I hope everyone had as nice a Christmas as we did! My parents came to visit for a few days and Aunt Marissa came over and visited for a while. Santa came to see Alexandra. She is doing so well! She weighed 11 pounds and 3 ounces at her 4 month check up last week. The doctor says she is doing beautifully.

Even though she's 4 months, developmentally she's really only 8 weeks. She's starting to do all the cute things that 2 month olds do. She's smiling at us and cooing. She thinks Ransom is the greatest thing she's ever seen. She's definitly a daddy's girl. I'm sure she'll start laughing any day now.

She's starting to stay awake for longer periods and is sleeping through the night-which is good because she likes to stay up until around 2 AM. Every night starting at about 10 pm it's fussy time. The doctor thinks she may be a little colicky. He says she'll grow out of it in a few months. In the mean time she's our little night owl. Ransom says "she didn't get that from me".

After the first of the year we're planning on taking a trip to Meridian Mississippi to see Alexandra's Great-Grandmother Mayfield and her Great-Aunt Kay. We're very excited to see them both and can't wait for them to finally meet Alex. It will be Alex's first trip since she came home from the hospital.

RSV

I thought this was a great letter and very informative:

Dear Family and Friends,

We’re writing regarding a very important matter: RSV. For those of you who plan to visit us over the next few months, and even if you are not, please take a few minutes to read this letter.

We want to start by saying thank you for the outpouring of support we have received from everyone. So many people have done so much for us, and every bit of help we have received truly is appreciated. We are experiencing the biggest challenge of our lives, and we’re lucky to be surrounded by so many family members and friends who have shown us so much love and support.

We’d also like to share an important topic that we recently discussed with our baby’s pediatrician. If you are not aware of RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, you are among the majority. Most people have not heard of RSV, even though nearly every child has had the virus by age two. For full-term babies, RSV typically is not any worse than a common cold, but for preemies, the virus can be quite different. Babies born earlier than 36 weeks are at the highest risk for serious complications like pneumonia, bronchiolitis, and other sometimes fatal complications. Babies that are premature, are multiples, and had low birth weights are among the highest risk factors for contracting RSV and developing serious complications. This website offers a great visual comparison of a preemie’s lungs compared to the lungs of a full-term baby: http://www.preemiecare.org/LungsTrees03-4.pdf

Preventing the spread of RSV is very difficult. Thus, we must be vigilant about keeping our child safe during RSV season (October through April). The virus is spread through physical contact, in the air via a cough or sneeze, or by touching an infected object. The virus can live as long as six hours on hands and up to twelve hours on objects, and it spreads very easily, especially from child to child. Studies have also shown that infants pose an even higher risk of spreading RSV to others. You may ask, “Can’t they fight it off and build up their immune system? Kids need to get sick, right?” The simple answer is NO. Since our baby was pre-term, she did not acquire the necessary immunities to fight off infection. If she contracts RSV, she could be hospitalized and develop serious complications.

We’ll be asking our visitors to follow a few guidelines to help prevent our baby from contracting RSV or any other illness.

We ask that all visitors do the following:

1. If possible please get a flu shot.

2. When you arrive, please wash your hands and use hand-sanitizer as needed before touching the baby.

3. Please refrain from coming over if you are currently sick and have not been symptom-free for at least 5 days, if you live with someone who is sick, or have been in close contact with someone who is sick.

4. If you are parents to a baby or toddler, please refrain from bringing them to our house during RSV season.

Unfortunately we will not be attending many events during RSV season. Our goal is to make it through this and the next RSV seasons without Alexandra contracting RSV or any other serious illness. Her lungs are still very fragile until she is 2-years-old.

Please understand that this letter is not meant to offend anyone, just simply to provide an explanation. We hope you understand, and we appreciate your help keeping our baby safe.

Love and best wishes to all!
The Family of a much loved preemie


As great as this letter is it didn't address the seasonal or the swine flu which is something we are very concerned about- especially this season. We were told by Alexandra's doctors that she couldn't be around anyone who hasn't had flu shots (both seasonal and H1N1) so that's what we are doing. It's pretty lonely but it's worth it if it keeps our sweetie safe.

Alex and I got to go home Friday Oct 9th! Ransom came up to Birmingham that Thursday and we spent the night at the hospital. She was sent home with a heart and respiratory monitor and on Aminophylline. She has been doing great at home! She's eating like a little pig and was 8 pounds and 6 ounces on her last visit to the Doctor's office last Thursday. The week before that she was supposedly 8 pounds and 8 ounces but the doctor thinks that weight wasn't accurate. We are still not allowed to go anywhere :( but sometimes we go to the park since there aren't many people there. I guess we'll see everyone in the spring when flu season is over. We are planning on spending the holidays at home with my parents who are coming down to visit for Thanksgiving.

My friend Rick came to visit and took this picture. Isn't is great?

Oct. 1

Alexandra is doing well but we had some scary moments last weekend. After she was taken off the Aminohphylline she started having an increase in heart rate drops. That can be a normal response; her body trying to adjust, but the drops were severe and some of them lasted longer than I was comfortable with and she needed a lot more stimulation than she had needed previously. It was really worrying us but the doctor said he wasn't concerned. They gave her a few more days to adjust and the bradys decreased but didn't stop.

The doctor recommended putting her back on the medicine so she could go home sooner. I'm all for her going back on the meds because when she was on them she would brady but it would come right back up with no stimulation. While she was off the meds she had an episode where her heart rate was zero. ZERO. I'm sure my life expectancy has been significantly reduced and if nothing else I have sprouted some new grey hairs. By the time this is all over I would not be surprised if I'm entirely grey.

They restarted the meds yesterday. She was going to get to go home Saturday but she had a brady yesterday so now they are saying Tuesday. Whenever she has gone 5 days without a brady they will let her go home. If she has a brady the 5 days start over again. They are going to send her home on the medicine and also with a monitor. Monday night we're going to spend the night at the hospital in a private room so we still have the nurses there if we have questions before we go home.

Unfortunatly we aren't going to be able to let anyone come visit her for a while. The doctor has said it's best if she doesn't have visitors especially since it's flu season. She's also not allowed to go anywhere. Poor Alex is grounded and she hasn't even done anything.

So we're not sure when we get to come home but it will be soon. Without the Aminophylline it could have been weeks or even a month but on the meds it will probably be Tuesday or at least sometime next week. It will sure be nice to be home.

Yesterday was very eventful. Because Alex hadn't had any heart rate drops in 24 hours the doctor decided to discontinue the medicine she's been on. He also decided to start weaning her from the toaster oven to an open air crib, and he increased her bottle feeds.

So when I came in this morning she was in a big girl crib! I just hope she's able to maintain her temp without burning too many calories, because it is possible if she loses weight she could go back in the isolette.

Today the doctor said that if she doesn't have anymore heart rate drops she could go home as soon as next week. Because they took her off the medicine I would be very surprised if she didn't have any drops (or bradys they call them-short for bradycardia). She has to be off the Aminophylline for 7 days and can't have any bradys for 5 days before they will let her go home. So far she's doing well. She was 3 pounds and 13 ounces when they weighed her tonight.

Ransom and I are going to the discharge class Saturday and we're going to give her her first bath!

Monday September 14, 2009

I know my updates are woefully behind...I'm usually pretty good about quick updates on facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=640739654&ref=profile

Alexandra was moved to the 7th floor CCN a few days ago. That's where babies that just need to eat and grow get sent. She'll stay there until she goes home.

She weighs 3 pounds 2.2 ounces! We tried her first bottle this weekend when Daddy was here just to see if she was even remotely interested. She did surprisingly well considering it's not really time for her to do that yet. She should be bottle feeding pretty well in a few weeks when she has the whole suck swallow breathe thing down.

I don't know how long we'll be up here but I imagine at least another month. She has to be able to maintain her body temperature in an open crib, be bottle or breast feeding successfully,and remembering to breathe so her heart rate doesn't drop (it's a weird thing preemies do until their brains get more mature). So she still has quite a way to go.

She's making her doctors proud and doing better every day.

I'm sorry there aren't any photos on this. My computer will not let me upload pictures to this blog or send any through e mail but it will let me upload them to Facebook; so that's where the pictures are.

Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement. It really means a lot to both me and Ransom.

Alexandra

Last Tuesday when I went to my OB/GYN appointment the Doctor noticed I'd gained 20 pounds in a week and there was protein in my urine. Then they noticed my blood pressure was really high so he sent me to the hospital for some tests. They monitored my blood pressure for a few hours and ran some blood work. I thought maybe they would keep me overnight to get my blood pressure under control and then send me home on bed rest. After the blood work came back the doctor said I had severe preeclampsia. No one really knows what causes preeclampsia, from what the doctors told me it can happen in your first pregnancy or your fourth. They said it doesn't matter what you do it just happens to some women for soome unknown reason. There's no cure other than to deliver the baby. Because the baby was going to be so premature my doctor wanted to send her to UAB because they have one of the best NICU nurseries in the country.

I was sent to UAB by ambulance that evening. Incidently I've never been in an ambulance before so being in one for 3 hours going 97 miles an hour was quite an experience. Before I was sent to UAB I was given a steroid injection to help the baby's lungs develop. The best chance for the baby to do well was to get 2 steroid injections 24 hours apart and then to deliever by c-section 24 hours after the 2nd injection. So Thursday at around 7:45 they delivered Alexandra by c-section.

She was delivered at 29 weeks and weighed 2 pounds and 5 ounces. She never needed supplemental oxygen because of the steroids, and was moved out of the intensive care nursery to the continual care nursery after a day. She had to have UV treatments to make sure her bilirubin levels weren't too high. She had little googles on while she was in there sunbathing. After a day they stopped the treatments. Now she's on full feeds and no longer needs IV dextrose so they took her IV catheter out today.

The doctors have said that they are impressed by how well she's doing and expect her to continue to do well. We're not sure how long it will be until she can come home. Usually around her intended delivery date is what we're told, but it can be a month more or less depending on how she's developing.

Ransom had to go back to Dothan on Sunday(somebody has to go to work and keep the lights on)and I was discharged from the hospital today. I'm in Birmingham not too far from the hospital. He's going to come up here on the weekends while me and Alex are up here. He's so proud of his little girl. I couldn't have asked for a better daddy for Alexandra.

I am thankful that I have a smart doctor who saved Alexandra's life and maybe mine also. I'm thankful she was able to get both steroid injections before being born. I'm thankful to have a wonderful husband and a beautiful little girl and so many people who have asked about us and kept us in their thoughts.

I can only hope that she continues to reach milestones every day and that she doesn't suffer any long term effects of being born so early. I've learned to focus on the positive and not read statisics about all the problems pre-term babies can suffer. I choose instead to think of the pretty young doctor that came to my hospital room to check on me and told me that she was born at 30 weeks.

25 weeks

Six months already! Things are moving so fast. I can finally feel the baby kicking-which is very exciting. This week Ransom and I have been painting the baby's room, picking out a stroller, registering and trying to decide on a crib. It's almost like buying a car. Who knew buying a crib was so complicated? We painted the room an apple green which will look really cute with the bedding we chose (which is called Alexis Garden-you can google it).

Baby's development from Baby Center:

The baby now weighs nearly 1.5 pounds/ 660 grams and is approximately 13.5 inches/ 35 centimeters long from crown to heel. He makes breathing movements but has no air in his lungs yet. At 26 weeks, fetal brain scans show response to touch. If you shine a light on your abdomen, your baby will turn his head, which according to researchers, means his optic nerve is working.

Just wanted to take a few minutes to elaborate on the last ultrasound. Aside from being a girl the ultrasound tech said she was a little bigger than average (big surprise there), she has long fingers and is very active.

She let us see the 4-D ultrasound (which I wish I could post but the scanner isn't cooperating right now) and it is so cool. The tech said that a lot of women want to see the 4-D and then get upset because the baby looks weird at this stage, so they usually wait until around 30 weeks when the baby looks a little more like a baby. We though she looked cute anyway. She was sucking her thumb and we could see her getting irritated that the umbilical cord was touching her face.

We've decided on a name- Alexandra Hall Mayfield. Hall was my Godmother's maiden name and I was very close to her. Hall is also my middle name- although I have 2. Alexandra has no real significance other than we liked it and though it was pretty. We will probably wind up calling her Alex.

We are both doing well-Ransom and Randy are out back putting up a fence and I'm making a small effort to clean the house. Hopefully Ransom will be able to reason with the scanner and we'll be able to post the 4-D ultrasound pictures.

It's a Girl!!!!

Week 16

This has been a very exciting week for us. We recieved great news from UAB that all of the results of the screening tests came back normal! The blood tests screened for Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and a few other awful things I can't remember the names of. So of course that's a giant relief and a load off both our minds.

Tuesday we have another ultrasound but this is the one that lets us know what color paint to buy for the baby's room!

I'm feeling much better than I did during the first trimester-not nearly as queasy and nauseated as I was feeling, but now none of my pants fit and I've never had such terrible heartburn.

We will let you know what we find out on Tuesday.