rolling over at 6 weeks!
She is a clever girl!
EMERSON IS COMING HOME!
Looks like we are slated for a friday discharge! I can’t believe she will finally be coming home…after 1 month in the hospital. Thank gods!
it’s so hard to leave her there…
I’m a little nervous about not having a monitor…I’ve become a little bit dependent…but I’m sure everything will be fine. I bought a bassinet for by my side of the bed…I can’t wait to just watch her sleep…
Great progress
Well…I worked with the lac. Cons. yesterday, and with the shield, Emerson stayed at the breast for 40 minutes.
She is a preemie…and she get’s tried…so she took lots of cat naps. But she has a good suck 
I was so happy, I nearly cried.
the LC said to always try her at the breast without the shield first…then if she makes 2 attempts, and it doesn’t work to put on the shield…so this is what I’ll keep trying.
Now the really good news!
No more PICC line…no IVs at all now! No more feeding tube! She is taking everything by mouth.
I’ve requested that they use the “slow flow” nipples on the bottles.
she is 4 lbs 3 ozs
They think maybe 2 weeks and she’ll be home…
Wow! She is making such amazing progress. If they don’t need the bed, she will stay in the NICU…
They are still watching her becuase she has some edema (perhaps from the PICC), her eye is swollen…maybe she scratched herslef…not really sure…the docs aren’t worried.
She is still having Brady’s (heart rate dip)…and they won’t send her home with them. They will try stopping the caffine again…and see how she does…if no Brady’s in a week, she can come home…They do not send babies home on caffine or on monitors.
gods! I guess I need to put the crib together! And get my co-sleeper
New pics from Father’s day
She looks so peaceful.
Papa loves his little bear.
Happy Auntie!
If I’d have known my sister was bringing the camera, I’d have done my hair 
First nursing attempt
Well, we gave it a good try. She got a good latch at first, but it so supirsed me that I yelped…wrong thing to do…not too much success after that.
we tried the breast shield too…not too much luck with that either…but we’ll keep trying
She did a good job today.
Little Bear
Somehow, this has become a nick name. It just seems to fit.
She had a very good day today. They’ve turned off the isollet, and she is regulating her body temp wonderfully. If she is able to maintain her temp for 24 hours, they will move her out of the isollet and into a bassinet type thing. This is progress.
She loves to be swaddled! It’s very comforting for her.
Even her preemie onesie is a bit big.
2 weeks old and up 11 oz!
This is terrific! Tomorrow is her 2 week birthday. She has started on feeds, and it’s slow but going in a positive direction.
here is her new pic.
What a cutie pie!
Sleeping peacefully. I love to hold her like this. I do it for hours!
Here she is in her isollet. I don’t like to call it that becuase it sounds so lonely. I call it her Cadillac.
Daddy get’s to Kangeroo too! She was so happy.
I had just been off the magnesium for about 30 minutes. I look simply dreadful!
Here she is with her preemie binky. But the nurse gives her the regular binky now. She sucks on it much better.
Best laid plans…
May 31, 2007, Emerson Lily came into our lives.
Here’s how it played out.
I woke up thursday morning 5/31 at 3am with pain in my stomach that I assumed was from bad chinese food…
well…suprise supirse, my pre-eclamp had progressed.
We drove into the hospital, and they put her on the monitor…she had a small decel.
I had an U/S scheduled to check her growth…and when they did it, she had dropped from the 30th % back in april to <5% and my plecenta had no disatolic pressure. The doc said it was time…that we had won the game and were just trying to run out the clock. She was born at 32 5/7 weeks.
They estimated her weight at 3lbs.
I spoke to the doc and it was their opinion that Vaginal birth would be too tramautic for her. I went in for a C section at 1. First epi didn’t do anything–second epi did the trick.
Allen came in to the OR after the epi was working. He was awesome support! We shared her birth together. It was amazing and magical. I cried when I heard her cry. I’ll never forget that moment we shared together.
She arrived at 4:02. 16.5 inches and 3 lbs. They showed her to us and asked her name…we were both mute! She did NOT look like an Amelia! What a suprise! It took 4 days to nail down her name LOL
Her apgar at 1 minute after birth was 5, and at 5 minutes after birth was 9. This is considered an excellent score out of 10!
She is currently at the NICU at Mass General. She is breathing on her own. Keeps her temp pretty good. I’m pumping like CRAZY, but she isn’t ready to eat yet. She’s had some air in her tummy, thye did an upper gi to make sure all the structures are in place. They are, but they are now treating her for NEC. Prognosis is great. She is doing well.
She does have apnea, which is very common in preterm babies. She stops breathing for a second, and her heart rate drops. They started her on caffine and it has helped with this problem.
She is doing beautifully. She is making good progress. I’ve been kangarooing with her every day. I love it. It makes me feel very peaceful.
When I was released–Man, was it HARD to leave.
Thoughts and prayers are much appreciated!
Here she is!
don’t be intimadated by the wires. These are for monitoring…
She is our little gift from the universe!
3 weeks!
so…I’m 31 weeks and some days…that means that I’ve got just 3 weeks to make it to 34 weeks. That’s when the pressure lessens a bit. It becomes much less dangerous to Lia to deliver at that time.
Probably things would be fine now…but the longer I can sit here, the better for her.
34 weeks…with 37 being the goal.
It’s hard to imagine sitting here for 6 more weeks. But in the end, this brief time of confinment will be worth it.
Allen has thing well in hand at the house, and I know it will be just perfect when we arrive home.
Boy, will the cats be suprised!
nursery funiture - retake
so after much thought, I decided to not do black even though I really liked it. I thought it would “date” too quickly. So I went with more classic design in cherry stain. With the green walls, and tulip bedding, I think the cherry will look really classic.
Here is the crib
bedding
dresser
changer
rocker
i have a beautiful antique rocker, but my mother said it woudln’t be that comfortable partly becuase cushions would be difficult to find. but this one looks good and gets good reviews.
now to find a mattress