Happy Thanksgiving

We're leaving the house now to go pick up Molly from the NICU. About time...

The End of the Beginning

Today might be Molly's last day in the NICU! Yay! 

Finally, it looks like we're going to have both of our children at home with us by the end of the day on Thursday. All she has to do is keep her oxygen levels and heartbeat stable and we'll be good to go home.

First though, let me tell you about last night. So, around 8:30 Tuesday night, we're chillin' around the house getting ready for bed and the phone rings. I answer and the person on the other end asks for "Mr. Sharpe". Yay, telemarketer. So, I say "you got him". She says, "This is Kathy in the NICU. I don't want you to be alarmed but can I have your parent code?"

Sidebar: when you have a kid in the NICU, you're assigned a 4 digit number as a "parent code". So, that way you can call in and get updates on your kid and they'll know it's you. When we were assigned our parent code, the nurse made a big deal about not telling anyone the code, not even the grandparents. I offered to sell it to my in-law's but I didn't get any takers.

So, back to the story...I give her my parent code (FYI, it's ****). She then proceeds to tell me that Molly has been moved from Pod 3 to Pod 6 and she should be good to go home on Thursday.

GOOD LORD WOMAN...you could have done that a bit differently instead of getting my mind racing as to what could be wrong. How about this next time..."Is this Molly's dad? Ok, just had an update about moving her around a bit...can I get you parent code? Ok cool..."

In my perfect world, that's how it would work. STEVENTOPIA. That would be a cool country. Casual everydays, not just Fridays. And free lunch...

Digressing...

Ok, so Molly is doing great. She had her last IV removed on Tuesday night. We went to see her this afternoon and got to give her another bath (what the heck are these kids doing in there to need baths all the time?) and got her to breastfeed again. She's no longer on any sort of feeding restrictions so we're thinking maybe chicken nuggets for going home party? I don't know.

I "got to" bathe her this time. Here are a few pictures to prove my worth.

Here we are post bath getting dried off.

Mommy's mouth is huge!

After a bath and harassment from mom, it was time to eat some dinner.

And now that we're all full, it was time to rest.

McKenzie continues to do well at home. We heard from our pediatrician that our appointment with the specialist in Birmingham is on Dec. 16 at 9AM! Wow, that's early...

So, Happy Turkey Day to everyone. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, I can post a picture with both girls together at home. Finally...

Continuing Delays

So, the delays continue. Boo.

Went to see Molly at the NICU again this afternoon. First, the good news. She has now been able to fully regulate her temperature on her own so she was moved into a bassinet today instead of the warming beds. She also attempted to breastfeed this afternoon with some limited success.

Now, the not so good news. The doctor over the NICU this week, Dr. Blake, has determined that she needs to stay with them for a few more days. She's off all antibiotics and should be off her IV entirely by now but she had a bradycardia incident late Sunday night that he want's to make sure doesn't reoccur before she gets to go home. So, because of that, the earliest that Molly gets to leave the NICU is on Thursday. Happy Turkey Day!

We also got a visit from Dr. Parsons, the pediatric cardiologist on call this week. Molly has a bit of an early heartbeat from time to time. These are called PVC's. Now, it's not a significant issue but it's yet another thing that needs to be checked and tracked.

McKenzie had a pretty boring day. She got to hang out with us this morning and then grandma this afternoon. We got a call from Dr. Jeanie's office that we have an appointment with the neuro-specialist Dr. Oakes in Birmingham but they didn't tell us what the date was. Guess we'll need to call them back and get that.

Random quote of the day: on the way home from the hospital, I saw a billboard that said "Beat the Bottle". It's on Amnicola and is an ad for alcohol addiction recovery. I said it out loud and then said that if you beat the bottle, I bet it would break. Lindsey then said..."Well, I bet it wouldn't break if you beat it with a q-tip!"

It was a lot funnier in person.

Sorry.

We had visits tonight from our friend Julie who brought us some great outfits for the girls. I'll get a picture posted soon. Also, uncle Michael and aunt Liza stopped by.  We almost got Liza to try a poopy diaper change but she didn't quite come through for us. Oh well! My grandparents stopped by this afternoon and spent some quality time with McKenzie and my mother-in-law. They also brought some great meatball soup. Thanks! 

Also, big thanks to KW Downtown for the post-baby Baby Shower and Thanksgiving Lunch. Lindsey and I had a great time and appreciate the card, cake, and cash!

No pictures today. Nobody did anything cute other than me and I don't like taking pictures of myself.

A Better Day

So, day 2 of the home experiment kicked off today and things went well. Our popsicle maintained her temperature pretty well all day. The key to success is keeping your house at around 87 degrees. It's shorts and t-shirt weather around here. My electric bill is going to be huge!

So, a few more pictures so everyone can see what has been going on. First, some of our visitors came back to town for the weekend, namely "Pops" John and aunt Jamie from Maryville. Here is Pops feeding McKenzie.

G-daddy and Gigi also stopped by after church to see McKenzie at the house.

McKenzie also got to enjoy her first bath today. I'm kinda confused as to how this counted as a bath because she was pretty much fully surrounded and enveloped inside 6 different blankets. But, Lindsey tells me that since water and soap touched some part of her body, it counts as a bath. So there...

Lindsey and I got to go to the NICU at Erlanger and see Molly again this afternoon. She was visited earlier by John and Sue. While they were there, Molly got taken off of her oxygen for the first time since she was born. 

She looks like she is doing great. The doctors won't commit to a date yet to when she will get to come home. She'll be done with her antibiotics on Tuesday but everything has to be perfect before she gets to leave.

Here's a picture of her without ANYTHING on her face. (Yay!)

Both Lindsey and I got to hold her this time. The NICU really tries to limit overstimulating the babies as much as possible so they can conserve energy to get better. Lindsey had held her a few times but this was my first chance since in the delivery room on Monday.

This is mommy and Molly after a bottle.

And here I am trying my best not to make her cry. (I succeeded, cause I'm just that good...)

So, that's the latest update from our neck of the woods. McKenzie has her first pediatrician visit with Dr. Jeanie tomorrow morning. Let's hope that her weight is going up and everything else is fine. We'll visit with Molly again and see just how well she's doing. Til next time...