8 lbs.

Lily is 8 lbs 1 oz! Such a big girl. She's started cooing and smiling quite a bit. When she first came home from the NICU, it was taking about an hour to feed her. Her doctors put me on a non-dairy, non-soy diet to see if it would help her feeding discomfort level. However before my new diet could kick in (or make any difference for her), she improved her suck/swallow/breath coordination on her own. Gradually she's been feeding much better. A good feed will only take 30 min now and she's taking more volume. Thus, after seeing her doctor again yesterday, I am trying to go back on Soy (and later dairy if the Soy goes well). I had a Grande, Decaf, Single, Soy, Gingerbread Latte at Starbucks! It was delicious! Life is still tiring - but I think we're starting to try and get the hang of it.

Lily doesn't nurse well. That's the one thing I wish I could alter. We're trying (a bit half-heartedly I admit). She get's really frustrated trying to latch and then when she does latch, I think the change in flow throws her off. Hopefully this will get easier for her.

together...

We're doing well having Lily home. It's been quite an adjustment trying to juggle Jude and Lily, but we're slowly becoming accustomed to being a family of 4. Lily is slowly eating better and 'hopefully' gaining more weight. Last Friday, Nov 20, she weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz when we visited the pediatrician. Since then she seems to have improved on her eating coordination (suck, swallow, and breath). She chokes less and her reflux doesn't seem to bother her as much. NICU nurses -- her average feeding today was 78 mls (can you believe it?)!!! Go Lily. We hope this trend continues. Auntie Janet and Uncle Peter have been here for the last 4 days; it has been an amazing blessing to have their help. I love this picture of Papa, Jude, and Lily - it's so fun to be able to take pictures of us 'together'.

Home...On 11/11 after 111 Days...

This last Wednesday, after 111 days in the NICU, Lily was able to come home. She continued to eat well and gain weight, thus the doctor said she could be discharged from the NICU. Hooray! It was a huge blessing and relief that she did not need to have the g-ube surgery and was able to come home to us. We are so very thankful to have her home!

We went to the pediatrician on Friday. She had gained 2 ounces since leaving the hospital - so that was also a relief.

And now? Whew...we have been settling into life at home with two children. Props to all you parents out there with two or more kiddos - it takes a lot of multitasking and effort :) My life for the past 4 days has been full of making bottles, feeding lily, changing lily, washing bottles, taking care of Jude, pumping, sneeking in a bit of food myself when possible, and getting sleep when I can. Daniel and I are both a bit exhausted, but well, ... it's so good to have Lily home.

Thanks to all the NICU nurses who so lovingly took care of Lily for her first 111 days of life! Love to you...

We will see...

Lily has been off of her feeding tube for about a week now. She's been taking all of her feedings from a bottle. Some days have been good this week and some not so good (in terms of eating). She has basically eaten enough to maintain her weight, but not enough to continue growing. Thus, on last friday a surgery was scheduled for her (for this coming friday). During the surgery the doctors will laproscopically put in a small tube from outside her belly into her stomach. This is so that we can take her home and if she doesn't eat enough from a bottle, we can still feed her extra through this g-tube. The tube can be removed when it's no longer needed by a simple office visit.

That being said, we are hoping that this week, Lily might be able to begin taking enough milk from her bottle that the surgery will not be necessary. Yesterday was a fairly good day for her (she gained 20 grams) and today, so far, she has taken all 60 mls for all of her feeds. Please pray this trend continues and that each day will be better for her than the one before. Pray that she'd gain weight. We'd love to have her home -- and, God willing, possibly without her having to have surgery.

2009 Halloween

On Sunday, Nov 1st, Lily started to take all of her feedings! It was truly such a wonderful surprise. We think the prevacid they started to give her on Tuesday finally kicked in (to help her reflux). After a day of eating all of her feedings, she lost 3 oz. It was a lot. Last night it had been 2 days since she started eating and she gained 3 grams (about 30 grams to an oz). So...we continue to hope and pray she'll continue eating all her feedings and start to gain some more weight. If that happens - she'll be able to come home (maybe even later on this week)!

Here are some Halloween shots of our family. The night nurses, Sue and Nicole, made princess Lily a crown and a septor. It was pretty adorable.

We took Jude downtown Old Littleton to go trick or treating. Auntie Jenna, Uncle Mark, Super Boy Rohan, Larry Boy Asher, and princess Saige joined us.

still...

still waiting...
still coping...
still working on feeding...
still hoping.

6 lbs. 5 oz...

6 lbs 2 oz

Today Lily is over 6 lbs. She seems to be taking a step backward in eating lately. For the past 3 days, she's taken very few feedings from a bottle. It is hard to watch. I'm so connected with any of Lily's daily details. If she has a good day, I have one. If she has a sleepy day, my day is just a little more sad. On top of it all, Daniel and I have been fighting a cold (which keeps us from seeing Lily). Daniel is pulling out of his and I'm still trying to fend mine off. You'd be impressed Mom, I've even gargled vinegar a couple of times! I'm hoping and praying that somehow, I can get by without a full blown runny nose and sore throat. I have absolutely no idea when Lily will be able to come home. Please God, allow her to eat and come home by my birthday.

Little Tiny Pumpkin

Here's some pictures of Lily from her bath on Monday night. Nurse Sue picked out this sweet pumpkin outfit for Lily.

These pics were taken of Lily on Oct 1. "Shhh", Lily says, "I have a big secret".

October Fun

We had some fall fun and bought a pumpkin for Jude this weekend. He loves the little one; keeps wanting to bring it into the house and carry it around. Another favorite is 'hot chalk' (hot chocolate). Jude asks for it every day.

Due Date

October 12, 2009 - Lily's due date. Hmm, not sure how I feel about today. A little happy - a little sad. Mostly I just wish Lily was home. She is getting closer (very slowly) - but closer. Here are some updates:

• Eyes: Lily had an eye test late last week. Good news; finally her eyes are mature. That means her eyes are developing normally and she doesn't need another test until 6 months.
• Brain: Lily's doctor ordered another brain ultrasound for her this morning. The results were encouraging. The brain bleed inside of her ventricle is almost completely gone. It's hard to know what will happen with the little tiny bleed spot outside of her ventricle - but from the pictures, the doctor said it looks good. Time will ultimately tell - but we are encouraged that all will be well with her development.
• Heart: Lily also had an echocardiogram this morning. The tech said she couldn't find the small muscle whole that she saw last time - so the assumption is that the small whole closed on its own (which was what they expect to happen). I'm sure the doctor will take a look at the echocardiogram pictures and hopefully confirm this - but it's really good news.
• Weight: Lily was up to 5 lbs. 7 oz last night!

Now...if we could just get Lily to eat better. She has started to eat a full feeding (54 mls now) once a day, so she's making a little progress. But we hope and pray that she will do this more often and more consistently.

GI Test

Lily had a GI test yesterday. Since Lily has been having trouble progressing with bottle feedig and nursing, her neonatologist order the test. Debbie, Lily's nurse, and I wheeled her crib down to radiology in the afternoon. The pediatric radiology doctor put her on a large table under an enormous xray-type machine. They fed her a bottle and watched her mouth, throat, esophagus, and stomach as she swallowed. It was pretty interesting to watch. They studied her anatomy to make sure all was well. They also studied the bottle nipple and how fast or slow she could/should swallow milk. The test turned out as good as can be expected. Her anatomy is fine - structurally, Lily is perfect. She does have some reflux. Which is why she takes very tiny swallows to try and prevent too much from getting into her airways. Basically, she's a preemie. It should get better as she grows and becomes stronger.

5 lbs 1 oz

Lily is 5 lbs and 39 weeks today. She's looking bigger and bigger all the time. Crazy that she's still almost 3 lbs short of what Jude was at 39 weeks. Progress with eating is slow. We're hoping that some day (as she gets bigger and stronger) she'll just all of a sudden 'get it'. It's hard to be patient though - especially as she gets older and is awake for longer periods of time. I hate to think of all the times she's awake and I'm not there to spend time with her. The nurses are wonderful - but it still makes me sad.

Waiting...

This week Lily is 38 weeks old (gestationally). She is 4 lbs. 11 oz. It has been 10 weeks since she was born. I can't help but think I should have been very pregnant about this time and anxiously awaiting Lily to be born. Indeed it definitely didn't work out as we had planned. Nevertheless, we are still waiting on Lily. We are waiting for her to learn to eat (bottle feed and nurse). She needs to be able to eat her entire feeding from a bottle for all her feedings to be able to go home. Currently she's pretty inconsistent. She will eat half her feeding maybe a couple times of day. So...we wait. I believe she just needs to get a little bigger and a little stronger. Today I looked back at a bunch of photos of Lily. It really is amazing to see how she has grown - she was 'so' tiny when she was born. Go Lily...go. We will wait sweetheart.

Sweet pink polka-dot girl

Lily getting weighed - 4 lbs 11.6 oz

Lily asleep in her crib - see my Elephant

Blanket Grammy Sue and Grandpa John!

4 lbs

Lily is 4 lbs 5 oz today. Everything else is pretty standard - she's eating 42 mls every feeding, she's still on a bit of oxygen, and she's still working on learning to suck/swallow/breath. They did move her to an open air crib last weekend, so she keeps pretty bundled up to help her temperature.

family moments...

Here are a couple of pictures taken on September 2 - we headed up into the mountains, had a short hike, threw a bunch of rocks in the river, and had a picnic lunch with Grandma Gini and Grandpa Dan.

We gave Lily her weekly Bath today. She's 3 lbs. 11 oz (probably a bit more tonight - we'll see). She's up to 35 ml per feeding and they've taken her pulse-ox (not sure how you spell it) off. They will check her pulse-ox on Monday and Thursday - but she's stable enough that she doesn't need it monitored constantly. Here are a few pictures I finally downloaded from my camera.

big yawn...

checkin out mama (her cheeks area little red from taking off the adhesives that hold her oxygen in place.

snugglin with papa and suckin away on her pacifier...

sweet girl...

just love that hat...all cozy for another nap...

Growing...

Lily continues to grow. She is now 3 lbs. 8 oz (wow - 3 and a half pounds!). She's on just a little bit of oxygen. She receives 34 ml at each feeding. And she has begun trying to take a bottle once a day. The first time Daniel gave her a bottle, she drank 2/3 of her feeding (22 ml) - since then she's only taken about 11 mls -- but she's learning. She's also learning to nurse. It's a bit of a slow process, but she's getting there. little by little...

3 lbs 3 oz

Lily is 3 whole pounds and doing well (3 lbs. 3 oz to be exact). The nurses have begun to dress her in tiny little onsies - she looks adorable. She continues to do well on her breathing. Just yesterday, they took her off of the high flow cannula and switched her to a regular flow cannula. She's getting over an ounce of milk (32 ml) at each feeding and she's begun to try and breast feed (a little). It'll take her a little while to get the hang of it, but we're working on it.

Jude visited Lily again with us yesterday. He even got to hold Lily with Papa's help - he did very well. We were not able to get a picture of Jude holding Lily (shoot) - but we took this video just after (Lily 6 Weeks Old).

fall...

Not too much to report today. That's probably a good thing. Lily is doing really well. Her breathing is good, all her blood counts are good, she's slowly gaining weight, and she had a bath today. She's up to 2 lbs. 11 oz. Grandma and Grandpa Herron are in town and having been helping us out immensely with cooking and taking care of Jude.

I am feeling much better (seemed to have kicked this cold). Mostly...I've been anxious for and have been thinking about fall. I love fall. It is most definitely my favorite time of year. I love it when football starts (even if the broncos are a sorry excuse for a team this year -- we'll see). I love sweatshirt weather. I love it when the leaves change color and the sun shines a little less... and I love to sip a grande decaf single pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. There just seems to be something about fall that allows me to ... take a really deep breath. There's only one thing missing ... one thing that would make it perfect ... Lily. I long to be able to take a walk in my blue hooded sweatshirt with Lily snug at my chest wrapped in a sling. That will be a good day -- having Lily always close by.

Gained one pound...

Lily has gained one pound since birth. Today she is 2 lbs. 9 oz. Daniel and I had a meeting with Lily's doctor and couple of her nurses yesterday. We talked all about how Lily has been doing and what to expect in the coming weeks. Lily is really doing amazingly well. She had her 4th (I think) brain ultrasound on Wednesday this week. It came out well. The blood clot in her brain continues to shrink (just what they want to see). Her breathing is good. Doc said they will be thinking about stopping her doses of caffeine this coming week and possible switching her from high flow to a nasal cannula (if she does well). Next week Lily will have another eye test and at some point in the future, a hearing test as well. They continue to try and adjust her feeding to help her gain weight - the doctor said they'd check how much protein she was getting - to be sure she's getting enough - and possibly add some protein powder to her feedings if she needs it.

One of the biggest answers to prayer this week has been Lily's hematocrit levels (in her blood). On Wednesday, they were a bit worried as her level was low (25). The first time Lily's blood crit was low, they gave her a blood transfusion. The second time, they gave her some medicine. We certainly were a bit worried, hoping she wouldn't need another transfusion. But Praise God - on Thursday, she was back up to 31! It was really good news.

Aunt Lydia has been here helping out this week. We have been very thankful for her. Daniel and Lydia went to the hospital last night and Lydia held Lily. Here are a few pictures...

Lily's nurses say she's an active little one always moving and scootching about - she was all askew when Daniel and Lydia when to visit.

Auntie Lydia and Lily

Grandpa John holds Lily

Yesterday, Grandpa John was able to hold Lily for about an hour. I am still sick (recovering from a nasty head/throat/cough/runny nose cold). And now Daniel is starting to get the cold too. Boy, are we a mess! So -- we asked Grandpa John to hold Lily for us. He was fully initiated as Lily spit up some milk on him. Grandpa had to yell, 'Help' to get the nurses attention. :)

Lily is up to 2 lbs. 7 oz. She hasn't gained any weight these past couple of days, so her doctor has been upping her calories and the amount she receives little by little. We're hoping that she'll get to where she gains about an oz. a day. She has another brain ultrasound tomorrow. It's just one more precautionary check - we assume everything will come out fine.

4 Weeks Old

Lily is 4 weeks old now. She is up to about 2 lbs. 4 oz. and the doctor put her back on high flow for breathing. She also had an eye test this week. They look to make sure her optic nerves are coming together correctly. In preemies, the nerves are often just not developed yet. This is the case with Lily. Currently she has no problems; her eyes are just under-developed --- and it's just something they watch to make sure her eyes develop correctly. They'll test her again in two weeks.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see her since Monday (I have an awful cold). It's a bummer -- I really miss being able to hold her. Daniel has been faithfully going in and holding her everyday. Auntie Lydia (Daniel's sister) arrived late last night to help take care of Jude for a week - we are so happy to see her and have her help!

We continue to receive phone calls, emails, and delicious meals from so many family and friends. Thank you so much to each and every one of you. Thanks also to those of you who live out of town or state and have stopped in or called to support us - we love you! Thank you for your prayers - we appreciate them and continue to covet them for Lily.

Bath Time...

Yesterday, Daniel and I gave Lily her first bath in a little tub. I think she enjoyed most of it. It was a lot of fun to be able to see her without all her cords and breathing mask on. Here are a few pictures...

2 lbs!

Lily weighs 2 lbs. today - hooray! The nurses gave her this sweet little card to display by her bed to congratulate her. Not much else to report - she's doing well breathing with the cpap mask and she's up to 20 ml of milk every 3 hrs. Love you baby girl!

3rd Brain Ultrasound

Lily had her 3rd brain ultrasound today. It turned out well. The doctor said the blood clot in her ventricle had gotten a tiny bit smaller again. This was good news. I guess it will take months for her body to entirely clean up the blood clot. It was good news that there was no new bleeding and that the blood clot hasn't blocked the ventricle passageways that allow her spinal fluid to flow. Everything looked stable.

Other news... Lily is off of her IV. She is getting 18 ml of milk today. She is back on her CPAP mask for breathing. They took her off of the high flow because she was having a hard time with it. They will probably go back to the high flow in a couple of days. And she's 1 lb. 15 oz today! Yeah... 2 lbs here we come!

That's all I got for tonight - it's late - and I'm wiped out. Love to everyone. Thanks for all the prayers and emails and comments we've been getting. We are encouraged by them and so appreciate the personal notes.

Band about my wrist

I am still wearing the baby band around my wrist that the hospital gave me when Lily was born. It identifies me as Lily's mom and gives me access to the NICU. Daniel has one also. Funny the things people notice when I'm out shopping or in a doctors office - so often they comment on my wristband and of course ask about my baby. "Oh, you had a baby girl - Congratulations - what's her name - how much did she weigh?" I'm beginning to dread this particular conversation. I often consider lying, just to avoid the rest of the story. It is difficult to answer, "My daughter Lily weighed 1 lb. 9 oz.". It's almost unbelievable - so tiny - less than 2 boxes of butter. But ...well... I answer truthfully, sometimes with slight tears in my eyes. The other person is always kind ... and then I remember that she is in excellent care, she is growing ( 1 lb. 14 oz. today), and ultimately God is watching over her.

Where to be?

I've been finding it hard to just be lately. When I'm with Lily, I feel like I should be with Jude. When I'm with Jude I feel like I should be with Lily. When I'm with neither of them I feel like I should be with Daniel or both of my kids somehow. Whew. It's exhausting. I have to tell myself that where ever I'm at is ok and to enjoy the moment.

Regarding Lily - she weighed - get this folks - 800 grams last night when I went to hold her. That's 1 lb. 12 oz! We were very happy!

710 Grams

Yesterday, I went in to see and hold Lily in the hospital. She weighed 710 grams. That's 10 grams more than she weighed at birth! It was a good day - so good to see her finally pass her birth weight. Today she is back down to 700 grams, but certainly soon she should pass 700 and never look back. Lily is getting 10 ml of milk every 4 hours and she's also getting a milk fortifier (something like formula) in order to give Lily a few more calories. So wonderful to see Lily doing well for a couple of days - it's definitely encouraging to Daniel and I.

2nd Brain Ultrasound Results

Lily had her brain ultrasound this morning. Dr. Quissell called us this afternoon and gave us the results. Good news. She said the blood clot (in the ventricle) had gotten a bit smaller. They are planning on doing another ultrasound in another week to make sure it continues to move in that direction (smaller); thus the doctor said this next week is critical. Worst case scenario is that there is more bleeding next week or increased pressure in her brain. All the signs right now (and how well Lily is doing) point to her body being able to continue to break down the blood clot. We hope and pray everything continues to move in this direction.

The last time Lily had a brain ultrasound there was also some bleeding outside of Lily's left ventricle. It's hard to understand (let alone explain) - but to make a long story short, this particular bleed could mean developmental problems for Lily in the future. There is really no way to know for quite some time. As Lily is a preemie, her brain is not fully formed and won't be for some time. It could be that her brain forms its correct connections around the spot of bleeding and all is well. Or possibly some of the connections could be prohibited and she will have some developmental problems. It could go either way and there is no way of knowing. All we can do is pray that God would allow her brain to form correctly and pray she doesn't have any lasting problems because of the brain bleed.

Thank you everyone for your prayers. Today has been a hard day for Daniel and I. After we received the phone call from Lily's doctor, we looked at each other, smiled with relief, and then both admitted we were exhausted from waiting and wondering all day. I believe we will both sleep much better tonight.

Monday

Lily is doing well today. The doctor heard another heart murmur over the weekend and scheduled another schocardiogram for Lily yesterday. Thankfully - it resulted in good news. The little value next to her heart was still closed. Whew! She has another little valve (or something like it) that is open. Dr. Quissell says it's nothing to worry about. It's pretty common in babies and usually closes on its own during a babies first year of life. Praise God! So her heart is doing well. She's had fewer bradies over the weekend. They checked her bilirubin levels (for jaundice) early this morning and it was very low (1 or 1.5), so they were able to turn off the light. Yeah! Her breathing is still good and they are upping her feedings. Today she gets 3 ml every 4 hours and they will up her to 4 ml tonight. So -- all really really good things. We are still a bit worried about the bleeding in her brain. But we won't know anything more until Wednesday when they do an ultrasound. So far, there have been no signs that her brain is swelling or is under any pressure, so that's good. We keep hoping and praying for a good result on Wednesday.

Despite all the good news today, it was a tough weekend. Funny how even the littlest things like hearing she needs another echocardiogram can just sky rocket my fears and emotions. It's difficult to live through (though easy to look back on, especially when the news turns out to be good). Thanks to all of you whom I've been able to talk on the phone with. I really appreciate all your encouragement - it definitely helps get me through.

Lily Days 9 & 10

Lily has been doing better these past couple of days. The blood transfusion helped her color and overall wellbeing immensely. She has been having less bradies. They started her on an antibiotic on Thursday night just to make sure she wasn't getting an infection. So far her cultures have been negative (no infection) and if that holds true tonight - they'll take her off of the antibiotic tomorrow morning. It was a precautionary measure (since with her being so little, if they get behind an infection, it's hard to catch up). But so far, so good. They're also upping her feedings today. Today she's been getting a whopping 2 ml every 4 hours. :)

We won't know more about the blood clot in her brain until this coming Wednesday. They'll do another ultrasound of her brain and see what progress (if any) is being made.

Did you know that today is the first day of August? Whew praise God! I don't think I can handle any more of July. 8 years ago Daniel and I got married in July thinking - July should be a good month - not much happens in July. Right. Now, not only do I have an anniversary on July 14 - but within 10 days following our anniversary I have two kids birthdays! Crazy - Who would have thought? Of course, this July has been way too full of events. Hello August - I hope August is a little less exciting.

Lily Day 8

Lily Day 8 is a hard day. They gave her a blood transfusion this afternoon. We hear this is pretty common practice in premies since they don't have the ability yet to replace and reproduce the blood cells they need yet. This morning they also took an ultrasound of Lily's brain. This was to look for any bleeding in her brain (something else that happens often in premies - but is more concerning). The outcome - not as good as we hoped. She did have some bleeding in her brain. Lily's Dr. gave us an explanation of what was happening in Lily's brain and the good and bad outcomes. The best outcome is that the white blood cell's in Lily's brain will clean up the blood clot and all will be well. For obvious reasons - we are hoping and praying and praying some more that this will be the outcome. It's not a quick process and we may not know the direction of the outcome for a week or more. Ah -- to be patient - it's so difficult. Difficult to keep telling myself that it's not my fault - that I couldn't have done anything different to prevent what's happened in this past week - to prevent Lily from being born much much too early. I know these things in my head; but my heart still cries out in sadness for Lily. She is just so tiny. All I can do is pray for God's mercy on her. Please God, perform a miracle in my baby girl; give her strength to grow and to develop and to become a healthy little girl who plays and fights and laughs with Jude.

Echocardiogram

Lily had a great day yesterday (Day 6). Her echocardiogram came out great - no heart murmur. This means the medicine worked and the little open valve outside of her heart has closed. Last evening they switched her from being fed 1 ml of milk every 8 hours to 1 ml of milk every 6 hours. Oh - and Daniel said she pooped last night too. Ah - the wonders of the little things. Praise God for little tiny steps (Lily steps) toward getting stronger. The doctors say that now that her breathing is stable and her heart is stable - they can focus more on getting her digestive track flowing and feeding her more.

I came home yesterday. It is good for my soul to see Jude. He is so full of energy and smiles and laughter. I have missed him dearly. I plan on staying home and resting/recovering today. Tomorrow I will venture out and see my Lily again.

Lily Day 6

Daniel wrote this about Lily yesterday (Tuesday Day 6):
"Lily got switched off the CPAP mask onto the high flow and is breathing great. She has her next echocardiogram today but nurses say they aren't hearing the murmur so we are hopeful.
Doc told us today that the signs say she was low on amniotic fluid and already pretty stressed in the womb. They can tell that by a couple things, the biggest being her size, but also her skin is pretty mottled. Basically since she was stressed in the womb her blood flow was diverted to protect her brain, heart, and lungs. So her skin and intestines didn't get as much time to develop. She needs to catch up on those things. Basically she needs to get eating too so she can get growing. She's lost some weight since birth which is normal but we are hoping to get her up to birth weight in the next couple days. She's been down to 1 lb 3 ounces and now is back up to 1 lb 5.5 ounces. One of my friends said 'she weighs less then a big gulp from 7 eleven."

Lily Day 5

I skipped Lily Day 4 -- (I think my post entitled Day 3 should have been day 4). Ah well - we'll starting counting from here - Day 5. Yesterday was a good day for Lily. They switched her to a high flow air wire (that sits just under her nose). She seems to be really liking the change, since the cpap mask was kind of bulky on her little head. The nurses think her open heart valve could be closing. We'll find out today as she will get another echocardiogram. Oh - and Daniel and I both got to hold her yesterday for a while. So..all in all, a good day. Today (Day 6) -- I will be heading home from the hospital. I'm looking forward to the comforts of home -- and I think it will be good for my soul to see and smile at Jude.

What happened?

a little explanation for those of you who might have missed the beginning of this journey...

On Thursday afternoon, Daniel and I came to the hospital for some routine blood work and urinary tests. My doctors knew I was spilling protein into my urine, but everything else was checking out as normal, even my blood pressure. So they admitted me to the hospital so they could monitor me a little closer. After a blood test that evening - everything became a whirlwind. Doctors were called into the hospital - nurses were trying to explain and comfort us. Turns out I had HELLP Syndrome (a serious condition usually considered a severe form of pre-eclampsia, fatal for both mother and child if left untreated). I encourage you to read the wikipedia page on it - it has a lot of good information. Anyhow - to give you an idea of the severity of my case - a normal person's platelet count should be around 150,000. On thursday evening I had 45,000 - it was extremely low. The only way to reverse HELLP Syndrome is to deliver the baby. Funny how one's body can be pregnant for 28 weeks and then all of a sudden decide it doesn't like the pregnancy (it's like my body started attacking itself) - I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

Thus, for both my child's sake and mine, I had an emergency c-section on Thursday evening. Thus, Lily was born on Thursday evening at 1 lb. 9 oz.

We have a long road ahead of us - especially Lily. They are taking great care of her in the NICU here at Swedish Hospital. She'll probably be here for at least 8-10 weeks.

Lily Day 3

It's been a busy day. I took a shower this morning - which helped me feel a bit more human again. Lily is doing pretty well today. She had an echocardiogram taken of her heart (it's like taking an ultrasound of her heart). They found she has an open blood vessel valve just outside of her heart which causes stress on her left ventricle. They tell us it is very common in premie babies. They will start her on a 48 dosage of medicine that is supposed to help close the valve and then check it again in a couple of days. She's still breathing well and was able to try about 1 or 2 ml of breast milk today. She had quite a full day, so we didn't get to hold her. This was totally fine with us. She just needed time to snuggle in and sleep this evening. We'll try and post some info to this blog often to help keep everyone updated. Bear with us, if we don't get to it everyday. Life is a struggle right now, with so many new and different dimensions. Mostly we are so thankful for little Lily and just pray she continues to grow strong and healthy.

Lily Susanna Herron

Sweet little Lily Susanna Herron was born at 11:08 pm on Thursday, July 23. She weighed 1 lb. 9 oz and is quite a little miracle!

To see more pictures and daily video updates, visit our gallery.