Pictures of Khloe I've been promising!

Here are a bunch of pictures of Khloe over the last few weeks that I've been promising.

Khloe days 56, 57, and 58...doing better than ever!

The last few days have been the most exciting days in a long long time. They have been weening Khloe on her incubator by turning down the temperature and she has been holding her own temperature! She has been doing this for a few days now and they put a onesie on her yesterday but took it off before I could see it because they wanted to watch her breathing, but her primary nurse, Chris, put one on her tonight and I got some cute pictures that are going on the blog along with all the other pics I've been promising for weeks. This is great news that she is holding her own temperature because regulating her own body heat is one of the four requirements to go home and if she keeps holding her own heat they are hoping to put her in an open crib this week which is a huge step forward and that means that both sets of her grandparents will be able to hold her. She is doing good on the high flow nasal canula and surprisingly she hasn't had very many "AB's" but she has had a bunch of desaturations. It was so hard to hold her with the CPAP because of all the tubing and doing "skin to skin" was impossible, but now that she is on the high flow I got to hold her and do "skin to skin" for the 3rd and 4th time yesterday and today! She is getting so big and chubby. Tonight she wighed in at a grand total of 1673 grams which is 3 grams shy of 3 lbs 11 oz and She is about 15.5 in long. When I changed her diaper yesterday, I realized just how big she's getting because I used to be able to fit my whole hand around her legs and bum, and now I have to just lift up her legs because she's got some rolls and her bum is no longer skin and bone, now she's got a little padded tooshy. She's eating really well and now she's up to 32 mL of milk and hopefully this week or so she will start learning how to breastfeed which is another one of the 4 requirements to go home along with being a least 4 lbs and breathing on her own but she can be sent home on an oxygen tank. She's doing so good and hopefully she'll keep doing so good that we get to take her home early so cross your fingers. That's all for now so check back later. Thanks for all the prayers and love.

Khloe update days 52, 53, 54, and 55...a little of the bad and a little of the good!

This last few days have been pretty much the same until yesterday (Wednesday) and now there have been some exciting things happen. Monday and and Tuesday were very uneventful and nothing had really changed. On Wednesday Khloe had her latest eye exam. Her eyes are a little worse than they were in her very first exam. When I posted the results of her first exam, her eyes were in Stage 1 and Zone 2 and I said that they want her to progress through the zones and not the stages. As of yesterday her eyes are in Stage 2 and Zone 2. It is a little un-nerving that her eyes are getting a little worse but the medical staff is not too concerned at this point. They are going to keep a close eye on her and hope that she doesn't progress anymore through the stages. Worst case scenario is that she goes blind, but that is very rare. If she does get worse they generally catch it very quickly and if that happens she will most likely have to have laser eye surgery that is very effective and even that isn't very common because most babies that reach stage 2 don't progress any further than that. Now for the exciting news. Khloe has had many steps forward the last couple weeks and today wasn't any exception. They have increased her feedings a couple times this week and as of today she is getting 30 mL of milk which is a full ounce! If she keeps progressing like this, her mommy won't be able to keep up with her. The most exciting news is that today she got off the bubble CPAP and she is now on the high flow nasal canula once again, which is the oxygen. She has been tolerating this pretty well, but she has had a few "AB's" and some desaturations, but at this point that isn't any concern. Her weight as of tonight is 3 lbs 6 oz which is down 2 oz from last night, but that is most likely because the equipment for the bubble CPAP is a little heavy. She is getting so big and before we know it, she'll be home. That's all for now so check back later. Thanks for all the love and prayers.

Baby Khloe days 48, 49, 50, and 51...doing better all the time!

To start off I want to correct my last post. I thought I had been told Khloe had received a blood transfusion Monday, but I was wrong. She did not have one on Monday. Now that that's settled it's time for new stuff. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, there is not much new news. I like to think of it as a good thing because it means my little girl is doing good. Her feedings are going well and she is now getting 27 mL of milk which is almost a whole ounce! Although today they are a little concerned because she hasn't pooped so if it continues they will use a suppository to help her. She may have have not had a transfusion Monday, but she did finally get one on Friday and since that, she has been doing much better. Her "AB's" have been minimal, but she has still been having quite a few desaturations, but no worries. She is getting so big. Tonight she weighed 3 lbs 4 oz and she now measures about 15 inches long and her head is just under 10 inches around. It's exciting to finally see some rolls on her arms and thighs! She is getting quite the stash of stuffed animals with the newest being a cute monkey we got from the zoo on Friday along with a caterpillar from grandma Marion and a bear from me and Shelbie and that's just what's in her hospital room. She is even getting some storybooks starting with one about giraffes that Grammy Debbie got her at the zoo. She is still on CPAP and I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the last post but she is back in room 2 and hopefully she will stay there for a while. Well that's all for now so check back later. Thanks for all the love and prayers.

Khloe update days 45, 46, and 47...pretty much the same

The last three days have, for the most part, been normal in the life of Khloe. Monday she received a blood transfusion per request of Libby, one of her awesome nurses, and since that she has had a few less "AB's". She has been pretty stable and has required only the support of the bubble CPAP, which they put her back on because they felt she didn't need the extra support of the SiPAP. They have increased her milk twice, first from 22 mL to 24 mL then to 25 mL and they are still fortifying it so she gets 24 calories and is starting to show because she is getting a lot bigger and packing on the weight. Tonight she weighed 2 lbs 15 oz so she is almost 3 lbs. It's so exciting that she is gaining so much weight because the sooner she gets over 4 lbs, the sooner she'll be home. She had another eye exam today and her eyes haven't changed, but it's not bad because it means they aren't getting any worse but hopefully they'll start getting better soon. After she's off the CPAP again they will use a retinal camera to do her eye exams and from the sounds of it, it will be more thorough and probably less painful and uncomfortable for her. Today she sucked on her binki for the first time. She didn't get what she was supposed to do the first time but a few hours later they gave it to her again and she started going to town sucking on it, so hopefully that's a sign that she'll learn how to eat on her own quickly. We got a picture of her with the binki so I will get it posted on here soon along with all the other pictures I've promised. That's it for now so check back later. Thanks for all the love and prayers.

Khloe update days 41, 42, 43, and 44...a little bit of a roller coaster ride!

Since my last post, quite a bit has happened. She has been on the up and up for a couple weeks now and every day she has been doing better. On Thursday they took her off the CPAP and she was breathing completely on her own for the first time ever and though she was still receiving oxygen, she was doing all the work on her own. She was doing so good that they felt she could move into the next room and she did just that. She is now in room 6 which is where a lot of the bigger babies are and it's white a change because it's much noisier. She did really well breathing on her own until Saturday. Her "AB's" were getting more and more frequent and on Saturday they made the decision to put her back on the CPAP and that helped a lot, but she was still having "AB's" just not as many so today (Sunday) they put her on the next step of support which is called SiPAP and she has been doing much better because unlike the CPAP, the SiPAP gives her breaths if she needs them, so she hasn't had anymore "AB's". They thought she might be getting sick again because she has had a lot of secretions in her nose and mouth, but we were told today that she has had less and that her white blood cell count is still normal so cross your fingers she isn't getting sick. She is still doing really well with her feedings and her residuals are still minimal. Her weight is now 2 lb 12 oz. She is getting so big and before we know it she'll be home using all the fun stuff her mommy bought her his weekend with the baby shower money. She also got her 4th primary nurse and her name is Allison and she seems like she'll be a good one. Well that's it for now. A lot has happened some good and some not so good, but nothing very serious so check back for more updates. Thanks for the love and prayers.

Khloe days 38, 39, and 40...doing better than ever!

Well like the last few posts, Khloe is very stable and there isn't very much news to report. She is still on the bubble CPAP and is still tolerating it very well and they are even talking about taking her off that soon and putting her on humidified oxygen which means she would almost completely be breathing on her own, but for now she is on the CPAP and they have weened her from a 6 to a 5 on her pressure. Keep your fingers crossed that she will get off it soon. She is still getting 21 mL of milk and doing very well with it. Her weight is now a little over 2 lbs 9 oz, so she is really starting to pack on the ounces. I found out what her measurements this last Sunday and her head is now 25 cm which is 9.8 inches and her first head measurment was only 8 inches. Her length is now 36 cm which is 14.2 inches and her first length measurement was only 13 inches. As you can see, she is getting bigger all the time so before we know it she'll be home. A few days ago she had several "AB's" but it seems to be just that one day and has been fine since. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in another post, but Khloe has her 3rd primary nurse. His names is Chris and he's from Alabama and he takes great care of our little girl. Well that's all for now so check back later. Thanks for all the love and support.

Khloe day 35, 36, and 37...still doing awesome!

Well for the last three days Khloe has still been doing great. We haven't got to see her much this weekend because Shelbie's baby shower and family reunion were saturday but she has been very stable and doing better each day. Friday, they increased her milk to 19 mL and she had minimal residuals. They also finished with the iNO study so she is now off the nitric oxide gas completely. I hope that the gas helped her lungs and eyes like they were hoping it would. Saturday, they increased her milk once again and she was and still is getting 21 mL every 3 hours, which is a little over half an ounce. If you haven't noticed they have been increasing her milk pretty regular and she has so far tolerated it very well. I just hope that she'll really start growing and packing on the weight. They also started weening her on the hydrocortozol steroid that they have been giving her to help produce the stress hormone and she is set to be off it on July 19th. I forgot to mention on the last post, Thursday, that I got to hold her for the second time. It was great, but she seems to put me to sleep because as soon as I get ahold of her, she melts right into me and goes to sleep and not too long after that, I'm out like a light. Hopefully she'll do that when she's older because it will make babysitting her a lot easier. Today (Sunday) she is still doing great! She has been doing awesome off the ventilator so far and has been stable on the bubble CPAP. She had a little "AB" today but nothing to worry about because they have been few and far between since she got off the ventilator this time around. They have also decreased the pressure support on the CPAP from 7 to 6 so that means that she is supporting her own breathing more and more. That is about all for the last few days and it's all good news. She is looking great and gets cuter all the time so I'll get some pictures on soon. Thanks for all the prayers and love.

Khloe Day 32, 33, and 34...doing awesome!

Khloe is doing great! There isn't much to say because she has been doing so good. She is eating great and still peeing and pooping a lot. Today (Thursday) they increased her milk once again and she is now eating 18 mL of milk. Yesterday (Wednesday) they took her off the ventilator for the third time and I was told that they were very hopefully this time around. So hopefully third times the charm and she will now be off the ventilator for good, but things can change very quickly and there are a lot of factors that could result in her going back on the ventilator like if she were to get another infection. For now she is doing great and she is cooperating very well with the bubble CPAP. She is doing all the breathing on her own with very little pressure support from the CPAP.  Another event yesterday is that the eye doctor came in to check Khloe's eyes for their development. Her eyes are developed to the point where they expect them to be at this point, but they are not where they should be for her to be out of the woods of developing any eyes problems.  As of now her eyes are at Stage 1 and Zone 2. These stages and zones refer to thedevelopment of the blood vessels in her eyes. There are several stages and stage 1 is the best and where she needs to be and there are 3 zones with zone 1 being the worst and zone 3 being the best. Like I said before she is in zone 2 which means her eyes are not fully vascularized, but they are on track to healthy maturity. She is doing great and fortunately that is all the news there is for the last 3 days and it is all good news. We are keeping our fingers crossed every day that she will keep moving forward, but ther are bound to be some set backs on this NBICU rollercoaster. Keep checking back for more updates and thanks for all the love and prayers.

Khloe day 31...still doing good

Well today has had a little excitement for Khloe but she is still doing good. This morning she started throwing up and had another "AB". Her nurse told me the throwing up was due to some air in her stomach but they did an ultrasound just in case and found nothing else. They took her off feedings because of this episode and put an IV in to give her fluids and nutrients because she was no longer getting milk. Tonight the nurse said they had started her feedings again and are now at 10 mL of milk and she said Khloe will be back to full feedings of 17 mL in the morning and they will also be taking the IV out. Her episode this morning, although scary, did have some good effects. Because of what happened they found out she needed more blood so they did another blood transfusion and since she has been doing great. They are still talking about taking her off the ventilator even with today's issues, so cross your fingers. I also found out that she is now off all antibiotics and pneumonia is no longer an issue. It's a short post but all in all Khloe is still doing great so check back for more updates. Thanks for all the love and prayers.

Khloe Day 28, 29 and Day 30! (Tons of exciting stuff!)

So It's been a couple days since I posted because it's been kind of crazy and we've had a lot going on. To start off I'll pick up with the conclusion of my last post about Shelbie. She is fine. Like I said we had to go back to the ER because they wanted more imaging done because when they looked at the MRI again they saw what something that concerned them. We went back and they did a CT scan and it turned up nothing. Long story short they said it was most likely an artifact that they saw, which I have no idea what that is, but they were relieved because if it had turned back something it would have been a real serious concern we were told so we were relieved as well and Shelbie has been fine since. For the last three days Khloe has been doing great! On Friday she turned 4 weeks old! The time is sure starting to fly by. She has been perfectly stable and on Friday night they moved her into room 2! They have increased her milk a couple times and she is now getting 17 mL and she has been having little to no residuals. She is still peeing and pooping really well and her swelling I think is probably almost all the way gone. Aside from being moved to room 2 we have some other great news. We found out last night (Saturday night) that we can start doing "skin to skin" which means that we can start holding her and not just like a baby, but against our own skin! We can only do it at cares when we change her diaper so to no surprise Shelbie and I stayed up til 2:00 AM for the next set of cares so we could hold our baby girl. Unfortunately only one of us can hold her so I let Shelbie do it last night and she was so excited to be able to actually bond and snuggle with her daughter. Today (Sunday) I had my oppertunity to hold my daughter for the very first time and it was awesome! It was a great feeling to feel the warmth of her tiny little body and it was almost as if she just melted right into me and I felt that special connection that I believe you can only have with youe child. We finally are starting to feel like parents because now it feels like we have a baby because we can actually interact with her and hold her. Everything else is going great with Khloe she hasn't had anymore scares and all the complications over the last couple weeks are a thing of the past and they are even talking about taking her off the ventilator in the next day or two. Overall things are going great and we have a lot to look forward to in the coming days. Thanks for all you love and prayers. Oh and here are some pictures of our "skin to skin" bonding!



Khloe day 26 and 27...doing great!

Well the last two days have been great as far as Khloe goes. She has been very stable and hasn't had anymore complications. She is still tolerating her feedings and is pooping and peeing great. Her swelling has gone way down and to me she looks like she is back to normal. She even had gained some weight and as of last night she is 2 lb 3 oz. They have taken her off the oscillating ventilator and put her on the drager which requires her to do a lot of the breathing for herself. She has been very stable with her oxygen and has not been playing the up and down game at all which is great because she was doing that a lot on the oscillator. Her lungs are doing better all the time and the air pocket is still all but gone. So Khloe is doing great, but we still had a scare that had to do with Shelbie. Thursday evening we were coming back from doing our laundry and at the bottom of the hill to the hospital she said her left arm and her face went numb all of a sudden and she felt weird. My first thought was maybe a small stroke due to high blood pressure because they took her off her blood pressure meds on Monday. I rushed her to the ER where they had somewhat of the same concern. Her blood pressure was very slightly elevated but not high enough for any concern, they thought she might have a small blood clot in her brain causing the symptoms because there is a possibilty that can happen for about 5 weeks after giving birth. They did a MRI and they said it looked normal and said it is probably due to a different type of migraine that can cause those symptoms. Currently it is 1:30 PM on Friday day 28 and we are back in the ER because they called and wanted more imaging done so I will update tonight about what is going on. All in all Khloe is doing great but Shelbie is having a little scare so check back tonight for the next update. Thanks for all the love and prayers.