Getting used to being at home!

We are finally getting used to being at home. It is so nice to be able to walk across the hall and see my baby girl & not have to drive to the hospital. Mallani has been a really good baby. She only gets up once in the middle of the night and most of the time she goes right back to sleep. She did have to come home on an apnea monitor, but the only time it has gone off is when her momma and daddy have set it off. Because it's so hard to get out with the monitor, the diaper bag, & the baby, we haven't left the house much other than to go to the doctors office and the lake house. But majority of the day she just sleeps like a little angel. The dogs have been really good with her too, surprisingly, because they sure are used to ruling the house... Our doctor told us to expect her to develop according to her due date & that she will catch up around 6 months after that. She weighed 5lbs 11oz at her first doctors appointment. Jim weighed himself with her and we think she weighs around 6lbs 9 oz now, so we know she is growing, and we hope and pray that she continues to do well. We are still having to go to the eye doctor on a weekly basis because her blood vessels in her eyes aren't fully developed yet. They think this was caused by all of the oxygen that she was on in the hospital. But today they did say that one eye looked a lot better, so that great news! I hope that everyone has a great week =).



Hugs ~ Lauren

Mallani is home!!!!

We'll update this with more information later, but we wanted to let you know that Mallani got to come home today (9/15/10). We're thrilled to have our little angel home. Thank you again for all of your love, support, thoughts and prayers!

Jim

Almost home!

Mallani was moved to 2K on September 9, 2010. 2K is the final step down unit of the NICU. Mallani is now bottle feeding several times a day. She still has a feeding tube in, but she's taking about half of her feedings from the bottle. She's fed every 3 hours, and she's getting 48 ml (a little over an ounce and a half). Mallani now weighs 5 lbs 10 oz.

Lauren's due date was tomorrow, 9/13/10. We're getting to spend the night in the room with Mallani tonight. It's the first time that we've had the opportunity to spend a night in the room with her. I think I may have to go home and take care of the dogs though, haha. Actually, I do have to work tomorrow, so I'll be here until midnight or so and then I'll go home to get some sleep. I've had enough of sleeping on cheap pullout beds at hospitals. The main reason I'm going home though is because Lauren told me that I could.

We're close to being able to bring Mallani home. The only real hurdle is getting her to bottle feed for every feeding for 24-48 hours. Lauren and I are hoping and praying that she'll be home within the next week. She'll be 13 weeks old on Wednesday, and we're all ready for her to come home. Again, thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers. We'll keep you updated.

Jim

11 Weeks Old Today

Today Mallani is 11 weeks old. It's really hard to believe that I would actually still be pregnant and that her debut wouldn't be for 1 more week and 4 days. Going to Baptist everyday multiple times surely has been exhausting, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Mallani has had a great week. She weighed in last night at 4lbs 13.60z. She is getting so big and is so cute. She looks a lot like Jim according to everyone that has seen her recently. She also got her nasal canula off yesterday, YAY! But they are going to monitor for the next few days to see how she does without it, so I am not going to get to excited yet. Her respiratory rate has been high, meaning that she is been breathing really fast, and if that doesn't drop down either, she will go back on the canula. Also, this afternoon they are going to start trying to bottle feed her again once a shift, so everyone please keep your fingers crossed that it goes smoothly this time. The doctor actually ordered it to be done today, so hopefully she is ready to take it. She has definitely come along way and we thank God everyday that she is with us. We appreciate everyone thoughts and prayers and hope to have our little girl home within the next few weeks.


Alison, my Dad, and Aunts Carmela, Consuela, and Torre (sorry, no picture) all took turns holding her too recently so I snapped a few pictures with my phone.