Hi everyone!! Sorry, I know it's been a while since we updated, but our monitor broke last week and it took us a while to go out and get a new one. I was dying with out it! The Internet is my only connection to the outside world! But we have a new one and we are all set. We are doing well, especially Abby, she is wonderful! Last Wednesday we went to Chester County, and Abby weighed 6.6lbs,which was a great gain since the week before. So the Dr decided to take Abby off of the oxygen completely and then check her weight again in a week and make sure she is still gaining. We were very excited! We were only putting on the cannula when it was time to eat and Abby really had had enough of it. Since she's been off she's still been eating great so I think she was ready to be done. Then on Friday we went to the pediatrician for her two month check up and shots-even though she was really only three weeks, she's still been out of the womb for two months so she needed shots. We've seen Abby get pricked a million times while in the hospital but it's still sad to watch-she was very upset! Now we base every milestone on her due date, and both the pedi and the Dr at Chester County agree that she is doing everything a three week old should-which isn't much!
Over the weekend Matt's mom and dad came for a visit. It was great to have them here, and for them to see Abby. They haven't seen Abby since she was in the hospital so it was nice that they could hold her and love her as much as they wanted! Of course Roxy was excited because she loves to play around with grandpa(and his slippers).
Yesterday-Wednesday-We went back to Chester County for a quick check up and to get Abby's weight. Matt and I always bet on what her weight will be-he always guesses really high, and I guess in the middle, but we were both wrong. Her weight was 6.13! (I guessed 6.12 and he guessed 6.14) The Dr was thrilled that she is still gaining so well, even with a few rough days after her shots. So Abby is off of the Oxygen for good-YAY!! It's such a relief! We also had Abby's monitor downloaded on Monday so the doctor could see if she was having an issues or alarms-which she wasn't-but they can't just take our word for it. As soon as the results come back-for some reason they ship them to Florida and it takes a week for someone to read them, and if they sent it to Abby's Dr it would take a few minutes-this stuff makes me CRAZY!! Anyway, as soon as they read them, they'll see she's having no alarms, and then we'll stop all of her meds, except vitamins, and in a few weeks we will be rid of the monitor. The Dr wants to keep Abby on the monitor while the meds work their way out of her system to make sure every thing's OK. We are so excited to be making such wonderful progress, Abby really is a tough little girl and as annoying as of this stuff is for us, it seems Abby is equally annoyed! We have also been feeding Abby two bottles a day of breast milk fortified with formula for extra calories that she can't get from just breast milk. The bottle feeding hasn't been fun at all, she is fussy and crying through the whole feed, while breastfeeding is perfectly fine for her. We told the Dr and she said to just breastfeed and they'll do a blood test in a few weeks and make sure Abby is still getting everything she should. She said Abby might be showing a sensitivity to the formula and if it's that bad it's not worth it. It is nice that Matt can give her a bottle at night so I can catch up on sleep, but now he gets up and helps soothe her when she won't settle, which is just as good. Sorry for such a long update, but it's been a while! Our next hurdle is CHOP, we go no Tuesday and meet with the liver specialist and the surgeon and hopefully we'll have a plan. We will certainly update everyone after that appointment, even though the only outcome might be some more appointments! I hope everyone is doing well, here are some new pics of the little peanut.....

This is Abby going to the Dr, she always has her hands like that, it's so funny! -Oh-and if you're wondering why she always has the big ugly pacies, it's not because I like them-that's what they gave her in the nicu and I've bought a ton of cute, little, normal ones, but she refuses to use them, so we're stuck with these, at least I found a pink one!

Gram was chatting it up with Abby and she really wanted to talk back, but she's not quiet there..she's almost smiling and cooing, I'm sure it'll be soon...

almost smiling...

Gram and Grandpa....

My sister Amie came for a visit, I know Roxy is in all our pics, but she knows where the spotlight is!

Will you be my Valentine??

Well I don't have anything to update all of Abby's adoring fans with, but I have a bunch of really cute pictures and I thought I'd share them. We go to the Dr tomorrow so we might have an update then. My grandmother finally came over to see Abby on Saturday-(her fifth great grandchild-and we have a sixth on the way next month!), she's been dying to come see her and I think she only let my mom hold her for about five minutes! I'm so glad she finally was able to come, and she of course spoiled Abby with gifts and Matt and I with delicious food! I love when my family comes! So here's out little peanut...

This is from last week when we going to the Dr for some shots-and we have to get more on Friday :(

Here we are with mom-mom....

Here are mom-mom and Abby hanging out, of course nosey Roxy is in the background...

My brother came over the other day for a visit and to help with Roxy, he held Abby for about ten seconds till she started crying and then he said "make it stop!" ('it' being Abby)

Here is Abby and Roxy with their gifts from Gram Long, Roxy liked Abby's bear better than the hot dog squeaker she got! It really looks like Abby is yelling at Roxy, but I think she was in the middle of yawning-or maybe about to cry....

Hi to everyone! We just got back from the Dr so I thought I'd update everyone, and we've been taking a million pictures so I thought I'd put a few up. Abby is doing wonderful! Last week she was 5.8lbs, and this week she is 6lbs!! Yay Abby! Since she has been gaining so well, even after we turned her O2 down, now we will only turn it on while she eats and it will be off all the other times. Hopefully she'll continue to eat well and gaining weight. Next week we go in for another weight check and if she is still gaining we will hopefully be able to get rid of the oxygen. I'm excited to actually to be able to see her cheeks for once! In two weeks the Dr will download the monitor and make sure everything is still going well, as well as her weight, and then hopefully at that point we can stop the meds. She'll have to be on the monitor for a week or two after that while the medicine works it's way out of her system, so she'll probably be on the monitor for another month. It's wonderful to finally see an end in sight!!! Here a few pictures of our little peanut....

Abby loves her pacie, it's hard to tell but she's actually leaning on it, I didn't want to move it because I didn't want to wake her, she looked so peaceful...
Abby is in her swing, which she loves, and Roxy couldn't figure out what was going on...

Abby's just hanging out in her bobby on my lap being cute...

This is my favorite, she's wrapped so tight when she sleeps and when we open the blanket she's all snuggled, its sooo cute!

Hello!! We hope everyone is doing well-we have definitely been hibernating and are missing our friends and family-but soon spring will be here and we will be out of hibernation! First off, on Monday Abby was eight weeks-it blows my mind that it's been that long. It has definitely been a blur! This past Tuesday, Feb 3rd, was my due date and it's hard to imagine that I was supposed to have still been pregnant with this little girl who is so full of life! I can't believe she would be doing all this moving around inside of me-it's crazy!
On Tuesday, we went to Chester County for our first appointment in the follow up clinic with one of Abby's neonatolgists. The Dr says that Abby looks great and is very pleased with her progress. Abby was last weighed ten days before the appointment and was 4.10, and when she was weighed on Tuesday she was 5lbs 8oz! I still can't believe she weighed that much! They are supposed to gain anywhere from 1/2 oz to 1 full oz a day-Abby gained 14oz in 10 days-she is gonna be a chunker!!! They kept telling us once she got home she would really gain and they were right! It's such a relief that she is finally gaining and is on the right track. For the past few weeks we have been bottle feeding Abby with breast milk fortified with some formula for extra calories for the majority of her feeds and only breast feeding twice a day. Since Abby had such a great weight gain, the Dr flipped it and now we breast feed all day except for two bottle feeds with the extra calories. She does much better breast feeding so hopefully this will be much easier on everyone. We finally are making headway to get rid of her oxygen and monitor. We lowered her O2 as low as we can have it and we go back to the Dr next week to check her weight gain. If she is still gaining we will keep the oxygen off except when she's feeding-since that is when she's doing the most work. We'll go back the Dr the week after that and check her gain again and if she's doing well then we can finally say goodbye to it! At that point they'll probably also stop her medicine, and while the meds work their way out her system she'll be on the monitor-probably about another week or two. We're hoping within the next month to be rid of all of it! It's very exciting to see an end in sight. It was a relief in the beginning to have the monitor, but it really is a pain in the butt. We have to put Abby down every time we need to walk more than a few feet away-and don't get me started on going up and down the stairs with everything-we go down in the am, and up in the pm and that's it-sometimes it's easier to stay upstairs all day! Anyway, we are so excited that Abby is doing well, and we just continue to enjoy having her home and watching her grow. Here are a few pics from the past few days, she's definitely starting to fill out-especially in her face....and everyone says she looks just like daddy :)

Roxy is SO nosey, she has to know what we're doing at all times and she loves to sniff Abby, but Abby doesn't mind at all...

She was very happy with a full belly....

Again, a full belly, just relaxing, all snuggled up!