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!!!!!