Thursday, February 26, 2009

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!







5 comments:

Adam and Beth said...

Oh my goodness...Love that one picture with Matt's Mom :):) Youre right, it looks like shes trying to chat it up :) She is beautiful as always!!!!!!!

Jen said...

Dude, I love it! Congrats! So when do I get to meet the young lady? I am dying here!!!!!!

Ange Thress said...

cute! that's how big leah was when she was born!! so teeny tiny!!

Curt and Moe said...

She has gotten so BIG!!! She looks wonderful:)

Carol Knight said...

She just gets more and more gorgeous! Thanks for the update - I check just about every day to see what's happening. I also print the pictures for Mom-Mom - she cant open them - and mail them to her. That one with Matt's Mom is going to make her jealous! She'll just have to come back - more food, that's a good thing. Love you all, Aunt Carol