Greetings Everyone!
I apologize for the lag time in our posts. As you an imagine, things are moving at lightning speed now and we are trying to hold on to some sense of normalcy (whatever that is!).
Let me update you.
Miss Ava is first. Ava is battling digestion issues and a perforation in her bowel. She had to have minor surgery last Wednesday, but we are indeed seeing some progress from the procedure. The surgeons at Phoenix Children's have been so good to us. Still, when we arrived at the NICU today, Ava was clearly in pain. This didn't sit well with me, the 'ole Mama Bear. Doctors say she's just dealing with gas pain and they are pleased she's "fighting through it." As much I appreciate that, that wasn't enough. I insisted on holding my Ava. I held her for over an hour, singing to her and comforting her. She settled down quite a bit, but leaving her at the hospital brought on the tears all over again. Please pray for God to heal Ava's body and bring her some pain relief as soon as possible.
Ava hasn't started on the milk yet; she's still on liquids, antibiotics, and pain meds. Given that Ava is behind on her feeding schedule, we imagine she'll be in the NICU longer than most of our other kids, but we'll have to wait and see. We are thankful that doctors took her off the ventilator yesterday and she continues to breathe well on her own.
The other children, Luke, Millie, Clara, and Isabelle, are now together in the same "pod" in the NICU, so they're roommates. We love that! When we first joined the NICU, the children were spread out over several pods. So, we'd walk in and the nurses would say, "Isabelle is in pod 2; Luke in pod 6; Clara in pod 4; and Millie in pod 3. Then, we'd literally travel from pod to pod spending time with each one of them. Now, all four are in the same pod and we're in heaven. We can literally sit in one space and be surrounded by our bundles of joy. It's absolutely wonderful.
Clara continues to be our overachiever. She's taking the most breast milk and gaining weight very well. Luke had to slow down his eating due to some air in his belly, but he's slowly picking up steam again in pursuit of Clara.
Millie is doing much better in the later half of this week. As you may remember, Millie was born with the cord wrapped around her neck, so she had fluid in her lungs and some trouble with her breathing. We were thrilled when doctors took her off the ventilator earlier this week. Her breathing is still a little erratic, but doctors say she's slowly adjusting and they're pleased with her progress. Millie is just a dear. Not our complainer in the least. She leaves that to Luke. He loves to make a lot of trouble when you try to take his temperature or change his diaper. That little man in opinionated!
Isabelle is a snuggler. She loves to be held, sung to, and rocked. She is eating well and seems to be happy with her little lot in life. She's quickly catching up to Clara on feedings as well. All five of our children have some issues with jaundice, which is normal for preemies, so each one spends a bit of time in the "tanning bed," as we call it, to help improve their bilirubin levels (and fight jaundice).
As for me, I'm doing pretty well. I was discharged on Friday with several different kinds of blood pressure medicine. I've battled BP issues for the last several weeks, so doctors are trying to bring it back to a healthy level. After two days at home and a bit more sleep, it's coming down nicely. The nurse took out my staples before I left the hospital on Friday, so now it's just taking care of my incision and trying to re-train my ab muscles. I'm trying to increase the distance that I walk each day and ease off the pain medicine.
I've already lost 35-40 pounds since the delivery and that's helped my back pain tremendously. Now it's just a matter of getting back to a healthy diet and lifestyle.
That's all for now. Please send some positive thoughts to our Ava. I'll try to write more tomorrow.
I apologize for the lag time in our posts. As you an imagine, things are moving at lightning speed now and we are trying to hold on to some sense of normalcy (whatever that is!).
Let me update you.
Miss Ava is first. Ava is battling digestion issues and a perforation in her bowel. She had to have minor surgery last Wednesday, but we are indeed seeing some progress from the procedure. The surgeons at Phoenix Children's have been so good to us. Still, when we arrived at the NICU today, Ava was clearly in pain. This didn't sit well with me, the 'ole Mama Bear. Doctors say she's just dealing with gas pain and they are pleased she's "fighting through it." As much I appreciate that, that wasn't enough. I insisted on holding my Ava. I held her for over an hour, singing to her and comforting her. She settled down quite a bit, but leaving her at the hospital brought on the tears all over again. Please pray for God to heal Ava's body and bring her some pain relief as soon as possible.
Ava hasn't started on the milk yet; she's still on liquids, antibiotics, and pain meds. Given that Ava is behind on her feeding schedule, we imagine she'll be in the NICU longer than most of our other kids, but we'll have to wait and see. We are thankful that doctors took her off the ventilator yesterday and she continues to breathe well on her own.
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| Our Ava is a fighter. We know she will be stronger for this. |
Clara continues to be our overachiever. She's taking the most breast milk and gaining weight very well. Luke had to slow down his eating due to some air in his belly, but he's slowly picking up steam again in pursuit of Clara.
 |
| Sweet Clara is mesmerized by her Dad, especially his Christmas songs. |
Millie is doing much better in the later half of this week. As you may remember, Millie was born with the cord wrapped around her neck, so she had fluid in her lungs and some trouble with her breathing. We were thrilled when doctors took her off the ventilator earlier this week. Her breathing is still a little erratic, but doctors say she's slowly adjusting and they're pleased with her progress. Millie is just a dear. Not our complainer in the least. She leaves that to Luke. He loves to make a lot of trouble when you try to take his temperature or change his diaper. That little man in opinionated!
Isabelle is a snuggler. She loves to be held, sung to, and rocked. She is eating well and seems to be happy with her little lot in life. She's quickly catching up to Clara on feedings as well. All five of our children have some issues with jaundice, which is normal for preemies, so each one spends a bit of time in the "tanning bed," as we call it, to help improve their bilirubin levels (and fight jaundice).
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| Isabelle and Luke celebrating their one week birthday with Mom. |
I've already lost 35-40 pounds since the delivery and that's helped my back pain tremendously. Now it's just a matter of getting back to a healthy diet and lifestyle.
That's all for now. Please send some positive thoughts to our Ava. I'll try to write more tomorrow.
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