I don't really have much of an update, which is a good thing. Abby has been breathing really well on the cannula so they tried her off of it on Saturday, but she didn't as well without so they put her back on on Sunday. She's breathing room air, which means she's doing most of the work, but the stimulation of the cannula seems to help remind her to breath. All preemies struggle with apnea, the Dr's tell us it's a maturity thing and she'll grow out of it before she goes home. Other than that she's doing fine. We're still breast feedings twice a day, when Abby was off the cannula she struggled but since she's been back on she's been feeding great. They've started dressing her since she can hold her own temp so we brought in some clothes. Gowns with elastic on the bottom are the easiest so all the cords can come out the bottom. We brought in some preemie ones and today she was dressed in one when I went to see her. Matt and I didn't realize that the gown had a lamb on it, so I took some pics for the Lamb family, it's kind of hard to see because I couldn't get her to hold still when I was holding her so I had to take one with her in the issolette. She looks pretty darn cute! (she catches flies a lot when she sleeps!)

Hi to everyone! I hope you all had a nice holiday and Santa was good to everyone. Abby is only 3 weeks-well she's about 3 1/4, but she already is spoiled rotten. She got so many wonderful gifts-thanks to everyone!!! Ok, so here is the update. Abby is doing very well being back at Chester County. When we were at the hospital on Tuesday, we were talking to the physical therapist who saw how good Abby does with her pacifier, and she suggested trying to breast feed, or at least put Abby there and see what happens. It's very hard for preemies to eat by mouth because they have to suck, swallow and breath all at the same time. Usually it takes a while to get them to do it. Well we tried breast feeding and Abby did so well. She latched right on and went to town! So now we try breast or bottle once a shift to get her used to eating by mouth. I go in to see her in the am and once at night to breast feed and the rest of the time they try the bottle-she's not thrilled with the bottle. She is still on the feeding tube because sometimes she just isn't into either. It's very exciting because she gets more from me than she would from the feeding tube so hopefully we can fatten her up!
She is also doing very well on her cannula so they've been weening the oxygen down and might take her off today or tomorrow depending on how she does. Once they take her off the cannula they can take the feeding tube out her mouth and put in her nose which will make it easier to feed her by mouth. Once she is on regular feeds we can loose the feeding tube also, we just have to wait and see how she does.
Yesterday they finally gave Abby her blood transfusion. They've been talking about doing it for a few weeks and they decided it was time. They said she isn't gaining weight fast enough and isn't making enough blood cells on her own. So hopefully now that she has daddy's strong blood-he claims he's healthy as a horse-she'll be on the right track.
Here are some pictures of Abby during the holidays-we just had to dress her up!

She's in a preemie size here and it's still huge on her!
Her and daddy in their xmas colors.....

We kept trying to wake up but she just wasn't having it....

This is xmas eve, and this onzie was way too big and too much work with all her stuff hooked up so we just laid it on her....

Once again, sound asleep....

Here are few pics of Abby from the past week that I haven't had a chance to post yet.....

Abby is getting a bath-she apparently hates it!
She's saying "please no pictures!"

Pop-pop came for a visit on Christmas Eve and got to hold her--she looks very cumfy with him...

Grammy also go to hold Abby over the weekend when she was at CHOP.....

Hello to everyone. Sorry it's been a while since a new post-it's been a crazy couple of days. I know a lot of you have heard bits and pieces of whats been going on and want to know the whole story, so here it is...So when it was discovered that Abby had a UTI last week, they did a routine ultrasound to make sure her kidneys were functioning correctly. On the ultrasound, the Dr's discovered something, they weren't sure what it was, but they knew something was there that shouldn't be. First they said it could be a cyst or her intestines could have doubled, but whatever it was wasn't causing Abby any problems. So Chester County sent the image to CHOP (children's hospital) for a second opinion. Because Abby's so small it was hard to see what the ultrasound was showing. So on Thursday, CHOP decided Abby needed to be transfered there for further testing that Chester County wasn't capable of. So on Thursday around dinner time, a transport team came to get Abby and strapped her in to her mobile issolete and took off for her ride to the big city.

We followed her down to CHOP and have spent the last 5 days pretty much living there, impatiently awaiting answers. On Friday, they did another ultrasound, followed by an MRI. Besides all this testing, Abby has been doing really well. She's still eating and sleeping and doing everything she should. Whatever the problem is doesn't seem to being affecting her. The nurse also told us that about a half hour before it's feeding time, Abby wakes up and gets a little cranky. The nurse told us then when preemies go home, they have a hard time eating because they have to learn to be hungry. In the hospital they get fed every three hours-right now with a feeding tube-and they don't really experience hunger. But Abby knows when it's time to eat and wakes herself up, so that's definitely a good thing--just like mommy and daddy, she's a good eater! Anyway, Saturday we finally got the results from her testing back. Abby has a growth on her liver. The growth is benign. Jess looked it up and it's basically an overgrowth of the organ containing tissue and cells. They did further blood tests on Sunday and Monday confirming it is benign; it can however turn malignant in the future, but Abby will be monitored closely.

On Saturday, the surgical team looked at Abby and her MRI and decided to just monitor her for now. The growth is large and it's possible it will get bigger so it will need to be removed. As of right now, it's not causing her any problems, and the surgery would be fairly complicated, so that's why they want to wait and just monitor her progress. So over the next six weeks, they will be checking to make sure her liver is functioning properly, and by measuring her belly that the growth isn't getting bigger. On Monday, Abby got transferred back to Chester County for the duration of her stay in the hospital. We are happy to have her back at Chester County-CHOP was a little overwhelming.
So basically, over the next six weeks, Abby will continue to grow and eat and do everything she is supposed to do. The Dr's at Chester County will be monitoring her and conferencing with CHOP. In six weeks she'll likely be sent home, then she'll come to CHOP for an appointment with the surgeon and liver specialist and they'll decide what to do next. They may say that the growth needs to come out now, and they might say it can wait another six weeks. So we just have to wait and see. After the surgery she'll be back in the NICU at CHOP while she is recovering.
Needless to say it's been pretty crazy for us the past couple of days. Thank you to everyone for their support and for offering us a place to stay, we really appreciate it!

I don't really have much of an update, no news is for sure good news. We went to see Abby today and were excited to see she's off the CPAP-at least for now. They took her off today and put her on a nasal cannula to see how she does. She seemed to be breathing a lot easier and as her nurse put it 'was a total rock star' today. They may alternate her between the CPAP and cannula until they can put her on the cannula for good but if she does well they'll keep her on the cannula. Abby's obviously ready to be rid of it all because at one point this morning she pulled the cannula off herself. I'd be sick of it all too! I'm just happy we got to hold her and actually see her face for a while today. Here are some pics hot off the presses!

We kept trying to get a picture with her eyes open but as soon as the flash started she closed her eyes and scrunched her face, she definitely didn't like the light! But here is Miss Abby eye balling us....

She had just eaten so she was pretty much out like a light. She's up to 28mls, 30mls is one ounce, so she's definitely eating well!

They dressed her so when we took her out she kept warm but she was totally swimming in this outfit and hat......

So we finally got the test results back and Abby has a urinary tract infection. I'm so thankful that it isn't meningitis! Hopefully it isn't too uncomfortable for her, because uti's are no fun! Anyway, she's been on antibiotic since Friday and she'll continue for seven days. They'll do an ultrasound of her belly today to make sure her kidneys are functioning OK and that's it. She's been doing really well otherwise. They have upped her feeds to almost a full ounce and she takes all of it. Yesterday they started fortifying her feeds-I'm not exactaly sure what they put in it but it's basically added calories. Her normal feeds were 20 calories, and now they are 24 and then up to 26. The nurse said that it's harder to digest but she's been taking them just fine.
On Friday the Dr told us Abby will probably need a blood transfusion in the next week or two because they have been taking so much blood for tests and she is becoming anemic. So Matt went over the weekend and donated to be her direct donor. He claims she just needs some of his strong blood and it'll cure everything. I don't how but the man is never sick! So the transfusion will probably be next week. That's Abby's update for now. Thanks to everyone for the nice comments, we thinks she's pretty darn cute too!

Sorry to everyone for not updating sooner. I didn't realize how fast time was going by with out an update. Abby's had an ok week. The Dr's told us there would be lots good days and plenty of bad days too, so be prepared for the ups and downs. Well she was right! On Thursday into Friday, Abby's nurses felt she was acting too tired and not responsive enough when they were in there messing with her. They think she has some sort of infection, so they started doing lots of tests. Unfortunately, they thought there was a chance she could have meningitis, so they had to give her a spinal tap-thankfully we weren't there to witness that! They sent off all her labs and immediately started her on antibiotics hoping to stop the infection before it could really get started. As of Friday am, Abby was already acting better. The Dr thinks she was much more active and awake before the antibiotic even had a chance to kick in, which is definitely a good thing. Abby's Dr also thinks that Abby isn't acting like a baby with meningitis. At this point, her Dr thinks its just an infection, it could be anything from a bladder infection to a cold. She's been getting better, she's still eating a ton-which is a really good sign-and she's been awake and active. So for now we just have to be patient and wait for the labs to come back. They meningitis takes at least 48 hours because they have to grow the culture, so we should know by tomorrow. Until then, they just keep her on her antibiotics and monitor her and hope she gets better. We went for a visit on Friday night, and we got to hold her-which we don't get to do enough-so it was good for us and I'm sure good for Abby. They also weighed her and she's 3.3 lbs, she's really packing em on!


That's a good looking proud papa!

Abby was a little upset getting weighed, but we like to see her like that too! She was flailing all over the place....

And no-she does not have the Lamb nose-the prongs for the CPAP stretch her nostrils-but we're assured it's only temporary! The Lamb(my mom's maiden name) nose is a lovely trait passed down through our family-it's basically big nostrils that get bigger as we age. When someone has a baby in our family, after the sex, weight and name are announced, the next question is...Does she have the Lamb nose!?So No she doesn't! but she'd be cute anyway!