She's Finally Home!!

I can't even say how happy we are to finally have our girl home! We have been waiting 2 years for this day, and it's almost surreal. Yes, I spent the first few days crying because the nursery just reminded me so much of her brother and all the things we wanted for him. But eventually I regained control of myself and kept trucking for our little girl.

She is such a content little baby, nothing seems to bother her except being hungry. But I'm told this is just the calm before the storm, for when she turns full term. She is now around 36 weeks gestation and about 10 weeks old.

We did have a huge scare with her the other day. We took her for her routine ROP eye exam that she has received 3 times already in the past. She has never had an issue with it in the past so I'm not sure what went wrong this time. Apparently, the drops they use are vasoconstrictors which means they constrict the blood vessels in the eyes, and sometimes in other parts of the body. Well our little girl stopped breathing sometime about an hour and a half after her drops, she turned blue and had to be resuscitated. I can't even tell you how scary that was. I keep replaying that in my head, I'll never forget that day. She never crashed like that before, not even during her 9 weeks in the NICU. The last time she was bagged was when she was born. I cried like a lunatic. My poor sweet girl...as if she hasn't gone through enough.

But the good news is that by the time we brought her home it was as if nothing happened. She is doing really well. We are just having some issues with her weight gain, she is only taking about 60 mls of formula per feed whereas she was taking 80 at the hospital. We tried so hard to get her up to 60, I think because she switched to the powder stuff when she was released. They sent us home with the powder stuff. She is on Enfacare by Enfamil which you can only order through a pharmacist and it takes a few days to get in.

Anywho, also during her "crash", they realized she has fluid in her lungs. So we were sent home with a prescription to remedy that with a diuretic for 2 weeks. Apparently this is very common in preemies, but I'm still a bit confused as to how come this wasn't noticed on Saturday when she was released, but it was there on Tuesday when she had her spell.

In any case, it's hard to see her on the diuretic, she is peeing and pooing like there's no tomorrow and we have to be very careful that she doesn't dehydrate. So there'll be lots of blood work and appointments for her coming up, including one to check her electrolytes.

Today was our first day, just her and I. We did some tummy time to strengthen her neck and to give her head a bit of a rest. Her Daddy had to go back to work, and of course I have a full blown cold today. I am so scared she will get it because we were told she can't have any meds. Due to her age, if she gets my cold or gets a fever from having the flu, she has to go in to the ER for blood work to rule out any other infections before they can administer any drugs to relieve her. Poor munchkin...I hope she doesn't get my cold.

We also got her the Angelcare monitor and I have to say, it was the best $170 bucks we ever spent!! I'm actually able to sleep when she is sleeping because I hear the "tick...tick...tick" of the Angelcare, telling me that my little girl is safe and sound in her crib.

Our cats and dog have gotten used to her really well...the cats at first were a little freaked out but now they don't care. The dog on the other hand is SO protective of her, its' like he thinks that she is his baby. :) Cute, but we are VERY cautious with the animals being around her and will be until she's a teenager!! lol...you just never know, as much as we love our fur-babies, we can't depend on trusting them.

So that's that...some minor bumps here or there, but for the most part Anna is doing great. I LOVE being her Mommy and sometimes I sit and just wait for her to wake up so I can see her again. :) We are SO in love with her!!!

M.