Three Months, Already?!?

I know - it's hard to believe for us too!!!  Little Teagan is already a quarter of a year old!  Crazy!  I will have a very special addition to the blog for our 100th day in the NICU.  Stay tuned - it's coming up soon!


Wait, I'm HOW old?!?

What does a three month old get for their birthday, you might ask?  Well, it's not so different from what most big girls want for their birthday!

Breakfast of Champions



What do they PUT in this gunk?

 A nice meal with family.... 

Someone to throw up on when you've had a bit too much...

We have a new definition of "hot mess"

 Maybe spend a little time recovering at a spa....
 

OMG look at that cute tushie! (yes, I went there)

  

Now THIS is the life!!!

 

So relaxed!

 And then to bed all snuggly in a brand new outfit.... 

AAAANNNNDDD we're out.

 This week we are done with the EPO treatments - both hematocrit and retic counts look good and blood oxygen levels keep improving.  Her color is starting to look much healthier too - no more blaming her paleness on Mommy and Daddy's complexions!  She is just over 5 pounds.  Yes, she put on a whole pound in a week.  Which seems like a lot until the nutritionist told me she is in the THIRD percentile for a 38 week-er.  Her head circumference is 32 centimeters.  She is still on Iron and Vitamin D and 26 calorie formula to help pack on pounds, er, um, ounces.  We've gotten her oxygen flow down to a 64th of a liter, which is the lowest pressure available.

Next steps will be working on bottle feeds - moving up to 2 back to back feeds at a time instead of every other feed with a bottle.  We should also be off the nasal canula in the next week or so.  Still at least a couple weeks out from coming home, though.  But we are pretty much ready (as much as we can be) for when she does!

She With The Most Toys...

We've had another big week of growing!  Are you ready for this?  Are you sitting down?  Okay, here we go..... FOUR POUNDS.  Teagan has officially quadrupled her birth weight.  A-ma-zing.  And we have the double chin to prove it.

Um, those would be "phat" rolls, gangsta.

I'm worth every penny!

She was having some problems with making enough red blood cells and her bone marrow count (hematocrit and retic lab tests), so she started getting Epoetin, or Epo, three times a week.  Even though she does NOT like the shots, after a week of treatment, her blood counts are already looking better.  We should have another week or so of shots and should be good.  Have I thanked insurance lately?  The shots are $1500....EACH.  Yikes!

She's also getting to the point where her eyes are developed enough to start having some visual stimulation around the crib, so we picked up some fun toys for her to focus on.  Ian of course found a Baby Einstein mirror that automatically makes your child a genius by virtue of some classical music it plays.  Apparently it does not work on parents, because we couldn't find the off-switch.  There is something distinctly hoity-toity about shopping to a personal soundtrack of classical music, so Ian and I slipped into our snooty alter egos "Muffy" and "Reginald" for the remainder of the shopping trip.

Enough with the Bach!  Break out the Stones!

The mobile that Mimi brought for Miss T did not have an arm to attach to crib, but that didn't stop the uber resourceful nurses at Evergreen!  They helped us rig it from her IV drip, right in the line of sight.  Perfect!  Here's some pictures of our room at the hospital.

Home away from home.

What is THAT?!?

Our family board with Teagan' cards, etc.

We call it a "Pugaboo"

 Our wonderful neighbors gave us a stroller that their granddaughter had outgrown.  But not just any stroller - oh no.  This is Princess Teagan's ride we're talking about here and nothing but the best will do.  Teagan will be chauffeured around in her very own Bugaboo.  I've done a fair amount of research on the best stroller to get a preemie and I am SO STINKIN' excited about this one I sounded like a used car salesman rattling off features to Ian when we got it home.  Inflated tires!  Lightweight!  GPS!  (Okay, maybe not, but I'm looking into HD radio).

And, because just one ride is never enough for a true princess...Mommy sadly traded in her trademark Jeep Wrangler.  Goodbye, Black Pearl, I will miss you.  In a couple of weeks, Teagan's new transport will arrive in time to take her home in style....a 2011 Nissan Juke! Our thanks and apologies to anyone that listened to Ian and I trying to decide on the "perfect" car and felt the need to go bang their heads on something repeatedly afterwards.  But seriously....it's pretty.  Like a little AWD spaceship.  And red.  Edward was most helpful in negotiating.  Everyone at the dealership loved him.  And if you're in the market for a Nissan - the guys at Stadium Nissan are great.

Does it LOOK like I want the extended warranty?

Shiny!

Next is getting Teagan to take her feeds by bottle.  We are weaning her onto formula slowly because Mom, a.k.a "Bessie" has reached the end of the production line.  She's taking to the formula well, and as one of the doctors in the unit says "I'm a formula baby, and I went to Harvard." (He could be the poster child for Enfamil).  Teagan has to be able to take all her feeds by bottle before coming home.  So far, she can handle one a day and it wipes her out.  We'll keep trying though!  Thank you for checking in and stop by again soon!

Nom Nom Nom

Three, Oh...It's a Magic Number

This has been a big week for Teagan!  She has hit THREE POUNDS!  I know that doesn't sound like a huge number - but in preemies, I can assure you - it's a very big deal!  She's starting to put on some definite "baby weight" and is cuter every day.  I'm a little biased, though.  She did need to go back on her nasal canula - she's off oxygen, but still needs just a little puff of air to remind her to breathe.

I had a seminar in New York late August, which is part of why this post is a bit delayed.  It was worth it, though I missed Teagan and Ian a lot.  I experienced my first ever earthquake (aftershocks) on Wall Street and evacuated down 30 flights of stairs in the Chartis building in bare feet.  My feet are still crazy swollen from the HELLP syndrome, and while I didn't have one - I certainly could have used a drink!  And I gained the experience of traveling through JFK with a carry-on breast pump.  Just leave it to say I had some 'splainin to do with the security guards!

 I got back in time for a little get-together godmom Sydney threw!  We had a pot-luck BBQ and got to see lots of friends and family!

Lovely day for a party!

Teagan's First Louis Vuitton!  Glam Girl!

Building Teagan's Library!

Sydney's Onesie Cupcakes

Ian had a long day at the grill

 Teagan also started wearing clothes!  This onesie is a little on the big size, but she's getting the idea.

Um, I might need the EXTRA small...

Hi!

I's hiding in my tulip hat...

 In addition to her nasal canula giving her that little puff of air, her feeding tube has been moved to her nose as well.  She is getting about 34 mL of milk with fortifiers over 30 minutes every three hours.  She has also been put on a "strenuous" physical therapy program with a pacifier.  We're trying to build up her ability to suck, swallow and breathe so she can start bottle or breast feeding.

Perhaps a binkie?

Nothin' doin - it's nap-time

This is one of the last videos of Teagan in an isolette!  And one of the first of her in clothes!  She's just on her canula and her nasal feeding tube.  The wire around her foot measures her blood oxygen levels and the green, black, and white small wires measure her heart rate and breathing.  It seems like a lot, but we're working on getting rid of the canula and the feeding tube!

Teagan has been doing really well with her stats, too.  No apneas or bradys for the past couple days.  Her eye exam showed a level 1 ROP - that's scar tissue built up on the retina in her left eye.  It often happens in babies that are on oxygen for a long period of time and at level 1 is just monitored.  If it increases, then we start treatment to avoid blindness.  We should have another eye exam in about a week.  She has been such a little trooper.  The exams are really hard on her eyes, I have to leave the room while they do the exam.  She also had her first vaccinations this week.  We had to wait a few weeks until she had built up enough muscle to give them to her!  She was a little cranky that day but overall handled all the procedures very well.

 

 

Check out my new crib!

And the big surprise this week was moving out of the isolette into a new crib!  This means she is able to regulate her own temperature! We celebrated by bringing her a new blanket and her Twilight Ladybug nightlight that shines the stars on the ceiling for her.  One step closer to coming home - September is gonna fly by!