone so I decided for Anna. If she doesn't take it that's fine, if she does then that's great too, but if we don't try we will never know.

In any case, we will go on with Level III NICU life as it is and as we have for the past 8 weeks. I can't believe 8 weeks have almost gone by and I look back every day at the incredible changes Anna has gone through to get where she is today.

She is now up to 1797 grams which is 3lbs and 15oz and it really shows (what a big girlie!!):

Marta & Arthur

It's Raining Grandmas!

2010-08-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

Anna finally got nice cuddles from both her Grandmas! Grandma from Mom's side came to visit a few days ago and today Anna got a visit from her grandma on Daddy's side. This visit included the usual one course dinner spread over one hour, and a subsequent cuddle. These dinners have made quite the impact on the little girl, she now weighs a whopping 1774 grams which is 3lbs 14oz!! Anna's eye exam is probably going to take place on Monday or Tuesday, which would mean that she could be in Oshawa by Wednesday or Thursday of this coming week.

It is really nice to finally see how family can come in and bond with her, now that she is more and more aware of her surroundings. We can't wait for her to be in the level II facility so that more family can come and see her. One thing is for sure, Anna will have a big family to celebrate birthdays and holidays with!

Anna loves to hang out with her grandmas:

As the NICU downtown is now packing things up and babies are now being admitted in other hospitals like Mt. Sinai and Sick Kids, the room is slowly becoming quite empty. Today the nurse that took care of Anna did not have any other babies in her care (usually they have 3 babies in their care during a shift). There is not much else to report, we are just playing the waiting game now.

Marta & Arthur

Patience is Virtue

2010-08-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

So as the previous post sums it up, today was a bit of a disappointment. I could hardly sleep last night from the excitement of possibly having her so close to home. However, the key word here is "possibly" and as most things go with us, it's usually not in the direction as planned.

It now looks like she probably won't be transferred until at least Thursday since her eye exam is booked in for September 1st which is Wednesday. They do have a bed tentatively saved for her in Oshawa (which they aren't technically supposed to do), but if a baby is born or admitted before that date in Oshawa, of course they will have to give the bed away to that baby. So then Anna would be pushed back yet again. We inquired about possibly transferring her to Ajax but Women's College had some pretty interesting things to say about them and would prefer not to transfer any babies to that particular hospital. Worst case scenario, September 12th nears and she still hasn't been transferred to Oshawa then I'm sure they will transfer her to Centenary Hospital (Scarborough).

In a way it's good because she's having some desaturations still so it gives her time to be in the top hospital for babies for a few extra days, but the selfish side of us wants her in Oshawa as soon as possible.

Anywho, with this step backwards, we wanted to take one step forward and try feeding her a little bit today, a few drops of milk in her mouth but the nurse on duty today didn't feel comfortable with it. So overall a very frustrating day since I've heard several nurses say to me that she is ready to be mouth fed. So I'll try to ask again tomorrow but I am pretty sure that the same nurse will be on tomorrow as well.

The good news is that she is still developing on track, and is up to 24mls of milk every 2 hours and she has gained another 40 grams. She now weighs 1714 grams which is over 3lbs and 12oz. She is so close to the 4 pound mark!! She is incredibly bigger now than she was just a few short weeks ago, and having the si-pap off her face, we can really finally start to enjoy her little quirks and facial expressions:

Here's to hoping that her transfer comes sooner than later!

Marta & Arthur

No Dice

2010-08-28T06:20:00.000-07:00

Called the hospital this morning and it turns out that Oshawa wants Anna to have another eye exam prior to being moved. The reason for this is because the ophthalmologist in Oshawa is on vacation when Anna is due for this exam in 1.5 weeks. Of course the ophthalmologist at Women's College does not work on weekends (?!) So Anna will have another eye exam on Monday or Tuesday and will be moved after that.

We are obviously disappointed but we will be patient and wait.

:(

Adieu Mes Amis!

2010-08-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

We could not have asked for better timing. On her moms birthday the decision has been made that Anna is ready to be moved to a level II facility. The charge nurse advised us today that they called Oshawa hospital and inquired with respect to availability. It seems that they will have 1 open spot by tomorrow. So it is almost certain that this will happen Saturday August 28th. The time is still to be determined. We spent half a day downtown today, changing the diaper, feeding and holding Anna. She is without CPAP , on 22 CC's of food and gaining enough weight. I have posted a few pictures.

So the plan is that AmbuTrans will come and pick her up tomorrow and they will take her to Lakeridge level II. After 7 weeks of tests, sensors, ultrasounds, brain scans, blood tests and eye exams she finally strong enough to move and she is 1 step closer to coming home.

Anna and her mom had some well deserved quality time together today and now it is time to prepare for the big move. I am sure the next post will include some pictures of the trip. I have to say that the NICU staff at Women's has been absolutely amazing. Anna has profiled herself as a more than excellent patient and some of the nurses actually got attached to her. So we will definitely visit them in their new facility in Sunnybrook hospital.

We realize that this is not the end of the road, but it definitely is a giant leap forward. Anna will be going back to the hospital where she was born. She will be 2 floors above the OR where she was brought to life. It almost seems like it was only a few days ago while in fact it has been over 7 weeks now. When thinking back to that day, we are very thankful for the vast decision of the doctor to operate right away. Thankful for the SickKids Transport Team that made it to Oshawa from Toronto in a miraculously short time frame. And thankful for the 120 nurses and doctors in the NICU for sustaining Anna's life to the point where she is now ready to return to Oshawa. Last but not least, we are thankful for our family and friends that support us through this time. We can't wait to show off our little, diaper filling, smile cracking, (really) soft skinned, little lady. :)

Her is a short video of when Anna was on her moms lap.She was quite observant.

Tick Tock!

2010-08-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

The clock is officially ticking!! It is now only a matter of hours/days that Anna might be transferred to the Level II nursery. So here's how it works; once Anna is off si-pap for a continuous 48 hours then the staff at Women's College will call our #1 and #2 choices of Level II hospitals to see for bed availability. If there is a bed available then they will arrange for a transfer most likely the day after. However, each day that there is not a bed available they will call back until there is one ready at which point Anna will be packed up and sent off on her merry way :) Just 48 hours! She is already on hour 35 so I presume that by tomorrow at noon (after rounds) they will start calling the hospitals to inquire about beds, providing that she is still stable.

I am still in shock at how quickly everything went. She is doing really well off the si-pap and in fact she is doing so well that today we had a mini-photo shoot with her. Despite being contorted in all different positions, she did remarkably well and I think she might have even enjoyed it a little bit too! :) I know I sure did!

You can really tell how much she has grown in the last few days, she really has ballooned up. The nurse explained today that they were trying to have her lye on her back because the premature babies are mostly on their bellies to help them digest their feeds so this flattens the sides of their heads and gives the impression that their heads are really long and thin. But once she is transferred to a level II crib I presume that she will be on her back more often, therefore allowing her soft little head to bounce back to its regular supple shape.

Anyways, we will keep you updated on any news we receive from the hospital regarding her transfer as soon as we hear anything! Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and rooting for our little girl to get strong enough to come closer to home!

Marta & Arthur

Quick Update on Si-pap

2010-08-26T05:55:00.000-07:00

So a little update on the munchkin; she is doing really well off of the si-pap! She has been breathing on her own consistently for 21 hours now so almost a full day. In fact, she is doing so well that they actually wheeled away her si-pap machine from her incubator. I am still nervous of course, I hope that she doesn't get tired out too quickly but I'm trying to stay optimistic that this was the last that we've seen of the si-pap! :)

Marta & Arthur

The Big Five-O!

2010-08-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

Anna is 50 days old today (7 weeks) and 33 weeks gestation! It's hard to believe that almost two months have passed by because it feels like she was just born last week.

She seems to have surprises for us at every gestational milestone that she reaches. We went in to see Anna today not knowing what awaited us. When we approached her incubator, we found a letter addressed to us on the details of the big move September 12th. Although every incubator had the same letter, I still felt a bit deflated, thinking that we might not make it to a level II before she has to be transferred to the new facility. We just thought she was going to be weaned from si-pap on an 8 hour/4 hour schedule. 8 hours off, 4 hours on. Much to our surprise, this morning at rounds they decided that she will be off si-pap altogether!! No si-pap, no nasal cannula, nothing. Just her breathing away like a big girl! So off to the shredder that letter goes!! :)

Now, before we get too excited we have to be cautiously optimistic that she might get too tired. After all, these things are trial and error. If we don't try, then we don't know whether she can or can't do it. Lets hope it's the former because (and here's the big shocker--drum roll please); if she does well off of si-pap for about 2-3 days, then she will be transferred to a level II finally! Yup, as easy as that. Hard to believe, but if she is able to do this all by herself then she could be in a level II as early as this weekend. This is why I say we must stay cautiously optimistic because it just sounds too good to be true. But hey, let's all hope for the best and of course we don't have doubts that she will be able to do it eventually! If she's not ready now, then I don't doubt that she will be shortly thereafter.

She also surprised us with her incredible growth in the last two days. She now weighs in at a whopping 1614 grams which is about 3lbs 9oz and she is gaining steadily. Her milk is still at 22mls every 2 hours, however, because they decided today to put her back down to 1 hour feedings they probably won't be increasing her feeds for another couple of days. She seems to be doing well with being on one hour feeds though (if you recall they increased it to 90 minute feedings because of some desaturations due to reflux that she was having). The nurse repositioned Anna's feeding tube through her nostril as well. Apparently this is better for them but she mentioned that she wouldn't have done that if she thought Anna would be back on si-pap any time soon. So that's a good sign that they mean business!

So lots of big things happening for little Anna today! Lets all keep our fingers and toes crossed that she will be able to stay strong so she can finally ditch that nasty si-pap machine for good! :)

Here she is saying hi to everyone:

Here she is having some cuddles with Daddy today:

Marta & Arthur

Our Micro-Preemie

2010-08-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

As Anna is quickly approaching her 50th day in the NICU, it's hard not to sit back and reminisce about her days there since she was born. She has developed so much and it's been such a joy to see her gain strength and to watch our little frail girl become such a strong little baby. Looking back at these videos is hard, we feel so terrible for her that she had to endure all of this. I speak in past tense, knowing that she still has a long road to travel down before she comes home to us. Nevertheless, she is more than halfway there and we are so grateful that things turned out so well for her!

We got the results of her eye exam earlier and nothing has changed so she is doing great! She is still a stage 0 out of 5 (0 being the best) so we are really happy to hear that. We're not sure of her weight from tonight but the nurse did mention earlier today that she will try Anna off of the si-pap for 8 hours from 12-8am this morning. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, she was supposed to try her off last night for 8 hours but Anna had a couple of desaturations, most likely from the stress of the eye exam so the nurse didn't want to push her. So lets hope all goes well for her tonight and she is able to make that big step to 8 hours off the si-pap.

Here's a little video of her from her early days when she just started on si-pap:

Again, it's just so hard to watch because she's so frail. You can tell how small she was then because they couldn't even do up her Newborn size diaper, she is just lying on it. Her skin was still red and shiny and I distinctly remember how sticky it used to be. Her fingers would stick together as if she had dipped her hand in glue. Her skin was extremely translucent and she could barely open her eyes. But it was all a part of just being born merely days before, she wasn't supposed to be outside of the womb yet. So although she came incredibly early, in a sense, we are blessed to be able to see how she would grow.

And here's a video from her more recent days...you can tell she has grown so much:

Her skin is a nice whiter shade of pale :) Like both her Mommy and Daddy. She is also much more active now and has much time off the si-pap to enjoy her surroundings. Her skin is not sticky anymore and her Newborn diaper fits her much better. Her tiny fingers are becoming more chubbier and her cheeks are finally pinch-able! Not to mention how long her hair has become. She is business in the front and party in the back! :)

In any case, she has definitely come such a long way. I can't wait to be able to compare her 50th day in the NICU with her 1st day at home!

Marta & Arthur

"I can see clearly now...."

2010-08-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

Looks like Miss Anna passed her second eye exam with flying colours! We won't know the results yet for sure until tomorrow but apparently the eye doctor mentioned to the nurse that he won't have to see Anna until another two weeks pass by. The nurse then told us that this is a good sign, since usually if there is something awry then he would have to see her again within only one week. Anyways, she did wonderfully, they gave her some sucrose for the procedure (which calms babies down so they don't feel much pain). She didn't even have one spell or desat during the procedure. It's not a terribly "gross" procedure; the doctor just basically opens up Anna's eyes and looks in them with some sort of a magnifying device so he can look behind the retina for any abnormalities. It's more just an uncomfortable thing for the babies since their eyes have to be kept open for a few minutes.

She had some nice Kangaroo time with Daddy afterward which I think really helped to also calm her down. She relaxed and fell asleep in his arms almost right away which made the eye exam just become a distant memory for her.

We also, maybe....maaaybe might have some movement on the breathing "front" soon. The nurse mentioned that they were going to try weaning Anna to 8 hours off the si-pap but since she had to have the eye exam, they didn't want to push her. So instead, she will see if she can stay off si-pap on her next try which will be from 12am-8am this morning if all goes well. Today is day 8 of her being on the 6 hour cycles so I hope that she is able to tack on an additional 4 hours per day to her breathing. If she does then we anticipate that it won't be long until she will be breathing on her own fully. If she can't make the 8 hour span, then the little girl just needs some more time to grow.

Speaking of growing, she gained a nice chunk of weight last night! She was up to 1527 grams, but tonight when she was weighed she lost a little bit and is now 1516 grams (3lbs 5oz). Which is still great, it's an increase of 70 grams in the last 3 days! The nurse mentioned that it's not really how much they gain each day per se, but more about how much they gain every week in total. Somewhere around 150-300 grams per week is considered a good range for growth. And growing she is!! :) She is also up to 22 mls of milk every 2 hours!

So we'll update the blog as soon as we know anything tomorrow with her progress. Let's hope she will do okay, I know our little Anna is doing her best!

Here she is being put back into her isolette tonight. You can tell she has grown so much already in the past week or so:

Marta & Arthur

Strike a Pose!

2010-08-22T19:45:00.001-07:00

<---- She's ready for her modeling career! It was so cute, she did a big stretch and put her hands down and just slept on them. I still can't believe how much strength she has in her neck and limbs for a baby so young!

In any case, she's doing great again, she had some spells during the day but she was also straining quite a bit and it didn't affect her breathing or heart rate in any way so they suspect she was a bit on the constipated side. And here I thought she was "completely" like Daddy but I guess I was wrong! ;)

She has gained some weight again and is up to 1475 grams on 20mls of food. They haven't changed her si-pap weaning schedule yet, I guess they want her to be able to tolerate her days without those minor spells first before they change anything with her breathing. In any case, we'll keep you updated on any upcoming changes. It's crunch time now, only 21 days before the big NICU move to the new location and we are desperately hoping that she is well enough to get out of there before that move, otherwise I think we will have to just keep her at Sunnybrook/Women's College in Toronto so that she doesn't have to move twice.

Marta & Arthur

Time flies (when you're having fun??)...

2010-08-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

Back in July we looked at August 21st as such a long time away. We were given a discounted parking pass to use by the hospital until the 21st of August when the parking garage closes for good and thought "hmmm wonder where we will be with progress by August 21st, what will things be like by then?". Today is that day and the parking garage is closed. The hospital is slowly starting to pack things up for their big move on September 12th. This means a lot of things, more chaos, organizing, less visitors, no new babies and hoping that the older babies will be well enough to go to a level II by the 12th of September; Anna being one of them.

Her progress, like I mentioned before, has sort of plateaued at the moment. It is frustrating to say the least. Her chart showed that she couldn't handle her entire 6 hours off of si-pap last night and was put back on it 30 minutes earlier due to a spell. I guess because we are so used to her just going forward, I get a little anxious when she takes a small step back. It is a small step back too, compared to other babies, she has no issues at all.

We can't expect too much because she is still so little. Her one neighbour who was recently moved to a level II was 37 weeks gestation when he was finally able to eliminate c-pap all together. Her new neighbour who was just born last week at 32 weeks is still on c-pap as well. Then there were a couple of twins born at 30 weeks who spent one week in the level III NICU before they were transferred out to the level II. So all babies are different. It's hard not to compare babies, I know they are all different, but when compared she is doing wonderfully. We just have to give her time to do things at her own pace.

In any case, she still loves her cuddles and her suckie and we have our little routine now when we go visit her. I think she knows when we are there for cuddles and diapey changes now!

Here's a video of her having some Kangaroo time with Daddy today:

Here she is being put back into her incubator and waving hi to everyone :)

Marta & Arthur

Who's that lady?

2010-08-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

She looks like such a big girl already! I think Arthur and I are seeing some resemblance to me now, what do you think?

How cute is she in her new hat? Her Great Grandma made this hat for her before she was born. Funny story, she made this hat accidentally too small and was going to unravel it when my dad told her to just keep it as is anyway. She made a second one just like it but a bigger one that would fit a newborn. So it turns out it's a good thing that Great-G made a hat this small because it fits Anna perfectly! Maybe deep down she knew she would come early :)

Daddy had the privilege of changing the little Pumpkin's diaper 3 times today! First for a pee pee, then after he put the new diaper on the nurse helped Anna clean out her bowels a bit if you will, and then after Arthur put on the clean diaper, again Anna let some more poo out. So fun times for Daddy today! Good thing I wasn't on diaper duty, pheeew....dodged a big bullet there today!!

Anyways she was weighed after her explosive episodes and she still gained 15 grams. She is now up to 1446 grams which is 3lbs and 3oz. She's still on 20mls of food and still doing a 6/6 cycle with her si-pap. The only thing they changed was that while she was off of si-pap they didn't have her on the nose prongs with low flow oxygen. They had her breathing all on her own, with no assistance at all for the 6 hours that she was off each time. Which makes sense, because she was very tired today when we got there for the visit. She probably had a really big day of hard work behind her today but they said that she did really well on her own.

It's really hard to see her on that si-pap ventilator, especially after we get to see her without it. It's also tough because it misshapes her face and we noticed today that it also swells up her eyelids a little bit. But hopefully soon she will be off of it, we're not sure when at this point. We've reached a plateau now where things have slowed down a lot so yes it's frustrating because there's not much in the improvement department but it's also a blessing that she's not taking any steps back. She's healthy and that's all we could ever want for her at this point. We look around the room at all the sick babies and we are so lucky that she is doing so well. Sometimes we forget that she is so young still and expect so much of her so we just have to try and be patient as hard as that is.

Here she is sporting her new hat today:

Marta & Arthur

Lil' Miss Cranky Pants

2010-08-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

So it's true; Daddy's looks and Mommy's personality :) But I love hearing her complain, the sweet sound that we've been waiting for all of these years.

Here she is complaining and trying to lift her head off of Daddy. She has a tendency to try and lift her head because she thinks she is strong enough to just walk out of the NICU some days. :) Cute....I can't believe a baby this young can lift and try and turn her head.

It was hard but we decided to take the night off from driving today. Arthur is getting burned out fast, with the commute, then working every day, and then commuting to Toronto and back. So that said, there's not much to report today. The nurse mentioned that Anna lost 7 grams from last night but she is still doing good. She's 1431 grams still and taking her 20mls of milk really well. She is also still on the 6/6 cycle with the si-pap and we totally understand them not wanting to push her. She is having about 3 spells per day typically while she is breathing on her own but that's nothing of a big-huge concern.

We also finished Anna's room today, all there was left to do was to stop procrastinating and put the bedding on the crib. It's of course Liam's old room with a few minor changes and lots of new gifts from everybody for the little Princess. Along with all of her new things, she gets to inherit a lot of her big brothers things, which I am sure he would be so proud to pass on to her.

Now all Anna needs to do is get strong and healthy so she can come home and see all the wonderful gifts she received from family, friends including Arthur's coworkers who are all so anxious to finally meet the little munchkin!

One last video before ending the post. This one is of Anna exercising her cheeks :) Turn up the volume on this one, she has a really strong sucking reflex for a negative 2 month old! Not to mention the crankiest expression ever! Adorable!

Marta & Arthur

On the Up

2010-08-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Just a quick note from work while I can: Just called the hospital and Anna gained a whopping 54 grams last night and weighed in at 1438 grams or 3lbs and 2 oz. This means that her feedings have now been increased to 20 CC per 2 hours. Her breathing is still very good, however the doctors decided today (during rounds) to keep her on 6/6 hours of ventilation and allow some time for her lungs to become stronger.

It has come to the point where the doctors and nurses slowly started to talk about moving her to a Level II in the near future. We will keep you updated about Anna's travel plans :)

Art

32 Weeks Gestation -- Wow!

2010-08-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

Happy half-way-to-2 months-old birthday Anna! :) She is 6 weeks old today and about 32 weeks gestation, give or take a couple of days.

During rounds today they decided to keep her on the 6/6 schedule still with regards to her breathing on her own. She has about 2-3 "spells" per nurses' shift and they all seem to be during the time that she is breathing on her own. But it doesn't necessarily mean that she is forgetting to breathe. It looks like during her feeds she strains a bit, or coughs which means for a few seconds she holds her breath (as adults we would register as having a spell as well if we did that but it wouldn't happen as quickly as it does for tiny babies). So I think they are just being extra careful in not pushing her too fast because of these spells. She also usually has one when her feed is nearing the end, again because her tummy is so full and possibly from reflux and straining. Speaking of feeding, she is still on 19mls per feed but she has gained another 22 grams and is up to 1384 grams which is about 3lbs and .8oz. Slowly but surely there Anna! :)

But the major thing we have noticed with her the last couple of days is that she really is becoming more aware of her surroundings. She is starting to develop a little personality now instead of just lying around. She doesn't like it too much when she's moved so she is now starting to literally voice her concerns. Here's a little video of Daddy setting up for Kangaroo care and Anna making a bit of noise because she was moved from her isolette:

So right now it's just a waiting game. Sometimes we forget how little she still is because she IS 6 weeks old now, but technically she is still negative 2 months gestational age. :)

But with patience, once Anna is off the ventilator and breathing on her own for 3 straight days, she will officially be booted out of the Level III NICU. It's tough waiting but we know in her own time when she is ready she will let us know. :)

Marta & Arthur

Just cruising along...

2010-08-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Anna is still very stable and is doing really well! She was in a bit of a bad mood today, it was cute seeing her cranky. I'm sure it won't be so cute at 3am every night but hey, we still can't wait! :)

We didn't get many videos of her today, seems like we've been having new nurses the last few days and they don't really know our routine so they do their own thing while sort of putting us on the back burner a bit. It can get quite challenging and anxious dealing with so many different nurses especially when you have a new one every other day and they all have their own style of nursing. You can also tell which ones Anna likes, I sense that if she's had a few bad nurses in a row manhandling her then she might be a little put off by it and become cranky.

Nevertheless she is doing fantastic and is still cycling off of si-pap every 6 hours. The nurses said that she's handling that really well, with no problems at all. Hopefully tomorrow they might wean her a bit longer. We are so excited to finally have that giant breathing tube off of her for good one day!

Right now things have leveled off a bit in terms of progress, but better to be slow than for her to have to take 2 steps backwards because she gets too tired.

Marta & Arthur

Crossed the Three Pound Mark!

2010-08-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

High-five Anna! Anna has slowly been inching her way to the three pound mark and she finally made it today! She is officially 3lbs and .04oz (1362 grams) and that's even after a big poo! She is still on 19ml of milk every 2 hours, and her milk is slowly fed to her over a time of 1.5 hours. So she literally eats non-stop throughout the day. But slowly down her feeds like that has helped her tremendously with the reflux. She did really great today so they will keep her on this schedule.

When we got there today we had a cute little surprise. The day nurse had clothed Anna in a cute little baby hospital style Kimono. We asked the night nurse why but she was a bit on the ummm..."unsure" side of things regarding pretty much everything. Anyways that's a whole other post. So in any case, it looks like Anna might be clothed from here on, probably to start helping her regulate her own body temperature instead of relying on the incubator. But that's just a guess. Nevertheless, it's SOOO CUTE!! I'll have to bring in some of the hats that her Great Grandma made for her now that we're able to see her wear clothes more regularly.

The other thing that Anna surprised us with, she is breathing 12 hours out of 24 on her own now!! Amazing little girl! They have her breathing 6 hours on low flow oxygen, and 6 hours on si-pap and they alternate this throughout the day. She'll be fully breathing on her own before you can say "Level 2 here we come!".

Marta & Arthur

4 Generations of Konceseseses

2010-08-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

Great Grandma and Aunt made it! It was really wonderful to see so many generations of Konc(z) ladies in one place. Great-G also made some really cute hats and clothes for baby Anna, can't wait for her to be able to wear them!

Anna was such a good girl today, she did really well exercising her lungs today and they are hopeful that she will be completely off of si-pap and on the low flow nasal prongs for good within the next week or two. That's great news because that is the major hurdle left for her to be transferred to a Level II hospital. As most of you know, Sunnybrook/Women's College will relocate as of September 12th. However, we were told today that she will most likely be in a Level II hospital before then. Of course they can never guarantee this since anything can happen between now and then. But judging by her excellent progress so far, they don't have many doubts that she will be out of there soon. No earlier than 2 weeks from now, but no later than 4 weeks either. We are going to start feeding her by mouth sometime next week or the week after so that's exciting too. You can tell that she is just itching to do the work by herself, she is sucking like a champ on her suckie and today she even took some sucrose by syringe as if she's been doing this since day 1; she's telling us that she is ready and willing!

Once she is in a level II, her requirements (other than no health issues of course) are to exclusively eat on her own every meal (so no tubes) and that she not lose any weight. Also, that she does not have any apneas and is able to breathe exclusively on her own.

About 3-4 days before she is ready to leave Sunnybrook, they will phone Lakeridge Oshawa to see what their status is for beds etc. So let's hope that they will be able to take her, that way she will literally be blocks from home. If not, then the next hospital over is Centenary which is in Scarborough. We wouldn't mind that either, after all, anything is closer than driving straight downtown to Toronto.

At the moment she only has issues when she is eating. Apparently it looks like she has some reflux issues which is completely normal with preemies. So when she is at the end of a feeding, she starts to cough because her tummy is full and she is feeling the burn of the reflux a bit. So when she coughs she strains and therefore she has some de-saturations, causing some alarms to go off. But these are definitely not related to her breathing in any way so "technically" her desats are not any cause for alarm...no pun intended. At the moment they will leave her as is, they are just lengthening the time it takes for her to eat from1 hour to 1.5 hours to see if she can digest the last little bit of food better. She is still on 19ml of food now every 2 hours and has gained some more weight (1336 grams which is about 2lbs 15oz). If her reflux doesn't go away in a few weeks then they will start giving her some meds like Zantac for example.

So big things will be happening for little Anna in the next 2-4 weeks. Everyone, keep your fingers crossed for the little Pumpkin so that she can come home to us soon!

Marta & Arthur

Oh what a life...

2010-08-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

Anna is doing really great today, they decided to keep weaning her off of si-pap but at a different pace. She is now doing 4 hours off of si-pap and 8 hours on continually. She does 4 hours off like it's not a big deal at all so I think they are all optimistic that by next weekend or so she will most likely be off of si-pap permanently. Of course things can always change, but we will remain optimistic with the staff that she can do it by then.

She is still on 19ml of food but she seems to have some reflux and digests the last few mls a bit too slowly so sometimes it comes back up through the tube. That's of course normal for babies this young. Her weight will fluctuate as well for the next little while because her body is working hard to develop strong muscles so she can breathe on her own, therefore burning more calories.

We were doing Kangaroo care today and she was frantically looking for milk so it was really adorable that her innate sense of feeding is so strong. She will do great once her mouth feeds start, I'm positive of that!

We also learned how the incubator temperature works today. I was wondering since every time we are in there, the temperature seems to be different. So we were told that the incubator regulates itself based on Anna's temperature at the time. So if Anna is feeling a bit cold then the incubator will compensate for that by warming her up. Anna will have to regulate her own temperature once her skin is a bit more developed and then she can be transferred to a NICU crib at room temperature.

Great Grandma and Auntie didn't make it today to meet her but I'm sure once she is feeling better they can meet sometime real soon. Maybe Anna will be off si-pap by then and they can see her pretty face!

So right now Anna pretty much just sleeps and eats (oh what a life!) :) Lets hope she gets nice and strong in the next couple of weeks.

Marta & Arthur

Daddy Day

2010-08-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

Anna got some really nice Kangaroo time with Daddy today and she was lovin' every minute of it! I'm not sure if Daddy was heating Anna or if Anna was heating Daddy but both were a a couple of Dutch ovens by the end of the session. How cute...

Anna did really well with her breathing trial last night. They kept her on for 8 hours instead of 6 hours. She did however start to get a little tired so they decided to let her take the rest of the day off and put her back on si-pap (no weaning for the remainder of the day). She will probably go back to her weaning schedule starting tomorrow, but not such long hours at a time. More like 4 hours off, 8 hours on si-pap. We did get a chance to talk to the doctor tonight and he mentioned that he thinks she might be completely weaned within the next week or so. I guess once it happens it happens fast.

She is 1303 grams today which is a slight loss, but I suspect it's from the explosive poo that Daddy cleaned up right before her weigh in. :) She is up to 19mL feeds and is tolerating them really well. She loves blowing milk bubbles after each feed!

We are really anxious to have her home, especially now that we see how well she is doing and how fast she is growing. But I just have to tell myself that I can't have her until October, so that way if she comes before then GREAT! But if she doesn't, then I'm used to the fact that it will have to be October. After all, that was when we were supposed to have her in the first place; October 4th at 38 weeks and 3 days gestation.

Here's Miss Piggy (from the nose prongs) sucking on her hand, so cute...seems like today was definitely a "suckie" day! We finally managed to track one down for her later on before we left and she was just such a happy little girl sleeping with her suckie.

She has a big day tomorrow, if things go as planned, she's hopefully meeting Great Grandma and Great Auntie for the first time ever!

Marta & Arthur

Big Day!

2010-08-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

What a big day for little Anna! She did so well yesterday breathing on her own for the 4 hour trial, that today they decided to take her off the ventilator completely and give her a chance to show off! She did 8 full hours of breathing on her own! When we left the nurse decided to give her a break since she was getting a little tired so between 8pm until 12am she was back on si-pap. But from 12am until 6am she will try her again without the ventilator and let us know tomorrow morning how it went. They don't want to tire her out too fast but she just really has been impressing them lately so they thought they would give it a try and see how she does.

Daddy was able to do the diaper change today and clean Anna up a bit, he really is a natural at it, but she again, typical self was fighting like a little rascal. She just really doesn't want to be in a diaper :)

They increased her fortification in the milk again as she was gaining weight just a little bit too slowly but now it seems that she gained a TON of weight overnight and is now 1323 grams which is 2lbs and 14oz. That is an increase of 82 grams! She is so close to the 3 pound mark!!

We are so proud of her trying so hard to get better and grow. She really is a little trooper!

Marta & Arthur

Short Video

2010-08-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

Just to add to Arthur's post, here's a video of Anna from today. The nurse is removing her little nasal oxygen tube that they put in place near the nostrils while she was being weaned from si-pap today. She doesn't like the tape being removed from her little cheeks so she's letting out some cries (I've been waiting 3 weeks to hear her cry again and here it is!!) :)

Also, they have increased her feeds to 18ml and she now weighs a whopping 1241 grams which is about 2 pounds and 11oz (whoohoo go Anna go!!). She is well on her way now with the consistent weight gain!

Marta

I see you!

2010-08-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

Last night's eye exam results came back and we could not have asked for better results. She is in Stage 0. This needs an explanation: there are 5 "stages" for her to progress through with respect to the development of the eyes and mainly the retina. She is in Stage 0, which is perfect progress given her gestational age. When they do these tests they look for "retinopathy fibroplasia" (Anna dares you to say that 3 x really fast) or RLF. RLF means that there is an abnormal growth of the blood vessels in the eye which can cause retinal detachment. It is a very dynamic disease and could cause blindness. These are the 5 stages that classify the severity:

Stage 1 blood vessels not completely developed.
Stage 2 enhanced grow of blood vessels (more than normal).
Stage 3 is extraretinal fibrovascular tissue (bleedings, rigid pupil) .
Stage 4 is sub-total retinal detachment (severe vision loss).
Stage 5 is total retinal detachment (complete vision loss).

As mentioned, Anna is a stage 0 meaning that they did not find any abnormalities what so ever. These eye exams are fairly intensive. The baby is propped straight up and put under anesthetic. Then the poking and prodding in the eye starts and it is not a pretty sight. She will have another exam in 2 weeks.

As you can see from the picture, they put nose prongs on her. On rounds this morning the doctors have decided to wean her off the SiPAP! This is very exciting and hopefully the beginning of her not needing any support. She will be off the machine 4 hours out of the 24 for the next few days. Then, if she handles that well, 8 out of 24, 12 out of 24 etc. She is doing amazing with her breathing as well as her weight gain.

We will continue to keep you posted.

Arthur & Marta

The Big Test!

2010-08-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

Another day, another step. Miss Anna had her eye exam today. We were a bit thrown back by this because we've sort of been waiting for this day since she was born and we were not informed in any way that this day was finally here. This eye exam is one of the big steps which test for abnormalities in vision and developmental abilities to name a few. We should get the results of this big test tomorrow so we are anxiously awaiting good news for her!

She is on 16 ml feeds but she is having a bit of trouble as some of the milk, about 3mls comes back up. So the nurse advised us today that she's still getting 16 mL but 3 of those are put in very slowly so that she can digest it easier. There's been some talk about reflux by a couple of nurses but nobody has officially advised us yet that this is what she has. So it could just be nothing or it could be that she just has a bit of reflux which is very common in premature babies.

She also had 2 spells today but they weren't concerned since one of the spells was during the eye exam (which can be very normal for these babies as it's a pretty stressful event) and the other spell was during one of her poos, but apparently it was a BIG one! So when they strain a bit too much then they sometimes have spells. Again, all very normal and doesn't mean that she has tired out from the si-pap in any way. She is still doing incredibly well on the si-pap!

Will update tomorrow on the results of her eye exam!

Here's the little Pumpkin getting ready for her Kangaroo care -- (as you can see it's quite a production just to get these little ones out of their incubators). But apparently from what I read, back up to as short as a few years ago and parents were not allowed to even touch their babies let alone have Kangaroo care with them. So we are extremely lucky to be able to have this time with her:

Marta & Arthur

Working Hard

2010-08-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

A quick message to keep everybody updated. Anna gained another 40 grams overnight and has reached 1197 grams now. As a consequence, her feedings have gone up by 1cc to 16cc every 2 hours. As mentioned we might start to try her with manual feedings soon as opposed to the line that goes directly into her stomach right now. It will be trial and error but something tells me that she will pick this up fairly quick. Especially given the way she appreciates her soother right now. (It's her best friend) She has been spell free again last night and continues to work very hard to come home.

Art

Miss Popularity

2010-08-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

Anna was Miss Popularity again today, she had many many visitors from her two Aunts, Grandpa, Mommy, Daddy and student nurses. Just a big-big day for her overall and she handled it like a pro. We also got some cuddle time in again today and she did very well considering we were both hot as ovens. By the time it was done they had to peel her off of me.

She is still doing really great on si-pap, she's on room oxygen level and doesn't have any spells or anything major. She's also still on 15mL of feeds and has a few spit ups now and then but what baby doesn't. She is up to 1157 grams (last nights weigh-in, not sure of tonights weight yet) which is about 2lbs and 9 ounces. I really felt that she was a bit heavier when I was holding her today. Her blood work all came back normal as well which is great!

Arthur spoke with one of the doctors today and she mentioned that pretty soon we will be trying Anna on drinking milk and swallowing it. She said we will probably start trying it at 32 weeks which will be next week!! That's really exciting as it's one of the requirements for her to accomplish to be discharged. It will be very touch-and-go as some babies really can't develop the whole "must suck -- then swallow" reflex that early on but we will see. So far she has outdone herself with everything so I'm pretty sure she will do great with that as well when the time comes.

They also explained how the weaning of the si-pap will go along. That no doubt will come soon as well although that's something that we can't predict how soon. It all depends on Anna's stability. Once it's time to wean her they will do it so that she is off of the machine for just a few hours per day and slowly increase that each time until she is able to come off of it for good. So I think some big things will happen for her development in the next 2-3 weeks.

Here's our little monkey right after her Kangaroo care, very alert and showing off to everyone with big stretches :)

Marta & Arthur

When you're smiling...

2010-08-08T20:07:00.001-07:00

Looks like today Anna was on top of the world! She just couldn't stop smiling. We're not sure if she had gas but it didn't look like it :) At least we can think that she was genuinely smiling at the world and feelin' good.

She is still doing wonderfully on si-pap and breathing like a champ. She weighs 1157 grams now which is about 2lbs 9oz. Her feeds are still 15mL per 2 hours though. She is getting some routine blood work done tomorrow so we'll get the results of that in the morning...

Other than that, she's just smiling away, lovin' the world :)

Marta & Arthur

Quick Update - Part Deux

2010-08-07T22:27:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I managed to get a couple of shots on to the computer without bringing out the hammer.

This picture is from when I was able to hold her without the si-pap on. She did a few smiles and winks at us, but we think she was just taking a poo. :)
It's really hard to believe that they can't see yet this early. She fools us, that's for sure!

Here's daddy doing a diaper change and surprisingly Anna is tolerating the changing well! Although she did try and kick and push him away as soon as he was putting the new diapey on. :) She really just likes to be "free as a bird" and let it aaaall hang out!

Here she is si-pap-less again, breathing like such a big girl! Later on, once the nurse put the si-pap back on her, she kept trying to push it off her face and moving her head around trying to show Mommy and Daddy that she really can do it on her own. (That tube in her mouth is her feeding tube which she gets all her milk through. At this age she hasn't developed the swallowing reflex yet).

PS - she REALLY is a Daddy's "mini-me" isn't she? :)

Quick Update

2010-08-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

So I've been having some computer problems and trying to manage the videos and pictures we captured today. They were some pretty good ones unfortunately the computer is not cooperating so before I take a hammer to it, I'll just do a quick update from the laptop.

Anna is doing really well today, we managed to get there just in time for one of the diaper changes/weigh-ins. Daddy got to change the diaper and take her temperature and the whole time this was happening, Anna was not on any ventilators and just breathing on her own. Then after the diaper change, I was able to hold her in my arms for about 5 minutes so in total we watched her today not be on any ventilators for about 15-20 minutes. It was really great to see considering that she was just extubated about 2 days ago. We were really amazed with her, she kept up her breathing, she didn't dip, her heartrate was excellent and she wasn't stressed out.

We learned today what the si-pap sort of does for her...it keeps her lungs inflated slightly at all times so that they don't have a chance to fully collapse, therefore making it easier for her to take breaths. So it was definitely a huge deal that she was able to work her little lungs like that for such a long time without getting tired.

She is also gaining some good weight, she is up to 1137 grams now so she is steadily going up. Her feeds are still 15 mL per 2 hours.

I just can't believe we watched her breathing without any tubes etc for that long. She also amazingly didn't have any spells and we had to double check that with the nurse because we thought it was a mistake on her paperwork. Like I mentioned before, she usually had about 5-6 spells per day when she was intubated where she sort of forgets to breathe, usually when she's in a deep sleep. So it's really a great step for her that she didn't have any at all today and she is on si-pap.

I will post some pictures and videos probably tomorrow if we can fix the computer. :)

Marta & Arthur

The Life of the (Preemie's) Brain

2010-08-07T03:56:00.001-07:00

I'm always wondering if Anna is aware of us or her surroundings, when she will be able to see, if she can hear us or distinguish our voices.

I found this article from the Star on the preemie baby's developments. I'll just highlight a few tidbits but you can find the full article at http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/834401 (it's a pretty long read).

It states that "a preterm infant can hear at 26 weeks and smell at 29 weeks, and has developed the ability to see by 32 weeks. A fetus will withdraw from pain at 19 weeks, and the neuronal connections needed for a fetus to understand that something hurts are in place by 28 weeks. And by 32 weeks after conception, a fetus has defined sleep states, including deep, REM sleep.

Last year, researchers from the Netherlands reported that 30- to 38-week-old fetuses have short-term memory, evident in the fact they habituate to a vibrating, honking device. When first exposed to the device (it was placed on the abdomens of pregnant mothers), the fetuses squirmed and their heart rate went up. Ten minutes later, the fetuses did not react to the noise. They also showed little reaction when exposed to the noise after four weeks had elapsed.

Studies like these and his own experiences in neonatal wards have convinced Lagercrantz that preterm infants can lay down memories, a sign of consciousness.

“I think they do have short term memory,” he says, “but very primitive. They are not thinking of what something costs or planning for the future.”

Interesting stuff!

Marta & Arthur

Still hanging in there...

2010-08-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well the little monkey is still breathing on her own and not getting tired of it! That is great news! I hope she is able to keep it up. Her saturation levels were really good today which means she is getting a good amount of oxygen and her heart rate was great too. Her weight is essentially unchanged but she definitely hasn't gained any that we know of yet (we will know by tomorrow morning). We don't expect her to gain anything yet because right now she is just adjusting to doing all the work. We're also not going to try and hold her any time soon, I really don't want to disturb her at this point. She is soooo sleepy, she's definitely less active right now but that's ok, we just need her to grow and get strong. We'll let her put on a show for us next week when she's a bit stronger!

So a very uneventful day but that's what we like to see!

Here's the little sleepy head:

Marta & Arthur

1 Month Old!!

2010-08-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

The Princess is finally one month old!! We had a mini celebration for her birthday and dropped some chocolates off for the wonderful nurses who have been taking care of her the last 4 weeks. Of course this is never the way you imagine to celebrate your baby's one month birthday, but we are so happy that she's strong and healthy and most importantly; with us. She is one loved baby, that's for sure!!

Also, we were SO excited to learn that earlier this afternoon they extubated her and she is now on Si-pap exclusively (which is one step down from c-pap but essentially the same device). We are so proud of her and hope that she continues to breathe on her own so they don't have to intubate her again.

Along with si-pap comes the ability to see her face during diaper changes. It has been a looong time since we last saw her precious face. Her nostrils are a bit stretched out from the tubes but you can finally tell that she looks almost full term. Her cheeks are chubbier, her eyes are wider and her hair is longer. Maybe she is starting to resemble Mommy a bit too?? ;)

Last night while still intubated she weighed 1137 grams. However, at tonights' diaper change she weighed about 1094 grams. The nurse thinks it might be the lack of all the other tubes and she is probably burning more calories now that she has to breathe on her own.

It was really funny, when they weigh her she has to be lifted off the bed to see the weight of the bed with her on it and without her on it to determine her weight. While she was lifted up in the air she grabbed a hold of some tubing and wouldn't let go! We caught her holding on for dear life! The nurse could barely unclench her little fist to release the tubing. I can't believe how much strength she has already for such a young baby. :) Little monkey...

Here's a little video of her getting her si-pap "hat" back on after her diaper change:

Another video of her little face:

Marta & Arthur

Double Jointed Monkey Toes

2010-08-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Seems like every time we're visiting Anna, the nurses comment on her double joints. We were wondering about her middle finger so they said it's most likely double joints. But tonight the nurse commented on her big toe possibly being double jointed as well. I'm not so sure about that, (I think she has Mommy's monkey toes), I could probably write out the national anthem with my toes if I tried. ;)

Nevertheless, it's so cute!

Marta & Arthur

30 Weeks Gestation!

2010-08-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

Princess Anna finally hit the big 3-0! The nurses were so nice, they made her a little card with the imprints of her feet and left it on one of her monitors for us to find.

She is doing really well, her feeds are up to 15 mls per 2 hours and she has gone up in weight up to a whopping 1102 grams! So her weight is steadily going up, which is one of the requirements of her transfer down to a Level II NICU.

Her breathing is better, she is still intubated but her tube has a leak so they left it on her on purpose, to sort of wean her down steadily. Her gases have also been turned down so that she does most of the work now, but in case she forgets to breathe, the tube is there to help her. They said she is still a bit lazy in that she forgets to breathe when she sleeps. And the problem is that she apparently is a deep sleeper. (I don't know where she gets that from) :)

So they're not going to replace her tube, and they're not going to re-tape the leak because her transfer over to c-pap will most likely be soon. Again, they discussed this morning during rounds and decided to just let her stay on the tube for a bit longer. We are anxiously awaiting their decision, but don't want to rush anything either because we wouldn't want to see her re-intubated. Staying on the tube too long can cause long term lung damage, however, being put on c-pap too soon can cause her many short term problems and in the end, re-intubation. Vicious cycle, and it's a really fine line between being ready and not being ready for c-pap for good.

But she is doing really great and steadily getting stronger!

Here's a little video of her gazing around just before passing out. She just had a diapey change so she is very tired from fighting and kicking the nurse so hard not to put a new diaper on...

Marta & Arthur

She's Getting Bigger!

2010-08-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

So it looks like there's an upward trend in Anna's weight gain. Today she weighed in at 1070 grams (2lbs 5oz) which is really great! It's a gain of 23 grams overnight. She is still on 14mL of milk every 2 hours, I didn't ask why they haven't upped it. But my guess is because they want to get her breathing under control first. The one nurse mentioned that their motto is "breathing first; eating second".

So speaking of breathing, they also reduced some of her gases in preparation for c-pap and apparently she's tolerating it well. Not sure when they will try to wean her off of the tube for good but it's any day now so it's kind of exciting. I hope she is able to do it, I would hate to see her re-intubated yet again for the 5th time. So everybody, send some positive thoughts/wishes Anna's way so that she knows she has a crowd of people cheering for her!!

We didn't go to the hospital today just so that we can catch up on some household things and sleep. So I'll post a video and pic from the visit yesterday instead. We'll definitely be there tomorrow, it'll be her 30 week gestational/technically 1 month birthday!!! Very excited, we've been waiting for this day anxiously!!

Marta & Arthur

Negative 74 Days Old

2010-08-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

This week will be a huge milestone for Miss Anna. She will be one month old. It's hard to believe that she wouldn't be due still for another 74 days. We forget sometimes how little she is because she's doing so well.

Today she is up to 1047 grams, which is a jump of 62 grams from yesterdays' odd measurements. She is also up to 14mL of milk every 2 hours now. I think she looks a bit bigger today, or maybe I'm hallucinating, you can judge for yourself from the videos. But I think maybe, just maybe she grew a bit today. :)

She had her Oma, Opa and her Oom (uncle) visit her so she was a very popular girl today!

Here she is giving some thought on how to inconspicuously remove her tubing...."hmmmm"...

Marta & Arthur

Anna's Weight Loss

2010-08-02T04:54:00.000-07:00

Looks like the discrepancy in Anna's mysterious weight loss has been resolved. The nurse this morning told Arthur that she changed Anna's incubator and that she is "well over 1,000 grams". I hope this is right...we'll update when we get back from the hospital today.

Marta & Arthur

Busted!!

2010-08-01T18:06:00.000-07:00

So we finally busted her pulling her tubes out like the nurses have been telling us! I was casually taping her and all of a sudden I see her grab on to her tube and push her head back as she pulls with all her might forwards (little miss shmartie pantsh!!) I guess she's trying to tell us that she's ready to breathe on her own! :)

(ps - the video might be dark because the lights were off)

Marta & Arthur

"Like Father Like Daughter"

2010-08-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

We went to visit Anna a little bit earlier today and met a new nurse. She was really nice and it was actually really funny, she was so blunt about things. Apparently Anna takes after Daddy with big big boogies and poopies. :) But you didn't hear that from me.

Anyways, she is down to 985 grams which was a loss of 17 grams from last night (just when she gets her big certificate too!). So they will wait with c-pap until she starts to gain again because it will take her more energy to gain weight if she has to breathe on her own so it might be a bit too much for her to handle. But they still think probably sometime early this week.

They also ran some blood work on her to make sure her hemoglobin was good (in preparation for c-pap) and it looks like she is a bit anemic at this point. Just a bit on the low end of normal so nothing too concerning at this point. If it gets a bit too low then they might end up giving her a blood transfusion.

But again, these are just minor minor things in comparison to the grand scheme of things. She is doing really well over all and we are lucky that she doesn't have any major set backs at this point. Lets hope it stays that way.

Her feeds are up to 13.5mls per every 2 hours and again, they are double fortified with extra calories in hopes that she will start gaining soon. With her big poos, I'm not sure she'll be gaining anything anytime soon :)

Here's a little video of her from today squirming around her incubator...

Marta & Arthur

Joining the Kilo Club!

2010-07-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

Anna has finally joined the Kilo Club! Although she's been hovering around that weight the last 2-3 days, the one nurse made her a Kilo Club Certificate to mark the occasion!

She is about 1003 grams still so no change there. They will try to c-papp her either tomorrow or Monday. So nothing has changed which is a good thing. She just needs some time to grow now.

Grandma and auntie were there today and although the visit was uneventful because Anna was sleeping, I'm sure she could feel how much she is missed and loved. We all can't wait until she's a little bit closer to home so everyone can visit more often!

I met a really nice lady at the hospital today who is from Peterborough. She had a son at 24 weeks from placental abruption as well and her little man is now in the Level II unit since he was 31 weeks old. So it gives me some more renewed hope that Anna will be just fine. It's amazing what they can do with today's technology. A few years ago the survival rate for a 24 week gestation baby was not very high and today I think it's something like 70%.

Anyways it's hard just playing the "waiting game" but we're really lucky that she doesn't have any major issues at the moment and that all we really have to do is wait for her to grow.

She is starting to plump out a bit and is already starting to look like a healthy newborn!

Marta & Arthur

Comments

2010-07-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry to those who had trouble posting comments. I changed the settings so that anyone can post a comment without having to be a member of Blogspot or Google/Hotmail. :)

Our Little Ice Cream Cone

2010-07-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Okay so, today I had some one-on-one for the first time with skin contact. The Kangaroo Care I was talking about before. Unfortunately, she had a leak in her air tube and had quite a few spells while I was holding her so we had to put her back. She likes to pull her tube out, apparently she figured out that if she pushes her head backwards then the tube comes out. So it has to be re-taped tonight.

She has gained 3 grams so she's up to 1003g but I guess it's not fast enough. So they're double fortifying her milk so she gains a bit quicker. I think she just has high metabolism ;)

We got a cute little hat for her to wear so she doesn't get too cold, she looked like a little ice cream cone, it was adorable.

So other than that, not much is new, they're probably going to try her on c-papp next week but they're not rushing it. She has already been intubated 4 times so they want to be sure that she can make it without the breathing tube on her own because it's quite harsh on their little tracheas to be intubated over and over again.

Here's a short video of her resting after her Kangaroo care (love the hat!!) -

Marta & Arthur

She's on a (fat) roll!

2010-07-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

Another milestone for today - she's up to 1000 grams (which is about 2 pounds 3 ounces)! She's doing really well and the nurse even noted that it looks like she's not riding the ventilator as much. Which gave her the impression that her lungs are getting stronger.

We hope she's able to go back to c-papp soon, it was like music hearing her little voice during the diaper changes. :)

So nothing else is new, she's doing well and progressively getting chubbier :)

Marta & Arthur

3 Weeks

2010-07-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it's already been 3 weeks since Anna was born. I can't believe she will be a month old in just one more week. They warned us in the NICU that the time will just fly by and before we know it she will be transferred out. We can't wait to have her home with us!

Our little one is doing really well, nothing to report (which is good thing!). She is up to 984 grams which is a huge jump in one day so she will probably lose some weight tomorrow. She is also up to 13ml feeds every 2 hours so we hope that she will start gaining some consistent weight soon so she can get nice and chubby.

Daddy got some one-on-one Kangaroo time with baby this afternoon (finally!). For those who are not familiar (as we weren't either just a few weeks ago), Kangaroo care is when you hold a baby skin to skin on your chest so that they can hear your heartbeat and feel the rhythm of your breath. It helps preemies regulate their breathing, maintain their temperature and have a strong heart rate. It has been proven with studies to help premature babies develop faster and healthier. Not to mention helps with the bonding process so she can recognize through smell who her parents are.

Now that she is getting a bit older it's getting more important for us to go see her more often and to hold her more often because she will start to recognize who we are. She still can't see much more than light and dark shapes but apparently their sense of smell and hearing at this age are very strong. So we hope to get some more Kangaroo time in very soon!

Here's a little clip of Daddy and Anna bonding:

Marta & Arthur

Diapey Change

2010-07-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well...I think we have a live one on our hands here. Not sure how this will go along once she's home but you can pretty much tell she hates diapers already. I have a feeling she's going to be one of those babies who run around naked all the time. A "free spirit" if you will.

I attached a video where she's literally pushing me off of her once I start putting on her clean diaper. She had no problems letting me take the dirty one off though. :)

She is still doing well, they tried her on c-papp again yesterday because her tubes weren't staying in right but she wasn't handling it well so they re-intubated her. I was a little off on her weight, she is 930 grams. She isn't gaining as much as they'd like so I think they're supplementing her with more calories. I offered to eat more fatty foods but I don't think that'll do the trick...oh well I tried. She is up to her full feeds at the moment, 12 ml every 2 hours so that's good and I think she's tolerating it well based on her earlier woo.

She also had a red eye today that wasn't there yesterday. The nurse said sometimes they see this, it could be from irritation so she'll keep a close watch on it. It's weird, she kind of looks like a mini Rocky right now. Maybe she had a fight with one of the nurses. :)

All in all a good day, I can't wait until she's a month old. She would be 30 weeks gestation and that's a big hurdle. I just really wish she would get the breathing worked out.

Here's our little pumpkin-butt sleeping...