Good News

If everything goes well, Christianna will be going home Friday evening after her last dose of antibiotic. We hope and pray that she will stay home this time and not give us another scare. It's amazing just how much prayer works. God has answered our prayers once again. Thanks for all of the prayers.

FOUR POUNDS

Christianna has reached the 4 lb mark. She's actually 4lbs 1.4 oz. They were alittle surpirsed that she gain so much weight in a 24 hour period, so she may not gain any more today. She is down to 50ml on her nasal cannula, really close to coming off. God has really taken care of our little girl. She gave us a scare and now she is almost back to her little old self which makes Kevin and I really excited. Thank you again for all of the prayers.

News from Baptist!

Christianna is doing really good. The doctors are allowing her to eat as much as she wants and at 11am she ate 48ml of food. She is back to eating as much as she was before she got sick. They are moving her out of the NICU and into the intermediate nursery. They are taking her off the other fluids since she is taking that much food. So the only thing going into her IV is her antibiotic. She will be only hooked to the IV line every 8 hours to get her antibiotic. She is on day 4 of 10 of antibiotic. God has done great things in the life of our daughter. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Update

As most of you know little Christianna was put in the hospital because she was not holding her temperature and was not eating well. She was not very active when we brought her to the hospital. She is in the Baptist hospital. She has some kind of infection and they have her on antibiotics. They took some blood so they could do cultures on it.  The results of the cultures have identified her infection as Group B strep.  She is now on just one antibiotic, and is responding well.  She will have to be on the antibiotics for 10 days.  She is a lot more active now that she is starting to feel better. They started her feeding yesterday and now she is taking her feeding by bottle which I am glad to see. They also have her off of the heater and in clothes.  Hopefully she will be able to stay off of the heater.  Her temperature was something she always struggled with even at Forsyth.  Over all she is getting back to her old little self.

Thanks for all of the prayers. Please keep praying, Christianna still as a ways to go.

Home! God is so GOOD!!!!!

Christianna is home!!!!!!!! It has been an exciting day for all us.

This time 7 weeks ago, I was in the hospital, laying in bed in total disbelief that my baby girl was going to be born 12 weeks early. I was a little shocked that it was really going to happen. I keep asking myself "why was I the only one in my family to have a preemie? I don't know how to take care of her once she does come home. How big will she be? Is she going to make it?" All of those things kept running through my head. It was really overwhelming. If it wasn't for family, friends, a very loving husband, and a Savoir who cares about those little preemies and thier parents I would not been able to leave the hospital knowing my baby was there and I could do nothing for her. Not knowing what the next day would bring. Not knowing if they would have to call us in the middle of the night for something. When I left that hospital on the Saturday after she was born, I was scared. It wasn't suppose to happen this way. I was suppose to be leaving with my baby not leaving her laying in the NICU at only 2 lbs hooked to a breathing machine, tubes and wires.

Now she is here, home with Kevin and I. Weighing 3 bls 12oz. I just can't believe how well she has doing. NONE of my fears happened, because God is GREAT. God has shown mercy to all three of us. Christianna did not have to go through some of the things that some preemies have to go through. God has allowed Kevin and I draw closer to Him and to each other. Now a new set of fears are here, but I know that God will calm those fears just like He calmed the last, because God is that calmer of storms. This whole thing has been by the Grace of God. I may never know why God has allowed this to happen to us, but I know that God is in control and He knows what is best for us.

Thank you all for your prayers during her hospital stay. She still has much to learn and do. So please keep praying for her. She has a doctor appt. tomorrow afternoon, pray that goes well and she will not have any setbacks. We will try to keep making posts when we find time between all the feeding and diaper changing (daddy finally got a nasty one!!!) : )

See how tiny I am?!

More news

Yesterday, Kevin and I got to be at the hospital for the rounds. Actually Kevin was outside the room answering a phone call for work when the doctor told us that if everything goes well this weekend Christianna could go home on Sunday or Monday. I told the doctor that Kevin would be out of town with the boy scouts until Sunday evening. When Kevin, came back in I told him what they said. Kevin stopped dead in his tracks and had very surprised look on his face. So they said her discharge day is Monday as long she does well with her feeding and her breathing. It has been one surprise after another. We are so excited, but so scared all at the same time. It's hard to believe that Christianna will be at home with us after all of this time of leaving her at the hospital.

Today, I went up to the hospital and got to be there for rounds. The doctor said she is still on track for coming home on Monday. She passed her 7 day count down. She also passed her car seat test!! That is so exciting. Now the only thing is getting the house ready to have her home. We need lots of prayers for the next few days while we get thing ready and bring her home. Christianna needs prayer to keep up the good work and to be able to settle in well at home with Kevin and I.

News from the intermediate

Yesterday, Kevin got to the hospital before I did and he was talking to the nurse about Christianna. The nurse said that she was on day 6 of her 7 day count down. Kevin said are you sure? So the nurse went and looked at the chart to make sure she was right, and low and behold she was! We missed that memo somewhere down the line. Today will be her day 7. Providing everything goes well today and next week, Christianna will be home by next weekend. She is also off her wedge. They took her off of it yesterday. As of last night, they have upped Christianna's feeds to 29 ml and she is taking all of her feeds by bottle and whats better is she is DOING REALLY GOOD. The last time they changed her feeds a few ml, was when they put her on her mountain (wedge).

Next she has a carseat test. The carseat test is when a baby sits in her/his seat for 90 minutes and keep her/his oxygen levels above 84. If for some reason, she doesn't she will go home in a carbed. It's a carseat that lays down.

This whole thing was such a shock to us. We had no clue that she was even on a count down, none the least on day 6 (almost done). This is happy, exciting time, but also scary. We needs lots of prayers as Christianna finishes her last few stages of hosptial stay and as we prepare for her home coming!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here are some recent pictures of me.

Aren't mommy and me cute?!

Well, the news on me this morning, I started screaming way before time to feed me and I pulled out my feeding tube in my anger. I took 24 of 35 ml. They gave me a little extra to see if I would take it. I am still on 27 ml. I weighed in at a whopping 3 lbs 5oz. I am still on my "mountain" (the wedge), but it is doing the trick. I don't reflux as bad. The nurse put my feeding tube back in at my 11:30 feeding. Mommy feed me at 2:30 and I took 28 of 30 ml. I am getting this eating thing slowly. As soon as I get this feeding down and keep my temperature at 98 degrees or above I can go home, so please keep praying for me, my mommy and my daddy. Also I am 6 weeks old today!!!

A three pounder!

It's been awhile since we have updated the blog and we are very sorry for that. Little Miss Christianna is doing great. She is now three pounds. The doctors upped her feeds to 25ml an hour, but she is having trouble with reflux.  In premature babies the muscle that closes off the top of their stomach is weak.  This allows some of the milk to escape and come back up the esophagus causing the reflux problems that she is having to deal with.  The solution is to put her on a wedge.  A wedge is exactlly that a wedge shaped cushion that keeps her at about a 45 degree angle.  This angle uses gravity to help keep the milk in her belly where it will do the most good.   

She is also doing really well with her temperature she is only a half a degree away from the goal setting on the incubator!  We hope she will get there and stay so she can move up to a crib.  

Please continue to pray that our little girl will continue to grow bigger and stronger.  

Moving up

Christianna is up to 1220 grams (2 lbs 11 oz). The doctors took her off her caffeine on Thursday. They use caffeine for the same reason why people drink coffee, stimulation (to stay alert). As of 6 pm tonight, Christianna has been off her nasal cannula for 24 hours. Last night, the nurses moved her to the intermediate nursery. We got to feed Christianna, her bottle tonight and she took all 20 ml on her own.

Christianna is an answer to prayers. Lots of people have been praying that she would gain weight and she is growing like a bad weed, well in this case a good weed :) We also have been praying that she would start breathing without assistance and for 24 hours she has been doing just that. Our prayer is now that Christianna well keep all of that up and that she would start controlling her temperature better.

Hey mom what's up?!

One month old! (3-3-09)

Kevin and I can't believe that it was a month ago that Christianna was born. She has gained 270 grams in that month. The doctors decided to start nippling her today. She took 8 ml of 20. Her feeds (20 ml) are also given to her in 30 minutes increments. She refluxed some while on the bottle, but the nurse said that was normal because she is a preemie.

My first ever bottle. Mommy was scared to give it to me.

Daddy went a little crazy with the pictures :)

Cannula Ups and Downs

The past couple of days have been up and down for Christianna's Nasal Cannula (breathing apparatus).  She came off it the first time on Friday night for about two and a half hours.  She then went back on it and did really well so they tried again on Sunday morning at 3:00 am it was more successful, lasting all the way till Lunch time on Sunday.  She is doing really well on the Cannula with very low flow, but that little tiny bit of flow is making all the difference for her.  She is on what they call room air (21% oxygen the same concentration that we breath normally) and it is forcing 200 ml an hour into her nose to help her out.  We pray that she will continue getting better and hopefully the next attempt at taking her off will be for good.  

She has continued gaining weight very well the last few days.  Yesterday she gained 40 grams (a little more than an ounce) her weight is now 1100 grams (2lb 7oz)!!!  Her birth weight was 900 grams (2lb) we are very excited about her growth and now that she has started putting on the pounds (or ounces rather, LOL) we hope she will do  better at keeping her temperature up. Lately, her temperature has been a little low so they have had to turn her bed up a little bit.  It is at 30*C.  When the bed gets to 28*C and stays there for a while and she keeps her body temperature where it belongs then they will take her out of the incubator and put her into a crib. Please continue to pray for our little baby girl that she will keep her temperature up and continue to do better with her breathing.