Saturday, August 30, 2008

Emy's Turns 1 - Closing a chapter

This will be my final post on this blog...see (way) below for new blog info and a slideshow of Emy's first b-day...

So, if you've read the first several posts you know a little bit about the beginning of this story. You’ve read about the miracle of us getting pregnant after 4 years of infertility – you’ve read the story about me being in the hospital on bed rest, trying not to have her and the miracle of her staying close to home after birth (not being transferred out of state). You’ve read about how she got the best of care from her doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists. You’ve read about her making it through surgery at 2 ½ weeks, surviving infection, coming off of the ventilator and finally, after 3 months in the NICU, coming home. Miracle, often a word used too lightly, is the only way to describe the moments leading up to and following Emy’s birth.

Since Emy returned home from the hospital, I've hesitated...no, avoided really diving into how things were. I'm writing this now to...uummm, maybe close a chapter...or could just be cheap therapy!

We were so excited the day the nurses called and told us that Emy would be coming home. It was a moment we had anticipated for nearly 3 months. We packed our bags and prepared for our "room in" at the hospital. “Rooming in” is where you spend the night in the hospital and the nurses prepare you for your preemie's homecoming. Terrified and excited, Dustin and I sat through the lessons on how to hook up the apnea monitor (worn 24 hrs. a day) and set up, administer and transport her oxygen. As one nurse perfectly put it, Emy has "accessories"! Oh so positive! It's hard enough to take home a "normal" newborn...imagine one with "accessories".

The first week she was home, Dustin was able to help me quite a bit. He even took over a good part of the feedings. So with feedings every three hours, after preparing the bottle, feeding time and holding her upright for 30 minutes afterward (to help with her reflux) you can imagine how much sleep we were getting! The second week Emy was home, Dustin left to go to Florida for training. Thank the Lord that his mom was able to stay with me for that time period. During that time, Mia got the flu which could have easily sent Emy back to the hospital (if not worse) had she caught it. To keep this from happening, I kept my two girls separated for almost a week. My mother-in-law kept Mia in the greater portion of the house, while I barricaded Emy and myself in my room. It was a very tough time and I don't know what I would have done without my mother-in-law's help.


Those first few months, our home could have rivaled any major triage center. We had it all; oxygen tanks, monitors (yes, plural), bandages, meds galore, masks and enough anti-bacterial gel to coat the state of Oklahoma. I was administering 4 different medicines to Emy several times a day. Any time we’d sniffle or sneeze, we’d whip out the surgical masks and proceed to wear them around her for the next several days. We had to keep a close eye on her oxygen tanks as well. She had one main tank (5 ft. tall) in our room and 3-4 portable tanks in the living room. We’d watch the levels closely and switch out the tanks when needed. One of the first few days she was home, I brought her into our living room, hooked her up to the oxygen tank and proceeded to do the things I needed to do while she took a nap. I glanced over at her after about an hour and she was blue. I ran over and picked her up and hurried to check the oxygen. My first thought was that the oxygen company had sent us an empty tank, but the closer I looked I noticed that the setting I had put her on didn’t click into place – so she was receiving no oxygen…for an hour. I picked her up so fast that it scared her – she was fine, but I was the one crying. When I told her pediatrician at our next appointment what had happened, I thought I could make it through the story without crying. Fat chance! He was very reassuring and finally convinced me that I hadn’t screwed her up for life!

We had another oxygen scare. A major ice storm hit Oklahoma. It was bigger than expected and most of us were not prepared. Dustin and I lost electricity and had no way to keep us warm (can’t have an open flame around oxygen tanks), Emy’s monitors only had a 15 minute battery life and we also had no way to heat up bottles. We packed up and headed to my parent’s home. We had no way to safely transport our 5 ft. oxygen tank so we packed up all of our portable tanks. Well, one day turned into four and we found ourselves running desperately low on oxygen for Emy. We put in a call to the oxygen company and quickly realized that nobody had shown up for work do to all of the ice. Um, what? Really! We finally tracked down a tank at a nearby hospital and Dustin braved the storm to pick it up. During that time nothing was easy, but let’s face it…easy is boring!

Once we got settled in to our at-home routine, I started to deal with things that must have been suppressed during our struggle to bring Emy home. I was mourning something, but couldn't understand what I was feeling. Maybe I was mourning a normal pregnancy...mourning the beautiful scene of a typical labor, delivery, flowers and daddy, friends and family taking pictures of the new addition to the family. I had no one wheel me out with this cute little bundle in my arms. Maybe I was mourning the loss of a full term pregnancy. And maybe I was just mourning the chance to be able to show my baby to the world. I couldn’t really understand what I was feeling. Due to Emy's lack of a solid immune system, she only left the house for doctor’s appointments and the occasional visit to her grandma and grandpa's house. At first, I refused to leave the house - afraid that something would happen to her when I was gone. Eventually, it became hard for me to leave the house even when I was able too. I even cut off communication with so many people that I loved. Dear friends & family called, emailed and sent letters & cards, but it was all I could do to make it through the day sometimes. Even though I was silent for so many months, everyone’s encouragement was not unnoticed and will forever be close to our hearts.

During this time, Emy’s aunt (Dustin’s sister) lost her 2 year battle with ovarian cancer. She was an amazing person. Like her brother, she never met a stranger and was always willing to lend a helping hand. She loved unselfishly and was loved so very deeply. Danna left behind Eddie, her husband, Blake (college age), Josh (college age) and Jason (4 years old). Emy and Danna were very sick at the same time and were only able to meet once. I’m so very sorry that Emy will never know Danna. Little did we know that Danna would live on in the niece she would never know. When Emy shoots us the biggest of smiles, it’s undeniably Danna.

Although this was the toughest of times for our family, we have never seen the grace and love of God so perfectly shown through the work of His people. During this process, we had so many people praying for us. So many things could have gone wrong, but God gave Emy and us the strength we needed. God’s love was shown to us through people offering to watch Mia, bringing meals, offering to mow our grass, offering to clean our house, get the baby room ready, pastors leaving notes at Emy’s bedside, nurses singing to her, bringing me gifts to pass the time in the hospital, calling us with encouragement and sending up prayers. What was once a heart-warming symbol of how God takes care of us became our reality…we now know what it feels like to literally be held and carried through the storm. It’s an indescribable feeling.

We are one grateful family.





I am merging Emy and Mia's blogs into one new blog. Thank you all for keeping up with our story. If you'd like to visit our new family blog you can find it at:

www.gigglesandcurls.blogspot.com

Friday, August 15, 2008

Thursday, August 7, 2008

CNN's Larry King Live

Steven Curtis Chapman and his family will be guests on CNN's Larry King Live tonight (Thursday). As some of you may know, Steven Curtis Chapman has been a huge adoption advocate and has adopted 3 daughters from China. They recently lost one of their adopted daughters to a tragic accident at their home. They will be speaking tonight about adoption, their recent tragedy and their faith.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Angels & Babies

Another NICU reunion:

Roxie & Emy... Roxie is a very special person to us. Roxy was Emy's nurse at the beginning & middle of her 3 month stay at the hospital. Roxy was our/Emy's advocate, information central, a listener and a constant tissue provider (I think I cried every time I visited)! As some of you know, one of the nurses would occasionally sing to Emy during her shift...yep, you guessed it...it was Roxy. Forever and always one of our favorite people. P.S. She's due to have her first child in December...congrats to her!

Some of our favorite people...Emy's NICU nurses & rt's! They not only helped Emy get through the biggest struggle of her life, but they helped us more than they know.

Goodness, we love these people! Can you tell?! My heart overflows...



The newest member of our family...introducing Kael (proud dad Ben - my cousin - & proud momma Elise)! Congrats Ben & Elise...the newest little family in our big one!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Happy 10th

Today is our 10th anniversary! We would have never known 10 years ago how much we would go through together. Life has thrown us some curveballs at times, but more importantly we've been blessed by the greatest joys in life. Through it all we've had each other and for that I'm forever grateful.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

"E"-licious!!!!!

i added a lot more pictures...

by the way, if you haven't seen emy's sister's blog, you can find it at www.miasupritha.blogspot.com

enjoy the slideshow!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Chunky Monkey




November 5th - left the hospital at 4 lbs. 2 oz.
November 9th - 5 lbs. 3 oz.
November 20th - 5 lbs. 10 oz.

We have another doctors visit tomorrow and I'd bet that she's over 6 lbs.!

I'll update and add more pics tomorrow...

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Happy Homecoming



After almost 3 months, Emy is finally home from the hospital!

Friday, November 2, 2007

Happy Birthday

My Birthday is tomorrow...

Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
My baby's coming home in a few days,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Woo-hoo!

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Showers of Love





We had Emy's first baby shower yesterday. We had a great time and received so many wonderful and thoughtful gifts. We feel so blessed. Now all we need is her to come home!


Emy is now 1 1/2 ounces shy of 4 lbs. and taking 4 bottles a day. She needs to be taking 8 bottles a day to come home. We are getting there!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

A Sweet Song for Sweet Emy

Turn up your volume...

I'll post new pics soon.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Saturday, October 20, 2007

My Baby's Bottle Feeding!

Emy's nurse that night was a nun from Kerala, India. Both of Emy's NICU doctors are from India (one from Delhi & one from Chennai). I just find that really special.



Dustin feeding Emy for the first time.

That's right! She started Thursday morning and took to it like she'd been doing it all of her life! They started out with 5 ml. to see if she could handle it and she ended up eating 25 ml.! That's my girl! I was expecting a very traumatic event, but she did so well! The nurse started her feeding and let me take over when she realized how well she was doing.

This is a big deal for several reasons...babies learn to suck, swallow and breathe at the same time at around 34-35 weeks gestation. Emy is 34 weeks. Once she starts bottle feeding she'll gain weight. When she starts gaining weight she'll reach the point were she starts gaining fat. The more fat she gains the easier it is for her to hold her body temp. It's the snowball effect. When she does all of those things she'll come home! I believe she'll come home on oxygen and monitors, but at least she'll be home.


P.S. She's now 3 lbs. 10 1/2 oz.!


Friday, October 12, 2007

Emy's Gone "Tube-less"!




A wink...


And a smile...









Thursday morning, Emy was taken off of the ventilator! Huge step, HUGE STEP! They even let me pull the tube out of her throat. She looks so much like a "real" baby now. What I mean is that I can actually see her full face, lips and all - no distracting, massive tube. Thursday was the first time I was able to do that. She has a tube pumping oxygen into her nose, but she's completely breathing on her own. The RT's said she's the poster-child for transition off of the vent. She handled it so well. She is having to deal with life without narcotics. She's had heavy pain meds all of her life and they took her off cold-turkey on Thursday. They have to do that because the drugs relax her so much that she may forget to breathe. Hey, hook me up, right? J/K

Anyway, she's a tough cookie and is handling things really well. The pics you will see is of me swadling her for the fist time. Dustin and I were sick for 5 days and I wasn't able to visit her the entire time. Holding her on Thursday almost felt like holding her for the first time.

P.S. She may get to wear clothes soon! Now, I only need to find micro-preemie clothes...

Saturday, September 29, 2007

A First...Holding Emy


Yep, it's finally here! I walked into Emy's hospital "suite" last Thursday and the doctors had switched her over to the conventional ventilator! I guess the third time IS the charm! I was so surprised! ~Answer to prayer!~ Oh, and no steroids were needed! ~Another answer to prayer~ There are potential side affects of the steroid. Saturday they considered her stable on the new ventilator and gave us clearance to hold her. They call it a "kangaroo wrap". She lies on our chest skin-to-skin and we zip her up in our shirt. The babies really do well when they are held...and it's not so bad for the parents either! Emy really seemed to love it. If you watch the video, you can see that Dustin points out that her numbers show that she is around 100...which means that she's really happy! That number shows the oxygen level in her blood. If it's high she's happy - if it's low she's not! She has quite the reputation around the NICU for setting off her monitor. They like for her to stay between 85 and 100. When the nurses change her diaper, mess with her too much, talk too loud or look at her the wrong way she'll dip below 85 and set off her alarms! We were really surprised she was at 100 while we held her. Happy girl...happy momma!

Criteria to bring her home:

1. Off of the ventilator
2. At least 4 lbs.
3. Feeding well
4. Holding her body temp. well

By the way, she's over 3 lbs! Woo-hoo!!

Still can't thank you enough for your prayers.