Little update

Just a litte update - last Wednesday (July 18th) Tiffany had her doctors appointment, and after pooping and peeing on the scale - she weighed in at a mighty 3lbs 15oz!! Just one ounce short of 4 pounds! I figure by now she is atleast 4lbs 2oz - she is eating like a pig - 3oz every 2 hours - except during the day, then she chooses to sleep and eat every 3-4 hours. But I'm not complaining - I'd rather lose sleep and have her home - than lose sleep and have her in the hospital! But all in all - she is doing good. I can't wait to have her in a normal carseat, the one she is currently in - is just a pain in the neck! Oh well.

Elle and Ashlee are gearing up for school. woo hoo ( I'm doing cartwheels all over the house thinking about August 13th). We've been slowly buying backpacks, paper, pencils, and all the fun crap that goes along with school. It is the most wonderful time of the year!!

We got the hospital bill for Tiffany's stay - now this is just the stay, not tests, doctors, food, etc. Just for her to use the space - her little bill came to $217,481.00. Now on top of that, we have the doctor's visits that range from $300 - $600 a day (for a 2 minute check up). Total crap. So far just on her medical stuff, our insurance has been billed $232,917.00 - she better get a job when she is 16, and pay for all her high school dances, her own car, her wedding, and college!!!!

We are going to go get pictures of the girls next week (hopefully) and I'll post those as soon. Thanks for all the emails, thoughts and prayers!

7 Weeks old - Pictures

I just took some pictures of the turkey ( okay, so I figure that we have more pictures of Tiffany in her short little life, than we have of Ashlee total - and she's getting ready to turn five!) OH - and ignore the date - Ashlee got ahold of the camera!!

Tiffany is going to the doctor today (Dr. Tami Bruce - I LOVE THIS DOCTOR) hopefully I can post later that a miracle has occurred and she's 5 pounds! Ha ha - yeah right - I'll settle for 3lbs 12oz.

Guess who's home!!

She finally made it into a real crib on Wednesday, July 11th! Hurray!! And for your information, Friday the 13th just happens to be a good day, a lucky day, a GREAT day!! I got to bring home little Tiffany which was a total surprise!! I went to the hospital to take my CPR and my other required nicu discharge classes, and when I was done, I got to bring home the little stinker! It is so fun to have her home. She sleeps, eats, poops, and well, that's about it. She came home with no monitors, no oxygen, and no other special things, just came home a normal baby.

Elle and Ashlee are happy to have her home, and Aaron is glad that I am no longer making trips to Phoenix every night. Gas is way to expensive. Ashlee thinks she is a doll, and we need to change her clothes every hour and go for walks and jump on the trampoline. She is just an over excited big sister. Elle is like - been there done that. She likes to hold her and play with her, but if cartoons are on TV, then Tiffany takes the back seat.

They gave me a special car seat for her to use. It allows her to lay down on her side or back while we drive, since her neck is so small. I think she likes to drive around, she sings when I am driving. It's kinda cute.

I gave her a bath today, and forgot how much I love the smell of baby lotion. Now I just want to sniff her all day long. I must be crazy.

We are so greatful for all the thoughts and prayers. We are so blessed to have a healthy happy little girl (that on Friday weighed 3lbs 10oz). She has a doctors appointment tomorrow, and hopefully she will be gaining some weight and doing well. Please feel free to come over and see her, just make sure that you haven't been around anyone who has been sick, and make sure to wash your hands.

Well, another week has passed by, which means we are one week closer to bringing her home!! Tiffany is doing GREAT!! One little set back – and it’s nothing to big, when they weighed her last Sunday, the nurse gave me the wrong weight – her actual weight was 3lbs 6oz. Darn. So when they did her weight last night she weighed just a smidge under 3lbs 9oz. I was hoping she would have been bigger, but, oh well.

But back to the good news. She no longer has a feeding tube and is eating like a mad women (she gets that from my side of the family). They feed her every three hours by bottle, and they are doing what is called an “at will” feeding. Basically, they fill up the bottle and let her eat as much as she wants. So far she is doing great and eating the amounts she should!! It’s so nice to have a daughter that doesn’t have tape on her face or tubes down her nose!!

The nurses have again told me that I need to get the CPR class done, get the car seat, and they have made contact with her pediatrician so when she goes home, Dr. Bruce knows what is going on. I purchased her bassinet last week, a bag of preemie diapers, and some diaper wipes, and they are all sitting in my room waiting to be used!!

Oh, her length, she is 18inches long and she is starting to chunk up (well, as much as a preemie would).

Thanks for ya’ll thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate everything!!!

Close to coming home!

Once again, I’m sorry for the delay in the posts. Life has been really crazy. Tiffany is doing GREAT!! I couldn’t be happier. Every time I go visit her they have great news to share with me. Here’s the update:

They weigh her on Sunday and Wednesday nights and on Sunday she weighed 3lbs 8oz!! Chunky Monkey! I didn’t get her length, but I’ll ask the nurses that tonight.
She is taking to the bottle really well and is increasing her feeding daily.

Sunday after church we went over as a family to get some pictures taken and I was feeding her by bottle and couldn’t figure out why she looked different, it then dawned on me that she was wearing baby clothes!! They put a little shirt on her and for some reason it made her look more like a real baby. The best part was that she spit up a little when I burped her, so I got to clean her and changer her clothes. I’ve been joking that I’m the world’s worse mother because it took me a month to finally put clothes on my baby. HA!

The nurses have been telling me that I need to get a car seat and that Aaron and I need to take the infant CPR class soon. These are good signs that she should be coming home. They estimate that she should be ready to leave, as long as she keeps doing so well, with in 2-3 weeks!! HURRAY!!

I can’t wait for her to get home and be healthy enough that I can finally tote her around and show her off to everyone!!

Thanks again for all the love and support!!