14 weeks!

Hannah is doing great! The day before her 3 month birthday, she finally started smiling at us. What a treat that is! Usually if she doesn't see one of us for a while, she'll smile when she does see us again and she is usually all smiles when she gets picked up after waking up in the morning.

She is becoming SO observant. She's been very alert and aware of her surroundings since the very beginning, but you can really see her trying to figure things out more and more. Her room has been really bright on sunny days and she's had trouble sleeping so while we've been waiting for the blackout liner that we ordered to arrive, Paul has hung a blanket over the curtains to make the room a little darker. She noticed it a few days ago and I couldn't pull her gaze away - she could tell something was different and she just wanted to stare at it. She also noticed the dragonfly painted on the wall above her changing table as I was holding her to face it. It's so fun to watch her get focused on something and see the wheels turning.

She is doing much better at turning her head to the left. She'll often fall asleep with it that way now and I'll usually find her facing that way when she wakes up in the morning. Here's hoping we won't have to get her fitted for a helmet! :)

Hannah got to meet her Grandpa Scarbrough (who prefers to be called "Pea Paw") and new "Nana" Connie this week. She was all smiles even though we woke her up for the visit.

Hannah smiling at mommy 2/8/13

2/13/13

Hannah meets her Grandpa Ray 2/14/13

Hannah with Nana Connie 2/14/13

14 weeks! 2/15/13

2/15/13

Twelve Weeks

Wow! Has it been 12 weeks already?

Hannah is doing really well! She's been sleeping in six hour increments in the night, which I know is supposedly what every parent longs for -- to finally be able to sleep more. I miss the extra times with her in the middle of the night, though, but it is nice to be a little more rested.

Hannah had her two month check-up at the doctor this week (which was kind of late since she's nearly three months). He is happy with her growth since her last appointment. As of Tuesday, she was weighing in at 9lbs 8oz and she's 21 1/2" long. :)

She has a preferred side to lay on which is making her head flat on one side. If you notice most of the pictures we post of her, she is usually facing her right. So the doctor has recommended we start doing some physical therapy with her to try to get her to move her head to her left more. We've been doing that and she's doing better. She still prefers the right side, but she's more willing to look longer on her left now.

And she's become very fond of her pacifier. Usually if she's fussy at all, she'll calm right down as soon as you give it to her. Sometimes we'll give it to her as she's going to sleep and I'll check on her a couple of hours later and she'll still have it in her mouth.

Hannah is really taking in her environment and becoming more and more aware of things by the day. She's starting to smile more now, too. It's not all the time and it still seems kind of random, but she's definitely doing it more when she sees people she knows. :)

Here are some more pictures! Enjoy!

12 weeks! 2/1/13

Holding mommy's finger. 1/28/13

With her giant bear. 1/28/13

1/28/13

1/28/13

I found my tongue! 2/1/13

Hannah likes sitting up in the Boppy.

2/1/13

Daddy time!

Happy Ten Weeks

I can't believe how fast time is flying right by. Hannah is nearly ten days past the two-month mark and today marks ten weeks. She is a really great baby - she has had some evenings where she's been a little bit colicky but it's only happened a few times. For the most part, she's very patient - she only really screams when she's hungry or if she's in a position she doesn't like (and once you move her, she's fine). She will frequently be awake in her crib and just entertain herself by looking around at her surroundings.

She is still eating really well and growing! As of this week, she has outgrown her newborn onesies. She's still fitting into her newborn footed pjs (she outgrew her preemie onesies about two weeks before her preemie footed pjs, so I'm guessing she has about another two weeks before she'll fit good into the 0-3 month pjs).

We won't have an official weight on her until her next Dr. appointment, but unofficially she's hovering around the 9lb mark. (That's me weighing myself on our horribly inaccurate scale then holding her and subtracting the weight holding her vs. not holding her.)

She is starting to notice things and focus on them for a little longer. She has discovered her tongue and will just move it in and out of her mouth with her eyes wide which I find really comical. She is also starting to smile more, but not as a response, just randomly. It's cute when she has a bottle in her mouth and smiles really big and the milk spills out which she does at least once or twice a day.

Here are some pics! Enjoy! :)

12/29/12

1/4/13

 

1/13/13

Daddy Time 1/17/13

Baby feet! 1/18/13

Ten Weeks! 1/18/13

Mommy time! 1/18/13

Big girl in her 0-3 Onesie! 1/18/13

Moving Right Along

Sorry there hasn't been much of an update - we're all doing great but have been busy!

Hannah is still eating like a champ and growing like a weed! Not sure how much she weighs, but she's got to be over 7 lbs by now. We'll have a wellness appointment with the pediatrician in the next couple of weeks so we should have an official weight check then. Hannah has been sleeping in a bassinet since we brought her home but as of yesterday, she has officially been moved to her crib. She was starting to get too long for the bassinet and she likes to kick her feet and she was starting to look like a sardine in there (though she looked lost in the crib when we first got her home). She seems to love the crib - she likes to look at the designs on the bumpers and she seems to like to have more room to squirm around and move her legs. It's hard to believe how tiny she was just a month ago compared to how big she is now. She's been exclusively in newborn clothes and diapers for about three weeks now and her preemie hats no longer fit her head. :)

I've been spending a lot of time getting the house organized and more cleaned up as I'll be going back to work starting this Sunday. I have really missed work and my coworkers, but I know it's going to be very very hard being away from Hannah all day. I'm thankful that I only work 15 minutes away from her, but not seeing her for 8+ hours is going to be difficult.

Here are a couple of pictures of Hannah in her crib and some other pics we've taken since our last update. Enjoy!

Progress

Hannah has been doing great since she's been home. She weighed in at 4lbs 15oz at her follow-up appointment this past Wednesday (November 28th) so she's on par with the 1oz/day weight gain that she should be having. She's still eating great and has developed a bit of a double chin and some chubby cheeks. It's wonderful to see that after seeing how tiny she was while she was still at the hospital. She's also having more awake/alert time now and really likes listening to the sounds around her. Her eyes get really wide when she hears a new sounds - it's fun to watch her learning and observing new things.

I had two surgical follow-up appointments this past week and had the steri strips ripped off (literally--OUCH). The incision is healing well and I'm getting around okay, but it hurts when any sort of pressure is applied to it (which means wearing regular clothes is pretty uncomfortable). Hoping that it will feel better in a few weeks because I probably can't wear pajamas out in public or to work. ;o)

Other than that, we're doing well. Here are some more pictures!

Hannah likes the Christmas tree lights.

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Oscar finally got to give Hannah a good sniff.

Daddy/Hannah time.

Lookin' at you, lookin' at me, kid.

Cute little double chin and chubby cheeks.

Here we all are! :)

Happy Thanksgiving

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we're having this year -- we're finally all home under the same roof. Hannah was released from NICU to come home on Tuesday. It's been awesome having her home -- we are getting the chance to learn her likes and dislikes and spend some quality time with her. She's more alert now that she's home and likes to have her feet pressed on, likes to have some awake time after feedings and likes to have her head rubbed. She's been waking up to eat every three hours overnight (we had to wake her up to eat every four hours in the NICU) and she usually wants to sleep a bit more during the day.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was pretty busy -- I got to get my staples out! I have been upgraded from staples to steri strips. Overall, everyone feels like I am healing well from the surgeries. I have two follow-up appointments next week to check on the incision again, but after that, I shouldn't have many more follow-up appointments in regards to the surgeries. I'm still going to be unable to lift things more than 5lbs until a full 6 weeks or so post surgery and can't push or pull anything heavy, but other than that, I'm getting around fairly well. They told me I can start to drive in a few days but to ease into it and make sure I can bend and check blind spots well without stretching the incision. I may have to take a few drives around the block just to be sure I can move okay and that I remember how to operate a car. Ha.

Hannah had her first pediatrician visit last night. She has gained 2 oz since being home and everything else looked good, too. We'll have a follow-up appointment with the pediatrician next week to check her weight again and then she'll have her wellness visits, follow-up with the cardiologist in a few months and a follow-up with the physical therapist folks in a few months to be sure she's not falling behind due to being premature. Even though she's almost two weeks old, she's still only 37 weeks old gestation age (as of today) which will play into her developmental timetable.

Here's some pictures! We're so very very thankful to all be home together as a family and that Hannah is doing so well. Thank you, Lord!

Hannah sleeping in her own bed!

First visit to the pediatrician, Dr. Bernstein. 11/21/12

Hanging out after feeding

Tummy time!

Update

Hello everyone,

Wanted to give you a quick update on everything. Hannah is still in NICU but she is doing really well. She's in a transition room at the moment which means we're able to be with her 24/7 if we want to. We have stayed the night with her a couple of times (but the sleeping accommodations in her room are terrible so we've stayed at home the past two nights) and we are spending most of the day in her room at the hospital. She had been in an isolette (one of those big plastic incubator type of things) for several days to help her regulate her body temperature and not spend all of the calories she had been consuming on trying to stay warm. She lost a few ounces once they removed her IV so we were told she'd have to gain weight a few days in a row before she'd be upgraded to a crib in NICU. She gained one ounce from Friday to Saturday but remained the exact same weight from Saturday to Sunday so we were a bit bummed about that. However, when we came in this morning, she was in a crib!! That's the final step before going home. Now she has to be able to maintain her weight and body temperature in the crib for a few days before we can take her home, but just being able to see her and talk to her and not have to keep her in the isolette constantly is awesome. We can actually hold her a little more now if we want (whereas before we were only allowed to let her out for feedings and then she'd have to go right back in the isolette).

Hannah in her crib in NICU. YAY!! 11/18/12

I am doing really well with my recovery from the surgeries and being back at home. I'm still having trouble walking down stairs without holding on to a bannister due to the muscle atrophy from 11 weeks of bed rest. However, I'm trying to take stairs more to build those muscles back up when I can. My pain isn't very severe any more - I've dramatically reduced the amount of painkillers I have to take to get through the day. I still have the staples in but I have an appointment to get them out on Wednesday morning. Most of my current discomfort is getting my clothes snagged on the staples, so I think once those come out, everything else will be pretty smooth sailing. My scar is healing nicely - there are some places where the skin has already healed together and I can hardly see there was even a cut there. Most of it is still scabby, but I think over the course of a couple more weeks, it should be pretty well healed. :)

We still don't have a good estimate on when Hannah can come home - it'll be based on how she does in the crib, but they are hoping if she's able to maintain her weight and temperature okay, it may be by this weekend. We are really looking forward to having her home. She is eating like a champ, though, so that's a huge praise! Thanks for continuing to pray for all of us and thank you to those of you who are contributing to meals for us. I can't convey how huge of a blessing that has been! If you want to sign up, you can follow this link: Take Them A Meal

Thanks to everyone who is or has been helping us and praying for us. We are so blessed by all of you!!

Here are some more pictures of Hannah. :)

In my big girl crib in NICU. 11/18/12

Mmmm...food. 11/17/12

Snuggle time with daddy (she likes to hold our fingers). 11/17/12

11/17/12