Allergic to Milk?

This weekend Emma developed a very upset stomach. Without going into too much detail, she was having problems keeping anything down or in. Her doctor did 2 ultrasounds of her stomach to rule out any blockages. She was also taken off breast milk and switched to a hypoallergenic formula to determine if she has milk protein allergies. Only 2-3% of infants develop milk allergies and it is even more rare in breast fed babies.

She is doing better since the switch and after about 48 hours they will reintroduce breast milk to see if she has a reaction. We are hoping she just had a bug or a bad reaction to her new vitamins. The good news is that if it is an allergy, most babies will outgrow this type of allergy.

Sorry for any lack of response to emails or phone calls. As you would expect, it has been very stressful for us "first-timers." You can always hear parents muttering things about "one step forward, two steps back" in the NICU and now I get it. It's hard to only see your baby a few times a day, but we are so thankful that Emma is as healthy as she is. She is truly a blessing. We are still hopeful that Emma will bounce right back and come home soon.

You win some, you lose some

After almost 3 days of great feedings, Emma has hit a wall and did not wake up for a single feeding yesterday. These pics are pretty much how she spent most of her day. Such a little "sleeping beauty" (no prince need apply :) Today has been better. She did wake up for her 10:30 feeding, although I did have to strip her down to her diaper and wipe her down with a cold wet wash cloth to keep her awake. Talk about torture!

I can't believe my baby is already 2 weeks old! Today her gestational age is just 34 1/2 weeks. In a perfect world, she would still be sleeping in my belly for another 3 weeks, but instead she is having to do "big girl" things like waking up, eating, and regulating her own body temperature. We are told that by 36 weeks, babies begin to respond to hunger to wake them up. Emma should be getting there in the next week or so. We are also told that it happens overnight, like a light switch. We have set a big goal of next Sunday for her home coming. No word yet on what the doctor's are thinking.

Emma is growing very fast. She is up to 5lb 14 oz. We can't wait to see what she weighs at "full term." The doctor who delivered Emma said she would have been well over 10 lbs if she had gone to 40 weeks. Maybe a blessing in disguise for the mommy :)

"Do not disturb"

Dan and Emma

Could she look anymore like Dan??

Part Innie, Part Outie

Emma's belly button fell off! While changing her clothes we noticed that she was missing her belly button and rejoiced at her little milestone. Oddly, her belly button looks to be a part innie (the left side) and part out outie (right side). I know this really requires a photo, but our little princess does not like to be naked or cold. Our little celebration was cut short when we picked her up and found the actual belly button in her bed. It was pretty gross. The nurse informed us that some parents like to save it and she would be glad to put it it a bag for us. We passed. We are more of "saving the first tooth or lock of hair" kind of people :)

In other news Emma is up to 5lb 10 oz. Her 3rd evaluation by the speech therapist today went great! She has improved 100% since Monday's evaluation. She will get another one tomorrow. We are praying it goes well, and that Emma continues to improve her technique AND gain more stamina so she is able to take more feeding awake.

Today's Picture

Here is Emma sleeping like an angel. The thing resting on her head is sorta like a doll/blanket called a snoedel. It is given to all parents of baby's in the NICU. You sleep with it for a night or two so it smells like you, and then the baby gets it. So far today, Emma has been pretty tired. She didn't wake up this morning for her feeding so she had to be fed through her tube. This is one of the frustrating things about preemies. They might be able to feed, but they don't always have the stamina to take 8 feedings a day by mouth (and grow, keep warm etc). The good news is that Emma is growing! Last night she weighed in at 5 lb 9.6 oz. That is 0.6oz more than she weighed at birth! Dan and I love to go to the weigh-ins. We are so blessed that Emma is doing so well. I could stare at her for hours!

Emma update

Emma's stats: 5 pounds, 8 ounces (birth weight was 5lb, 9oz) and 18.5 inches long (birth length was 18 inches)

Accomplishments to date: took her whole 10:30 feeding by mouth (no tube!), volcano poo'd on two nurses (up from 1), waking up more, and she's been disconnected from her oxygen monitor (down to two wires).

Goals: Pass evaluation with speech therapist today and try bottle feedings!

***Breaking news*** Emma drank her whole bottle today with the speech therapist!!! She now has an order for 1 bottle per day, 2 breast feedings per day, and 5 tube feedings! Almost 1/2 way there. Praise God!

In other news: This is a darling head band that our friend (and Emma's future mother in law) Heidi made for Emma. I can't wait to try it on her!

Daisy feeling left out at the doorway to Emma's room

This is the diaper bag that Heidi gave to Emma and she personalized it for Emma! I LOVE it!!!

This is the shelf that Emma's daddy just hung up in her room for her. The rest of her room will be shown once it's done......we thought we had 2 more months!

Getting the hang of it

Emma is up to taking 1/2 of two feeding per day by mouth (a total of 60 mLs out 480 mLs). She is learning pretty fast. Still the biggest challenge is keeping her awake. Her jaundice levels seem to be stabilizing and as of last night she was up to 5 pounds, 5ounces. She will be evaluated again tomorrow for bottle feeding. It is easier for preemies to breast feed than bottle feed because they have a hard time controlling the flow of milk from the bottle.

It is amazing how much goes into the evaluation. There is checking for tone in her neck, reflexes in her tongue, and the all important can she suck, stop, swallow, take a breath, then start over. She can do the first 2 pretty good, and then she gets a little overwhelmed. Please keep Emma in your thoughts and prayers. This is her biggest, and the only hurdle keeping her in the hospital. It is amazing how resilient babies are and how fast they grown and learn. We are so thankful Emma is healthy.

Today's Picture

How cute are Emma's huge feet??

Perfect for sleeping

Emma tried on one of her new outfits from our friend Sue! It is preemie size so it is a perfect fit for now, but Miss Emma is growing fast! Thanks a bunch Sue! We think it's adorable!!!

I changed her diaper and her clothes and she barely opened an eye. This is how she likes to spend her time (thus, our troubles getting her to take all of her feeding by her mouth). Preemies sleep 22 hours per day instead of the 20 hours per day that full term newborns sleep. Emma makes it very clear we are on her schedule.

Pictures of the Incubator Graduate

Here is a picture of Emma in her open crib. It is at an incline to prevent reflux. She loves to sleep on her belly and side. Also, her bilirubin levels dropped to 6.9 so they took her off the bili-blanket. There is a chance her levels could rebound but for now no more glowing baby.

Emma met with the speech therapist today for an evaluation for bottle feeding. She did pretty good (drank 10ml), but isn't quite ready to drink from a bottle. She will get another evaluation on Monday and it is expected she will be on bottle feeding by the end of next week. This is the only thing keeping Emma in the big house.

Emma in her open crib--lots of pink!

This is Emma's monitor. The top # is her heart rate, the second is her oxygen levels, and the third is her respiration rate.

The sleeping beauty

A few more pictures

Just wanted to share some more pictures of Emma from tonight. I really wanted to get a picture of her huge feet, but she is a little shy about them! Tonight her weight was 5lb 3oz, up from 5lb 2oz from the night before. Grow baby, Grow! I hope she is back to her birth weight in no time. Her bilirubin levels went up a little to 8.7 (it was 8.4) so she is still on her bili-light.

Big babies are healthy babies, right?

I've heard this question a couple of times so I thought I'd share what I've learned!

The answer is yes and no. Babies lose about 10 percent of their birth weight within the first 5 days of life so it is good if they have more fat stores.

However, large or small, thin build or bulky, AGE is what matters. Each week babies have developmental milestones within the womb. For example, at 34-35 weeks babies develop the ability to coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing at the same time (feeding). Since Emma was born at 32 weeks she is still trying to learn this. Another developmental milestone is the nervous system regulating breathing. Preemies can have apnea where they stop breathing for a period time b/c their nervous system is not developed. Emma has only had one of these episodes. Thankfully she is hooked up to monitors that display her heart rate, respiration and oxygenation levels. If anything odd happens the monitors alarm the nurses who basically just startle the babies so they will take a deep breath.

Normal!

Today we learned that Emma's head ultrasound was normal meaning she didn't suffer any brain bleeds as a result of her early arrival! We love her so much, and are so blessed to have her.

So many improvements in just a day!

Just a quick update. Emma is such a trooper! This morning we learned that her feedings have been increased to 60ml (up from 45 ml), she has maintained her weight at just shy of 5lb (first night she hasn't lost weight), she has an order to increase her nursing attempts to 2 per day (up from 1), she has gotten the hang of sucking on her binki, AND she is trying out an open crib today.

At our visit this morning we were able to change two dirty diapers and dress her in some of her own clothes! I've never seen more beautiful baby poo or spit up in my entire life. It is the small things we live for these days. It's always such a relief to see her doing well. She had her head ultrasound this morning, and we will hopefully have negative results this afternoon. Her biggest challenge remains to be eating all her milk by her mouth. She gives a good try and then falls fast asleep. She appears to be the spitting image of her daddy except for a quick temper which I probably should take responsibility for :)

She misses all of her grandma's and grandpa's that came to visit her!!!

New Pics!

 

 

 

 

Baby Emma Update

Just a little update on Emma. First, thank you to everyone who sent flowers, emails, phone calls and good wishes! Tonight we were discharged from the hospital. Sadly, we had to go home and leave Emma in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). While it breaks our hearts, we are so thankful for the nursing staff and are confident in their ability to care for our baby girl.

Emma was born at 32 weeks, 3 days. At her gestational age, we expected a small baby with underdeveloped lungs. We anticipated her needing a ventilator and were very scared for her. Our hospital did an emergency transfer of me to another hospital with a better NICU unit Friday morning, and Emma was born at 3:59 in the afternoon.

She shocked everyone when she was born at 5lb 9oz with healthy lungs! It was truly a miracle. She needed a little oxygen the first night, but did not require a ventilator. Because she is so young, she has not developed the ability to swallow and drink milk so she is currently taking all of her feedings via tube. She will need to learn this and gain weight before she can go home. She also needs to regulate her own body temperature outside of her incubator. She is really close to graduating to an open crib. She is now off of IV antibiotics, and her IV was removed last night! She has developed some jaundice and is now resting under UV lights.

We will try to post regularly to update you on Emma's progress and post pictures. Thank you for all the love and support. Please pray for Emma's speedy growth and development so we can bring her home soon!!!

Emma Grace Riggs is here

Emma is here. She was born 7 1/2 weeks early, but weighs 5 pounds 9 ounces and is 18 inches long. Both Emma and Krista are doing great.

Officially on Bed Rest

Those of you who have seen my ankles may have wondered if this day would come and it has! Actually, the ankles are innocent in this and did not play a role...it was actually my irritable uterus (yes, that is a real medical term). I went to my doctor's office yesterday morning with mild but consistent contractions. I was admitted to Labor and Delivery and given a shot of terbutiline to stop the contractions. At 32 weeks, 1 day baby Emma would have a hard time out here in the "real world."

After a few nervous hours of being monitored, I was sent home. Terbutiline is also used for asthmatics so it also relaxes your lungs. Frankly, it was the closest I have come to a glass of wine for a very long time so I liked it! Baby was doing great and was very active the whole time. It seems she was trying to kick off the monitor that was on my belly :) I'm now on a week bed rest and I'm hopeful I'll be able to get out of bed after my doctor appointment next Tuesday. Of course I have to wonder if this is because I finally set a defense date to defend my dissertation and GRADUATE (Sept 15th). *SIGH* So if you're bored, call me. I'm literally, not doing anything. Actually, you might really want to call. I'm at Dan's mercy for essentials such of food and drink :) Just kidding. He is doing a great job! Well, I'm not heading back to bed now....

Daddy Duty

I came home at lunch time to find the baby's crib had been delivered! Dan quickly put it together and I think it looks great! It came with the toddler bed rail and will eventually serve as a headboard for a full size bed. Now we are on to the mattress, bedding and few other things to make the room complete. I'm now feeling like there is a lot left to do in 8 short weeks :)

Handyman in action

Finished product

Updates!

Just a couple updates to share. Apparently I am employable! I signed an official offer letter last week for a postdoctoral associate position in the dept of Biochemistry at UofL. I will be working with Dr. Hu starting Dec 1st. He has the potential to be the nicest person ever! Now I just need to defend and graduate.....hopefully late August beginning of September....def before October!

Also, baby Emma is measuring perfectly at 31 weeks (no big baby for me!). She has found a new home in my ribs and has robbed me of one of my favorite things-eating...a lot! Although this might be a good thing. I'm still swollen like up like the michelin man, but that's okay!