Day 13

Can't believe tomorrow my Lil L will be 2 weeks old!!! That means they take the humidity away that they put in the isolette for her skin... I cant believe I'd be 28 weeks pregnant right now, unfortunately I had just finally bought some maternity clothes a few days before I went into labor, because I felt I was going to need them soon, but good thing they all have their tags still on them so I can just return them!!!
Well enough about me Lexi has pneumonia so she is receiving 7 days of antibiotic, so I've been a little protective of who comes and sees her since it is cold season. She seems to be doing okay, they are doing breathing treatments now to help her get all that out of her lungs. Her blood sugar is doing good, so she hasn't had to have anymore insulin...YAY!!!
As for our first Christmas as a family all I wanted was to see her open her eyes for me, and she was a good lil girl and gave her momma her wish!!! She is so beautiful, all I do is stare and talk to her. She even starts to open her eyes when I talk to her.
Oh and this weeks head ultrasound was GOOD, her blood clot had resolved itself, so hope we keep getting good results every week!!! She is so strong willed I hope she shows them all she'll be just fine! I know her nurses think she'll be just fine...She's got her schedule down already and does not like her diaper wet at all!!!
Keep the prayers coming!!!

Day 9

Well not much new today, Lil L is just resting today...she has had to have a few insulin injections because her blood sugar is high, but that's because they pump alot of sugar in them to make them grow, so it's normal to have to get some insulin!!!
Dad got to do his first diaper change today got lots of pictures...he did really good and then he rubbed her down with the aquaphor to keep her skin moist. It was so cute to watch!!! He's such a great daddy already!!!
Well gotta go hang with Miss Lexi...

Day 8

Well it has been a crazy day already she was taken off the vent this am then went to CPAP, then went back to the vent due to a throat irritation so the good thing is her lungs are doing fine, it's her throat that needs to heal. So they are going to keep her on the ventilator for a few days let her heal and she should be good, her xray of her lungs looked good so they were happy with that.
She is taking her feedings really well so they said they may up that soon. She sure likes her mouth messed with, they use this stick with a sponge on the end to clean it out and she loves it...she even tried to help her nurse Gina last night do it...Gina is our night nurse we love her and I know she loves my baby girl, so she is in great hands!
So not much more than that, but that was plenty for today...I am just so happy I am where I am and these Doctors and Nurses are great at what they do...Blank is the place to be!!!
Continue Prayers they are working!!!

Day 7

Wow can't believe shes a week old already...well we are getting good test results today, YAY! Lil L's sodium is improving so that means her kidneys are starting to kick in more, before they were uping her sodium and she would just pee it out and wouldn't absorb any of it.
Blood gases are looking good so that means her vent should be coming out in the morning. My favorite nurse told them to hold off and let her get some of the stuff from the vibration cleaned out first, so they are holding off til morning. She is so protective of her and tries to make everything easier on her, for example they'll order two different blood drawls to be done an hour apart so she argues with them to hold off and do them at the save time so she doesn't have to poke her twice...Shes great!!!
Well Lexi is sound asleep and looking pretty comfy...I'am actually going to head home tonight to get a shower and visit the other children, since my mom is here to stay with Lexi for me...hopefully it will be a uneventful evening so she won't get woke too much and Lexi gets all the rest she can so she'll be strong tomorrow.
Thanks for all the prayers and conserns...KEEP THE PRAYERS COMING, she's still got a long road. I was told something the other day that I just keep repeating to myself ....I just get to watch her grow on the outside instead of her being on the inside growing!!!

Day 6

Well we didn't get the greatest news yesterday our Lil L has a level 3 brain bleed. Brain bleeds are basically a given in preemies, but it goes from 1 to 4 four being the worst, and poor Lex has a 3. We were hoping for a two, but unfortunately not so. So now she will get a head ultrasound weekly to watch it and hopefully it doesn't get worse and it starts to heal itself. This has been the hardest news yet, but they for warned us we'll have good days and bad days.
So I went to my salon Christmas party last night, it was way hard to be away from my baby girl after finding out about her brain bleed. It was nice to have a good meal, besides hospital food,  and laugh a little. But afterwards I returned right back to hospital to be by her side...So when I returned she just wasn't her normal self, she seemed worn out. Guess moms just know.
So now for her update today she had alot of breathing episodes last night so they decided to return her to the CPAP to help her along since she was getting tired, my poor baby...Then around 12:30 today she went back to the ventilator, they said they wanted her lungs to be fully expanded again and give her a break and get her energy back. To me this was a set back, but they reassured me that this is normal for little ones this size and she may be back off with in hours depending on her oxygen levels, so far its been about four hours and she's doing better...she looks peaceful and just relaxing right now. Doctors keep telling me it's all ok and they are not worried.
Her eyes haven't opened yet, I can't wait to see her beautiful eyes!!!
Well that's about it for now...hopefully will have a better update tomorrow!!!

My Girl

Well if you all have already saw on facebook but I 'm going to repeat it cause it makes us so happy Lexi is starting to have some bowel movement...and I got to change it! Never thought I'd be so excited to change diapers!!! Some people take things for granted and now I'm realizing that... I was told today I just get to watch her grow from the outside now, instead of her being on the inside. That was nice to hear.
She is quite the fighter Doc was just saying yesterday he would have said they may have been off on the due date and guessed her a 28 weeker instead of 26, but with her eyes are still fused shut ,so they couldn't have been. So Miss Lexi is doing great in the breathing area...with all micropreemies they ventalate them right away cause of their lungs are so underdeveloped. So when they were removing that within 4 hours of birth it was a great sign she was then put on a CPAP machine that just keeps the lungs open a little for her so its not too much work for her to breathe on her own. Then on day two she got upgraded to just nasal canulas to help her if needed, so they are very excited her lung XRay came back great and that was the first loop they told us would probably take a week to get her where she was in two days of birth.
She has been moved from her first bed with the tent looking things to an isolette, it looks kinda scarier, but they reassured its a good thing. So she seems to be settling in it just fine...The inside of it is just her own personal sauna is what I think.
Well last night was my first in room stay with my Lil L it was great they come around every 4 hours to put aquaphor on her, change diapers, check everything over, and switch their positions from side to side or from tummy to back. So that's when I get to jump in and get more hands on with her. We even weigh her diapers! She loves to sleep on her tummy and with her mouth open like her dad, haha!
Lil L gets to finally have some breast milk today...this is a big step that we have been waiting for too.
The doc asked if I have any for her, oh yes she has given me plenty of time to start storing for her and it came in right away for me so I was even more excited cause they really press for breastmilk in preemies so if I couldn't provide they would ask me to sign to get donor milk. I was told not to get upset if I didn't get much in the first 3 days, but I started out great and they even told me I don't have to use the preemie pump anymore.
So that is all for now, I'm sure I'll be back on later today with our results from yesterdays ultrasounds and an update on the rest of day!!!
Never thought I could love someone so much!!! She is AMAZING and wouldn't trade her for the world!!!

Now...

Lil Miss Lexi continues to amaze us eveyday!!! She is so small, but so strong... I love just staring at her.Thur Dec 16th I got to hold her for the first time, it was unforgetable. I got her for an hour, and loved every minute of it!!! She snuggled right in on my bare chest and it felt amazing. It's the only thing that helped me walk out of that hospital without her, I think the nurses knew I needed it. Oh I almost forgot she was improving so much they took her lines in her belly button so that she can lay on her stomach, so I had to wait 4 hrs to hold her. We had also got her results from her xray on wed and they were very happy with her lungs.
Fri december 17th I had a good shower last night and my mom was so great she washed all my bedding before I got home, nothing like fresh washed sheets and a good shower to make me sleep better!
Needless to say I was up and going way earlier than I usually do, cause I wanted to be back with her. So I got my stuff togehter and headed out, ran to target to grab a few suppplies since I have none for pumping since I thought I still had 14 weeks! Then here I am sitting and enjoying watching her suck on her thumb, oh my!!! Oh and I'm not a pacifier person but I've given in with her, she doesn't have to have it all the time so its nice!!! She is my HERO and doing great!!! WE had ultrasounds done of her brain and tummy today to make sure everything is working right and no brain bleeds which are very common and can be fixed with preemies! So everyone keep your fingers crossed for good results like she has been giving us!

Well...

as you all know I wasn't due til March 23, but someone else had other plans. So heres the story:
Saturday Dec.11th I woke up and got ready for work. My glut muscles had felt like I had done a 3 hour workout on them, so I just assummed the lil one was hanging out on my tailbone like usual. So I worked all day, a very busy day too. It wasn't painful I just couldn't think of what I had done to feel like that. So Sat. night we hung out with some friends and I had a little bit of lower back pain, but nothing I wasn't use to. Then as the night went on I got more and more uncomfy, then as morning came the pain started waking me up...so I was thinking constipation (since I do have problems with that) but as they shot through my back it made me start to worry. So yes I called my momma, shes a nurse she told me I should think about going to see a doctor. So I hung up and started walking around the house to see if I just needed to get the lil one to move off something. Then I started to watch the clock and when pains started to become consistant every 4 min it really started to worry me. So I told Robert to warm up the car so we could drive into Ankeny to get paint for the baby room and when we were done and the pain hadn't gone away he would have to take me to urgent care. So before we left I used the potty, like normal pregnant women need to and thats when I realized I was losing mucus. I stood up and told Robert we are going to Methodist ER, no paint store, and he said ok. So as we drove in the contractions stayed consistant ever 3 mins now. So they take me up the maternity area and put me on a monitor and they confirm that they are contractions and start running test to see what is causing them. Then they checked and realize I'm dialated to 1 1/2. So next thing I know I am getting admitted and they say expect to be here atleast 48 hours so then I realize oh my I need to call work. So took care of that. They started I.V.s and meds to try to relax my muscles and slow contractions and get two doses of steriods for the babies lungs to start working better faster. So they told me I had to try to hold off for a full 48 to get the full dose to the baby and let it start working. Then they started the horrible Magnesium (they warned me it wasn't fun) and I kept thinking it's not that bad, it just made my face feel like it was on fire, but I also had no energy cause it relaxes all your muscles. So for having no strength and trying to breath thru contractions weren't fun...Then the vomitting started and that made we wear out even faster. So Monday night I asked for pain meds to let me atleast sleep tru the night cause my big doses of mag from the night before were really hard on me. So it helped alot and I got some sleep, still had some contractions and woke up alot, but not up all night. So tues morning the contractions picked up again and I kept watching the clock I had to make it past 4:30 a.m. at around 6:00 a.m. they checked me and I was dialated to 7, so they took me off the mag and told me I needed to hold off another two hours to let that wear off. So I hung in the here til about 10:15 they started to take me to the CSection room for more room for all the teams to be there ready for baby...So they broke my water on the first contraction, I had to learn how to push on the second contraction (thanks to Tiff she had to explain it all to me since I had no birthing classes yet), then on the third contraction she was here...At 10:39 Lexi Ann Stiles arrived and stole my heart!!! YES SHE EVEN CRIED!!! They took her and put a breathing tube in right away, cause they always do with micropreemies because of their under developed lungs. Then they transfered her to her room and Robert got to go with her, I had to go back to the room to clean up and get transfered to a new room...But Tiff was a great nurse and took me to go see her before my new room!!! The doctor had us sign off for her to get blood transfusion, because her hemoglobin was low and they didn't know why. Then Robert got to take the grandparents up to see her. The doctors were very happy with her breathing!