Happy 1st Birthday!

Well, as you may know by now Ryan just turned 1! It's amazing that it's already been a year. She's come a long way from her low weight of 2.3 lbs. She's now 20 pounds and healthy as can be! I decided to update her blog with a bunch of pictures and a few videos in honor of the occasion and since I've been quite the slacker in getting it updated. I think there are 8 posts total so you may have to go to the next page or use the Blog Archive links over there on the right in order to see all of them.

Here are a couple of videos of her birthday cupcake. Please forgive the awful singing or mute your computer for the beginning of the first one. :) I split it into 2 parts so that it wouldn't get rejected.

Day 10 - Sister Act 2

Before I start I want to say "Hi" to the 6th graders at Lamar Middle School in Flower Mound, Tx. Thanks for checking in on Ryan! We'd love to hear from you so feel free to leave us a comment.

Okay, so the baby is eating again today. She's still on the nasal cannula because her apnea kept setting off the breathing alarm this morning (they had taken it off). I brought the girls down again so they could see her and of course they love it. Brooke keeps telling me that she wants to take the baby home. I don't have an update on Ryan's weight cause I forgot to ask.

Here is a quick video of Madi and Brooke singing to her and at the end we go inside the Omni Bed.

Day 9 - Baby Meltdown

Okay, soooo day 9. She's back up to 2 lbs. 6 oz. but she she didn't digest her afternoon feeding so she's NPO until tomorrow morning when they will try feeding her again. They also put the Nasal Cannula back on to give her a little break. She's still just getting room air but it makes breathing a little easier. She also had a bit of a meltdown while I was there. Apparently she did not approve of the nurse trying to help her out.

Day 8 - n02

Well, Ryan hit her one week mark today. She weighs 2 lbs. 3 oz so just like every other newborn she's dropped a little weight. She should start gaining it back anytime now. I went down to see her and a few things have changed. She no longer has any oxygen on so it's straight room air for her now. They had to take the stomach tube out of her mouth and put it in through her nose because she kept grabbing it and trying to pull it out. Since she's at her week mark they put in a PICC Line and will be removing the last tube from her stomach so that it can close up.

Her bowel sounds are starting to improve so they are doubling her feedings to 4 per day which is great news. I also got to change a diaper while I was down there. You'll see in the video that the first round of decorations are up. I told them that we may well wallpaper the place by the time she goes home and they didn't act like that would be a problem.

Day 7 - Sister Act

We finally had the girls come down today to see their new baby sister. They were REALLY excited to see her as you can imagine. Brooke still hadn't quite grasped the idea that she was here already so it was good for her to see that she wasn't inside mommy anymore.

As far as the baby goes, they didn't make any major changes in her setup. She's still breathing room air and giving her nurses lots of attitude which they say is a good sign.

Day 6 - Eyes Wide Open

Okay, not exactly WIDE open, but open. I was talking to her and she kept opening her eyes to look around. I was having fun so the video runs a bit long. She is doing great. They removed her arterial today which is a tube from the umbilical cord that they continue to use for giving her blood if needed. She still has the one in her that they use to feed her vitamins and lipids. Once her bowels start to calm down they'll be able to start giving her food through the tube in her mouth/stomach.

I also got this video of her having a little fit. We made her mad the other day but you couldn't hear anything because of the breathing tube. Well not anymore. I promise I did nothing to instigate it.

I'm cheating a little on the post date and time on this one to keep things organized.

Day 5 - Blue Light Special

Ryan got an upgrade today. The light that they've been using to help her with her jaundice got switched out for a newer, more high tech LED version. That's why the video looks kinda blue and her color looks a little odd.

She's doing great on the Bubble CPAP and is still getting antibiotics but they think that will only last a couple more days since all of her blood work is coming back good. Tomorrow she'll have a brain scan done which is a normal part of the routine in the NICU. Hopefully those results will come back normal. There's never a shortage of tests with potentially scary results but so far she's passed with flying colors so that takes some of the edge off.

On a lighter note, here are some observations from the NICU staff...
- She likes her pacifier
- She hates having her diaper changed
- According to the nurse, you can tell how feisty a baby is by how many pacifiers are in their bed. Ryan already has two in there so if my math is correct, she should have around 40 by the time she comes home.
- And finally, here is a comparison of a regular newborn diaper and the diapers Ryan is wearing right now.

Day 4 - Look Ma, No Chest Tube

Well, as promised, the chest tube has been removed. The baby now has a Bubble CPAP in her nose that is feeding her slightly humid air. The stuffed hand you see in the picture is trying to hold her mouth closed so that the system works the best it possibly can. The nurse said that Ryan figured out pretty quickly that if she opened her mouth wide it took some of the pressure off and was more comfortable for her. It seems she's developing an attitude right along with her lungs.

Day 3 - Meet your Mommy

Well, today Heather was finally able to get down to the NICU to meet the baby. We dropped the side of the bed down so that she could reach her from her wheel chair and as you will see in the video, the baby wasn't exactly thrilled with us letting out all of her warm air . She'll get over it.

They didn't take the breathing tube out today but they will tomorrow if she does okay overnight. Apparently preemies can get a little too comfortable and forget to breathe so right now the tube is just adding a breath in if she skips one. The technology is amazing. She's mostly breathing on her own though and she's getting no supplemental oxygen, just what you'd get with normal room air. She's also off the dopamine which they had been using to regulate her blood pressure. Once she's breathing okay their attention turns to the heart to make sure that the Ductus Arteriosis closes off. If it doesn't, they will give her medication to try and get it to close. If that doesn't work they have to do surgery to clip it and tie it off . Her doctor said that hers is very small right now so she hopes it will take care of itself. Oh, and sorry Nanna Jones, no red hair under that hat...

Day 2 - Size

This should give you a little bit of and idea of how big the baby is. My wedding ring is on her hand and pretty much covers it. We were going to put it on her wrist but her fingers are still a little swollen from the fluids they were giving her. You can also see that the nurses finger is about the same size as Ryan's arm.

Day 2 - Noon

Took this at around noon today. The latest news is on the video.

Day 1 - Evening

Here is a video I took this evening. She was breathing okay when she was born but they had to go ahead and put in a chest tube cause she started having some trouble (not unexpected). They gave her medication to help her lungs expand and she's getting oxygen and blood pressure medication to help keep her regulated. It looks a little scary to see her plugged into 6 different machines but it's helping her get better so we'll take it. Thank goodness for modern medicine!