Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

Its been over a week since my last post and its been a crazy week!! Annie moved down to NICU D without incident. Its a lot more mellow in NICU D - I felt like I could actually be Annie's mom instead of a visitor waiting for someone to tell me when I could hold her or when I could care for her. We settled into a nice little routine. I was recovering well from my c-section and felt ok about driving - well, really Matt felt ok about letting me drive :) Matt would go to work and I would get to the hospital by 10 so I could pump before her 11 feeding. Annie would nurse for her 11 feeding and then we would just snuggle.

She would drift off to sleep, and I would go grab a quick bite to eat before she would need to get up for her 2 feeding. I would bottle her and then pump again before heading home to Ms. Molly. It sometimes made for a long day, especially if I didn't get enough sleep the night before, but it worked. And I cherished those quiet moments with the nugget. And every day ended with a big hug and a kiss from my favorite Big Sister - How did I get so lucky?
Over the weekend we talked alot with Annie's primary nurse: Kathy F-H about transferring to NWH. I still felt torn but told Kathy that at the very least we would go see the Special Care Nursery at NWH to make an informed decision. In the meantime Annie continued to be a rockstar. She had enough of the feeding tube and took it out herself on February 8. Her weight gain fluctuates from day to day but she is taking all her feeds by bottle and tolerating the increased calories well.
On February 10 Matt and I went to meet Brenda Cutony at NWH to see their nursery. It couldn't be more different then the Brigham! To start there are only 12 beds as opposed to 20 in NICU D alone. There aren't monitors beeping at every turn and each bed is tucked away in its own bay complete with window, desk and drawers. A curtain can be drawn to offer complete privacy, not that I have any modesty left at this point! NWH seemed to be the perfect place for Annie to focus an her one objective: GROW. Still - I had grown attached to Kathy and the routine at the Brigham. I knew where all the supplies were kept, the routine was familiar and any sort of change felt overwhelming. Not to mention the fact that my little nugget was going to have to ride in the ambulance to NWH, that thought alone was completely terrifying. Transferring babies, I was assured was a regular thing, but it certainly wasn't regular for my baby! Even so, after our visit to NWH, we made the decision to move her. That was Thursday morning. I met Abby Donner for lunch and when I came back I was told that NWH would take us the next day!! It all felt so fast and overwhelming and I felt like I didn't know if I was making the right decision, but it was too late to take it back now. Kathy showed me the transport isolette that Annie would be in and I started bawling - feeling overwhelmed and terrified that my littlest was going in an ambulance - a bouncy, scary, loud machine without her mama. So, there I am, crying, again. I thought for sure I had dried out the tear ducts by now! Crying aside, we had to head back and feed Ms. Annie and don't forget - it was her 2 week birthday! And to celebrate she broke the 3lb mark :)
Friday, February 11 was moving day. Moving to the suburbs and one step closer to home. Annie was growing, and doing well enough to leave the Brigham. Kathy ordered the ambulance for 11:30 - after her mid morning feeding so as not to disrupt her schedule. I had to come in early for an incision check with Audra Robinson, who did my c-section. After that appointment I headed back upstairs to pump and prepare for the move. Annie was snoozing away as I packed up her clothes and blankets. She wasn't thrilled when Kathy was buckling her into the transport isolette, but she settled quickly. By 12 - the EMTs came up and whisked the nugget and Kathy down to the ambulance. Matt and I had one of the shortest lunches on record before we got in the car and headed out to NWH. We arrived shortly after 1 and Annie was already settled in her new home, but we had missed saying goodbye to Kathy. We arrived just in time as Annie was hungry! I settled into our very own giant lazy boy chair and nursed. It felt so good to be back at NWH. It is homey, quiet, and the perfect place to watch our littlest grow and gain the strength she'll need to come home.

Annie's one week birthday

Annie is a week old today! Its been a crazy week - from recovering from a csection to coming home to adjusting to a new schedule with a baby still in the hospital. Annie has been a model patient and taking her job of growing very seriously. Slowly but surely the nurses have been upping her feeds by her NG tube and backing off the feeds through her umbilical IV. Yesterday she was officially off the IV feeds, which means she didn't need the IV any more :) While we were there today they took out the umbilical IV and discussed moving her down to the intermediate nursery: NICU D. With the move out of the ICU comes the opportunity to transfer to another hospital. Though its only been a week, I've already grown accustomed to the routine here. I've gotten to know Annie's nurses and a move closer to home would be more convenient, but is it worth it to sacrifice consistency of care?? I'm not going to worry about it today. Today I will celebrate this little soul's first week on the planet and be thankful for how well shes doing and all the milestones shes hitting

Pocket Addition

My first blog post - How exciting!
Its been an action packed 24 hours to say the least and now that I'm finally catching my breath I want to get this all down so I don't forget. The short beginning: got pregnant in June with our second baby. Pretty uneventful summer and fall - I went on Lovenox as I had done when I was pregnant with Molly. Was being monitored by MFM because Molly was so small. Went in for an u/s at 30 weeks and McDeuce was starting to look small - no surprise.....little did we know. Once thing we did find out at that u/s was that the blood flow in the umbilical cord was slightly below normal. Nothing that would require intervention just yet, but something to keep an eye one. At that point we set up growth u/s every 2 weeks. But I thought for sure we'd get to 37 weeks just like we did with Molly. At 32 weeks McDeuce was healthy but still small and was starting to drop dramatically on the growth chart - we upped the MFM visits to twice a week with another growth u/s at 34 weeks. Still, I thought, no problem....maybe we won't get to 37, but we'll get to 36 weeks, ALMOST full term. McDeuce was looking great at all the NSTs and doppler u/s. The umbilical cord blood flow was still diminished but was stable.
January 26, 2011 went in for a growth u/s at 34 weeks and discovered that McDeuce hasn't gained any weight in 2 weeks - not so good. Dr. Dunn decided it was time for McDeuce to come out. Clearly s/he would be safer on the outside then inside. After consulting with the NICU team at NWH it was decided it would be best for McDeuce to be born at the Brigham to have access to the Level 3 NICU. That decision earned me a trip to the Brigham in an Ambulance! What a wild ride down Route 9 during rush hour in a snow storm! Matt went home to tuck Molly into bed and pick up some clothes for me and then meet me at the Brigham.
Once at the Brigham and reunited with Matt we started a Pitocin Challenge to see if McDeuce could handle the stress of labor. I had one contraction and the heart rate went from 145 to 50 and the room went from me and Matt to 6 people....crazy. Needless to say I would be having a c section. Because I had taken a lovenox that morning the anesthesiologist didn't feel comfortable giving me a spinal until 24 hours after the shot was administered. After some discussion we decided to wait until the morning to have the surgery and let the lovenox wear off. It was all good until 2AM when McDeuce's heart rate dropped again - at this point the Dr. didn't feel comfortable waiting anymore.....so off to the OR we went.
Anne Paterson McDonald was born at 3:31 AM on 1/27/2011 weighing 2lbs 12ozs and 15 in long. She came out pink and crying, which was a relief!! The NICU team checked her out for a little while before taking her to the nursery.