A couple fun pictures

Sharon's wearing clothes. This was an outfit that my mom got for Sharon. It's a good thing we can have her wear it now because she most likely won't fit into it when she comes home. She is now up to 5 lbs 11 oz & we are really looking forward to that 6 lb mark. It is so much easier to hold her now that she is bigger! She is working hard to figure out how to take the bottle & gets a little better at it every day. This is the last big hurdle before she gets to come home!Here is our first family picture. One of the nurses was nice enough to take a picture of the three of us with our camera the other day. It will be nice to get some pictures eventually that aren't in hospital NICU lighting. She sure is getting big, though!

No more isolation

On Sunday the contact precautions were lifted, which means that we no longer have to wear the gloves, masks & gowns. Hallelujah! Also, while Ammon was visiting Sharon on Sunday they put her in a regular nursery bed & moved her out of her room into the main section with all the other babies. She is right in the middle & looks great! She is up to 5 lbs 1 oz, & is doing so well. She's still working on taking the bottle, but does better every few days. We are so amazed at how strong she is and can't wait to bring her home!
I am definitely excited for the Glendale baby shower on Saturday because I've made a slideshow of Sharon & it really shows her amazing growth! You'll love it, & possibly cry!

It's been awhile

Oh, I know I've been away for awhile, and oh what a week it's been! My grandmother had to have surgery on Tuesday, came home on Wednesday & was still feeling a little jittery. Then, I came down with a fever on Thursday night, the same night that we noticed something strange on our dog's rear-end. Friday morning my fever was still there, so I was advised to go see a doctor & hopefully be prescribed tamaflu, which is just prescribed for the H1N1 (and I'm Miss Piggy). I was supposed to take our dog, Jack, to the vet to get checked out, but since I wasn't feeling too hot (haha, do you get it), Ammon had to take off work so that he could drive him down. He also ended up taking the rest of the day off, because his coworkers didn't want him coming if he'd been infected, too. After Jack's pleasant rectal exam we were told that he had an anal pollup (sp?), which would have to be surgically removed. One of his anal glands was also blocked and slightly infected, so it had to be drained. He had surgery on Friday, which apparantly went well. He certainly looked really sad when we went to pick him up afterward. He'd been yelping from the back room ever since we walked in the door, & then he came out wearing the "cone of shame" (movie anyone?). He was all hunched over because of the pain, & whimpered & whined the entire evening & then in to the night. Ammon stayed the night with him at my parent's house, while I stayed at Grandma's trying to sweat off my fever.
Then, Grandma started experiencing tingling all over her body, which can be negative side-effects from the surgery she had. This morning she had to go back to the hospital to stay over night, missing my brother's Eagle Court of Honor, to get more blood tests & receive a calcium supplement.
And, on top of all the, because I've had a fever, I haven't been able to go see Sharon for two days now, & it is so hard to be away from her for so long! Every day she grows bigger, & I feel like I am missing so much! I barely spend any time with her as it is, & I'm sure the nurses know her better than I do, so missing these few days feels like a huge loss to me! I know I'm all emotional from being sick, & having Jack walking around with a giant cone on his head, running into things & being totally freaked out, but she's my baby & I'm not allowed to see her!
Luckily I can still call & get updates, which is why I wanted to blog tonight in the first place. Because she is almost 5 pounds! Yesterday she weighed 4 lbs 15 1/2 oz. We are hoping she breaks the 5 lb mark tonight. I think I will call back in a few minutes, because they usually weigh her at 11 PM & it's 10:55 right now. I'll let you all know soon!
Sorry for this sort of whiny, long, & pathetic post, but I really needed to get some of it off my chest.

I need your help

Hello friends! Before I give a quick update on Sharon, I have a request. Ammon & I recently made a trip to Wal-mart to start a gift registry for upcoming baby showers. As we cruised through aisle after aisle of baby wonderland we found all kinds of neat gadgets & helpful items. Then, we came to the sippy cup aisle &, after staring at the many cups (ones with hard tips, those with soft ones, non-spill, ergonomic, all kinds of shapes & colors), we realized that we were totally clueless. We have no idea what kind of sippy cup Sharon is going to like. How does anyone go about choosing the right sippy cup?
We had a little bit of the same problem in the bottle area, because there are just so many to choose from! We did have a little help, though, because we have a slight advantage over other parents who make registries before their baby is born. Sharon really likes her Soothie pacifier that she has at the hospital. They make bottles with nipples that are the same shape as the pacifiers, so we decided to put those on the registry.
My request from you, especially you mothers, is that you leave a comment with your favorite baby item, something that someone gave you at your baby shower that you can't live without, something that most people don't think of getting, or something that your baby just loves! I just need ideas of what to put on the registry. Thanks for your help!

So, Sharon is doing really well. She is now up to 4 lbs 9 oz & has finally started looking like a normal newborn. She is so much easier to hold now since she has so few tubes connected to her. She also isn't as sensitive to handling as she was before her surgery. She is now taking at least some of every feeding from a bottle, though she tends to get kind of tired, so they put the rest down the feeding tube. We have even started a little down the road to breastfeeding. She hasn't really gotten anything out, but when she tries she has a pretty strong suck. She does like being cuddled against me while the milk goes down her tube. She had her first tub bath yesterday in a small hospital bucket. She was definitely not happy about that. She is doing well, and we can't wait until she's ready to come home!

Video of Grandma & Sharon

Here's the video of my mom's first time holding Sharon.

Sharon & Grandma

Sharon is doing so well! She is now in an open isolette, which means she has to work a little bit harder to keep up her body temperature. She's doing great at it, though. My mom held Sharon for the first time yesterday & she was so excited! Sharon, however, just tried to poop the entire time. I love this picture of Sharon because she is really beginning to look like a regular newborn. She makes newborn faces & is getting so big (it's all relative here)!

First Bottle

Sharon was switched from Sipap to High Flow yesterday. High flow is just a simple tube with nose prongs, and it really just reminds Sharon to breathe & she has to do all the work herself. Being on this means that she can now bottle feed, so we were able to give her her first bottle while we were there. She did so well, and didn't choke at all! She obviously didn't eat it all because it takes practice to get the process down, but she did so well! Today she is just 4 grams under 4 pounds! Almost there, & doing awesome! Also, with the high flow, it is so much easier to hold her and move positions. She doesn't have nearly as many tubes and wires attached! Yea!

Sharon on Sipap

Hopefully this video works, it's taken me a few tries. Enjoy!

Update & a few pictures

I just wanted to give everyone an update on Sharon. Yesterday they switched her from the breathing tube to Sipap, which just has short prongs that go into the nose & blow minimal amounts of oxygen, requiring her to breathe much more for herself. She's been doing really well on it, & hasn't had any problems with her oxygen saturation even when does get upset. We have been really pleased with her progress since her surgery. She's recovered really well, & is having virtually no breathing troubles anymore.
I took this picture today because she is wearing a little onesie. It's still a little big, but she looks so cute! One new thing since she's had the breathing tube removed, we can actually hear her cry, & cough & sneeze. It's kind of sad hearing her cry, especially when I can't do anything to help her. She does love her pacifier, & it usually helps to calm her down. Hopefully she'll suck that well when breastfeeding because she sure goes to town on the pacifier! Here's a picture of her on her stomach so that you can see the incision where they went in to do the PDA surgery. It's about 1 1/2" to 2" long, pretty big for her. It's healing well & hasn't shown any sign of infection, which is wonderful!
Sharon did get past the 4 lb mark, but it was because she was retaining tons of water. She has lost that water weight, and went back down to 3 lbs 10 oz yesterday. She is back up to 3 lbs 13 oz today, and is growing quickly. She's now getting 1 oz of milk per feeding & loves feeding time. She is also maintaining her own body temperature. We weren't expecting them to have her do this so quickly, but she seems to be doing fine, and is always nice and warm. If she has trouble they will just plug her back into the bed so that it will compensate if she gets too hot or too cold.

We are so excited with all of Sharon's progress & can't wait for her to be able to come home! It's so nice to hold her without all the extra tubes & wires, and will be even greater when it is just her! Thank you for all your prayers, we know that they've been heard and answered on Sharon's behalf! We love you!

A short video of Sharon in the hospital

I thought you all might want to see a video of Sharon. We recently bought a video camera, & I thought it would be nice to share this because we only have a list of four people that can visit her with us, so this way you all get to see her. She is all hooked up to various IVs, ventilator & monitors because of the surgery she had recently. She is doing really well, & is really enjoying the morphine & sedative they give her to help with the pain. We are doing well & will share more videos as we take them.

Quick Update

I just wanted to let you all know that Sharon's surgery yesterday went very well. There were no complications, & she was already awake when we got to see her. We are hoping that this will help with getting her off of the ventilator and breathing on her own. The surgery was to close the PDA vein that's just outside the heart.

Daddy's Little Girl

October Scrapbook Pages

Baby Scrapbook Pages

Kangaroo Care

Since Sharon has had this bacteria, we've had to wear gloves, gowns and masks, which means that I haven't been able to do Kangaroo Care with her. Kangaroo Care is skin to skin cuddling with the baby and mom. I got to do it twice before the gowns, but haven't been able to do it since. Sharon's doctor recently got the approval for us to do Kangaroo Care again, and I am so excited! We did it on Saturday, and it was so wonderful! She is so soft and warm, and fits so well down the front of my shirt, just like a little joey. Maybe we'll start calling her Shari Jo =). Here's a picture of the new Grandma with Sharon!

The flowers on her moomoo were pink

I just thought you all might get a kick out of this moomoo that Sharon was wearing yesterday when we went to visit her. I sure got a kick out it! It was very loud!
You might notice how red and puffy her eyes are and that's because of the eye exam she had just as we got there. I wondered how exactly you give an infant an eye exam? "Please read aloud the 3rd line of letters." Wait, she can't read! Really the doctor just is checking the retinas to make sure they are disease free and forming correctly. Her eyes are good, aside from being underdeveloped simply due to her age. Her eyelids were all red from the doctor trying to keep them open so that he could actually see her eyes. She wasn't too thrilled about that!
I got to hold her yesterday, and she's certainly feeling heavier, and is easier to hold as she gets bigger. She is up to 1350 grams, which is still just under 3 pounds. They did an echocardiogram on Monday and we heard the results yesterday. The PDA (the vein in her heart) hasn't closed but it is small, so they are not planning on doing surgery in the immediate future (huge sigh of relief). They have also upped her feeds to 25 cc of milk every three hours, which is awesome, because I am really running out of freezer space.

Almost 3 pounds

That's right, Sharon is almost 3 pounds. She is up to 1340 grams and looking so good! She is still very congested & stops breathing periodically, but she is doing well. She's still digesting her milk, which she gets ina dose of 23 cc every 3 hours. She is looking bigger each time we see her. We both got to hold her on Sunday & it was so nice! We are excited for the progress she is making.

Congratulations Meghan!

My sister Meghan got engaged a little over a month ago and I never posted about it. I did take some engagement pictures for the happy couple this morning & just wanted to share a couple of the pictures from the shoot. I think they turned out well. I'm sure it helps that they are super happy just to be around each other. Congratulations Sis!

Shh...the baby's sleeping.

We took this picture yesterday.

One month update

This picture was from the 29th, when Shari was still on the Sipap breathing machine. She did fairly well on it, but did end up getting too tired, so they put her breathing tube back in on the morning of the 30th. She received two blood transfusions to help with her oxygen saturation, but it wasn't quite enough to keep her breathing on her own. She is much more relaxed now that she doesn't have to breathe all the time, and she looks much better rested.

I took this picture yesterday. Just so you know, this is a yawn, not crying. I got to hold her for about an hour and a half yesterday (which is just about all my arms can handle). It was nice to be able to hold her again, because it's been about a week with all the drama she's had. Yesterday she was up to 1210 grams, which is just over 2 lbs 10 oz. We are looking forward to 2 lb 12 oz because that will mean she'll have gained 1 whole pound since she was born. Oh, she is now one month old by the way, and we are so excited about that!

Sharon has become a favorite of some of the nurses because she is such a good baby. She is very good about telling the nurses what she wants, and then going back to sleep once they've given it to her. She'll wiggle a lot if she doesn't like her position, and then she'll snuggle in when they move her. If she doesn't like what you are doing she puts her hands up to her face or puts her hand out to say stop. She is doing really well, and we love seeing her little personality shine! I'm thinking of making her a halloween costume, which will consist of a white crocheted beanie with a crocheted spider on it. I think it would be really cute, I just hope the nurses will let her wear it. I'll have to post a picture once I make it.