I'd like to be....under the sea

Home......

with both of my girls!

So it's been a few days since I posted.  I have actually had to amend this post a few times before finally getting to post it at 4am.  Mostly because, well, I'm now officially the mother of two kids that live under the same roof.  Busy and chaotic are a few words to describe the flow around my house lately.  There are times we sleep only a couple of hours, and there are definitely days where I feel like the smell of spit up, poo, and Lucy's lunch are my perfume.

But it's good.  Really good.

Prudence had her 4 month check up last week and is doing great.  She weighed 7lbs 7.6 oz and is trucking right along.  Our pediatrician said she had no concerns for Prudence and told us to keep on doing what we've been doing.

Can I get a woohoo!!!!

Prudence is really one of the best babies.  She sleeps so well during the night.  Very peaceful...only a couple of times being a bit too peaceful and setting off her apnea alarm.

Which could wake the dead three miles away during a fourth of July fireworks show......

She isn't fussy in the least and is very content as long as she is fed, dry, and not refluxing.  She gets more and more alert every day.  It is weird because she seems less like a newborn even though she is in a newborn body in a lot of
ways.  Our doc said that even though babies like Prudence are given 2 years to catch up before they are considered behind but that she felt that Prudence is going to catch up much sooner than that.  I have learned however not to get my hopes up to much.

Lucy loves Prudence so much and is very involved.  She helps out with diapering and shows baby sister toys and is constantly giving her kisses.  She is also pretty protective of Prudence.  She has even told people other  than mommy to "leave baby sister alone" and will go pat Prudences head and tell her it's ok when she cries.  It's really really sweet.

The flip side to that is that Lucy has become super clingy.  Just to me.  Which is fine, although a bit inconvenient.  We are all adjusting.  Growing.  This family of four business is the real deal guys.

Luckily we have had a ton of help from my parents. Mom and PopAsh haven't let us down yet helping watch Lucy for doctors appointments, getting her out of the house for a bit, and helping us out around our house as we figure out how to be parents to 2 babes.  However this past week we have been on our own because of my mom being possibly exposed to the flu.  Its been challenging but also a very sweet time of learning and growing with my girls.  And J
uan is definitely the best husband ever.  He watches over his girls like a.daddy hawk.  That occasionally does weird things..... like teach Lucy the word burp...(add that to fart, poop, etc)... sigh

We have our ENT follow up in a couple of days, child development evaluation the next week and special infant care clinic the next week.  Its not busy on the doctor front and we are lucky for that.

So business as usual.

Welcome to graduated, ex-preemie world.

Dear Prudence, Won't you come out to play......

  Day 102-111

Today is the day.

It is the day we prayed for, dared to hope for, and on some days thought would never come.

Prudence weighs in at over 6 lb 8 oz.  We started at a humble 1 lb 7 oz.

She is almost 20 inches long.  That is 8 inches of growth.

She is breathing c
ompletely on her own without the assistance of any oxygen.  This is after 3 breathing tubes, several weeks on C-Pap, and months of work weaning down the nasal cannula a tiny tiny tiny bit at a time.

Yesterday, her physical therapist signed off on her saying that she has made wonderful progress and only needs to wear her splints for a couple hours a day now.

She passed her hearing screen, her carseat test, and received her RSV shot.  Tuesday, her eye doctor told us the wonderful news that her retinopathy has resolved and that she needs no eye follow up until preschool.

Prudence had two PICC lines, countless and I mean COUNTLESS IV's, three full rounds of antibiotics, 4 blood transfusions, 2 echocardiograms, 3 head ultrasounds, vaccinations, more x-ray's than I can count (we stopped somewhere in the 30's), sometimes lab work drawn every couple hours, and all her normal little girl vaccines on top of that.  Anyone wanna cry about their child getting shots now?

Our sweet almost four month old has a code sheet in her chart.

Her pulmonary hypertension is gone now.  Prudence will be battling chronic lung disease and a scarred airway.  She has a small umbilical hernia which our pediatrician will follow up with.  She has appointments at the infant care clinic for preemies, ENT, and the pediatrician.  She has only a prescription for prevacid.  That is it.


Today, my daughter graduates from the NICU.


Words/pictures/diagrams cannot possibly express the feelings that are stirring in me early this morning.  A piece of my heart has resided inside a hospital for 111 days.  More tears than I can count have been cried and I believe today will be no different.  I missed out on 3 and 1/2 months of pregnancy and we spent just that long making up for it in the NICU.

However, God has prevailed in all of this.  In my darkest hour, at my lowest point, God was with me, helping me to stand/walk/breathe/carry on.  There were times I gave up hope, cried, and felt like the world was ending.  But God has answered every prayer.  Every one.

We met angels.  Our nurse in the NICU has been Ann.  She has had Prudence almost 4 times a week for
16 weeks.  I hope she knows how much she has meant to our family.  How much she nursed Juan and I back to health as well as Prudence.  She celebrated with us, always offered a smile and if we were going to get bad news, well then it better be Ann giving it to us.

All the NICU nurses, practitioners, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, secretaries, house keeping, milk maids, doctors and volunteers are Angels.  God put each one in our lives to help us.

Outside of the hospital, we learned about true love, true friendship and how faithfulness prevails.  Despite family drama, failing friendships, and the hiccups of real life, we survived and when we made the effort to stop and listen to God, well, we flourished.

Thank you NICU staff.  Thank you Sarah and Isaac Norman for being so close to this with us even though you live 5 hours away and have a newborn sweetheart yourselves.  Thank you Thomas and Renae Jakubisin for being wonderful friends and the one set of people we knew that have been NICU survivors.  Thank you to all the people who have prayed with us.  I can't name you all because at this point, I do not know how many are out there.  I just know that God listened and answered to every prayer that was sent up and you helped us make it through this.

The biggest thank you's go to my family.  Thank you to my sisters who swooped in and cared for Lucy and made her feel special when all this started.  You guys made it so I knew she wasn't only getting cared for, but felt like Lucy was away at a spa retreat getting pampered.

Thank you to my parents.  Your countless hours spent worrying with us, watching Lucy, cleaning our house, helping us cook, making holidays special for Lucy and for us, and loving on my whole family definitely did not go unnoticed.  Without a doubt, you guys are heaven sent.  We love you.

Thank you to Lucy.  I know this has been hard on you baby girl.  I know you have been scared and worried without even knowing what to be scared and worried about.  You are a light on a cloudy day, our own ray of sunshine sent to us.  We love you.

Thank you God.   Praise God.  For all the works you have done.  I asked you for the world and in return you asked for faithfulness and obedience.  It wasn't until I surrendered all that I had to you that you gave me the world.  You are the light, the way, and I will sing your praises until my dying day.  It hasn't been an easy road, but you were merciful and held our family up.  I have seen a miracle performed and she is coming home today.


Home.

That sounds.  So. Stinking.  GOOD!


Goodbye micropreemie world.  Hello life.