We had a doctor's visit on Monday and Sarah weighed in at 5lbs 1oz!  She's on track to be about 6lbs (if not a little more) by her due date!  We also had a quick blood test to see how she was doing and if she needed to continue on her iron supplement, and she passed!  When we finish up the bottle of vitamins she's on, we can move over to regular plain ole vitamins.  Yay!  She's sleeping a little better this week, too.  The last two nights in a row, she's had a 5 hour stretch of sleep.  Jim and I have been happy with that.  Though I must say it's a little disconcerting waking up and realizing how late it is.  She has been eating normally and happy in the mornings, so I'm not too concerned about it.  I'm not really willing to let her go past 5 hours right now, though since her belly is so little and she needs to eat. In other news, we're officially moving on from Preemie sized things!  She started leaking out of her preemie diapers...

I've always heard that having a child of your own quickly starts teaching you about the love that God has for us.  I would agree with that, and I would say that it on gets more distinct as you continue - and she's only been home a week!  When she's been crying uncontrollably, I find myself saying "I'm right here."  "I know you hurt." "I have your food right here."  "Stop crying, Momma's here."  "I know what you need."  "I need you to calm down, please."  How often is it that God is saying those exact same things to us, as we're screaming and crying and not REALLY listening?  There's a lot to chew on there, and I'm sure that will be another entry for another day. Earlier this week, we had one completely sleepless night.  She was crying out in pain from gas.  She was belching and tooting like you wouldn't believe and would cry out in pain right before doing so.  We've had nights like tha...

Well life is starting to settle into a routine around here.  Starting.  But life with an infant is never quite in a routine.  Luckily Sarah is still pretty firm on her every three hour feedings that the hospital put in place.  Every once in a while, she wants to eat after only two hours or occasionally will sleep for four hours.  We never let her go past four hours right now. We went to the pediatrician on Monday for our first routine check-up.  She was "perfect" as he said!  She weighed 4lbs 10oz and was 17.5 inches long.  We aren't on any type of quarantine situation with her at all.  We just need to limit the people who touch her and for few that get to hold her right away, we have to make sure their hands are clean!  We're going back to the doctor on Monday for another weight check-in just to make sure she's continuing to grow properly. We moved our eye appointment to Thursday morning so that it didn't conflict with Jim's work sc...

Wow!  It's been such a whirlwind start to our weekend!  We are so beyond THRILLED to say our sweet baby Sarah is home with us.  We no longer have to make multiple daily trips to the hospital nor do we have to handle her through holes in a plastic box.  We can cuddle and hold and feed and burp to our hearts content. Friday morning, we saw the nurse practitioner around 9 am or so.  She said that she looked great!  She did make an appointment for us to go visit a specialist to check her eye development.  Since she was born so early, she has a higher risk of eyesight issues.  We're praying and believing that there are no major issues found!  She has such beautiful and expressive eyes - I find it hard to believe that anything could be wrong with them.  I guess we'll find out on Tuesday. After our final session with the Lactation Consultant and working out a feeding plan for our little one, we waited until about 11:30-12ish until we were r...

Well, we're all dressed and busting to get out of the hospital.  The NICU currently has 9 babies in there.  I've been told that they normally only have 2-3 babies - so, they're a little busy!  Since Sarah is the most stable out of them all, we're last on the list...  It might be a while before we get out of here.  I'm itching to go home, put her in HER bed and piddle around in her room organizing with her actually there! Last night was a little longer than I expected.  I knew we'd be up about every 3 hours, but it was about an hour and half between starting the feeding, doing the feeding, pumping, diaper changing, getting her settled back down... and then it was time to go to sleep... for an hour and a half!  I only got about 2-2.5 hours of sleep last night with all the activity. We had bath lesson at 3 am last night.  With her being so small and her skin is so delicate, she only needs a water bath and only gets a soap bath every 2-3 days or u...

It's the guest post you've all been waiting for! Amanda is taking a break from the blog to allow her husband to fill you all in and give a few thoughts of my own. We are finally rooming in! We are spending one more night in the hospital and then going home sometime tomorrow morning. Sarah is in the room with us without any monitors or restrictions through the night. This is the last piece of the transition and is as much for us as it is for her. This is the time to make sure we know how to care for Sarah on our own throughout the night. It's hard to believe that Sarah has been here just over 6 weeks and we are finally getting our first night together. These past days and weeks have been a bittersweet journey of the joy of Sarah's arrival and the pangs constant separation. A couple times a day and every single night we've had to leave our precious baby girl in a plastic cage and in the care of strangers. Don't get me wrong, we've been so blessed to have ...

Well, yesterday when the doctor and nurse practioner made their rounds, I kept hearing the phrase "in preparation for discharge".  When I asked the nurses about it, they said it would most likely be Thursday night for us to "room in" and Friday we would be going HOME! Today, I spent the morning at the office trying to tie up some loose ends before I disappear off the work radar again for a while.  Later, when we were getting ready to leave the hospital, Jim asked some questions about what to expect for our evening rooming in on Thursday.  The nurse brought it to our attention that the doctor and nurse practitioner were talking about us actually rooming in tomorrow.  So.... I need to call first thing in the morning to confirm the plans, but it is looking like we'll be doing our rooming in TOMORROW night and we'd be going home Thursday morning-ish (or whenever we're comfortable to leave). Part of me is so, so very anxious to get her home, and another p...

Well, it's been an exciting 24 hours in the Nally household.  I'll start with the minorly frustrating, yet exciting news, that Sarah had another minor little "spell" yesterday when Jim was holding her after her bottle.  The nurse came over and was incredibly sad and said... "Well... it'll be at least another 5 days now..."  The babies have to be spell-free for at least 5 days before they'll let them come home to make sure they aren't going to do it when we come home.  It was a little sad to see her have another one of those spells, BUT the way the nurse said it, Jim and I both looked at each other like... There was a chance we'd be going home that soon??   The exciting part of that is, we're getting SO CLOSE to coming home!  The nurses and the doctors have all commented on how well she's doing and it gives us hope that we'll be under one roof in the very near future! We also went on "as indicated" feeds yesterday, so t...

Oh my goodness!  Apologies that I haven't updated in the past few days.  It has been an incredibly busy whirlwind.  Since Sarah has been eating more regularly, it means a lot more back and forth for us and a lot less time at home. 7-6-12: Trying out being swaddled for the whole day! Weight update:  Sarah was 4lbs 2oz on Wednesday and Thursday, and has been holding stead at 4lbs 5oz yesterday and today.  We just keep on growing! Feeding update:  She has been doing excellently on her feedings, taking almost all her bottles (I think there's only been one she hasn't finished!).  The nurse this morning said that she was going to talk to the doctor to issue a "as indicated" order for her bottles, as she is constantly asking for bottles, but it's not always an option for her at this point.  That would be so EXCITING!  That means, any time she wakes up at meal time and is asking for a bottle she could have one.... Which practically would be e...

Well... the exciting day has come!  We're officially FOUR POUNDS!  And that's not all, folks!  Oh no... We're also trying life without our oxygen cannula!  She's been doing SO well today off of it!  Only having dips in her oxygen level when she gets all wiggly, which is totally normal.  STILL not all you say?  She also was giving all the signs that she wanted a bottle this morning and so the nurse humored her and tried it out.  She ate 25mls of her 35ml bottle all by herself!  Today is such a happy day! She was a little too worn out and uninterested when we tried to nurse this afternoon, but as soon as she laid back in her bed she was wide awake and ready for action.  I'm looking forward to the day that they let her decide when she eats.  I feel like she's not always quite ready when the 3 hour mark rolls around and so it makes trying to make her eat really frustrating.  If I had gotten her up 30 minutes later, she would have...

This is a long post.  It's been a long 24 hours or so... I just walked in from literally being at the hospital ALL day, with a short break at lunch to grab lunch with a good friend, and a quick blitz into the mall to grab a few items that I've been desperately needing.  The nursing staff made fun of me because I was out and about before lunchtime... haha.... :P  Usually my mornings are devoted to working from home and a few house tasks around lunchtime.  Today was a different story though after last night. Last night I went back for our evening feeding.  Jim wasn't feeling great and decided to get some rest at home for the feeding.  They had told me earlier in the day that she had a few "spells" of DSAT-ing and turning blue.  (Basically, her body wasn't getting enough oxygen)  Thankfully I hadn't ever seen one of these spells.  Last night that changed though.  She started setting off the monitor like normal, but this time her color s...

Last night was excellent.  We tried our hand at nursing again, and Sarah ate HALF her dinner all by herself.  16mls was eaten, and she took 17mls through her tube.  I was very impressed!  She was awake, responsive, and actively nursing for 30 minutes.  They only stopped her because they didn't want her to wear herself out too much and also didn't want to get her off her feeding schedule too badly.  Yay for small (or big, depending on perspective) victories! Today, we've had a decent day.  Church this morning was great as always.  I'm really enjoying starting to get to know more people and feeling even more part of the family. Our feeding session this afternoon was a little rough, though.  She fought me the entire way.  She was obviously frustrated - I'm not sure if it was that she didn't understand what I wanted her to do, or if she just wasn't hungry yet.  I also think she might have been uncomfortable.  Her little body fe...