Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Olivia was doing so great so they let us bring her home last Saturday! I (Brooke) was so excited that I spent the day at the hospital getting her ready and talking to the nurses and doctors. Joel came up a little later and we passed off our final "tests," packed her things, loaded up the car and finally headed for home.

We can't believe, but are so thankful, that she only had to be in the NICU for 17 days. The doctors had made us believe it would be so much longer and we are so thrilled that she progressed and healed so quickly.

Now we're just figuring out what sleepless nights are and how darling her little personality is. We'll start posting on our family blog again so this will be Miss Olivia's last post. If you'd like to read the other blog (www.itshappilyeverafter.blogspot.com), just send me your email address and I'll send you a login (it's set to private). My email is brooklinn28@gmail.com. Thanks again to everyone for your prayers and support.

September 4, 2008

Olivia got her PICC line out today and she was so happy to have it gone! It was so nice to be able to hold her and not have to worry about any big wires. She was so snugly all day and loved finally being able to have both arms free.

Just as I got there today the nurse said I could do her cares and then she should be ready to eat. Her cares take about 10 minutes and she was not happy to have to wait that long to eat. Towards the end of changing her diaper she just started screaming and she even managed to squeeze out a couple of tears. It was so sad but cute. After that she gobbled up about 75 cc's of milk. That's over 2 oz. which is a lot more than she's had before. The nurse was surprised she ate so much but we also changed three (yes, three) diapers during the process so it was coming out as fast as it was going in. She was very content after all of the food so we hung out for awhile before she fell asleep again.

We are getting so anxious to bring out little girl home. She's done better than we ever could have hoped for and we are so thankful to everyone for your constant prayers and support. Hopefully we'll continue to have good news and she'll be home soon.

September 3, 2008

Today the doctors took Olivia off of the TPN and lipids which she was receiving through her PICC line. She is now just getting a little extra fluid through it and they will hopefully be able to remove it tomorrow. We took her carseat in today so they could check it and then she had to sit in it for an hour while they watched her oxygen levels to make sure she would be ok during the car ride home. She actually didn't seem to mind sitting in it and passed the test with flying colors.

We are still working on getting her feedings up to the goal they have set for her. The doctors are still slowly increasing them and hopefully she'll get there soon. It's been a long process but we are so pleased with her progress.

September 2, 2008

I can't get this picture to rotate, sorry.

Olivia is still working up on her feeds. She's almost up to 1 oz. per feeding and still loves eating. All of the nurses comment on how much fun she is to feed. She also has huge man burps afterwards... makes us laugh. Tomorrow will hopefully be the last day she has to receive extra nourishment through her IV and then hopefully they can take her PICC line out. It will be so nice to hold her and not have to watch out for all of the wires everywhere.

Her little personality is really starting to develop. She makes the funniest faces all of the time and loves to look at everything. She already knows what she wants so we're hoping to channel that the right way as she gets older.

September 1, 2008

Mom and Dad got to give Olivia a bath tonight. Since she is doing so well, the nurses have started doing our "training" with us to ensure we know how to take care of an infant. We have a series of things we have to pass off. Some of these things include changing a diaper, taking her temperature, infant CPR, etc. Most of it is pretty basic but I guess it's good to review before we take her home. Some of the nurses are really serious about the whole thing and others will casually mention something then mark it off. Either way, it was fun to bathe her and it's so exciting to know we might get to bring her home soon.

Her feeds are going up everyday and everyone makes comments about how rapidly she is progressing. She gets cuter everyday.