Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I know that I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Oh so busy

Playing in the bathtub

I can't believe it is Thanksgiving tomorrow, this month has gone by so fast. Before I forget, I hope every one has a great Thanksgiving tomorrow. We are going to my parents house tomorrow, I can't wait to eat some yummy food. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I can never get enough turkey and pumpkin pie.... oh wait and eggnog. Speaking of eggnog, for all of you eggnog lovers you should try an eggnog latte at Starbucks, they are really good. So Raegan has been home just over a month and nothing major has happened which is great. These days no news is always good news. Alright here is the run down on what has gone on this last month. Raegan came home on the 22nd of October. We took back Raegans apnea monitor when we got home because she no longer needed it. Raegan did have to come home on a new medication- Zantac which helps her to not spit-up so much. Raegan did have to go to the doctors on November 7th to get medication for a very minor case of thrush. Thrush is an infection in the mouth that you can get from being on antibiotics for a long period of time. So after a few days on the medication the infection was gone. Lets see what else....

Well I think I will just make a list of things about Raegan:

• Her weight is up to 7lbs 5oz
• Her length is 18 7/8 inches
• She is still in preemie clothes, but wearing some newborn clothes even though most of them are way to big for her.
• She is smiling a lot more
• A few nights she has slept 8 hours!!!!!
• The Dogs seem to like Raegan...
  
• Raegan could careless about the dogs at this point, but when she is older I know that she will like the doggies.
• She enjoys taking a bath
• Raegan loves to go shopping (she sleeps the whole time).
  

Thats all I can think of for now. The new news for today is we went to go meet with a feeding team at Legacy Emanual Children's Hospital. I sat in front of about 8 people and they asked me questions about Raegan, looked over her and then they watched me feed her. Feeding has always been an issue for Raegan. They noticed that she doesn't pull her tongue out as far as she should while she is eating causing her to not have a very good suck. We also talked about Raegan's weight gain, or lack there of. They gave me a new mix combination for the breast milk and neosure powder to increase it to 25 calories per ounce. I am hoping that this will help Raegan is gain weight a little faster. The doctors told me that they would like to see her gaining between one and two pounds a month. We will meet with the feeding team again in January so they can see if Raegan has made any progress.

Keeping up with the different doctors and Raegans doctors appointments has become a full time job in itself. I am hoping after we get through this first year the doctors appointments will slow down, and I am sure they will.


For now things are going great and we are happy to have Raegan at home, and for all the NICU staff that read this, we miss you guys.

Things I like about being a mom to a mircro-preemie

Being a mom to a micro-preemie hard. It’s challenging, and stressful and overwhelming at times. I have been lucky enough to find a great online support group at Preemie Blog Moms. It’s a place where I can go to chat with other parents who face the unique challenges of raising a micro-preemie. All to often it becomes a place for us to vent about our frustrations so I thought why not turn things around and make a list of things I like about being a micro-preemie mom.

Here are some of the things I like about being a micro-preemie mom:

1. While we were in the NICU I got to do a lot of Raegan’s care. Since she was in there for 105 days it gave us plenty of time to learn how to take care of her and what was normal and what was not. I like that I had doctors and nurses to give me hands on instruction on how to care for my baby including a hands on CPR class. If I had a full term baby I wouldn’t have know ¼ of the stuff I know now. I think I would have been more stressed out about taking Raegan home if she was full term then I was taking her home from the NICU.

2. Gratitude and Perspective- Being in the NICU day in and day out you see a lot of stuff. It’s different then reading about it or watching it on TV. You see joy and hope and fear and unimaginable grief, and not only do you see it, but you live it. There are constant reminders that even though your situation is horrible it could be so much worse than it is. It makes you grateful for everything. Every breath your child takes, and every drop of milk they eat. Every day that you get to spend with your child is a gift that so easily could have been taken away. It’s easy when you haven’t had to face such a hardship to look at other people’s stories and say “Oh, that is so tragic, so sad. What a strong family.” When you haven’t experienced it its just another sad story that couldn’t possibly happen to me, and there is nothing wrong with that. I did the same thing before Raegan, but shortly after her birth I noticed that I looked at people differently. I no longer looked at a child who was bald and hooked to IVs and thought poor sick kid has cancer. I started looking past the bald head, and the IVs and just saw a kid. I can look at a baby with a tube up their nose and not even notice. I am so grateful to be able to see past medical equipment, and a diagnosis and actually see the person and have an idea of the struggle they are going through.

3. Relationships- I had no idea how many people love and care for us until Raegan was born. When you go through such a tough situation it really brings people together. Family, friends, and even perfect strangers came together to help us. It was amazing and still is. I can’t tell you how many times I cried tears of joy when somebody stepped forward and helped us or even just sent a card to let us know they were thinking about us.

4. Germs- No I don’t like germs, but I do like that I can be as neurotic as I want about germs and hand washing and no one can bat an eyelash at me for it. Every new moms dream.

5. Bravery in the face of medical procedures- I understand most new moms freak out a little when they have to watch their babies get shots. Who can blame them? It sucks to watch your little one get hurt and it sucks even more when you have to hold them down so that someone can poke a needle in them. Listening to a little body be racked by a cough is pretty awful too, but Raegan had been through so much worse and done fine with it all and even though I don’t like watching her get shots or have her heel milked for 10 minutes for a blood sample its nothing compared to what I have seen done to her. If I can stand to see her tiny body paralyzed and hooked to a vent, then a set of vaccines is a cinch to watch.

6. The best part of being mom to my mircro-preemie- Raegan. I sometimes wonder if she would be different if she were full term. Would she look the same? Would she have the same personality? What ever the answer is I don’t care. I think being a micro-preemie is part of what makes Raegan the person that she is today and I love who that person is. I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Sign the petition!

Home

I am very happy we have been home for over a week and I don't see any signs that we will have to go back to the hospital any time soon. It has been tough adjusting to having Raegan home. I get up with Raegan Sunday-Thursday nights and Aaron gets up with her on Friday and Saturday night. I am still trying to figure out how to get sleep, make Raegan happy and get chores done around the house. I haven't really figured out Raegans sleep schedule, except for the fact she will sleep good one day and not the next. I am sure that as she gets older things will get better.

Friday night we took Raegan to the neighbors houses to go trick or treating. Not all of are neighbors had seen Raegan so is was nice for them to get to see her. A few of them offered to babysit if we ever need a sitter. I thought that was very nice of them.

Well Raegan is starting to wake up so I have to get going, but before I do here is a picture of Raegan in her costume.