Precious

Emma loves to try and get her fingers in her mouth to suck on them. Today they gave her a 'binky' to suck on. I think the 'binky' is as big as she is.

Matt and I were able to spend Friday with Emma since he was off. She will finish her last dose of Neoprofen tonight and will finsh her last round of antibiotics tomorrow evening. She is still 650 grams and they are not going to increase her feedings until they can confirm the PDA is closed. The doctor listened today and said the murmur does not sound as bad, so she is thinking the PDA is closing off with this round of the medicine. They will continue to monitor this and will probably do another ECHO next week to look at the PDA and decide if she needs another round of Neoprofen. Emma continues to get her breathing treatments every 12 hours and those help with her mucous secretions. The RT (respiratory therapist) noted her mucous was not yellow/green so that is a good sign for the infection clearing up.

Emma contines to have wet and poopy diapers and her bowel sounds continue to be good. The doctor's are happy with her clinically and again she just needs to continue to grow and have her lungs develop.

My milk supply tends to be better when I am not at the hospital. They have told me of a couple of meds that I can be on, but they don't want to give those to me yet as they can have side effects which can affect Emma. Matt and I am going to try a different schedule this week to keep me at home more resting and pumping in a less stressful environment so please continue to pray for us in that area.

Again, we continue to thank everyone across the country who is praying for us. God has been so good to us and we are continually amazed by our little one. I cannot wait until I can get in there and hold her.

Blessings

Many of your have asked how big our sweet girl is, this is Matt's hand beside her. Her feet are tucked in, so next time she is on her back, I will get a picture of her beside his hand again or something else, we will have to see.
Emma Claire sleeping yesterday. She loves to be on her side or on her belly. We will have some hard habits to break WHEN we bring her home!

I love to read all of your comments and they are a source of encourgement for me.

Yesterday was another good day for us (I take everyday as a GOOD day). Her head ultrasound came back good. The Grade I brain bleed they had found (unilateral) is walling off and there was nothing else on the scan! PRAISE GOD!!!!

The chest ultrasound Emma had showed her PDA was opening up a little bit more, so they have started her on Neoprofen to close it. This will in return reduce the amount of fluid which is on her lungs. She is still on two different antibiotics for her chest infection and they will give her a few more rounds of those. Her levels of the antibiotics in her blood stream came back good and they have no need to increase the dosage. They did a blood test called CRP to check to see if the infection was localized or spreading and the number came back as 0.2 which is indictive of the infection is still localized and the doctor's were happy with that. Emma's WBC is a little high, and they are watching that to see if it gets better as she gets more antibiotics.

She continues to gain weight and yesterday she was 10 grams over her birth weight. She is still 1 lb 7 oz, but she is 650 grams.

God continues to reveal himself to us and continues to provide us blessings among the storm. I know he is here by our side step by step and day by day. When I am at the bedside of our sweet

baby girl, I continue to feel his peace surround her.

Many of you have asked how we are doing. I definitely have a roller coaster of emotions at times during to hormones and having a tiny one in the NICU. I definitely have more good and than bad days and I know those bad days are just the attack of the enemy trying to get me down. I have also had some ups and downs with pumping and staying encourged in this area can be hard for me at times. I think the stresses of everything halts my production sometimes. I continue pray for a better supply for our little girl and she is getting about half of her feedings with breast milk.

Please continue to pray for healing for our little girl as well as strength for us as we continue down this path. We cannnot wait to bring our sweet little girl home and watch her grow.

Sweet Girl

Emma does not like to keep her feet tucked in her little nest. Everything the nurses put her feet in there, she kicks them back out. She was very active yesterday and she tries to wiggle until she can get onto her side.

Yesterday was my first day to be by myself with our sweet girl. It was nice to just sit in peace and quiet with her. They are continuing to increase her feedings and she is now getting 10 cc every three hours. They were able to identify her bacteria which is causing the chest infection and they tailored the antibiotics to knock it out. The doctors think her chest X-Ray was looking a little more clear, but the infection is not completely gone.

They started her on a mist to help with the mucous secretions in her lungs and were able to loosen up the mucous and suction is out. She seemed to really like it to help with her breathing. Emma is still on the ventilator, but they are continue to lower the rate to prepare her to come off if this week.

All of her vitals are still good as far as blood pressure, temperature and she is continuing to have poopy and wet diapers. She weighs 1 lb 6 oz, so she is almost back to her birth weight! PRAISE the LORD!!

God is continues to answer our prayers with our sweet girl. When I feel like I am overwhelmed, I continue to feel his peace shroud me and keep me calm and let me know everything is going to be okay. We are so blessed and continued to be amazed by our sweet Emma Claire.

They are also going to repeat her head ultrasound as a follow up today, and we continue to believe it will be clear.Continue to pray for her weight gain, infection to be cleared up as well as her ability to be off the ventilator this week.

Praise the LORD!

Emma with her little hair bow with her head full of hair. Her nurses love to put little bows in her hair as long as she does not try and pull them out.

Emma Claire is a week old today. Matt and I spent all afternoon with our sweet baby girl and loved every minute of it. They were able to rule out sepsis since her blood cultures came back negative. They also received the cultures back on her ET tube (what is down her throat for the ventilator) and there was some bacteria on it tube, but it was minimal and they believe that to be the source of her lung infection. Emma is still on the anti-biotics for the infection and those seem to be helping as her chest X-Ray yesterday looked clearer than what it did on Friday. Her lungs are sounding better as well. Her feedings are increasing early tomorrow morning to 10 cc every three hours and they want to continue to move up on those and she tolerates them to get her stronger each day to prepare to take her off the ventilator this week. Her UAC line will be removed tomorrow which is in her belly button. They want to get this line removed as soon as possible as it could cause another source of infection. They started the caffiene back into her feedings as this will help when they try to extubate her. All in all she had a good day. Emma rested well last night and most of today. We continually praise God for everything and we continue to pray for her strength each and every day.



Matt is going back to work tomorrow and I will be going to the hospital each day to sit with her. I hope to rest in the afternoons and then be back at the hospital with Matt when he gets off work. Matt will get to spend a couple of hours with her each day and do her 5 PM feeding. Please pray for our travels are we are back and forth to the hospital and home each day. Again, thanks for all of your kind words and prayers for our family.

Daddy's Little Girl

Our sweet baby girl resting

Emma's new IV in her arm

Our sweet baby girl loves to lay on her belly or side. She does not like laying on her back at all!

Well all votes are in and Emma definitely looks like her Daddy! Yesterday they heard a murmur and her PDA opened up a little bit which caused them to look for a source of infection. They did a chest X-Ray and found a small place in the lower chamber of one of her lungs. She is currently getting two different anti-biotics to treat the infection. Today they changed out her tube to make sure that was not the source of the infection. They are going to send it for cultures to rule that out. The doctor's continue to be happy with her process and we just deal with each situation as they come up. We pray the infection will be cleared up by the anti-biotics and her PDA will close on it's own.

A little funny, I had been concerned about her number of bowel movements. Yesterday she had only had one the night before and nothing since. I kept checking each time I changed her diaper and the afternoon feeding she had a TREAT for us! She had a HUGE bowel movement which took three diapers to clean up! I guess she wanted to teach me a lesson.

Other than the infection, everything else is looking good. They want to get her over the infection before they try to extubate her later on next week. They were able to remove her UVC line (which could also cause an infection if left in too long) last night. They started an IV in her arm and she is doing well with it.

She is also getting 6 cc of breast milk and then later on tonight they are going to raise it to 7 cc. She gets feed every 3 hours, so she is tolerating those feedings and they want to continue to increase her feedings and wean her completely off the TPN. Tonight they turned her TPN down 1 cc an hour.

Again, we cannot express the thankfulness for all of the prayers and thoughts everyone has been lifting up. We are truly blessed by our families and friends. We know she is in God's hands and in his care. He has placed specific nurses and doctors in her path and those thoughts just overwhelm me at times.

God's Little Miracle

Emma without her 'sunglasses' on. Her bili level was down to 1.9 so they were able to remove the bili light.
Matt feeding Emma

Matt taking Emma's temperature

Emma has been doing great since she was born on Sunday. She has lost a couple of ounces, but that is to be expected. She has been under the bili light for a couple of days, but her levels were down, so they were able to remove the light and her 'sunglasses'. Her head ultrasound came back good and they are just going to monitor a couple of things. Today they are going to increase her feedings of breast milk/formula to 5 cc every 3 hours. She is having wet and poopy diapers and likes to move around a lot in her isolete. She has a head full of hair which is a light brown and you can see a little wave/curl in her hair! She is so precious and Matt and I cannot wait to be able to hold and cradle our little girl. They took a chest x-ray today and it was clear and they are going to try and extubate her in the morning. She has been at 15 on the ventilator which means the vent pushes 15 breaths each minute and then she is breathing really good between those pushes. She has been on room air oxygen and her sats have been in the upper 90s which is AWESOME! God is taking care of our baby girl and he has placed the right doctor's and nurses in her path.

I have been changing her diapers, taking her temperature and feeding her. She is getting mostly breast milk, but they are giving her some formula when I don't produce enough.

Matt has been off with me this week and next week, I plan on spending part of the mornings with Emma and part of the afternoon. I then plan on going to Mom and Dad's house and resting for a bit and then going to after 8 PM with Matt to see our precious baby girl.

Our prayers are for everything to keep progressing as they are and for our baby girl to start gaining weight as the weeks progress. We also pray they are able to extubate Emma in the morning and she will be able to take her own breaths and not have to be

Emma Claire's Debut

Emma Claire Warren, 1 lb 7 oz 13 inches long, born at 3:51 AM on 1/17/10

Emma Claire decided to make her grand appearance 15 weeks early. On Tuesday, I went to the doctor's office to be checked and make sure I was not having contractions. Everything checked out good and I took it easy the rest of the day. On Wednesday, I was feeling more 'growing pains' and that night they were getting unbearable. Matt and I went to the hospital and I was admitted and put on a monitor. I had already dilated to 2 cm and they gave me magnesium to stop the constractions as well as other medication. That did the trick, however, they wanted to keep me in the hospital on bed rest. I spent the remainder of Thursday and Friday (1/14 and 1/15) in Labor and Delivery. On Saturday, everything was looking good and the high risk OB and my OB decided to move me to antepartum to stay until Emma was born. I was moved Saturday afternoon and late Saturday night, Sunday morning, I started having contractions again, but they were not as hard as the ones I was having on Wednesday, but I could tell, they were harder than what I had been having.

I got up to go to the restroom on early Sunday morning and my water broke while in the bathroom and Emma was born a few minutes later. The nurses called the NICU team and they were there before the hospitalist who delivered Emma. She was footling breech, but she was not in distress at all during the delivery and I had to push twice and she was out. I heard her cry and she had a good color for being born so early. Her APGAR scores were really good as well. (6 then 8 at 5 minutes)

Matt went down with the NICU Team and Emma and I had a few issues with my placenta so I was moved back down to Labor and Delivery until that could be resolved. I was down there most of Sunday and then Sunday evening, I went and saw my sweet baby girl in the NICU and then headed back to my room for some rest.

Both sets of grandparents went back and forth to see Emma Claire on Sunday and she was holding her own. God is GREAT!