Easter present

Just found out that Avery has reached the 4 pound mark! She was weighed on Easter night and is 4 pounds and 1/2 ounce. That's my girl!

Laser Eye Surgery

So, now that Avery's laser eye surgery is over I can calmly talk (write) about it. I was 100% freaked out about it before it happened, as any parent would be. Here's the latest info on Avery:

Since my last post, quite a bit has happened. Avery did get moved to the "grower's nursery" at Jersey Shore. This nursery is for babies who are stable and not as critical. She graduated to the new nursery on Wednesday afternoon when two new admissions came into the NICU and bumped her out. And she reached the 3 pound mark on Monday, March 22nd!

On Friday, March 26th, she had a eye test to look for ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) which is a very common disease for preemies of her birth weight. I found this definition of ROP which explains it better than I could : Retinopathy of prematurity occurs primarily, but not exclusively, in premature infants. It refers to damage to the blood vessels of the developing eye.The factors that cause ROP and determine the outcome are not fully known, but prematurity and the degree of retinal immaturity at birth are major factors. Hyperoxia (high oxygen levels) is also a major factor, but other problems, including respiratory distress, heart disease, infection and anemia may be contributory factors. In general, the lower the birth weight and the more unhealthy the infant, the greater the risk of ROP. It is now known that oxygen alone is neither sufficient nor necessary to produce ROP, and no safe level of oxygen has yet been determined. So, the eye exam was done on Friday and the eye dr. found that she had made good progress since her previous eye exam and he didn't think that she needed the surgery, but he planned to examine her again on Sunday afternoon since he was beginning his vacation on Monday. And guess what??? Sunday's exam showed that Avery was on the borderline for needing the surgery. He felt that it was better to have her examined by a dr. at Wills Eye Institute and let them determine if she needed the surgery. So begins the craziness...Wills Eye Institute does their pediatric laser eye surgeries out of Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Loooooong story short - Avery was transported via ambulance to Philadelphia late Monday night (in a horrible storm, of course) and arrived safe and sound very early Tuesday a.m. I arrived in Philadelphia with my mother and Brielle around 9:30 on Tuesday morning. I found Avery re-inutbated for the surgery and she was NOT happy about it. The actual surgery took place around 5:00 p.m. and went great. The dr. who performed the laser surgery was extremely happy with the results and expects a great outcome for Avery. The whole procedure took about 45 minutes and she was sedated the whole time. I saw her afterwards and her eyes were puffy (looked like she got in a fight), but other than that she was perfect. And today she was extubated and was doing wonderfully. They also weighed her last night and she is up to 3 pounds 12 ounces! Only 4 more ounces until 4 pounds - I can't believe it! She has to remain in the NICU at Jefferson until the eye dr. from Wills Eye Institute can re-check her eyes and determine if the surgery was successful. Some babies need additional surgeries to correct the problem. Avery's dr. seemed very confident that she would not need additional surgery, so keep your fingers crossed. I will be making the drive out to Philadelphia every day until she is transferred back to Jersey Shore or discharged. Everyone we have encountered at Jefferson has been great, but we miss our Jersey Shore NICU family. Avery is a "Jersey girl"....she wants to go home ; )

The past few days have been a blur and I could not have gotten through all of this without my family. My mom took days off work to be with me and her grand-daughters. She drove us all out there and stayed with Brielle while I attended to Avery in the NICU. She cried with me when we were so nervous before the surgery began and cried again with me in relief when the surgery was over. And Brielle was so sweet about sitting in the family waiting room all day. She kept telling me "I want to be here for my little sister, Mom." She gave me hugs and kisses all day and snuggled in the bed with me that night. I'm so glad she came with me, it was definitely the right thing to do for her and for me as well.

The attached picture is of me and Avery the day after her surgery. In this pic she is wearing the CPAP, which she hates and fusses about, but she needs to have it. We are hoping that she can go without it beginning tonight. I will keep you updated!

March 21, 2010

It was a quiet weekend for Avery on this first weekend of Spring.

She has made some great progress since my last blog post. She was taken off the ventilator last weekend and placed on CPAP. She did not like the CPAP! She kept trying to rip it off her face and was very fussy with it. I can't say I blame her. It doesn't look so comfortable (as you can see in the video of her from last weekend), but I know she needs it. When I visited her on Monday she was still on the CPAP and doing well, but when I walked in the NICU on Tuesday morning I almost fell over...firstly, she was wearing clothes and secondly, she was no longer on the CPAP, but just a nasal cannula. For those of you who don't know (why would you?) - the CPAP provides pressurized oxygen to her lungs and the nasal cannula is simply oxygen with very little pressure. I had never seen her dressed or had such a wonderful view of her sweet little face. The doctors informed me that she had been doing so well on the CPAP that they decided to try her on just the nasal cannula and she was doing wonderfully. As for the clothes, now that she is extubated and not on the CPAP we don't really do the kangaroo care, so she doesn't have to be naked on my chest. Now I can just cradle her in my arms and we can get a good look at eachother : ) It is so great to get to really snuggle with her and enjoy that time together. You know that the next day I brought in a giant bin of preemie clothes for her! All the cute little outfits that Brielle used to wear (good thing I saved them, huh?).

She did great with the nasal cannula all week long and they also changed they way she is being fed. Now she is being fed every 3 hours! This is to get her ready for bottle feeding, which is supposed to happen later this week (you have no idea how excited I am to give my little girl a ba-ba). So far she has tolerated the every 3 hour feeding extremely well. In fact, she was weighed today (just for fun because "official" weigh ins are on Monday and Thursday) and she weighed 2 pounds 15.3 ounces. You can't get much closer to 3 pounds can you? We're hoping that tomorrow or Tuesday is the "official" 3 pound day - keep your fingers crossed. And another good sign is that she is going crazy for her pacifier. She loves that thing which is great because it shows that she should do well with a bottle. We'll see....

Attached is a photo of me smooching Avery. I love to kiss her sweet little cheeks. And I think she likes it too : ) I have faith that she knows that her mommy is there every single day for her and that I would move mountains for her (and her big sister) if I had to. I don't need justification from my girls or from outside sources to know this is true. There is nothing more important to me in this world right now than my girls and everyone who knows me (and even some who don't) know this. My mom always tells me "the cream rises to the top" and my girls and I are very "creamy" right now! LOL! Thanks for everyone's support and don't forget to keep those prayers for Avery coming. She still has a lot of growing to do...

Avery - March 15, 2010

March 15, 2010

What a great weekend for Avery! I visited her on Saturday and spoke to her doctor who informed me that they would be starting her on a short course of steroids to reduce the inflamation in her lungs from having the ventilator tube down there for so long. He also told me that they planned to extubate her the next day! I was so relieved to find out that this short course of steroids had no bad side effects. What a relief! Brielle also got a great view of her on Saturday through the window. Avery was being her usual crazy girl self and pulling off her leads (one ended up on her head and Brielle thought that was hysterical) and squirming around. Brielle was a very happy big sister after our visit : )

On Sunday a.m. I called the NICU and found out that Avery had been extubated at approximately 9:00 a.m. and was doing really well. She was on CPAP (tubes that go into her nose and provide her with pressurized oxygen) and was on a very low setting. I couldn't wait to go see her! Sunday also happened to be the day of my baby shower. The shower was amazing and I enjoyed spending the day with all of my family and friends, but Avery was on my mind the whole time. I called a couple of times to check on her and received great reports. The nurse told me that she even heard her little cry! I headed up to the hospital around 5:30 and spent some time with her. She looked very peaceful and her vitals were excellent. She wasn't struggling to breathe at all. And I got to hear her little voice! Although, the voice wasn't so little after all. She definitely knew how to use those lungs!

Today is Monday, and she is still doing great. I held her for a while today and she was going crazy for her pacifier. Still focused on getting her to gain more weight, so her feeding schedule has been changed. She was on a continuous feed of 10 hours on/2 hours off, but they are moving her down to 6 hours on/3 hours off. She is still getting the same amount of food, but in a different way. This is to get her ready to bottle feed, which may happen as early as next week! I can't wait for that day! I took video of her today which I will post to the blog. This pic is also from today, mommy and baby snuggling. Enjoy! And thanks for reading....

March 7, 2010

I spent my afternoon with Miss Avery today. She is doing well. She gave the nurses a run for their money this a.m. when she yanked out her own ventilator tube! She extubated herself! She is a wild woman. And she's strong! The other day I watched her move her head from one side to the other. She bent the ventilator tube in the process! Crazy girl. She had to be re-intubated today, but other than that she is doing good. She is going through the process of being weaned off the ventilator (again) and seems to be tolerating it well this time. She's back on her caffiene again...

She is up to 2 pounds 10 ounces and is on full feeds. They tried to add some lipids (fats) to her formula to help her gain weight more quickly, but it made her have diarrhea, so they stopped it. The main goals at this point are to get her to gain weight and to get her weaned off the ventilator. Hopefully she can make some progress in both of these areas this week. I will keep you updated! I'm also going to try to get some good pics of her this week. She is so cute - she's getting baby fat (can you believe it?) on her cheeks and her thighs! So sweet!

February 26, 2010

Here is a pic of my sweet girl blowing bubbles when she came off the ventilator and was put on CPAP. The bow on her head is courtesy of her primary nurse!