Eat, eat, eat

Elise loves her green dress. This is Elise in her big girl bath tub that the girls in the NICU found for her to use. She has one at home like this also. You can see one of her chest tube scars on the right side of her chest in the picture. Hello everyone. I can't believe that it's already Saturday. It seems the days are going by a bit faster which is good. I realized the other day that we will have been back in St. Louis for a month now. I'm glad time seems to be flying by. We mainly have been working on her bottle feedings since her lungs seem to be stable, not healed, but stable. We were trying to feed her 129ml every 4 hours, but have made some changes to get her to her goal sooner. We decided to go back to feeding her 90ml every 3 hours since she's already taking 70-80ml every 4 hours. We started these feedings today, and she has done really well. We were afraid she would sleep through the 3 hour mark, but has awakened each time and taken 80ml or close-to each time! If she can get to 90ml, and stay there, the doctors will be comfortable taking out the NG, and then sending her home soon after. This all may still take a few weeks, since they'll want to see her gaining weight, and make sure her lungs are still improving with the meds. Her Grandma and Grandpa Drennan are here visiting this weekend, and are helping me with the now more frequent feedings. It remains a learning experience for us all :-) Jason has finished his rotation in Michigan, and is on his way to Philadelphia today with his classmate Jon. They will head back to St. Louis on Tuesday. I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll post again on Monday. Love Kristin

Drink it up!

Hello, Things are still cruising right along here. Elise is doing fantastic with her bottle feedings. Last night she drank a record breaking 98ml! Today she is constantly taking over 2 ounces, and usually does her best in the evenings. The doctors haven't made any changes to her meds or oxygen. They told me today that they plan on sending her home on 0.3L of oxygen since her heart still has an enlarged ventricle. They said that could take months to go back to its normal size, and that we will continue to follow up with a cardiologist once back home for repeat echos. Whether she goes home with the NG is up to her. If she continues to take in more and more and can reach her full feedings, than we will get to go home without it. She is still spitting up and vomiting, although the large vomits have become less, and the normal baby spit ups are more frequent. Which is good. PT and OT are happy with her growing flexibility, and her neck is much better. Jason only has two more night shifts in Michigan before heads to Phili for his test. He plans on being back in St. Louis on Wed. I hope you all are having a great week. I'll post again on Sat. Love you all, Kristin

10 Weeks old

"Heee Heee Heee"

The famous tongue. Elise getting a bath, we put a little too much water in the tub. She wasn't as happy with the rinse tub.

Here she is styl'in in her blue outfit. I tried to give her a mo-hawk. Here's another self portrait of me with Elise today. Here she is in her new strawberry dress. These next pictures are from July 4th. Our nurse took us out of our room, and to a conferance room where we could see the fireworks at the arch. This was Elise's first trip out of her room! She was in awe of all the lights in the hall. But she fell asleep before the fireworks started.

Hey guys,

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Elise made a big step towards going home today. She is now using a regular nipple on her bottles, and has doubled her intake in just one day. They started her out on a "slow flow" nipple two weeks ago since she didn't swallow liquids well. And today when speech therpy was here, we decided to try her on a "regular flow" nipple> And she passed with flying colors! She took 73ml this am, 65 at lunch, and 60 for dinner tonight. Remember, her goal is around 120ml. So she is half way there! The doctors decided to do her heart echo yesterday, but we won't have the results until the cardiologists are able to compare yesterdays to previous ones to look for improvement since starting the Viagra. We changed her nasal cannula back to an infant size because her little nostril isn't big enough for the NG and cannula together. We had to change her NG over to the right side since her left nostril was starting to get raw from the two rubbing. So you'll notice in her pictures from now on that her NG is in the right, and the cannula is smaller. Jason is still in Michigan, and says the weather is beautiful, really likes the residency. He says the hospital is very nice, but it is really chaotic with all the students and residents running around. His last shift will be this Friday night, and then he will head to Pennsylvania to take one of his board exams. He will eventually end up back here in St. Louis on the 16th. And we can't wait to see him. I'm still working on getting some temporary work here to cushion our savings. I've been hired by a nursing agency here, but have to wait for the background check and the drug screen to come back before I can pick up any shifts. I won't work very much, and mainly at night when Elise is sleeping, so I can continue to feed her during the day. I have received several cards, and I love them all, thank you. I'll post again on Thursday. Love you all, Kristin

Swim Suit edition

We start off with the delicate vintage tulip suit worn by our model, Elise, a chunky 10 pounds 15 ounces and 23 inches long. Her suit is 28 years old originally worn by the famous Leslie Ball, previously known as preemie Leslie Keagle. Upon starting the photo shoot, little Elise was a little weary about her fish friend, but soon accepted the fact that the fish could not leave the confines of the ball.

You can see the resemblance in their eyes. Our next suit is a Pooh Bear exclusive, given to Elise by Her friend Esther. As you can see is provides adequate sun protection for our little model. Here she is showing off her new sandals that complete the ensemble. A must for any beach-goer. After awhile Elise decided to taunt the fish. But the fish struck back with some scary stuff.

Soon they became friends and just chilled. Here we have a more casual suit for the pool bunny. This lounge jacket with bunny hood was provided by Grandma Marcie. This shows how the whole outfit matches perfectly. And Elise shows how living in the NICU is just another day at the beach.

Hey guys, here's the long awaited swimsuit edition. Elise has had a good weekend, increasing her weight more, and increasing her bottle intake also. She is now averaging 40ml per feeding, and is able to feed for 30 minutes before getting tired. When we started this 1.5 weeks ago she would tire after 10 minutes. So she has had much improvement. My mom left today, leaving me to myself again. I am actually enjoying my time with Elise, bonding and learning her quirks. The doctors decreased her oxygen to 0.3 liters yesterday, and will likely keep her there for awhile, maybe even send her home on that much. No other changes have been made. We are pretty much working on feeding. Her next big test will be another echo of her heart in about 2 weeks to look for improvement since starting the viagra. She is smiling more everyday, and starting to coo. She is too cute! I'll post again on Tuesday. Love you all. Kristin