One Month Old!

Even though we have only been home for one week, Adelyn is already one month old. We plan to take monthly photos of her with the froggie chair since it will serve as a gauge to see her growth. It will be much easier once she is able to hold her head up her own.

Ginger serves as Adelyn's guard dog. We are so pleased with the way the puppies have accepted her, although Baxter has yet to really "accept" her because she makes too many sounds for him to get close right now.

Adelyn enjoying her first swing ride. Yesterday she actually was watching the mobile as it was rotating.

Adelyn enjoying some much needed Grandma Sass time. She can't wait to have a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Sass soon!

She already has Grandpa Andrews in love with her. She is excited to show Grandpa how cute she is now that she doesn't have any tubes or leads now!

Grandma Andrews is enjoying a little slice of heaven while holding Adelyn. She loves holding Adelyn and commenting on how perfect she is, and Mommy is not one to disagree!

Adelyn will have her first professional photo session next week, so we hope to get announcements in the mail soon!

We Are Home!

Yesterday we came home as a family for the first time. We are so excited to finally have her home. We are spending our time loving Adelyn so much, and trying to get to know our daughter. So far she is fairly easy to please, rarely spending much time crying unless she is hungry. Our first night wasn't too bad even when she was waking us up every 2 hours for a "snack". Although we definitely won't complain because we would rather wake up every 2 hours in our home, then have to visit her in the hospital. One of our favorite things is holding her and walking around the house since she no longer has the cords attached. We also love snuggling with her while she naps, any we might be guilty of snoozing a little too. Ginger and Baxter are very interested in her. Each time she starts to make sounds or cry a little, one the dogs usually comes to either Tim or me to make sure we are going to find out what is wrong. Both of them have slipped quick kisses on her head, even if we are holding her and telling them to get away. All of us are trying to get into a routine of our new family, and loving every second if it!

Going Home?

Yesterday we received wonderful news that we would room-in with Adelyn, where basically we care for our baby and the nurses are available if we need them. It is to simulate life at home, so she is still on the monitor but we don't get to see the numbers. We were told she can go home after two nights of weight gain, and we are happy to report she gained weight last night. So fingers crossed she gains weight today and we can go home tomorrow. We have really enjoyed the last 24 hours as our little family should be, with the exception of the puppies at home. We can't wait to bring her home and have the entire family together under one roof! Once we get home we will be able to get more pictures on the blog. Things have been especially crazy over the last 10 days as we have been working to exclusively breastfeed Adelyn. The hard work (and patience) has paid off because she is getting all the nutrition through breastfeeding, and we won't have to introduce bottles to her yet. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers, we are so thankful for the support. We know it is with the help of everyone that we are coming to end of our NICU stay!

What a difference a week can make...

This past week has been a roller coaster of emotions thanks to the uncertainty of the NICU, lack of sleep, and a handful of hormones. We are truly blessed on the big steps our little angel is taking. We spend the majority of our day/evening in the NICU at Adelyn's bedside, and we are happy to report that each day she surprises us with yet another step forward. She stopped the CPAP machine over the weekend, and started on nasal cannula. Today she went down to 1/2 liter of oxygen and if everything looks good for the next 12 hours the cannula will be removed. She had two bilirubin lights this weekend, went down to one on Sunday, and yesterday went to the blanket - for a couple of days we had our very own glow worm. Today they removed the blanket! Her TPN was stopped at the end of last week, and she has been steadily increasing the amount of breast milk she is eating - she is now up to 2 ounces every 3 hours. Yesterday she started to work on latching while she was getting the feedings through her NG tube. Today she was actually able to get a little bit of milk before getting sleepy. The lactation consultant said everything looked good, and she was surprised how well she did on her first try this morning. If things continue in this direction, tomorrow the only tube she will have is the NG tube to feed her (through her nose to her stomach). This will probably stay in place until she gets better at breastfeeding. We are so proud of Adelyn, and love spending our day at her bedside. We just wish we could take her home soon. We try not to get our hopes up on when she can come home, since she is in complete control of the timeline.

I realized yesterday that having a little girl is absolutely wonderful, but I do have to share my Valentine! Tim went to work for part of the day yesterday, and came home with roses for me and a cute little stuffed animal for Adelyn. He said he wanted to get a little something for his Valentines. I hope one day she realizes how fortunate she is to have Tim for her daddy.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We absolutely appreciate it, and see the amazing work of God everyday we see Adelyn. Thank you also for your patience with us, this was an unexpected bump in our road and it is very difficult for us to express what we are going through. Although our baby girl is doing well, we don't want to introduce unnecessary germs and potential problems before she is well enough to leave considering she is still very fragile. There is still a period of time once we are home that we have to be extremely careful due to her prematurity. There will definitely be plenty of time to hold Adelyn once she is strong enough to protect herself! Thank you for the understanding during this roller coaster of emotions.