Monthly Archives: July 2013

Actual updates – how about that?

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Three updates today:

1) BabyBug hit 5 lbs on June 20, and today she hit 6 lbs! Good Buggy! If she continues to gain at this rate she should hit 10 lbs in early October.

2) The doctor said it looks like Leah’s ASD has gotten a little bit smaller and was hard to see on the echo. She said the VSD is still a moderate size (i.e. not small, but not large), but it may have gotten a little bit smaller too. In the back of my mind I keep thinking maybe the fact that the Bug was screaming at the top of her lungs through the whole echocardiogram possibly affected the reading, but I’m not a doctor, so… I’ll take it.

3) We had our meeting today with the ombudsman and head nurses to discuss what happened with BabyBug’s feeding tube. I like that they have a process through which parents can voice concerns in a non-adversarial setting and the nursing staff can identify ways to avoid a repeat in the future. We felt listened-to. That’s so important for parents, especially when babies are in the NICU for long periods of time.

That’s about it for today. I did promise pictures, and was reminded of this in an impatient text message from a certain sister of mine… so here you go. Are you ready for this?

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We present to you… Luigi, our little Super Mario Brother.

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Signor Baby taking a nap before she goes off to rescue the princess.

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Little Luigi wore herself out from all the screaming.

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Tiny Luigi toes, good for swimming in a frog suit and running through pipes while avoiding man-eating plants.

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Luigi still attempting to master the art of thumb sucking

Whew!

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BabyBug really outdid herself today. Her nurse found a way to stop her from pulling out her tube – she taped it over her top lip instead of on her chin. This gave baby a bit of a mustachioed look. She had a follow-up echocardiogram this afternoon and she kicked and screamed the whole time. For half an hour. I felt so terrible because my heart was breaking for the poor Angry Baby and at the same time, I kept seeing this screaming little Italian man in front of me and trying so hard not to giggle. The more upset she got at any given moment of the day, the more she looked like a little old man. By the end of the day I was calling her Luigi. I am the meanest mom EVER. The good news is that she spent most of the remainder of the day sleeping soundly, except for a brief time when our friends came to visit and she was Red-Bull Latte awake.

Pictures tomorrow since I’m updating from my phone right now. Also a shout out to today’s visitors, Aunti Staci, Un-Cousin Kristina, and our friends Kyle and Marina (thank you for the clothes, guys!!!).

Updates and piccies

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BabyBug is 5 lbs 11.5 oz! She is taking ages to get to 6 lbs, but I remember we felt the same way about 5 lbs and she got there eventually!

Just a few small updates. Leah has been on liquid antibiotics for a few days now for the inflammation around her Mic-Key button, but the surgeons are not happy with the rate of recovery so they are giving her IV antibiotics now. This means she has a boxing glove again. Leah has also been pulling out her tube pretty frequently – I think it’s three or four times in five days at this point. Her doctor suggested we put her in mittens. This will also help with another new problem: She scratched herself! This is the second scratch in two days. I think that when she is upset she has a tendency to wring her cheeks to express the depth of the torment to which she is being subjected, and now that her nails are growing, she’s drawing blood in the process. So we will start putting her little paws into mittens. The last update is that she is making that scary rattling sound more frequently and needing to be suctioned more often. She did it again today, even with the tube in, and it took removing her tube and cleaning it out fully in order to make the sound stop. Poor kid. It can’t be fun to have that thing coming in and out of her throat so frequently.

In other news, 4/5 of the babies in Leah’s NICU pod (including Leah) have very similar names. It’s pretty funny.

Picture time!

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“Awwww Ma, that was a terrible joke!”

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“Ladies and gents, I introduce to you… Mommy!”

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“Whuh? Where did my hands go? OMG WHERE DID MY HANDS GO?????”

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This is what happens when we don’t hide her hands.

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BabyBug never looks too happy when her tube is out (mostly because it usually only comes out when there’s a problem), but apparently being petted helps.

Sorry for the delinquency – but hopefully these pics will make up for it

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Whew! What a difficult couple of days! BabyBug is getting more and more fussy, especially before feedings. I think she is still hurting from the Mic-Key button insertion; it is leaking a bit so they have to put gauze around it, which means they’re messing with it a few times a day, and she screams every time. She has also had a hard time with her repogle (the tube that goes down her throat). This morning we heard her making that rattling breathing sound that she was making the other day when she pulled her tube out, except this time she had her tube in while it was happening. They’re having to suction her mouth and nose more frequently and she’s still having issues. They are going to keep an eye on it and possibly increase the suction if necessary. In the mean time, she gets really uncomfortable and gags and coughs a lot. Poor Bug!!

In other news, we put a dress on the tiny tot today. A frilly dress. She was pissed. She was mostly angry because it was pre-feeding and she didn’t understand why we would do something as petty and pointless as put clothing on her without making sure her tummy was nice and full first. Unfortunately we don’t have a whole lot of control over when she gets fed, so we went ahead with the dressing anyway. Then we tried to comb her hair into a babyhawk – but I guess you can’t do that with dry baby hair or else you get some sort of beehive do that Marge Simpson would be proud of. So that’s what happened. See for yourselves (below).

Incidentally, it being after midnight right now, we can officially begin to celebrate LeahBug’s 2-month birthday! Yay!

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We must have said something so funny!

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Baby toeses!

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Shnuggles

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Deep in conversation with cousin Beth

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“Ooooh nooooh! Not the suction!”

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Snuggling with Grandpa Bill

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A high-five for Gran!

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“Really, Mamas?”

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Empress Leah sitting pretty before her subjects

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Look how our little feet poke out!

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Humiliated baby. “Look at this dress! Look at this hair! What did you do to me???”

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Much happier post-meal.

A poopy day, both figuratively and literally

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Thanks for all the well-wishes, folks! They are much appreciated. I’m feeling a little bit better – I had a diagnostic test earlier this week and I’m still feeling kinda lousy from it, but it’s starting to wear off.

Today was one of those days when we understood with perfect clarity why BabyBug has to stay in the NICU until her surgery. For the second day in a row, the little punk pulled out her suction tube. It was already not suctioning very well, and as soon as the tube came out her breathing got really scary. You know that sound your straw makes when you’re sucking up the last drops of a milkshake? Raspy and rattly and slurpy and so totally not the way you want a person’s breathing to sound? Yeah. It was like that the whole time – and one point she started gagging and hacking up spitballs. It seemed to take FOREVER for the nurse to get a new tube and get everything prepared and replaced, and in the mean time we were holding the baby upright and waiting anxiously for the nurse to hurry back – although she seemed to be moving in slow-motion. Really the whole thing probably lasted about 5-7 minutes, but it was like, 5-7 minutes of watching our little love struggle to breathe. And really, that’s a pretty long time. Not fun at all. She couldn’t even cry, except for one smothered little bleat. Poor love. After that, she got fed and then passed out on Mandy’s chest.

In lighter news, I got pooped upon today. Good times. I mean, the kid has nailed us both during diaper changes, but that’s to be expected. This time she leaked right out the back of her diaper while I was holding her. I guess I should get used to this – it’s only the beginning!

Also. Yes. I did it again. Vote for LeahBug. Woo!

http://community.babycenter.com/contest/entry/124402/baby_leah

Happy 4th of July!

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We FINALLY have some new pictures for you! We had a lovely 4th of July which started out with a nice snuggle session, morphed into an epic tantrum, and ended with viewing of fireworks from atop the hospital’s parking structure.

So yes. We had a nice visit this morning, but then Babygirl had a hoooooorrible tantrum. She was screaming nonstop for probably ten minutes and we could not figure out what was bothering her. We think she’s still getting used to the slightly bigger suction tube she has right now (this isn’t the first time she’s had it) because she kept pawing at her tube and at one point she completely ripped it out, tape and all. Little troublemaker! Between the two of us we finally got her calmed down and tucked into her Boppy, and then we popped out for a bit to visit some friends at their 4th of July party. We came back a little while later and Leah was in a much better mood, so we took some photos for your enjoyment. 🙂

After some more snugglage and a visit from Uncle Ralph, we trekked up (okay, took the elevator) to the rooftop of the parking structure, where we could see the entire LA skyline exploding with tiny fireworks. It was pretty awesome.

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Snugglage. Ignore the horrible profile – look how SWEET this baby is!

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Isn’t our little jumpsuit adorable?

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“I love you Mommy!”

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Snugglage

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Epic tantrum

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Epic tantrum part II

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Post-tantrum incarceration

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Ah, that’s better!

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Several hours later she was much happier.

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Still more snugglage.

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How sweet are we???

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Independence Baby!

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“Happy 4th of July, giant humans! Today was supposed to be my birthday!”

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Cutest baby on the planet.