Holding Our Own

"Tired" would be the theme for the week.

Welcome to Week Three!  We were able to hold Teagan this week using a technique called "Kangaroo Care".  No pouch comments, please!  The concept is that holding your preemie on your bare chest, skin to skin, allows them to hear their parents' heartbeat and breathing and promotes healthy growth, lung function and heart rate in their little bodies.  We will be able to do this nearly every day from here on.  I'm also going to start reading to her.  I was reading an article in a magazine to Ian last night while we were at the hospital, and her stats leveled out the entire time I was reading.  Any recommendations on good books for a three week old? 

Keepin warm with a hat!

The infection we had to start antibiotics for is nearly gone and the doctors started her back on milk yesterday.  This will help to get her weight up - we're currently around 600 grams (1.3 lbs).  Ian took a great video of the nurse weighing her and changing her tiny diaper.  She's such a funny little thing!  She waves her arms and legs around and kicks her feet and waves her hands.  Her eyes are open wide now and she is starting to make funny little facial expressions.  It's probably just her stretching her facial muscles, but I swear she smiles at us. 

I gots the Boogie Fever!!!

The doctors also had to turn her oxygen back up as she continues to have "episodes" which consist of apnea, dropped heart rate and de-saturation of oxygen.  If she continues to struggle with breathing, they will x-ray her chest and put her on a small dose of a steroid called Flovent.  I've taken it a few times for my asthma.  She has also had a few blood transfusions, since they need to draw her blood for tests and she is struggling to produce enough red blood cells. 

Ian took a really good video of Teagan that you can watch here.

Ian and I are doing really well aside from being super tired.  He's recovering from a slight sore throat that kept him home from the hospital on antibiotics for a couple of days just to be on the safe side, and I keep improving bit by bit (though I do have a tendency to push things a little too quickly!)

We've started to decorate Teagan's room at the hospital a bit with some things from home.  She has a wonderful sign with her name on it on her door that one of the nurses made for her.  I found some sparkly ladybug stickers yesterday and I'm adding one small ladybug for each week she is in the NICU.  We are also starting to put together ideas for decorating her bedroom at home with a ladybug theme. 

Mimi Carolyn went home to Kansas City this week and Ian and I are re-adjusting to not having her help.  For her birthday, she got to go to a glass-blowing class in Redmond and made a beautiful green ornament to hang in the Teagan's nursery window.

Mimi at the Redmond School of Glass

I started back at my office half-days, who knew insurance could be so exhausting!  I've been heading to the hospital after work since my office is only a couple of miles from Evergreen, and taking our pug, Edward, in the Jeep with me.  He's super excited to get to go along, though I often joke that if I could just swaddle him properly, I could sneak him right into the nursery.  It might be worth it just for the looks on people's faces if they stop to coo at the "baby".

A face only a mother could love...