Addison is Moving on Up!

The holidays have been great for us and our little Addy. We have had lots of great visits from friends and family, and mom and dad have been getting lots of cuddles with their little cutie. I still cannot believe the snow we have been having, it really has been a record winter. Poor daddy has to put up with some big frustrations on mommy's part when this weather hits, it really gets hard to not get to the hospital to see Addison. Thank goodness he is the voice of reason and understanding.

Addison continues to do well with the diurectics, getting rid of her extra fluids, which is really helping her out with her oxygen. She continues to be on the low flow system and has now moved down to a level of 35. The way that we understand it is, Addison is on 100% oxygen with this system but she is only getting about .35 percent pressure from it. The nurses advise that they will continue to attempt to move Addison's amounts down slowly until she reaches a level of 0-1, which means she is basically off the oxygen. We have learned through this whole process that Addison really has to move slow, if we go to fast for her she bottoms out and we end up setting her back, which is not good. We will ween her down on the oxygen slowly over a few days and see how she tolerates it. We hope to get to a point where she will not need it, but they have fully prepared us that little Addy may come home on it. This really scared mommy at first but I have come to terms with it and just want my baby home as soon as we possibly can, but as healthy as she can possibly be and if oxygen is part of this then so be it.

On top of the oxygen, we continue to work on Addison's feeds. She continues to be on a modified "bolus" type feed which means that she gets a certain amount of her food over so many hours. She is currently receiving a 4 hour volume of food in 2 hours time, and then they leave her off her food pump for 2 hours to build up her hunger. This will progress so that Addison will then have the volume of her food decreased and the volume of the food then put into her tummy over 3 hours and then on down until she gets the volume of her food over 1/2 an hour. The volume of food she is getting now is to high to put in over 3 hours so they have to decrease it, her little tummy and reflux could not handle that amount. Way to stressful for her. So we decrease the amount and see how she handles it and then move the hours down as we go so she gets more in her tummy at feeding time and is off the pumps longer to build up her hunger. When this gets accomplished then we try the breast feeding and then we try the bottle. In the meantime we encourage Addy to "root" for the breast and when she is off her feeds encourage her to suck on her soucie or her hands to get the oral stimulation thing going. All such a fine science. So far she seems to be responding well to being off her feeds and really has taken to her soucie and showing us some signs she is hungry. She definitely is still liking her food and taking it in, as Addison weighed in at a whopping 2070 grams last night, which for all you old school measurement people is 4lbs and 9 oz. She did it she reached the 2kg mark, WAHOOO!!!!! She still may make that magical 5 lbs that we hope for to bring her home. We have our fingers crossed, she has a lot of big steps ahead of her with the oxygen, feeding and other tests, plus the breastfeeding which they say burns calories and causes little babes to lose weight. Grow Addy Grow!!!

On Sunday we got a great surprise. When mommy and daddy attended the NICU unit. Addison had been moved out of Intensive Care into the NPCU, which is the Neonatal Progressive Care Unit. We were so happy, this is just one more step closer to getting her out the door and home with us. This unit is still on the same floor of the hospital but is down the hall and a seperate room from the Intensive care area. This means alot less bells and whistles going off and a little more privacy. Our nurses have followed us there, although mommy and daddy seem to be able to do alot more of Addison's care in this unit, which is great. We will only learn more and more about what is best to do for the care of our little girl. Baths, changings and cuddles are completely our duty and we rely on the nurses for feeding assistance and any breathing/heart monitor issues as they arise. It really is a great experience to be able to work with them one on one, they truly are knowledgeable and needed professionals. They have all taught us so much over the past two and half months. (My goodness has that much time really gone by). This is our new little corner of the world that we live in, when we visit Addy!!. Thankfully Addison's BF; Deecon has moved with her so we still get to visit with him and his mommy and daddy. Addison and Deecon have been through such a big and scary experience together, it is an important part of our journey that they continue along with us.

So to everyone we wish you a Happy New Year and may 2009 bring joy and many blessings to our friends and families, including those that are on a journey along side us with their little miracles in the NICU's. Thank you to everyone for all of your love and support for us and little Addison, we are truly blessed with incredible friends and family. We could not have made it this far without each and everyone of you behind us. We have been blessed by help from strangers we have met along the way and whom we hope to build stronger friendships with, as they have shown us what great heart is and the spirit of giving and true kindness. To the loves of my life; Greg and Addison I thank you both for being in my life and bringing me such joy and happiness each day. You are my world and I look forward to what 2009 and the years to come will bring our family. From the bottom of my heart I love you both. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year To All

Well we trust that everyone had a fabulous Christmas, we did. We spent the day with Addison at the hospital and then went to Aunt Danielle's and Uncle Todd's for Christmas dinner. Mim and Aunt Danielle came for a visit and got to hold Addison for the first time. It was so beautiful to see and we got some great family pics with the four girls all together. Addison was adorned in her cute First Christmas outfit from Mim, that looked absolutely adorable. Addison got a visit from Santa and received some wonderful gifts at the hospital, including a beautiful Christmas quilt. She somehow even made it out shopping herself and got mom and dad some Hershey's kisses and even made us a little ornament for our tree. She is one special little girl.

Addison is doing well and has improved tremendously since she received the diurectics for her lungs. Her little body was really holding a lot of fluids, but this drug helped her expel a large amount through her urine output; so much that Addison has now moved from the High Flow oxygen to the Low Flow oxygen. This oxygen is basically a constant pressure or flow of oxygen through her nose, that is not humidified. Addison loves it and is doing well with her saturation levels on this system. She no longer gets dumps of water through her nostrils that she was receiving on the High Flow, which has cut back on her brachiacardic episodes. She can now rest peacefully when she gets cuddles with mom and dad, which are as wonderous as ever. Daddy actually holds Addison like a "real baby" now and cradles her in his arms. It is wonderful to be able to look her in the eyes and see her little face. Addison loves it as you can see, she sprawls right out and falls asleep instantly in his arms. Nurses suggested that daddy hold her this way as she does not require the "kangarooing" as much, she simply wants to be held no matter what way it is. Mommy can still do the kangarooing though as we are trying to get Addison to root and show some more interest in breast feeding. She is showing some, but falls asleep quite easily when we try to put her down. Addison has actually been switched to a new feeding schedule to assist with her breastfeeding; it is called Bolus Feeds. Basically Addison receives the same amount of food via her NG feeding tube to her stomach, but the feeds are now being put in over 3 1/2 hours as opposed to 4 hours. The nurses then leave her off feeds for a 1/2 hour so they can encourage her to develop a "hunger" feeling which may drive her to breast more. This may increase her relux however, so we hope that she can withstand the pain and take to the feeds as opposed to shutting down and stop eating.

Addison received another eye exam on the 23rd and thankfully there were no additional changes to her ROP development, she remains at Level 1 and Stage 2, which the doctors are happy with. They do continue to monitor this though well into Addison's first couple of years. Doctors talked with mom and dad and advised that they had received an official report back from the radiologists on Addison's head ultrasound. Though they had advised unofficially that there was no bleeds, the radiologists came up with a "bright area" on Addison's right side of her head. Doctors advised that we should not be concerned however, that they are not really positive that this indicates any type of bleeding. They advised that the bright area is in ventricular matter and not near any actual brain matter and that if indeed it is any bleeding it is "old" bleeding and not anything new. Doctors state the the bleeding would be classified as a Grade 1 bleed, which is fine as there would be no neurological damage, but would be monitored to ensure it does not develop as Grade 4 bleeds are the highest form. Doctors advised that Addison has not given them any indication by her behaviour or bloodwork that she has had a bleed, so they will repeat the test in two weeks. Quite scary news no matter the outcome however, and still makes us nervous and scared for our little girl. We put our trust in the experts though, that all is well and try to move the thoughts of anything else out of our minds.

Since Addison has been moved into her big girl crib she loves falling asleep to the sounds of her Sleep Sheep, a truly wonderful gift, thanks Sean and Eleni. Her favorite sound seems to be the whales, which has attracted alot of attention from the staff as to what the noises are from Addison's corner of the world. One resident advises that she will be purchasing this gift for all of her friends who are now expecting. Mom and dad also went out and bought Addison a mobile for her crib, so when she did wake up and mom and dad were not there she could look at the bugs as opposed to the old white ceiling tiles. The staff advised that the mobile was fine, that they had some but they did not really work so mom and dad decided when Addy is finished with hers this will be donated back to the hospital for another baby to enjoy. Speaking of which mom and dad received a beautiful gift on Christmas Eve day from a wonderful couple who were previous residents of the NICU this past year with their daughter; Story. They hosted a fundraiser in November and from the donations and money raised they provided some wonderful gifts to the families of infants in the NICU. This could not have come at a better time for us and truly touched our hearts because of their generosity and kind spirit. Their family inspires us and it is wonderful to know that their daughter Story is doing well and now a healthy 18 pounder. Christmas is about the giving and they did it with a lot of heart behind their gifts. Thank You and from us to you, know that we will "Pay it Forward" when we are able. Happy New Year everyone.

Television Star in the Making

Well for those of you who didn't catch the news on A-Channel in London last night........our little Addison became a TV and Newspaper Star. Mom and dad got interviewed for a new educational program on Shaken Baby Syndrome for new parents and the TV crew wanted to film little Addy for the news clip. She was an absolute star and was wide awake for the cameras and the world to see. She was donning an adorable puppy dog sleeper which was perfect with little paw prints on her feet. She also made page 3 in the London Free Press with a large pic of her holding on to mommy's finger and just looking adorable for the cameras. Only 63 days old and she is already making the "big time". Rumour is she may actually make national TV next week if Global TV comes down from Toronto and films mom and dad again. We will keep you all posted through Addison's agent; Uncle Les Penner!!! Ha Ha.

This was great as Addison actually had a tough week this week with her oxygen, though she managed to get better for yesterday's filming. Mom and dad had noticed that Addison had seemed a little sluggish and different over the last 4 days, and they were getting quite concerned. Addison was really struggling with her oxygen and saturation levels since the weekend and ended up having a horrible day on Wednesday. She went brachycardic several times, with one very profound episode where it took her some time to start breathing normal again even with assistance of a bag and mask. Addison had been weighed on Tuesday evening and had put on a significant weight gain that concerned the doctors. They believed that she was possibly retaining a lot fluids though you could not see it her tissue. They believed that this obviously meant the fluid was in her lungs. They perscribed Addison with a fluid releasing drug called Lasex, which she thankfully responded to beautifully. Addison began to pee a significant amount of fluid out of her body overnight and into Wednesday, causing the significant change in her behaviour. Not only was she very awake and active, she managed very well with her oxygen and actually went down in pressure while she saturated beautifully with minimal spells. Doctors have now prescribed her a diuretic drug called Aldactazide; which she will take everyday over the next week. This will help her expel the extra fluids in her lungs and assist her with breathing which she really has been struggling with. Nurses advised that she may actually lose some weight as a result, but that it is good weight loss because she is getting rid of all the fluids. We hope that this will assist Addison to come down on her level and pressures of oxygen even further on her respirator, as she needs to come down to Low Flow Oxygen or lower for optimal scenarios to attempt breast or bottle feeding. Dad and mom actually got a good look at Addison's latest chest xray and the doctors say that her lungs look well developped. If you look closely in the pic the little line on her right side along her spine (jsut below the circle lead) that glows a little is the Titanium Clip they used to close the PDA valve during her heart surgery. Pretty neat!!!

On Tuesday Addison also had her first set of immunization shots. We couldn't believe that it was already that time. This was a hard thought over decision by both mommy and daddy and after a lot of research and questions on daddy's part Addison received two needles. One in each leg (on the meaty part) and daddy was there to see her through it. Addison did really well and with the assistance of some tylenol for the pain, she managed with some minimal crying. The two shots were immunizing for Pertussis, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Polio and Infant Haemorphilus type B. Pertussis; other wise known as whooping cough, may cause serious complications for babies of this size if contracted. Diphtheria is a disease of the nose, throat and skin, killing 1 out of every 10 who gets the disease. Tetanus or lock jaw is a serious disease that can be found in almost anything that a baby or child may come in contact. Even as adults we still get this vaccination. Polio is a dangerous disease you can contract through eating and drinking anything containting the germ, which can cause nerve damage, paralysis or even death. Haemophilus influenzae type B is known to most as meningitis, which is a serious infection that affects the fluid and lining that covers the brain and spinal cord. After weighing all of the options and realizing the serious side effects for Addison if she contracted one of these diseases, we opted to have the immunizations done.

Tuesday night was also bath night and weigh in and Addison is now coming in at 1845 g or 4 lbs and 2 ozs (corrected after her loss of fluids). With this weight gain Addison was able to move to a "big girl crib" and out of her isolet. This was so exciting!!!! At 1800 g the babies born prematurely should be able to regulate their own body temperature, thus be able to be out and sleeping in room temperature environments. Addison has been able to regulate her temp for some time, as the nurses always had her temp turned down to the lowest possible in her isolet as she was always such hot stuff. As soon as she Nurse Kathy found she weighed in, away went the isolet and in came Addison's new bed. This is absolutely wonderful as mommy and daddy are now able to see Addy out and about and not have to reach in through the isolet portals to talk to her or touch her little hands. She can now have her wonderful "Sleep Sheep" at bedside from Sean and Eleni to hear wonderful sounds like whales and rainfalls as opposed to all the beeping and ringing alarms. Daddy got right in there and layed his head down beside little Addy and said a big hello. Sooooo cute!!!!

On Wednesday Addison also had her eyes rechecked and the doctors found that Addison's eyes have remained the same at a Stage One and Level Two. They observed no significant change, which they seem pleased with. The doctors do stay on top of this though and Addy will probably have her eyes checked again within the next two weeks, especially because of the upcoming holidays. Although the exam is horrible for the babies, we are glad this is done to be preventative for any possible problems found with her eyes. On top of that Addy also had a head ultrasound yesterday to check for any brain bleeds and she continues to remain clear of them at this time. A huge relief as that is always a big exam for mom and dad to wait on the results.

We truly are amazed at this little wonder and how she has come so far in her last two months. Though we still have a long road ahead we know in our hearts that we will have our little girl home with us to spoil and love in the New Year. All the best to everyone for the holiday season and may god bless you all with a very prosperous and Happy New Year~~~~~ Happy Holidays from the Stanbras.

A Special Visit

Well on Sunday Addison decided to give us and the nurses in the unit a scare. Mom and dad attended for their daily visit and were told that Addison had had a bad spell early in the morning and did not recover well on her own. Addison stopped breathing all together and the nurses and respiratory therapists had to "bag and mask" Addison with assisted oxygen and almost perform compressions on her to get her to start breathing again. The nurses completed a battery of tests on her including blood work and a chest x-ray, but all of her results came back fine. Addison's chest x-ray revealed that her lungs are still diseased but appear better than the last time they had been viewed. Nurses believed that she had a bad bout of reflux again or some water and just had enough and bottomed out. Addison did not stop there however and kept Nurse Cathy busy by pulling out her feeding NG tube from her nose not once but twice. Her fingers are getting quite diligent at wrapping themselves around her tubes. They will be monitoring her closely and we will have to be very diligent when cuddling her to watch her for further episodes. Poor little monkey!!! Doctors considered putting Addison back on the "rhinoceraus" type ventilation system, but Addison settled out and had a better afternoon so they have left her on her High Flow oxygen for the time being.

Addison has had some great visits with alot of her family and some of mommy and daddy's friends over the last few weeks, but she had a special visit from her second cousin Maria this weekend. Maria is Addison's (middle) namesake and a special person in mommy's life. It was wonderful to see the two together and is obvious that Addison is dearly loved by all of her family and mommy and daddy's friends. We are truly blessed with great family and friends in our lives.Mommy and daddy have had some great cuddles with Addison, and continue to marvel at how she changes and is growing before their eyes everday. She is making new noises and forming a personality before our very eyes. When you touch her little chubby double chin, she actually curls up her mouth and gives you a little smile. Mom and dad are getting a little more comfortable with all of the machinery and equipment that assists Addison and are now able to take Addison out from her isolet and return her on their own now with only minimal assistance. The nurses are wonderful and really teaching mom and dad everything they are going to need to know when they take their little one home. Daddy had another wonderful bath with Addison and weighed her in. She now is a whopping 3lbs and 14oz. Daddy is so good with his little one, and she responds to him like you would expect any little girl to when it is their dad. She looks at him with those big little eyes and cute mouth, which is 100% Daddy's top lip and his heart just melts. It is a picture that I have been waiting to see for 5 long years.

Protein Powder Baby

Overall Addison has had a fairly good week this week. She has managed to stay on the High Flow oxygen system, even though she is still struggling with some desaturations and brachycardia. The desaturations in her oxygen do not really seem to be the problem, as Addison is able to bring herself back up from these on her own, without any assistance of additional oxygen. It is the brachycardia that is giving her the real problem, as she is unable to bring herself back from these and actually stops breathing. Addison's little body only has so much reserve oxygen and unfortunately when she gets the brachycardia she uses this reserve up struggling to get her saturation or heart rate levels back up, which is not good. Addison then has to be either bagged with oxygen or stimulated by the nursing staff to start her breathing again. Addison's reflux seems to be a major cause of most of her brachycardia, along with some water that flows down her venitlator tube (as the system has to be humidified, so as not to dry her out while it gives her oxygen) into her little nostrils. The doctors are still assessing her need to be assisted by medication for her reflux problem, if they can all help it and not put a baby on medication that is the preferred method. We just hope that the pain Addison experiences from the reflux does not deter her from continuing to eat as well as she has been, which in turn will affect her weight gain. As the doctors always tell us it is a fine line between checks and balances when working with these litte wonders.

Addison also had some nutritional bloodwork done on Thursday, and all the results turned out fairly well. Addison showed that she had a lower protein count than the doctors like to see, so they have added additional protein powder to her breastmilk feeds in hopes to bring those counts up. Dad believes that she will be able to workout soon with this additional boost in her feeds. Doctors also tested Addison's ability to be able to reproduce her red blood cells as she grows older, as Addison had some blood transfusions while in hospital. Blood transfusions often can cause the babies body's to stop producing red blood cells on their own as they are receiving fresh red blood cells through the transfer of the fresh blood. Addison did very well as her reticlecite count for red blood cells was 450 and doctors like to see anything above 100. Nurse Debbie stated that she has never saw this high a count in a baby Addison's size in her 33 years of nursing. Gold star for Addison. Her weight gain has still been incredible and Addison is now weighing in at 3 lbs and 12 oz. Only a few more to go and she will reach the 4 pound mark. Our hopes were to have Addison at least 5 pounds by the time she may be able to come home from hospital and she may just reach that goal for us. Our fingers are crossed.

Addison has also received a cute new little butterfly friend in her isolet this past week, which is called a positional aid. This aid is propped up behind Addison's shoulders and head, which assists her in developping proper posture and spinal alignment. Babies are often laying on their backs for long periods of time in their isolets which can cause their shoulders to drop backwards and their heads as well. The butterfly helps to bring Addy's shoulders up in more rounded position and her head up so she will be able to stand up tall and straight.

Mommy and daddy continue to get some fantastic cuddle time with little Addy, and just marvel at her while she lays on their chest and in their arms. She has started to look like such a cute little baby, she really is just so beautiful. She has the perfect little mouth and ears and as JL has stated we think she is actually forming the "baby chubbies". You can see she is actually getting chubby little fingers and toes and when you can see her legs they are getting pretty round. Mom and dad have noticed that Addison has seemed to develop a red mark on her forehead just above her nose. We are not sure if this is a birth mark of sorts or some skin irritation Addison may have developped as a result of some of the equipment she had on her face for respirations. We will be watching this closely to ensure it does not develop into anything more. Dad believes it is the mark of someone special, like Harry Potter and his ligtening bolt. We are not to sure what Addison's character will be in her movies but we will let you know when we figure that out. This week Addison received a wonderful Christmas box from Nan Nan in Ottawa, with all sorts of fantastic outfits and goodies for her little granddaughter. Mom and dad could not help but dress Addison in this wonderful little red velour top with the little Panda on it. She looks soooo cute. Because of Addison's wee size the top actually fits her like a dress. Then of course during cuddles it was hat time again and Addison was sporting her wonderful pastel green knit hat that was given to us by granny, knitted by her mom. This poor little girl is going to have so many photos taken of her, she will be a regular little cover model by the age of 1.

Dropping all the Head Gear.

Addison made a great leap this week and managed to get out of her rhinoceraus head gear system, as mommy and daddy have so graciously named it. Addison was switched over to a new ventilation system, which is called High Flow oxygen. After all of her trials and tribulations of trying and not really succeeding with the Low flow system, the doctors and respiratory therapists switched her over to High Flow to see how she would do. So far so good, knock on wood, she has accomplished being on it for a day and a half. This system would be very similar to the low flow, being that it is two small prongs stuck into her nose, and no more head gear. The prongs emit a high flow of oxygen into her nasal cavity and then down to her lungs, which assists her again in keeping her lungs inflated. Addison just seems to need that extra push that a high flow can give her over the other system. Doctors say she still has a long way to go and may eventually have to come home on some type of oxygen, but we are pleased with her progress. She looks great as you can see by her pics, you can actually see her beautiful little face, mouth, hair and most of her nose. She really is so darn cute. She really loves showing off her little locks of hair that are a wonderful light blonde, almost strawberry, and almost a light brown colour in some places. Mommy could not resist though and after seeing that naked little head she had to put on some of the wonderful little hats that Addison has received. This is mommy's favourite one though with the little daisy on top, which was sent to us by a wonderful friend of Nan Nan's in Ottawa. Toooo cute!!

Addison is really becoming quite the little character and really has mommy and daddy wrapped around her little fingers. She gets lots of cuddle times with mommy and daddy these days, which the nurses say does wonders for the little miss. She gets herself snuggled right in there and will let out some little coughs and cooing noises now and again. It is amazing to hear such a little thing like that these days, we really have been waiting for this for so long. Addison continues to really grow and do well on all of her feeds, over the last two days again she gained another 75 g and is now up to 1635 g or 3 lbs and 10 oz. Some of the nurses think that Addison make actually be starting to "root" a little bit for the breast now during her cuddles as she gets herself moved right down and bend around like a little pretzel, it is hilarious to see. Then she will get bright red and a little upset as you can see her heart rate rise as she struggles to have that special bowel movement for daddy. Ha Ha. Today she had a special moment with daddy and kept reaching for daddy's chin during cuddles to try and feel daddy's rough little whiskers. It really is wonderous to watch these little beings grow before your eyes, when they should still be inside and protected by the mother's womb. They really are God's little miracles!

Mommy's First Big Girl Bath with Addison

Well Addison and mommy and daddy had a nice surprise this weekend and had a visit from the big guy himself, yep Santa made it into the NICU! He stopped to visit all the little ones that couldn't make it to the malls or the parades to see him. He was so wonderful and gentle with all the wee ones in the unit, he stopped at every isolet and cot and for those that were able to, he got pictures with them. Addison was so tickled and dressed up pretty in her posy dress for him. What a great moment to see our little one with the big guy in red, it started the Christmas spirit for us.

After all of the crappy weather again this past weekend, mommy and daddy made it to London yesterday and mommy got to give her first bath to Addison. Mommy was a little nervous as Addison is still so little and she is so afraid to hurt her or do something wrong, but all went well. Addison was a real trooper and hung in there while mommy figured out what to do. Addison did not even fuss one little bit, even when mommy turned her over and almost dunked her chin in the water. It gets easier the nurses say!!! Addison did great, mommy we are not to sure about, ha ha. The nurses again had Addison off of her oxygen and were sprinting with her, which means they only had low flow oxygen prongs in her nose. She did well for the bath and daddy only had to assist her once with oxygen. The doctors have tried sprinting with Addy a few times this past weekend and sometimes she is succesful and other times not so successful. In fact the doctors attempted to switch Addison to it completely yesterday, but this did not go so well. She lasted a few minutes and then went brachiacardic and stopped breathing so they had to put her back on her "rhinoceraus mask" system. Addison is just not ready for this and still needs the assistance of the extra high flow oxygen that her system gives her. In time it will happen no worries Addy, at your own pace little one.

After bath we got her all dried up and into her new little pink outfit from cousin Geoff , Jamie and the kids. She looked so darn cute that nurse Lisa sat her up and posed her for a pic. Dad laughed as he thinks she looks a lot like Winston Churchill!! Oh daddy.

Addison is still doing well with her feeds, even with her reflux. We haven't had to resort to medicine yet, knock on wood. The little porker is up to 3 lbs 7 oz. now and still gaining. As a result she is now up to 3 hour feeds, but still continuous for the reflux problem. What this means is that she now gets 10 cc of breastmilk every hour, so 30 cc over 3 hours, in laymens terms she is up to 6 tablespoons of breast milk over 3 hours. Not bad from where we started at 1 cc every 6 hours!!! Keep going sweetheart and you will be at that 2 kg mark in no time.

Three Pounds and Counting

Yes it is true. Our little girl has reached the 3 pound mark, in fact she has exceeded it. Addison is now weighing in at 3 lbs. 3 oz. In the last two days alone, the little porker has put on 70 g. She has officially doubled her size since she was born, can you believe it!! This is great news. As a result of her weight gain, Addison is now up to 19cc of breastmilk every two hours for feeds. Over the last few days however, the nurses have noticed that Addison seems to be having some spells (deep desaturations or brachicardyia episodes) as soon as she receives her feeds. She dips down really low on her saturation and heart rate levels and has a difficult time coming back up. We discussed this and realized that she is also coughing or having a bout of hiccups right around the same time. Nurse Kathy today thought that this may be some possible reflux in Addison's stomach on the feeds, which she burps up and then shuts down her breathing as a result of the pain. They decided to try an experiment and put Addison on a pump feed that fed the milk into her stomach over a longer period of time. This seemed to work a bit better, but she still had another episode. The doctor then decided to try Addison on continual feeds, which means she receives the 19cc of milk via a pump into her NG feeding tube over a period of 4 hours. This allows her to receive smaller amounts of milk over time, instead of the large volumes and gives her that extra period to hopefully aid in digestion. They will test this over the next 24 hours and see if there is any better results and if not we may have to look at some medicine for poor Addy's reflux, so she is in less pain. If her episodes of breathing are caused by this we want to stop the pain to help her breathe better and stop it from getting worse so she doesn't get turned off the feeding as she is obviously doing so well. Cross our fingers.

Addison had a big week this week, besides her weight gain the nurses tried "sprinting" with her. Sprinting is when the nurses take Addison off of her ventilator and put her on a nasal prong that gives her a high flow of oxygen. Addison has done this before for bath time, except with the sprinting the nurses attempt to do this for a longer period of approximately 1-2 hours to challenge the babies' breathing and their lungs. Addison tried her best, but had a bad spell while she was cuddling with daddy, and the nurses had to put her back into her isolet. The spell may have been part and parcel to Addison's reflux, however the sprinting was also a big challenge for our little girl and the nurses noted that she had a lot of desaturations after the fact on her regular ventilator. It was decided that this was too much for Addison to handle at this time and they will reassess her on Sunday to see if she can possibly try this again next week. Mom and dad are a little disappointed as they would love to see Addy succeed and get off her ventilation, but we have to understand it is small steps for Addison and at her own pace. We just want you healthy little one, and we understand you are putting up the best fight you can.

Addison also had her eyes tested on Wednesday, which is a standard test for babies at 32 weeks. Doctors are looking for any areas of the eyes that may show some damage to vessels or seperation of the retina from the wall of the eye. This is caused by either too much or too little oxygen given to these tiny little babies over the course of their stay in the hospital. The end result if there is damage, can be some form of laser surgery, partial to full loss of sight. Addison's test results came up as they would have expected for a baby her age, showing a group of vessels in both of her eyes that are growing faster than they should. The vessels are growing in a clump, and what the danger is is that they continue to do this in the same direction and at a fast rate, as opposed to growing out and around the eye for proper vision. The doctors advised that they will watch Addison closely because of this and do another eye test in the next few weeks to see the progression of these said vessels. Doctors advised that if they see a continuation of this type of growth and that the eye disease is progressing faster than it should then they will discuss options with us that may include laser surgery for Addison's eyes. We pray for Addy that it does not come to this and that her eyes can heal and the vessels grow properly over the next few weeks. God bless Addison you are a strong little fighter and we love you with all our heart and soul!

Moments in Time to Never Forget

Well we cannot believe the time that has flown by already as Addison turned 6 1/2 weeks old this weekend adjusted age and 32 weeks gestational age. We are not really to sure what age to go by as the hospital uses both ages for various measurements and milestones, etc. Where does the time go, some days it seems to go so fast and others time seems to stand still. These are the days when we get to hold our little angel in our arms, feel her breathing on our chests and hear the cute little squeaks she makes when she gets her hiccups after eating a big meal. This is the cutest sound in the world, like a little puppy squeaks when they want your attention. You could listen to it for hours. Mom and dad got the nurses to get a set of Addison's foot prints for them to keep in Addison's memory box, how precious are these little feet and all ten toes.

We had a good weekend this past weekend, Granny and Grandpa Stanbra came for a visit and helped us out tremendously. They helped fill up our freezer with tons of food and helped Dad get Addison's furniture to start to get her room set up for when she gets to come home. Thanks guys! Addison had a wonderful visit with them and she even opened her big beautiful eyes for Granny and Grandpa to see her. Granny thinks she is absolutely beautiful and we as proud parents tend to agree. Grandpa made Addison this beautiful stained glass fairy to sit on her shelf, it is absolutely beautiful and if you look closely you can see that she is holding Addison's birth stone in her hand. Thanks Grandpa an heirloom for sure.

Addison was busy too! On Saturday Nurse Debbie arrived for her shift and found Addison sound asleep in her isolet, holding her NG feeding tube in her hand! She had ripped it out of her mouth along with the tape holding it in, causing her to rip some of her skin of her face. Oouch!!! But she didn't even let out a scream and continued right on sleeping. Doctors decided to give Addison a challenge and did some changes on her ventilation system. Addison continues to be on the SiPap machine but is now only receiving a steady flow of air that assists her in keeping her lung capillaries inflated, so the lungs do not stick together. She no longer receives the extra 5 breaths every minute to remind her to breath, they are challenging her to do it on her own. Addison is managing this so far, even though she is still have some expected desaturations in her oxygen levels.

Mom and dad both got some cuddle time with Addy while they kangarooed her on seperate days. Addison continues to do well with this and seems to settle in for a good sleep. Mom and dad feel very comforted that they can do this with Addison, as they really seem to notice a change for the good in her heart rate levels, saturations and respirations. It seems whenever they put little Addison back in her isolet after a long kangaroo, she seems to wake right up and be so alert, opening her eyes and listening to mom and dad as they read her another story. Addison gave mom and dad both a surprise however, when kangarooing with both of them she let out a cry to let them know she was frustrated as she could not get her head turned the way that she wanted it. Not what most parents want to hear but her cry was music to our ears. This weekend Addison got especially dressed up in another new little outfit mommy found on the internet. This adorable pink flared dress just makes her look like such a little doll. Mommy cannot wait to shop for little Addison, it is going to be sooo much fun.

Daddy's and Mommy's First Bath

Well mommy and daddy got a great surprise this week as they both had an opportunity to interact with Addison even more and participate in giving her a bath. Every two days Addsion gets a bath, and depending on how she is feeling that day, it is either a sponge bath or a "big girl bath". Wednesday mommy got to give Addy a sponge bath right in her isolet. Nurse Lisa took Addison off her ventilator and helped her out with a flow of oxygen while mommy softly scrubbed her down with soap and water. Addison seemed not to mind it and stayed off her respirator for about another 15 minutes. Yeah Addy. She got all dried up and snuggled in with a cute little "monkey sleeper" and her Snoedel. What a little doll.

On Friday daddy was the lucky one that got to give Addison her first parent "big girl bath". No watching this time, daddy got to do it all and did a great job. He handled Addison with gentle, loving hands and talked to her throughout to keep her calm and relaxed. The big bath can be very scary and put little babies out of sorts, as preemies are not used to being out of the womb and having no boundaries to push their little hands and feet against. First Addison was stripped down and weighed coming in at a whopping 2 lbs and 12 ozs. She is growing so well with the fortified food. Only 4 more ounzes to go and she will make it to the 3 lb mark. After her weigh in, daddy got the bath ready and washed her up nice and clean. Addison decided to give dad a present and had her first poop in the bath. One of the many to come we are sure! Mommy then dried her up and tucked her in for the night in her new little outfit that Mommy got shopping on the internet. Love EBAY!!

Addison continues to do well and is maintaining good levels on her SiPap ventilator. She still has some desaturations, but the nurses stand back and give her some time before giving her any oxygen, and she manages to come back up on her levels all by herself. She is such a little trooper. She continues to feed well and seems to putting on weight accordingly to what the nurses are expecting to see from her, as she is weighed in approximately every 2 days.

Addison continues to get alot of cuddle time with mom and dad, as the nurses are very generous with allowing Addison to be removed from her isolet. Studies show that kangarooing is so beneficial to the babies and their development, and that is assists with their ability to improve on their health at this early stage of life. Mom and dad try to kangaroo with Addison at least every other day, each taking a turn to hold their little girl. It gets harder every day to have to put her back in her isolet and stop holding her, let alone leave her behind at the hospital. Holding her just makes you want more and more time with her, as every parent knows their never is enough of when your child grows before your eyes. If we can give any piece of advice going through this experience is; Love your kids and everyone around you with all your heart and don't take the little things for granted.