Janai Raquel - our little chatter box!

Running around

2010-09-22T13:31:00.000-05:00

These days, Janai loves to run around and be chased. This is a video that shows one of the many chasings we engage in. Enjoy!

We bought her first trycicle and Adrian put it together on Monday, so I can't wait to see her try it. We did a small trial in the kitchen, and she seemed ok with it, but she was more interested in pushing it than riding on it. My little girl caught her first stomach virus this week, so she is NOT in the mood for trying out new things right now. We hope it passes soon.

We came back from vacation to visit my brother and his wife last week and we had a blast. I will post some pictures from our trip soon.

Janai meets the family in Mexico City!

2010-06-02T17:49:00.016-05:00

So, early April we took Janai on a one-week trip to Mexico City, where I was born and raised until I was 16 years old. I don't see my family and friends there as often as I wish, but when I visit, it is always so much fun and I wish I could go visit more often. I cherish every moment I spend with them, and I was soooo excited about them meeting Janai and Janai meeting them for the first time.

For those of you familiar with Mexico City, we were actually in the Estado de Mexico, but I dont want to write a geography lesson, so Mexico City is enough location information for our purposes.

In the meantime, while we were in MEX, we hired a contractor to do some home improvement to the house while we were gone. The project included refloating all the walls to make them smooth and repaint... the ENTIRE house. I could not stand the splatter texture and bland wall colors any longer! We decided this was the best time to go on vacation so half the house would be finished and livable by the time we came back. I'll have to post about that later, but redecoration and reorganizing has been one BIG project.

So, back to our trip, yeah?....

The trip was WONDERFUL! I loved seeing and hanging out with everyone. Naturally, when we were about to leave, it felt like it wasn't enough time. Janai loved everyone and everyone loved her! WARNING: Bragging begins here: Janai is a hit almost everywhere we go; she's so talkative, playful and friendly that it's easy for people to fall in love with her; and of course, she loves the attention. End of bragging.

The platter of choice was tamales. We ate tamales EVERY day, and some days, twice in the same day. Adrian probably had more tamales that week than he had his whole life. Of course, we had sopes and huaraches and other things in between, but eating my Tia Raquel's tamales is beyond this world. You would have to taste them to know, but take my word. And my Tia Hermila's tamales our out of this world too. They both make different kinds of tamales, corn leaves vs banana leaves and they are equally delicious in their own right.

Tia Raquel and Tio Fernando hosted a party at their house in our honor, and they hired a Trio to come sing at the party. My parents and aunts/uncles were thrilled because the Trio had an original member of a band that was very popular in their day called Dandys (sp). Afterwards, we danced our hearts away. They served dinner at the beginning of the party and late dinner towards the end of the party. It was great to catch up with Tia Hermila, Araceli (and meet his very cool boyfriend), Claudia and her husband, Sebastian, Elvia, Hector, Paola Sofia, Armando, Maricela, Tio Efren, Roberto and his very nice wife and two kids. Roberto's wife really wants to learn English so was thrilled to hear Adrian and I talk to Janai. Of course, my cousin Lulu, with whom I grew up, and her husband Abel were there too - it was great to see their daughters Abi, who was a toddler the last time I saw her, and Pam who is now married! How time flies! Oh, and my niece Karla, who I mostly remember from she started walking was at the party too with her husband and their baby boy. These young nieces are what make me realize I'm getting old!!! LOL

Adrian was the acclaimed dance partner of all the women at the party. You can easily say they were all waiting their turn to take him out to dance. One of the many things that I love about Adrian is that he loves to dance...doesn't matter what kind of music it is or if he knows how to dance it.

One of the missions I had while I was there was to continue redecorating my Mom's house and start redecorating my Tia Raquel's house. My Mom's house just needs a few more touches to be done, and redecorating the living room and dining room for my Tia R was a success! Everyone is still complementing her home with the changes. I can't take the credit alone... my Dad helped to drill new holes, Adrian helped hold the frames for my Mom, my Tia and myself to decide if we liked it there. Then, Adrian and I refinished a wooden china display to a color that matched better. I'm glad that my Tia allowed me to play with a few ideas in restaging the rooms and that she allowed us to refinish the wooden display because that has set me on a roll to do a lot of projects for the house here in Houston.

I also got to meet Brenda, Marco's significant other, and her Mom and sisters. Brenda is a great gal, and her kids are adorable! Janai was infatuated with her oldest boy, Diego! Janai also clicked really well with the son of one of my childhood friends, Gilberto. Gilberto and his wife Lea have a little boy, Becker, who was so sweet to Janai. Lea showed Janai a song that is possibly the cutest song ever and Janai and I love singing it together. I'll have to share video later.

We also got to hang out with Arita and Herme and Tio Daza, whom have been friends of the family for a looooong time, so they feel like family to us. Well, Arita is family now because, her daughter, Tania is my dear sister in law.

And of course, I can't close without mentioning that it is always so GREAT to catch up with my old best friend, Keren. How I wish we could talk and see each other more frequently. I love her and miss her every day since we moved to the US.

Without further ado, here are some pictures of the party:

Karaoke

2010-06-01T17:23:00.003-05:00

A couple of months ago, beginning of March, actually, Aidee and Tomas invited us to their home for a fun evening along with another couple of friends, Vikki and Luis and their baby girl Valeria. Aidee and Tomas' baby girl, Amanda, was not very happy that Mommy wasn't around to hold her all the time, but she was a great hostess to all of us as well nevertheless. Actually, Amanda, Valeria and Janai were great sports! We had great food and karaoked the rest of the evening! It was sooo much fun!

You might not know this, but Adrian does not sing. The only thing he has ever sang to me is the ABC. Period. He says he cannot sing, but I could not testify to that because I had never been grazed with his singing efforts. Well... you'll have to judge for yourself on the below video. Adrian and Tomas were singing Billie Jean by Michael Jackson and both of them stroke some MJ moves!

My parents got down too! At first, they were all shy, but soon after, you had to fight to get the microphone away from them! You can meet Vikki, Luis and Valeria here:

Janai was part of the choreography for the Billie Jean song. My nosy girl wants to be in everything....just like her Momma!

Fortunately, the camera ran out of battery and we could not record when Aidee and I, and also when my Mom and I, sang songs. But I can assure you that our songs were GRREATTT!!!! Shakira would be ashamed of herself if she heard us sing! LOL!

Unfortunately, Amanda is not featured on these videos b/c she was taking a nap.

New guitar!

2010-03-15T17:58:00.003-05:00

We took Janai to Toys R Us for the first time. We werent there to buy a toy for her, per se, because she already has enough that the playroom has overspilled to the living room, but we walked out of there with 3 new toys for her.

While we looked around, I picked up this little guitar just to keep her busy. She LOVES musical toys much more than balls, teddy bears, dolls, etc. If it plays music, she' game for it. She loved this little guitar so much, that she would not let the cashier take the box to scan it. So much that Grandpa put her in the carseat and took her out of the carseat while she continued to hold the box and play with the guitar. So much that we could not take the guitar out of the box until we distracted her long enough after we got home. So much that she just had to lick it!

We are sure enjoying the sunny days!

Dancing!

2010-02-16T17:13:00.003-06:00

Janai and I were dancing to a Discovery Kids video on TV. She was so excited that we couldn't help but record it. She wouldn't dance if I wasn't dancing, so I'm a co-star in the video. We just love playing silly, can't you tell?! The volume on the TV is low so you can hardly hear it the music, but I swear we were in fact dancing to the music! She loves turning and then gets so dizzy; it's hillarious!

Videos

2010-02-16T15:18:00.004-06:00

We had a great weekend. I was off for Presidents Day so we did a lot of spring cleaning and organization. It's amazing that in only 19 months (since Janai's birth), we have accumulated sooo many things. I've been in this "clean" frenzy where I just want to throw everything away! LOL. Adrian keeps joking that we gotta be careful that I dont mistakenly throw him and Janai away. Meanwhile, Janai went to the playground with Daddy on Saturday while Mommy, Grandma and Grandpa finished organizing the garage. She came back so exhausted that instead of crashing in bed, she was wired for 1.5 hrs after her bedtime.

Anyways, here are some recent videos, as I promised:

Her first 3 steps in early November. Excuse my excitement, but I was just so happy.

Children's Festival Nov/14/2009. Janai's first concert: Barney, nonetheless! <= Adrian's favorite!!! LOL

Counting to 10 and more:

With Daddy:

Wearing Grandma's (aka Tita and Tati) sandals:

Some words and sounds, part 1:

Some words and sounds, part 2:

We're back!

2010-02-12T15:37:00.009-06:00

Hi everyone!

Long time. Busy, busy. Janai is doing great. It's been 7 months since I posted. From the last post until now, a lot has happened, but it would take me another 7 months to catch up, so I decided to pick up from today and go forward or else I'll never post again! lol

Janai is now 19 months old, 16 adjusted. Size wise, she's a big 19 month old. Development-wise, she's somewhere in between. When people ask her age, I just say she's around 1.5 years (saves the explanation!) She's starting to interact with kids and really seems to enjoy it. She started walking late November; she's still kind of clumsy but getting better. She loves running around. We're kind of tired of this weather because she wants to go outside so bad. She is a talker (that's how you know she's my daughter!) and the little queen of the house! She's already thrown a few tantrums, but she's also blowing kisses and waving buh-bye, calling the sounds of some animals, and counts to 10.

Thank God, Janai's been released of most specialists except for one that I hope will release us this month. ECI stopped coming last November as well. We have a new Pediatrician, Dr. Greeley, who is awesome; she is pleased with Janai's progress in all areas. Janai did get hospitalized around October because her first cold ever quickly turned into croup; they thought it was the flu, but never really got a positive flu result.

Without further ado, here are some recent pics of Janai:

These were from our trip to Monterrey in July 2009:

Janai with Uncle Erick and Aunt Tania:

These are recent:

With a gift from Tia Raquel (Gracias!) Dec 2009:

Counting numbers with Dadda last weekend:

Still loves her Sing Along Stage...and anything else with a mirror:

She's still trying to chase me when she sees me with a camera:

I get her to pose while I hide the camera, as soon as she sees the camera, she runs for it...like here:

She managed to delete like 1000 pictures from an SD card when she got a hold of the camera and started pressing buttons and accidentally hit "format card" :-( (sighs!)

On the "phone":

Her new thing, dragging purses:

These are a little older, from July - Nov:

First baseball game. She fell asleep just as we parked and continued asleep for about 30 minutes into the game:

After she woke up:

With Mami at the Convention:

First time in pool:

Playing with Daddy's X-Box:

She LOVES talking on the phone:

With "Tita":

I will post videos next time. After all, lately we take more videos than pictures. Adrian and I took a trip in December, so I'll post some pics from that too!

God bless all of you!

Nursery

2010-02-11T22:01:00.000-06:00

Did I ever post pictures of the nursery? My friend asked me that, and I guess I didnt. This is what it used to look like. Then, we ordered a bookcase, so it's a little bit different, but pretty much the same elements:

This above looks different now because the bookcase is where the nightstand used to be located, and the rocking chair is the right by the closet. In all this time, you'd think there'd be more pictures, but I dont have any other pics that show the nursery for now.

I found a NICU Photo

2009-07-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

I found a photo in Janai's book with two of our favorite former nurses in the NICU, and I thought I should dedicate a post to thanking all the staff. Perhaps this Thank You post is a bit late, but just because I havent created a post, it doesnt mean I dont think about them often, you know ;-). We appreciated their help, knowledge and caring during those difficult times. We always will.

Our daytime primary nurses in NICU level 2 were: Jean, Kim and Lorri. The three of them were so sweet and it made me feel comfortable that these ladies were taking care of my baby. Jean had a preemie baby boy as well (many years ago), Kim was the mother of two baby boys, and Lorri looked so young, yet she already had a grandson. I felt I could relate to them in some way, and I respected how very carefully and lovingly they took care of my baby girl. They showed us how to take care of Janai's diapers, clothing, etc, etc.

Our evening primary nurses in NICU level 2 were: Alveena and Vivian. Vivian was very sweet and explained to us anything we asked. Alveena was equally helpful and sweet. She advocated for us holding Janai as much as possible. She took care of Janai during some of her worst days. Alveena was of so much support to us, and I looked forward every morning to speaking with her to see how my little girl had done for the night.

Although Glenda never became our primary nurse, we saw her almost every night as she worked in the same area as Alveena. Glenda took care of Janai a few times, and it was Glenda who was with me when I gave Janai her first bath. Anessa was with us when Hurricane Ike stroke. She showed me burping and feeding techniques. She made feedings seems so easy when they felt overwhelming to me.

I still keep in touch with Jean, and I so wish I could get in touch with the rest of our former nurses. They're a very important part of Janai's beginning.

We had several nurses during our NICU level 3 stay, but never a primary. They were all great, however. I dearly remember the good spirits of Charlotte & Terry. Terry definitely got good training with Janai. Charlotte always had a way to make us smile, which was so needed and welcomed. I remember Nisa, very sweet. I remember Mary, and Indian lady who was so sweet to us when Janai was first born. Mae, I loved her. She had a smile and a air of security that gave me strength. She's the one who was with me when I changed Janai's first diaper. During one of Janai's roughest nights, where my Mom and I stayed by her bedside the whole night, there was a very sweet nurse who would help us wake Janai up so that she would continue breathing. I only saw her that night and her name escapes me, but I thank her for my daughter's life. There was a Asian lady nurse who took care of Janai the last few days that were in level 3, and we were going to ask for her to become our primary when all of sudden, they sent us upstairs to level 2. Her name escapes me, but I appreciated her loving care to my little girl so much. Our scariest moments were in level 3 NICU, and while the names escape me at the moment, I remember their faces and I thank them so very much, and God, for the help and support they gave to us and Janai.

And my favorite Neonatologist, of course, was Dr. Finkowski. She always had a smile and always seemed upbeat, which was something we needed during those exhausting days. She once followed my hunch about Janai and because of that we were able to catch an infection in its early stages. Dr. Gee was great as well... I liked his relaxed approach at explaining things to us. Dr. Jarriel is who I thank for having me fortify my breast milk...thanks to that, I have a chunky girl at home. Dr. deVille...well... I didnt like her at first, but she grew on me; she was very good and pushed to help Janai come home to us as soon as possible. Dr. de Guzman...well...I'm sure she's a smart lady in her own right. I just don't like that she never listened to me and she blew off my concerns. I almost specifically asked not to have her treat my daughter, but Janai was discharged soon after that, so I didnt bother. Dr. Thompson was very sweet, but we didnt have much interaction with her. Dr. Hernandez is who I thank for treating Janai's liver problems and brining Dr. Krishna in the picture. I love Dr. Krishna, too. He's sooo smart. Dr. Coats saw her in the NICU as well. I never met him while in the NICU, until after we were discharged. I love his friendly and upbeat approach to babies.

They are the people that I remember, at the moment, but I'm sure there's many more. I thank them, and I thank God for them. Here's a picture of Alveena and Jean holding Janai on her last day in the NICU before she came home:

No

2009-06-26T16:16:00.004-05:00

Janai was not having a very good day yesterday. I just have to say 4 words: Teething is a nightmare!!! For Janai and for all of us.

I got home from work and she woke up from a nap in a very cranky mood. Mom said she was cranky all day. Adrian went to the pharmacy for some oragel and I also gave her some homeopathic teething tablets. After about 15 minutes, she was a different baby. She was even willing to eat bananas! Eating solids for the last two weeks has not been her favorite thing; she's gotten pickier about the texture of the food, probably due to feeling cranky because of the teething pain. We can "hear" the teeth when she bits on a metallic spoon, but we can't see them yet.

Anyway, after Janai got in a better mood and after having some yummy bananas, I asked "Do you want more?". She didn't look like she wanted more, so I shook my head and said "nooooooo?". In reply, she shook her head back at me! Ok, ok... she probably doesnt know she's saying No, but the point is that she's imitating the movement. I was so happy, and I thought it was so cute, so I called Adrian and my parents over to enjoy the view too! I tried to show her how to say "Si", but she said No! LOL!

This is when I tried to get her to nod "Si":

Pictures, Pictures!

2009-06-26T15:31:00.005-05:00

Here is Janai having some fun restling with Daddy!

....and also playing the X-Box with him...

She is ready for pictures anytime! She loves posing (and eating) the camera! This is her modeling a gown at the Derm office:

This was Janai modeling the wires that were hooked up to her head for the EEG test:

Pulling up to stand already!

2009-06-16T16:56:00.012-05:00

Janai seems to be making some big developments in such short period of time. This past weekend, she started pulling up. And I coincidentally happened to catch it on video.

We had the EEG test done and everything was great! No epilepsy. She hasn't had any more of those "shaking" events either, so it might have been something related to her inmature nervous system. Boooyy!! Was she mad when they were putting the cables for the EEG!!!! She cried the entire time that the technician was setting them up like if she was being tortured. It was so hard. My Mom had to walk out, and I almost wanted to cry and get us out of there. She was supposed to fall asleep for the test, which I thought would be hard, but after all that crying, she did fall asleep. It took her a little while b/c she still cried for another 15 minutes after the technician stepped out to let me get her to fall asleep. I was exhausted after that appointment, and so was she!

We had a stomach ultrasound on Friday to check on the kidney and liver stones. The kidneys are clear, woohoo! The liver stone might take years to complete vanish. There's a cyst that they had seen in the first ultrasound that is significantly reduced in size. When the doctor came in to re-take some images, we talked about Janai's future Endo appointment, so she took a quick view at Janai's ovaries. She found the left ovary, but couldnt find the right one...at least not in the correct place. She thinks that ovary might be further out than it should be because it might have been the one that contained the cyst. It's all preliminary, but I'm praying to God that it's nothing bad.

Last, we also had another appointment on Friday with Dr Coats. He is so nice, and Janai seemed to love the test. I thought it would be a test like those they did at the NICU for ROP, and I was dreading it, but there were actually no tears involved. She checked out with perfect vision. No more visits to the Eye doctor unless something comes up!!! Woohooo!

The rash on her skin hasn't cleared up. I took her to the Pedi again and she said that it might be a rash due to crawling and the fact that she's rubbing off the natural oils on her skin on the floor. She said to put lotion 6-8 times per day, plus Aquafor ointment at night. We've done it for one week, and it's not better. I'm taking her directly to Texas Childrens to have an actual Derm check it out. Sigh! I just want to go one month with no doctor appointments!!! :-)

And here are more pictures:

This is Janai being a big girl during her ultrasound! You can see Daddy's arm next to her, who went with us to Friday's appointment. It was nice for him to see what goes on during a Doctor's day.

Practicing for when she gets her first car!

Looking at the fish and making friends with a baby girl at TCH!

Posing with Dr Coats:

Helping Grandpa to mop the floor. Learning from the pro!

Ready for the meeting:

We were trying to get her to sit up, but she wanted to grab the camera:

We gave her a toy to get her to sit still, but she looked at it like "yeah right!"

and she went for the camera again!

Janai just loves her new toy. She sees herself in the mirror and it's laughter non-stop (thanks for the name of the toy Brinson and Lisa!)

You all have a great week!

First sick visit to Doctor

2009-06-04T12:36:00.002-05:00

Two weekends ago, on Memorial Day weekend, we took Janai to the Pedi on a Saturday appointment because of a rash on her body. It was her first visit to the Pedi for something other than a well visit, and we were there for 3 hours!!!!!

I thought her rash was an allergy to the carpet since she's on the floor a lot more now, but the Pedi thought it was a virus that she caught, and the virus' secretion of toxins gave her a rash. She said that the rash will clear up on its own. I've heard it can take a while for the little bumps to go away. If they dont clear in another week, I guess we're going back to see the doc. :-( I tell ya, we all got sick on Memorial Day weekend. Adrian, my Dad and I got a bad cold, and my Mom had bad stomach pain due to her gastritis. I'm glad we're all recovering. My Mom is still struggling with stomach problems, but I hope they resolve soon.

She is crawling!

2009-06-02T16:21:00.006-05:00

Here is a video of Janai's first day of crawling. I have two videos but the other one is over the size limit :-(

We thought she was crawling in pursuit of one of her favorite toys (an empty Ozarka bottle with a few beans inside...who needs expensive toys, right?), but she was actually in pursuit of the camera. As you can see, her legs can go faster than her arms, but she's getting the hang of it.

Enjoy!

Professional Photos on 3/21/09

2009-06-01T14:48:00.003-05:00

So we hired Alvaro, a professional photographer from Ecoss Photography, to come take a few snapshots of Janai and the family. We loved the experience! Forget pics at a studio when you can have a prof photographer come to your home! It was so much easier and a lot more fun than when we went to JCP last November.

Janai was taking a nap when Alvaro arrived to the house to set everything up. Her nap was over about the time that Alvaro got done, so I dressed her and we took pics for about one hour. She was happy the entire time in her own familiar surroundings with all the people she loves, which made the smiles come more abundantly.

Towards the end of the session, we did have a steal a trick from Brinson's Mommy, Lisa, because Janai was getting a bit tired of laughing for us, so I said "asparagus!", and it worked! Janai cracked up every time I said it. Thank you Brinson and Lisa!!!!!

Here's a link to the photos:

Today is 6/1/2009 (2 months after the photo session), and we have yet to decide which will be our print outs, but Adrian and I have finally settled on nine poses. We're making progress! :-)

In other news, Janai officially CRAWLED yesterday! She's not quite a pro at it yet, but she finally did it... just like that...out of the blues! That's the way kids do everything, right? When you least expect it; when you dont have batteries in the iFlip; and when you can't find the camera. Sighs! Well, I eventually found the camera and we were able to brive Janai into doing it again. I will post that video this evening or tomorrow.

Happy June everyone!

April and Mid-May Update

2009-05-14T17:00:00.003-05:00

It's been almost two months since I posted. So much has happened. Let's see if I can sum it up in a few words.

Well...Janai is doing great. I can't believe she's already 10 months old (7 months adjusted). She was at 20 lbs about a month ago and measured 28 inches. In my opinion, she has gotten so big! It's amazing to me how much she has grown. We have yet to do the EEG test of her brain. At her last visit to the Pedi, the doctor sent us to see an Endocrinologist. We are in need to rule out Precocious Puberty due to a few things that have been showing in her body. I don't think it's anything serious, but we gotta get it checked out. The hearing test came back great! I knew that! All they had to ask me was "can she hear well?", and I would've said "more than well... she hears too much!!!" She was sedated with some oral meds, but she only lasted asleep about 20 minutes. You cannot keep this child asleep very long during the day...apparently not even under the influence of drugs! She's so active all the time.

The eating department is a fluctuating topic. One week, she finishes all her bottles willingly, and the next week, she wont take but half of her bottles. Dr Krishna said to keep offering and not to stress too much over it. At this point, he said it should be fine if she eats at least 16oz of milk per day. She eats more than that, even on her "bad girl" days. She's eating solids three times per day, about 2 ounces of solids each time. We're supposed to start chicken already, I just haven't offered it yet. She seems to enjoy solids a lot more than milk, although, I tried offering finely chopped carrots and she gagged and got mad. I hope we're not facing a food texture aversion. We're going to keep trying.

We are going out a lot more now. Although, the swine flu did scare me enough that we almost went back to house arrest. We're taking precautions but we have not confined ourselves completely. Many times, we just bring her along to run errands, but we dont really get out of the car. She loves it though! And now that's she's getting used to seeing people, she seems to really enjoy it. She is one smiley baby when people talk to her. Now...if they try to hold her that's a different story. She does not like for strangers to hold her, which is normal for this age, right? As long as people stay away, she's super smiley and friendly.

Janai is getting very mobile. She's got the rolling over down! She's not quite sitting on her own without support, but we're workign on it. Now that she's rolling and too curious in the world, she trying to crawl. She started to do some kind of army crawl, per se. She plumps her booty in the air while her shoulders are on the floor and then she pushes forward. In the last few days, she gets on her knees and her elbows and rocks. Here and there, she'll go from this position and propel herself with her knees as if she did a little frog jump. hey...it works to get here where she wants to go. Yesterday, I saw she was on her knees and hands, but only for a few seconds before she got down to her elbows. She hasn't quite figured out that she can move her knees and hands/elbows simoultaneously. It's cute to see her try, though! I've been working a lot lately, so a lot of these updates come from what my Mom tells me. I truly treasure when I get to see her progress personally! Thankfully, work seems to be a little less crazy these days, so I'm again spending a lot more time with her.

On Adrian's news, he got the permanent job with BAE Systems! We're very excited and thankful. Since he works in Sealy and I work in downtown, we have decided we're going to stick around Katy, so we're in the mid-distance of both our jobs We're thinking we might get a new home that can fit all of us better in this area . Time will tell.

My parents went to visit my brother Erick and his wife Tania in April. We were going to go, but Janai needs a passport. We're working on the passport thing now. Once the whole swine flu thing is over, we hope to visit Erick and Tania soon. I miss my brother so much! I haven't seen him in over a year now...since before I got pregnant! Too long!

About a month and a half ago, we hired a photographer to come to the house and take prof. photos. We loved the entire experience and we absolutely loved all the pictures. It was much better than going to JCPenney, and it cost just about the same. We had a great time. The CD with all the pictures is at home, but as soon as I can turn on the computer at home, I will share a few.

Finally, here are a few pics and videos from my camera:

Bath time!

Going to the mall with Mom!

I'm falling but my Grandma is rescuing me!

Let me pretend I'm playing a guitar:

Napping with Daddy:

Napping in my crib:

Working on rolling over with Daddy:

At the restaurant with Mommi and Daddy modeling my first sandals!

With Mommy:

Looking fly with my sunshades!

This is the only time I was able to keep my sunglasses on. Now, I just want to take them off and eat them!

This is Janai about 3 weeks ago still trying to master her rollover:

This is from yesterday. She's got the rolling over, now working on crawling:

Dancing to the music:

Self-feeding bananas for the first time:

We sneaked out of the house!

2009-03-13T18:08:00.004-05:00

We are so tired of house arrest until RSV season is over. We have been really good at not going anywhere, except for the doctor's office. But on this day, we decided to go to Katy Mills. We figured that if it looked crowded, we'd get out. Surprisingly, it was pretty empty... yay for us! Janai had a great time, and we did too! She didnt get scared by the elephant behind her. The rest are random photos

In these pictures, Janai had woken up from a nap and I found her with her paci suctioned on to her cheek! It was so cute because she woke up looking for her paci, but she obviuosly couldnt find it!

You can see the "hickey" from the paci here:

February was a GREAT month!

2009-03-02T22:00:00.000-06:00

Hello all,

This past month has definitely been full of developments for Janai. I'm so excited to share the news. I can't thank God enough for all the progress our Janai has made.

You might remember from a previous post, that Janai was only eating IF she was dream-fed, or fed while asleep. Well, I'm happy to report that the issue has been "somewhat" resolved. Yes, somewhat. But at this point, "somewhat" resolved has made our lives soooo much easier. So, I'll take that!

Like I said, she's eating consciously again. I guess the problem was that we were trying to feed her too often, and she wasnt hungry. We were feeding her every 3-4 hours. She now eats every 4-5 hours. At first, she still ate the same amount of milk (5-6 ounces), but she is now able to consume about 7ounces per feed; sometimes a whole 8 ounces....woohooo! Granted, there are times that she is only willing to eat 4 ounces, but that is when she has choking spells. When that happens, she is usually hungry much earlier; so, it compensates. In total, she eats less than she used to, but she seems happy as is. She used to eat 30-35oz per day. Now she averages 25oz per day. Dr. Krishna was so good at calming my fear that she was becoming "afraid" of the bottle, and he convinced me to relax about it. Thank you! Thank you, Dr Krishna! I was worried that she would not gain enough weight, but at her last well-visit to the Dr. Rossell, Janai showed good weight gain, so I'm pleased. We still struggle sometimes, but it's MUCH better than before.

As of Feb 1st, she started solids too. She started with sweet potatoes. She loves them! She's getting a bit better at it each day. My Mom feeds her during the week, and I get to practice on the weekends. I used to think it would be easy to feed her, but it is challenging to get the food far back enough in her mouth so that she swallows it rather than spit it back at me. And there's been quite a few times that she amuses herself by spraying the food back at me! Gotta love raspberries! So, I'm happy to report, I'm getting better at feeding her each time, too.

She is THIIIIIS close to rolling over, too. She turns to both sides easily. If I offer her my hand, she'll grab it and roll over (front to back) on her own without me having to pull her. She's able to stay on her tummy a lot longer too.

Janai is also very alert... aka nosy! So, she loves to sit up to see everything that is going on. The smallest sound or object moving, and she's on it! Just like her Momma! She's getting pretty good at holding her head. Her back is still wobbly when she's sitting up, but she demands to be sitting rather than laying down. So, we got her a bumbo chair last week, which she uses a few minutes a day. She seems to enjoy it. She looks so cute in it!

She started laughing too! It makes us feel so happy when we hear her laugh. Adrian is constantly blowing kisses at her, which makes her laugh every time! My parents, Adrian and I cant seem to get enough of her laughter! I never thought I would feel so much joy with something so simple! We are so blessed that in the grand scheme of things, she is doing wonderful!!

Oh! We finally put her in the jumperoo too. She loves that thing! (even though she looks pretty bored on the below jumperoo picture. ha!)

Medical Updates: Last, we had a swallow study. I could write a whole post over that visit, but won't do that. In short, we waited 2 hours before they started the study. Needless to say, Janai did not cooperate. She was so mad. She swallowed some forced liquid about 8 times. The "study" showed that her swallow issues are ok now as she didnt aspirate despite the fact that she was crying. I'm not comfortable with those results as she still has chokind spells, and I think they couldnt make a true assesment based on 8 swallows. So, I'm hoping the doctor will repeat.

Another medical update: at the last well-visit, we mentioned to Dr. Rossell that, twice now, when Janai has gotten scared from an unexpected noise, her head sort of shakes for a few seconds. It has lasted maybe about 15 seconds each time. The doctor wants to rule out any convulsions (epilepsy), so Janai is going to have an EEG (electroencephalogram) in the near future. I'm hoping everything turns out OK from this.

Last in medical updates: we have the last RSV shot in March, a hearing test in April, eye exam in June, and Developmental review in July.

Let's see... what else? what else? Oh yeah! She's is officially sleeping in her own bedroom! As of February 15th, actually. I slept on the floor in her room the first week though. It was a bit hard to dettach, but I'm happy to report that I'm back in my bed, and she still sleeping in her crib. She's so much better there because she has so much room to more around and she gets distracted with the wall and her mobile, etc. Plus, her sleep is not disrupted as it was when she was in the co-sleeper in our room. It's a bit hard to wake up and walk to her room, but it doesnt happen too often. Adrian and I take turns to go attend to her if she doesnt go back to sleep on her own. She's sleeping about between 8-10 hours a night now! Woooohooo!!! Sleep anyone??? I'm still pumping, and I pump after she goes to sleep, but I'm getting more sleep than before. Thank God!! Now, I can repeat what other parents say "It does get better!".

....and.... at last...after this long story (like I ever write short notes, huh!).... the pictures: here you go! Enjoy!

Carseat pictures - before and after

2009-01-13T21:49:00.000-06:00

I was thinking the other day how much my little girl has grown, so I thought I'd share this....

I found some pictures that the nurses took with a disposable camera that we kept by Janai while she was in the NICU. One of the pictures was taken when Janai was having her carseat test (shortly before the doctors tell you that you baby is ready to go home, the nurse puts baby in the carseat for 30 minutes and checks how baby's heartbeat and breathing do - this is to make sure that the baby will be OK on the ride home). At the time of the carseat test, Janai had been in the NICU for almost 3 months and she weighed 6lbs. She came home two days after this picture.

Next, you'll see a picture I took on Dec27, a little over three months since Janai has been at home. She has grown so much! She's over twice the size as the first picture, and seven times bigger than when she was born. Thank God she is doing well! She's my very own living miracle!

She's over 14lbs now!!!!

2009-01-09T17:23:00.004-06:00

Hello!

Well… Janai had her 3rd synagis injection (aka RSV shot) on Dec 24th. She did great! Of course she cried, but she recovered quite quickly. I’m so proud of her! The less she cries, the less it breaks my heart when she gets the shot. I know she needs it, but seeing her get injections doesn’t seem to get easier.

My biggest surprise was her weight. For her RSV shot in November, she was 11lbs 7oz. So, I thought she was going to be somewhere around 13lbs now. To my surprise, she weighed a whooping 14lbs 10oz. That means she gained 3lbs in just one month!! I was happy and a worried. Being a first time Mom, everything worries me (hja!). I had no idea if that much weight gain was ok, so I called the Pedi. She said that it was Ok for a Preemie to have big gains in order to catch up with other babies her age. So...wooohooo!

Currently Janai's 6mos old (actual age) and 3mos (adjusted age). Development-wise, she's right in line with a 3 month old. Size-wise, she seems big for a 3 month old, but too small for 6 months. Maybe she looks about 4months old.

We’ll see how the weight gain trend will go because since the beginning of the year, we basically have to fight Janai to get her to eat. Many times, we have to get her to fall asleep so we can actually feed her; otherwise the milk will end up in her hair, forehead, cheeks and burp cloth except her belly. She doesn’t seem to be in pain, so I don’t think she’s refluxing. She just wants to play, and when she's done playing, she wants to fall asleep and wants nothing to do with the bottle. We are spacing out the bottles a bit b/c we figured she’s not as hungry, so she is already taking one less bottle than she took before. I thought that once the feedings were farther apart, Janai would increase her intake per bottle, but that’s not the case. So, she’s gone down from taking 35oz/day to about 28-30oz a day. Therefore, I don’t expect she’ll gain a lot of weight this month. I too called the Pediatrician over this issue and she says that 30oz/day (even as little as 25oz/day) is still fine. So… I just gotta “hurry up and wait” and see how she gains this month. I’m reminded every day that I’m really not in control, and that I have to follow her cues. She knows when and how much to eat, but it’s hard to let go! :-)

On better news, my Janai is getting so good at batting the toys in her play mat, and she loves to suck her hand... when she can keep in there long enough! :-) She is so chatty, too, and she's loud! She is happy if you sit in your lap and just talk and laugh it up with her. She's working on liking tummy time... we're getting there on her liking it.

Ok… that is it for now. Have a great weekend!

Lizet

P.S. You might notice that I added the first email updates and pictures at the bottom of the blog in an attempt to create a chronological blog. You know me, I have to have my blog sorted by date! ha!

Have a great weekend!

(Hey! Check out my pink tongue after taking my meds like a champ! and I dance too!)

Whoa! That's my hand!

This is what I look like when I dont want to drink my bottle!

Email updates added to the bottom to the list

2009-01-09T17:21:00.001-06:00

....in an attempt to create a chronological blog :-)

You all have a great weekend!

Lizet

Just a couple of pictures

2008-12-23T16:53:00.001-06:00

This is a JC Penny portrait taken mid-November:

Our first formal family portrait!:

and a picture Adrian took while holding Janai in the beginning of December:

I will try a video soon!

Never too late to start a blog!

2008-12-23T13:01:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!

I know. I know. I'm about 5 months late starting this blog. But....better late than never!

So, I should start with the basics: the introduction.

My little girl, Janai Raquel ,was born July 6, 2008, when she was 27wk 4days of gestation. She was born weighing 2lbs 2oz and measured 14 inches long.

I spent about 5 days in the hospital prior to her birth in an attempt to remain pregnant as long as possible. Like many other preemie Mommies, there is no real explanation to my pre-term labor. My OBG said it might've been a bladder infection mixed with a probable mild case of incompetent cervix. While we'd been told that many women can manage to stay pregnant up to two months with minimal contractions and broken water, my little girl had other plans. So, on July 6th, she said "I'm out of here!"

There began the most interesting, frightening, exciting and rewarding ride of our lives! Janai spent almost 11 weeks in the NICU (75 days to be exact), and while our experience was not as bad as it has been for many other preemie parents, it was the very, very scary to us. She was on the vent for a week, then c-pap for several weeks, and at last the cannula for a few weeks before we came home. Our major scares with her were her right lung collapsing when she came off the vent; then, an infection from her arterial line, and LOTS of apneas.

The "eating" thing kept us in the NICU a few more weeks. Janai just would not eat her full bottles. So, the doctors sent us home on ad lib schedule with fortification of the BM for her feedings. Eventually, Janai had a swallow test done which showed she silently aspirated milk. Once we started thickening her feeds, she started to eat like a champ. On and off, we still have to fight to get her to eat, but that's a whole'nother issue. She's too curious about everything so, at times, she prefers to sight-see around her room than to eat her bottle. ;-)

Janai came home on September 19 weighing just over 6lbs. This was about a week after Hurricane Ike swept through this area. Thank God, we didnt lose electricity at home, so my stored BM stayed intact (phew!). I had lost about 5 hospital bags of BM when our deep freezer got slightly unplugged off the wall about 2 weeks prior to the hurricane, and I sobbed for an hour. Needless to say, I was paranoid about losing more milk.

So...back to Janai... she came home on an apnea monitor, caffeine, diuretics, electrolytes, and reflux meds. She had a couple true apneas at home, and several false alarms. So scary to be home alone through an apnea episode! By November 26, she went for a month without apneas, and we finally freed ourselves from the monitor, the caffeine, diuretics and electrolytes. Thank God! The med schedule was driving me crazy.

The first two weeks after Janai came home were CRAZY!!!! I thought we were prepared, but I was not nearly as prepared as I thought for the sleepless days and nights that we experienced. No way I could've prepared for that. I wished I had "sleep" stored somewhere! I walked around like a zombie between her feedings and my pumping. I had experienced mastitis 4 times, and just when Janai came home, I got mastitis one more time. Also, Adrian started working the same day that Janai came home, so I had the nights. During the day, my Mom (I thank God for my Mom every day!) would help me, and that is what kept us all from going insane. Feeding Janai took almost an hour of begging and burping, plus diaper change, plus meds, so I had about 45 minute breaks in between, of which I'd spend 20-30 minutes pumping and dosing off. Then 15 minutes to eat or nap again. The doctors had said to feed Janai within 30 minutes, but she would hardly eat that fast before she'd fall asleep, and she was so hard to burp. It was exhausting!

All of the feeding issues were resolved when we started to thicken her feeds. My poor little one preferred to go hungry than to eat because eating would obviously mess with her breathing even though she would not cough. I just wish we had figured this out sooner. Thank God, the aspirations did not cause any infections, so we were lucky about that.

We started the RSV shots at the end of October (or beginning of Nov), and we're getting our shots until March. Depending on the State, we might get the 6th shot. I hope we do. I dont look forward to the shot, as Janai screams bloody murder with the injection, but she needs it...just in case. I just about cried when she got the first RSV shot. She cried louder than I had ever heard her, so it broke my heart. Now I know what my Mom was talking about when she said your kids pain hurts more than your own.

We go for another RSV shot tomorrow. In her last RSV shot, Janai weighed 11lbs 7oz. I forget her last measurement in length at the Pedi. I have it written somewhere.

I'm back at work since December 1st. My Mom takes care of her at home for us. I miss my little girl so much, but for now, I have to continue to work full time. I call home during the day to hear Janai's coos and cries. It helps me to hear her voice. She loves to chit-chat, like her Momma. She looks a lot like Adrian, but she definitely resembles my personality...inpatient, loud, talkative, and just too curious in the world! She's also a night owl and not a morning person, just like her parents!

I hope to post new weight tomorrow after the RSV shot, and I will also try to figure out the settings and how to post pictures and videos on this thing!

Happy Tuesday!

Lizet

Update from 9/8/08

2008-09-08T23:33:00.005-05:00

Hello everyone!

I hope you all are doing excellent!

I know an update on Janai is long overdue. I’m back at work for now, saving my time off for when Janai comes home, but my schedule is pretty tight now between work and the hospital and fitting time in between to get ready for her coming home and a bit of time to sleep at night for the next day. So much has happened with my little girl! Good days and bad days, as the doctors promised. The good news is that there have been more good days than bad ones!

Short version (for my busy friends): She’s doing well. She weighs 5lbs 5.4oz, and she measures 17.5in in length. She’s off the oxygen and breathing the same oxygen we all do. Now, she only uses oxygen during feeding time. She now drinks from a bottle, although she’s struggling a bit with that. Her temp is ok; temp-wise, she’s ready to be out of the incubator. Once she’s eating 8 times a day from her bottle, they’ll put her on a crib. And after a few more days, she’ll be ready to come home. The task holding her back is the eating thing. But we’re not in a hurry…whenever she’s ready. Thank God, her coming home finally seems real, and we’re so, so thankful for that!!!

Long version (if you have time to read a story J):

Janai used to be in the NICU Level 3, where the most critical babies are. At the beginning of August, they graduated her to Level 2, where the more stable babies are. This was a good thing, but we were not prepared for it, so it took us a while to adjust. In Level 2, many babies are bottle-fed and one nurse is assigned to 3 or 4 babies (rather than 2 babies like in Level 3), so the nurses are busier and their attention to each baby is bit less personalized. After the first week there, we decided to choose several experienced nurses with whom we felt comfortable as primary nurses for her care to ease our anxiety. We have learned to like Level 2 now; we get involved with Janai’s care a lot more, which is great training for when she finally comes home.

The day that Janai got moved to Level 2, she started having problems breathing. Our nurse that day was assigned to babies who were bottle-fed in addition to Janai, who was tube-fed, so there were periods of time when our nurse just could not come to her bedside right away because she was feeding another baby. And the other nurses in that area did not come to help either. It was horrible! We talked to the charge nurse about this problem, and that has not happened again since. That night, the doctor ordered X-rays, and they found out that fluid had started accumulating in her lungs; so they gave her diuretics which helped. By that weekend she started getting worse again, and she would stop breathing more often. We spent the night by her bedside because I could not imagine going home under those circumstances. The nurse kept saying all preemie babies go through this, but we kept insisting that this was not normal for her. So, finally, they ran a caffeine test through which they found out that her caffeine levels were too low. She had outgrown her daily caffeine dose! Once they added more caffeine to her body, she did much better. She hasn’t had breathing problems for about two weeks now. In fact, last week, the doctors determined her brain is mature enough to remember to breath on its own, without the help of the caffeine, so they have discontinued it. So far, so good!

About the same time that she went up to Level 2, one of her blood test showed one of her liver functions a little high. The doctor ordered an ultrasound and it turned out that she had itty bitty stones in her liver and her kidneys. Apparently, this finding was coincidental because stones don’t cause the elevated blood test result. So, she’s under supervision of a GI doctor for this problem. They gave her a medicine for her liver which is doing the trick and is resolving the problem. He thinks the first set of diuretics might’ve caused the stones in the kidneys, but that the new kind of diuretic will make them go away. And they blame the stones in the liver due to a bleeding that she might’ve had from trauma at birth. According to the GI doctor, the stones are being monitored and they will take a good while to disappear. They ran an ultrasound a week ago, and the stones are still there, but they haven’t gotten bigger nor has she gotten any more stones. So that’s a relief.

On the eating department, we’re doing so, so. The good news is that, since about 3 weeks ago, the doctor ordered to start bottle feeding her. They started slow, first one bottle a day and the other 7 feedings by tube. She struggled the first week, but by the end of the second week, she worked her way up to 6, then 7 and then 8 bottles…whatever small amount of milk that she wasn’t able to finish by mouth would be fed through the tube. The bad news is that once she got to 8 bottles, she had a setback where she would get too tired and not finish any bottle, so they put her back to 6 bottles a day. She worked her way up to 7 bottles and remained there for several days. She currently worked her way up to 8 again, but she’s not finishing the bottle every time. The doctor ordered the nurse to let her eat whatever she can eat in 30 minutes, and skip the tube altogether to observe her weight gain. She’s supposed to eat just under 2oz each bottle, and she seems to trend towards eating one full bottle, and the next time she eats only half, and then the full bottle, and then half. My guess is that they are going to put her back on 6 bottles again because she hasn’t really gained weight in 4 days. They tried adding a spoon of formula to the breast milk yesterday, in order to increase the calories of the milk and see if she gains weight, but I don’t think that approach will last long. The doctors and other parents had warned us that eating is the task that takes preemies the longest to master. The older she gets, the better she’ll eat. So, we’re giving her time. I know she’ll get there!

About a week or two ago, there was a great development regarding her oxygen. They discontinued use of her nasal cannula for oxygen, so she’s breathing room air like all of us!!! We were nervous about it, but my sweet girl pulled it off! She still gets the cannula during feeding times because feeding is a demanding task for preemies and she needs the extra oxygen, but she’s off it the rest of the time.

Another development has to do with her temperature. Her incubator used to adjust the inside air temperature based on Janai’s body temp. Since about 4 weeks now, they have changed the settings to where the incubator is set at one static temperature and Janai adjusts her body heat to the incubator. They started the air temp at 32ºC, and they plan to wean her down to 28ºC. Once she can hold steady temperatures at 28ºC in the incubator, they will graduate her to an open crib. Her temp was great and she was down to 28 degrees, but last Monday she had a sudden drop, so they bumped her incubator back up to 30. They did blood work to see if an infection had crept in, but everything came back normal. Since then, Janai has worked her way down again, and as of Friday, she’s at 28ºC again. We are just waiting for her to eat all 8 bottles and have healthy weight gain so that they can move her to a crib.

Last week, the doctors talked about Janai coming home this Wednesday, but I just had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen. It was too soon. And our guess turned out right. She has had problems eating and therefore she’s not out of the incubator yet. Once she eats the 8 bottles and gets moved to a crib, it still would take a few more days for them to monitor her temp and weight gain and to run a series of studies to determine whether she needs oxygen at home. Plus, if rooms are available, they will let us “room in” with her at the hospital for “final training”, where they give Adrian and me a hospital room and we spend the whole night with her by ourselves. So, I’m thinking my little girl might be in the hospital for at least another week, maybe two. Nevertheless, her coming home finally seems real, and we’re so, so thankful for that!!!

Oh! The doctor finally allowed us to tried breastfeeding, and we tried it for the first time Saturday, and again yesterday. At first, I was super nervous, but she and I got the hang of it. It was such a lovely and fun experience! Her muscles aren’t strong enough to take a full feeding from the breast yet, but she latched on well, and I have a feeling she’ll get better at it. In fact, yesterday, after trying the milk from “the source”, she didn’t want to take the milk out of the bottle anymore. She kept squinting her eyes when the bottle got in her mouth and she refused to swallow from it. After 3 hours, she was so hungry that she didn’t care what the milk tasted like, she almost inhaled that bottle! My poor sweetheart! Last, I finally got a chance to bathe her last Saturday. That was challenging, to say the least! She wiggles so much! I loved it, though. I cant wait to do it again! J

Okay… that is the full update.

Thank you all for checking on her! I do really appreciate all your support through this difficult time. And thank you also for keeping my little girl in your thoughts and prayers.

Have a wonderful week!

Lizet & Adrian

Update from 8/4/08

2008-08-04T10:13:00.007-05:00

Hello all!

I hope my email finds you doing great!

Well.. Janai is doing great! Thank God! She is now 3lbs 5oz. She drinks 30ml (1 ounce) of milk every 3 hours, and she tolerates it well. Looks like she’s going to be a big eater, like her parents!

She used to be on oxygen tube, called C-PAP (the blue tube on the first picture), which was taped to her face to keep it in place. It helped her a lot, but we could tell she was uncomfortable with it b/c she pulled away from it all the time; thus, the taping of the tube to her face. However, she has been breathing so well that they’ve graduated her to a nasal cannula. It’s a much smaller tube and it seems to be a lot more comfortable. She is on about 80% oxygen… adults breath 21%. The goal is to wean her down to 21%, so that the cannula can be removed and she can breathe the same oxygen we all breathe. She still has a few episodes where she forgets to breathe, but doctors says it’s normal and that the episodes will go away as her lungs and brain mature.

Now that she’s on the cannula and a bit stronger, we felt more comfortable about holding her again. Adrian held her for the first time last Saturday. She was awake all 15minutes. I took like a million pictures and videos. Janai and her Daddy really enjoyed their first time face to face! I know it’s not scientifically possible, but it looked like she would smile back at him as he spoke to her! I held her yesterday. My Mom was with me through the holding. My Mom and I talked to her one at a time, and Janai seemed to direct her eyes to where the voices were coming from. It was just as amazing as the first two times. The prescription is to hold her about 15minutes per day; time goes by sooo so quickly! Going forward, we plan to hold her every day.

The doctor said that in about one more month, if all goes well, God willing, Janai will get her sucking reflex, at which time they will introduce bottles. They will introduce one bottle at a time. She eats 8 times a day. So, they will do 1 bottle and 7 feedings through the tube for two days or so; then, 2 bottles and 6 feedings thru the tube for a few more days, and so forth. The goal is for her to take all 8 feedings through her bottle.

Well…that’s the update. As always, thank you so much for keeping my little one in your thoughts and prayers.

I hope you all have a great week!

Lizet

Email to Erick 8/2/08

2008-08-02T17:05:00.009-05:00

Hola Erick!

Esta foto fue hace 3 dias, antes de que le banaran. El tubo azul en su carita se llama C-PAP, ese le ayuda a respirar y lo tenia puesto las 24hrs.

Las img086, 87, y 90 son de ayer. Ayer le descontinuaron el C-PAP y ahora tiene un tubito transparente de plastico, como el oxygeno que le ponen a los adultos cuando los hospitalizan. Esta canula es mucho mas comoda para Janai. Todavía se esta acostumbrando a respirar con la canula, pues ahora tiene que hacer toda la respiración por si sola. La canula solo le provee oxygeno extra pero toda la actividad de expandir los pulmones lo hace ella.

El video 088 es de ayer tambien. Se mueve mucho mi nena!

Gracias a Jehová, mi bebita esta progresando muy bien. Si sigue todo asi, en un mes mas le van a tratar de empezar las mamilitas, y si todo marcha bien (no infecciones ni otros problemas), los mas probable es que nos la den para finales de septiembre.

Te quiero mucho!

July 28 2008 - First Email Update

2008-07-28T01:25:00.001-05:00

Hello all,

Attached is a picture of our little girl @ 8 days old and our first family photo when she was 11 days old. This was the first time I got to hold her. We’ve only held her twice. It was the most amazing and humbling experience to have her in my arms.

She is 21 days old today, and she has gained almost 12 oz and has grown almost 2 inches. She’s now 2 lbs 13.7oz and measures 15¾inches. We are so proud of her! Her face looks fuller now than the attached pictures; we hope to get a good new picture of her soon so we can share a newer photo.

She is one feisty little girl; she stretches a lot and fights the nurses when they adjust her oxygen or change her diaper. Health-wise, she is doing good. She has had good days and not-so-good days. But, right now, everything is stable…Thank God. She scared us this past Monday with an infection, but she’s on antibiotics and doing much better. She’s eating 15ml of my milk every 3 hours. Her belly is tolerating the breast milk well, and she’s doing lots of sleeping and growing.

The doctors said when she comes home, she will not be allowed to have visitors until the doctor gives clearance, which could be up to 1 year. This is because her immune system will be very weak. We are looking forward to see her running around the house and can’t wait until the day that she will be able to play with other babies.

Thank you all for checking on us and for keeping our baby girl in your thoughts.

Lizet & Adrian