5 Weeks!!!

This week has been great so far. Sunday Uncle Ryan came over form Council Bluffs to see Lil Miss Lexi for the first time. He had been sick and didn't want to spread the germs, and we thank him for that!!! So he got here before I got to the hospital and I received a text saying "So I am looking at Miss America in the making!!! It was so sweet I saved it on my phone! So I knew he had got to meet Lexi! Sorry guys I think shes kinda cute...haha k she's really cute...
So anyways Saturday we got our last round of antibiotics for the staph infection. So they asked if I would let them start giving her steroids to help with the inflammation in her lungs and help increase the surfactant for her lungs to work better on their own. Then I got told all the pros and cons, and the pros by far out weighed the cons, so I said go for it!
When I got to the hospital on Sunday Lil Miss wasn't a happy camper she was fussy (without sound because of the vent) and pulling on her vent tube...She just wasn't happy and it just wasn't her! So they talked about taking her off the vent because the steroids had already started to kick in for her she was doing good breathing. So we went off to lunch while nothing was going on. When I got back to the room they were all there waiting for me to come back because they were moving her to CPAP ( which is a step up, but it looks kind of scarier than the vent. So the vent came out (which Lil Miss had already pulled it half way out on her own) and the CPAP is in! I can hear my beautiful daughter make sounds again. Her cry, her grunts, her everything is so cute!!! Love it!!!
So today was Roberts first birthday as a daddy...HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY ROBERT!!! So he got to hold Lexi for the first time! It was so sweet, I got as many pictures as he'd let me take. She wasn't too fond of the flash so he kept telling me she didn't like it so I'd quit...haha! She snuggled right in in her daddy's chest and loved every minute of it.
She is now 1163 grams =2lbs. 9oz. and 14 inches!!! She is up to 21ML for feedings now (every three hours). She is having a great day today, as I'm typing she is actually turned down to room air and she is doing great! We just hope this keeps going great, so I don't have a hard time going back to work on Monday!
Keep the prayers coming, because they sure are working!!!

4 weeks!!!

Wow now Lil Miss Lexi is 4 weeks old...2Lbs 6oz. and as beautiful as ever. I know shes mine but she is just getting so cute since she is filling out. She is so active for her size, she stretches, yawns, and moves her head around. It is amazing how strong she is. I bathed her tonight and put lotion on her (she loves her feet and hands massaged) so now she smells so good. She has a clean diaper and a full belly (we are up to 16 ML on her feedings now, YAY!) and she is snuggled in on her belly ( her favorite place to be) and out like a light and loving it!
She is so awake at her 9 PM cares its kinda funny. She just stares at me the whole time and stays awake for quite awhile. I'm really going to miss that the nights I work starting Jan 24th, but like I said bills don't pay themselves or go away (LOL).
Lexi had to have her 4th blood transfusion but it makes her feel so much better when she gets it. We have 3 days of meds left for the Staph infection and then we should be done with that! She is such a trooper, poor thing got poked three times yesterday before they got a IV in, poor thing. I can't watch I leave the room.
They said the brain bleed has resolved so that is wonderful news! Other than that Lexi is just eating, gaining, sleeping, and dirtying diapers right now!!!
Thanks everyone for the prayers...keep them coming, because they sure are working!!!

3 weeks!!!

Well can't believe my Lil L is 3weeks yesterday!!! She is amazing...we are back to resuming feeds after we stopped Sunday am when her belly became hard and she had xrays done right away to see if there was a blockage and there wasn't, but her bowl was distended and lots of air in her tummy. So they put a tube into help draw the air out. They found out that she has Staph infection and believe that was the cause of the bowel problem. So she is on her third day of antibiotics, she'll have seven days. Yesterday she started her feeds back up because her last 4 xrays came back better and better each time. So they will increase her feeds quicker than last time because she was tolerating them well til her bowel problem, so lucky it was caught way early and she's really not acting too sick. She seems to be doing really well, we have had quiet nights since Sunday early AM, momma was up from 1am til 5am with her sounding alarms and making me nervous. Then they had to run an IV, do an Xray, and draw blood so she was wiped and let momma sleep that morning!
Now I know why everyone says you have good and bad days, but more good than bad. Just seems sometimes we get a few steps forward and take three steps back, as Robert would like to add to that comment "She just likes to dance". I don't know what I would do without him sometimes, he has tried to keep me positive and tries to make very bad into something good no matter what.
Well that's about it for the day, she's just kinda hanging out right now...Hoping for some holding time soon!!!
Thanks everyone for all the prayers!!!

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!!!