2 Week 2 Day Update

So Keira has been doing very well since the last week. She now weighs 3 lbs 7 oz and is drinking 1 oz of milk every 3 hours. The NP told me that Keira will be moving to an open crib in a day or two! Right now she's in an incubator so that's wonderful news! Keira has started bottle feeding twice a day and breast feeding once a day. She's not that interested in the breast sometimes so at times I have to use a nipple shield. I hope she gets a liking to it because that's a great bonding experience for us. Another great bonding experience is Kangaroo Care. That means Keira and her dad or I have skin to skin bonding. This helps Keira keep warm, relax, enhance brain development, and helps mom (me!)produce more breast milk (not that I need any more!) I've been filling up two to three storage bottles every 2 hours that I pump. The NICU knows me as the mom with a lot of milk! Lol. All for my baby girl! Breast milk is better for babies and even better for preemies. Well that's all I have for now. I will leave you with a picture of Keira and dad doing Kangaroo Care.



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How Preemie Moms Are Chosen

You ever wonder how mothers of premature babies are chosen?
Somehow, I visualize God hovering over Earth,
selecting his instruments for propagation
with great care and deliberation.
As he observes, he instructs his angels to take notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth, son. Patron Saint, Matthew.
Forrest, Marjorie, daughter. Patron Saint, Celia. Rutledge, Carrie, twins.
Patron Saint. . .give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."
Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles. "Give her a preemie."
The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."
"Exactly," smiles God. "Could I give a premature baby a mother who
knows no laughter? That would be cruel."
"But does she have the patience?" asks the angel.
"I don't want her to have too much patience, or she'll drown
in a sea of self-pity and despair.
Once the shock and resentment wear off she'll handle it.
"I watched her today. She has that sense of self and independence
so rare and so necessary in a mother.
You see, the child I'm going to give her has a world of its own.
She has to make it live in her world, and that's not going to be easy."
"But Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."
God smiles.
"No matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect.
She has just the right amount of selfishness."
The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"
God nods.
"If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she will never survive.
Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect.
She doesn't know it yet, but she is to be envied.
She will never take for granted a spoken word.
She will never consider a step ordinary.
When her child says momma for the first time,
she will be witness to a miracle and know it.
I will permit her to see clearly the things I see--
ignorance, cruelty, prejudice--
and allow her to rise above them.
She will never be alone.
I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life
because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."
"And what about her Patron Saint?" asks the angel,
his pen poised in the air. God smiles.
"A mirror will suffice."

Happy 1 Week Birthday!

Well Keira's one week old today! We're so blessed to have her here and healthy for one week now! She was on a ventilator and she got off of it by day three. She also started taking my milk through a tube at 1 cc every 3 hours and she's now at 9 cc every three hours! She's doing very good for a preemie and she is a "happy baby" I've been told! She also has a lot of her father's mannerisms. She sleeps just like him! Arms up by the head and one leg folded up! She has a head full of jet black hair and is light skin. Her eyes look dark brown but can't really tell because she's always sleeping lol. The Nurse Practitioner also told me she may start drinking from the breast next week! That's all I got for now! Enjoy the pic I've posted!
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Keira Early Appearance

Well according to my doctor my ticker is wrong. I am supposed to be due on October 24 because baby was measuring small. As some of you may know I was on bedrest because my cervix was 1 cm dilated. On Tuesday, August 11 I was doing my fetal counts and noticed the baby wasn't moving as much around 6 pm. I didn't pay much attention to it as I figured she was probably asleep. I went to be and around 12 am I realized that I still didn't feel her kick. So I panicked and cried because I didn't pay more attention to it and 6 hours had already passed! So I pulled out my Motherhood doppler (cheap) and tried to hear something (anything) for about 20 minutes. Finally I heard her heartbeat and felt her kick. Just one measly kick. I told DH and he said that she was probably just sleeping. I stayed up most of the night and probably slept 2 hours because she still wasn't kicking as hard as she usually does. I had an appointment at 2:15 pm that day so I figured I would just go in earlier. When DH's alarm went off for him to go to work I told him that I wanted to go to the ER. I told him that I was really worried. I then started feeling cramps in my lower back. I called the on-call doctor to tell him about her lack of movement and added the back pain as incentive so he could take it more seriously. He told me to go to L&D. I was surprised. I thought he would at least tell me to wait until 8:00 am to see the doctor. So we got ready and got to L&D by 9:30 am since that hospital was farther than the local hospital. My cramps had subsided so we didn't think anything of it. I went to triage and they were listening to baby's heartbeat. I was relieved to hear that it was strong. Then my back cramp started up again. While the nurse was gone DH counted (w/o telling me) and after 20 minutes he said "Babe, I think you're having contractions, they're 5 min. apart" Of course I didn't believe him because they just felt like strong period cramps. The nurse came in and I joked about what he said. She got serious and said actually he's wrong, you're contractions are 2 1/2 minutes apart!!! She called in the doctor and he came and checked me. He then told me that I was 4 cm dilated!!! I was then admitted and brought to the L&D room. The doctor came back and said that the baby is breeched (which I already knew) and he doesn't see me lasting more than 3 days before giving birth. So I started crying. At this point I was 29 weeks and 4 days. They gave me magnesium to stop the contractions. I then noticed around 6 pm that evening that I still wasn't feeling baby move as she used to even though her heartbeat was strong. When the doctor came in he did an ultrasound on me because of the movement concerns. He agreed that she wasn't moving as she should and even used some kind of zapper buzzer thing to zap my tummy. It was safe but it is used to annoy the baby. He then counted her kicks for 10 minutes and it satisfied his count. I went back to L&D and around 2:30 am I told the nurse that I started feeling contractions again and I was also feeling a burning pressure in my vagina. She called my doctor and then came in and said that I would be having a c-section that night!!! She said that the doctor who did my ultrasound said if I complained about anything else to order the c-section. I started crying because I wasn't sure if I was making up the pain I was feeling or what! I didn't want the baby to come out yet! DH was happy and ready though. DH and the doctor came in and convinced me that this was best. They even had a NICU doctor come in to assure me that she's at the age of a higher survival rate. So they brought me to the OR, put the epidural in (which hurt like hell! cuz I had no contractions to focus on at that point), and cut me open. Since I had gone almost 48 hours with no sleep I started falling asleep! DH had to keep squeezing my hand to wake me! Finally he says "she's out! she's light and has dark hair!" lol. I fall asleep again and is woken by the doctor/nurse (not sure) holding her next to my head. I looked at her and swore I was looking at a doll! Then they took her to the NICU. I went to the recovery room and slept. I didn't get to see her until the next day because I had to make sure the magnesium was out my system and they had to removed the catheter that they had put in me. Anyway, Keira is doing fine. Docs say she is big for a 29 weeker. She weighed in at 2 lbs 13 oz and 15 inches. She had some jaundice and they had her under the blue light. They also said she had an infection. Strep B which is a form of meningitis so they are saying that her coming out early was best because they caught this infection. They told me that she should be coming out in 4-6 weeks. As of today they removed her oxygen because she can breath on her own. She is also feisty! She pulls on the cords and doesn't like when people touch her lol. She only likes to be held and cuddled.

Week 29 Update

Okay so yesterday I had a sonogram appointment and I got to see baby girl. She's still breech and she even has one arm up by her head. Well she's been poking me with that arm in my ribs all day! The doctor says she's 2 pounds and 10 ounces. He also said that my cervix is still open but that it got longer. My friend broke it down for me because I didn't understand. You know the part in a balloon you blow into? That is like the cervix. Its open (enough to blow into) but its long like when the balloon is deflated. As you inflate the balloon it gets shorter. Got it? Anyway the Doc also wants to change my due date to the 24th of October. Remember in the beginning of my pregnancy I said I would keep the 21st in mind? Well the 21st is right in between my original due date of the 18th and my new due date of the 24th, so right now I'm 29 weeks. Doc said I may be able to go back to work at 32 weeks. I sure hope so! If baby goes to full term then I can work 8 weeks (2 months) before I give birth! That's 3 more weeks! I also learned of some tricks to get the baby to flip from the breeched position! Putting a cold pack on her head, laying with my feet propped up real high, pointing a flashlight on my lower belly, and cart wheels! I'll probably try those out around week 32! I have a friend that did cart wheels for a week straight and her baby flipped! So we'll see how stubborn Keira is in a few weeks!

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