Heading Home

Our family of four will be making the trek back to Sault Ste. Marie tomorrow to take Olivia to her home. We had considered staying down state longer, but we needed to get Olivia in to see her own doctor within 48 hours of her discharge from DeVos. Obviously, we aren't quite getting her there within 48 hours, mostly because our doctor was booked solid until Friday afternoon. So back into the car we go...

I forgot how long the night is with a newborn. I've been pretty spoiled the last week getting to rest without having to wake up and feed a little person. Last night was a learning experience for both Olivia and I. We had to figure out how she likes to be swaddled (apparently her arms are never to be confined), what her feeding schedule is (she likes to eat and then "snack" again about 20 minutes later - this is a habit we are going to break), and what sounds are just her normal squeaking and which ones are because she needs something. I hope tonight we can do a little better on getting her needs met without keeping me up all night. I'm sure Steve was enjoying the fact that he and Abby were sleeping in another room.

Abby has been loving her little sister and really enjoying picking out her outfits and helping with diaper changes. She seems to be on track for being an awesome big sister. She has also been saying some really funny stuff in the last 48 hours. I'm noticing it more and more now that we are spending time with her and not with the NICU staff. We have a pirate book at home, so the other day when she was up visiting at the hospital she just randomly said to me "prepare to meet your doom" - there were quite a few people in the room that day trying not to break out laughing.

Welcome Home Olivia

We have Olivia at home - not our home, but still out of the hospital. We passed all the checks, talked to her neonatologist, and escaped from DeVos Children's Hospital around 12:30 today. It felt wonderful. Now we just have one trek left and we will have Olivia at her own home, in her own bed.

Abby was very excited to have her baby sister at Grandma's house too - she climbed right up onto my lap to see her and helped pick out an outfit for Olivia to change into. I think she is pretty excited about her new role as big sister so far and I hope she keeps up that good attitude in our next few weeks and months learning how to be a family of four.

Abby and Olivia

Monday Update

Olivia was removed from the i.v. last night and is doing great. She also had the feeding tube removed and is taking all her feedings either from a bottle or nursing if I am around. She nursed 4 times today and got progressively better and better at it as the day went on. She is totally ready to come home as long as her biliruben levels (that measure jaundice) have come down again today. She even got to put clothes on for the first time ever today. We let Abby pick out her first outfit when we went in today. Abby has decided that her little sister is alright. Steve asked Abby today what he should call Olivia, since he likes to shorten people's names. Abby looked right at him and said, rather forcefully, "O-iva Joy" (she can't quite figure out the L in Olivia). We cracked up. She gave her sister lots of pats and hugs. And she also did some great cuddling with her little sister.

Abby has been doing some really funny things in the last few days. She is really becoming her own little person during this transition. Today she went to the mother's lounge with me to help me pump some bottles for Olivia to drink during the night. First she started reading me a book that we have at home and she was finishing the sentences when I stopped reading. The lady in the area next to me was cracking up at Abby's very forceful reading of "Olivia" - her very favorite book. Then Abby decided to go on an adventure and surprised another mom who was pumping. I think Abby was pretty freaked out, but luckily the other mother found it funny. After Abby left the hospital, Grandma Mary took her and Aunt Emily to Dairy Queen. They ordered Abby a baby cone and Emily a blizzard. Abby told Emily she didn't want a baby cone and gave it to Emily to hold. Then she told Emily she would hold the blizzard (and eat it too). And she also told Emily to watch "belle girl" because Emily would like it and it was her favorite. I'm amazed at how much personality she's developed even over one week.

I'm also amazed by how marvelous God is when we allow him to direct our paths and trust him with the outcome. A few months ago I was reading Exodus and ran across a verse I'm sure I'd read many times before but never noticed. It was Exodus 14:14 - The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still. Now... anyone who knows me knows I am anything but still. In fact, it would probably be the last thing most people would say about me. But in the last few months I've found many things and situations in my life that have required me to just be still and trust God to do what he wants done in the situation. Little did I know all those little situations were just practice for having to be still and trust God to bring Olivia through her trials. It was not easy laying in a hospital bed trying to recover myself while my new little girl struggled to breathe. It was even harder to follow her as she rode in an ambulance from Petoskey to Grand Rapids. But somehow God allowed me to remember that verse in Exodus and to be still and wait for the work He was going to do in our family. And today we have a totally normal, healthy baby who is feeding on her own and ready to be discharged from the NICU. I've been asked many times in the last few days how I can stay so calm and collected in the face of everything we've been dealing with. As much as I'd like to say I am just that together, it's been nothing but faith that God knows just what he is doing. And I'd say He's done a pretty amazing job.

We Haven't Forgotten Abby

Here are some of Abby's latest funniness. A few nights ago she saw
Great Grandma Jennie and went right up to her to ask for candy. She
also told Grandma Mary to go put on a hat after Hannah fixed her hair.
She has forced her aunts to watch Beauty and the Beast probably twelve
times and veggie tales just as often. Most of all, she is having fun
with Dora the puppy.

Family Photos and Yesterday's Recap

I had every intention of posting an update of how Olivia's day went yesterday, but my mom and dad have satellite internet, so it was spotty service at best and I just couldn't get things to work. So instead Steve and I focused our attention on Abby and getting the swelling to go down in my feet and legs.

Olivia made amazing progress yesterday. When Steve left her at 10 p.m. on Friday night she was still on the ventilator and was on a very low oxygen level. They took her off the ventilator around 11 or 12 that night and put her back onto the CPAP. Olivia is not a fan of CPAP - I think she must have pulled the mask off at least 5 times in the couple hours I was able to sit with her (since a lot of my time right now is taken up with pumping breast milk for her. And she is finally able to have that milk through a feeding tube, so it is wonderful to know that her little body is learning to digest food. Hopefully that means she will be off the iv soon.

By about 4 p.m. yesterday the nurses decided that they were tired of putting the CPAP back onto Olivia since she was pulling it off about once every 20 minutes. So they removed it and left her on just room air breathing all on her own. She did fantastic. So well, in fact, that I didn't even notice that she wasn't on the machine when I came back. I just looked at the stats on the screen, saw they were good, noticed that her arms and legs weren't failing so I knew she was sleeping, and sat down to put my feet up.

We left Olivia around 5, since Abby was in serious need of mom and dad time, but she was still doing great when Steve called to check in around 10. We are about to head up for the morning, so we are hoping more great progress was made overnight.

Breathing Room

Olivia is breathing on her own!!! She has been off the CPAP for
almost two hours. She is on triple photo therapy for jaundice but the
nurse is hopeful that it will create some improvements.

Good Morning

Olivia got off to a great start today. Sometime between 11 and
midnight they were able to move her off the ventilator and back onto
CPAP. She is on room air, which is a huge improvement. And our fiesty
little girl has pulled the CPAP off more than a few times today.

We will give a better update later when we get back to a real cmputer.

Olivia's Newest Photo

Olivia is continuing to make improvements tonight and is requiring less oxygen than this morning. We are now expecting her to be at DeVos for between one and two weeks, but the neonatologist believes that she will have no lasting effects from her early start. Steve has been with her all afternoon and I have been resting and trying to recouperate from the surgery and long car ride last night (along with the severe sleep deprivation). Abby also needed some serious mommy time and has still been having some mini-meltdowns throughout the day.

I'm hoping to spend all day tomorrow at the hospital with Olivia and Steve, or at least as much of it as my body will allow. We've borrowed a iTouch from one of my wonderful little sisters, so we should be able to update you all throughout the day as we get more information.

DeVos Children's Hospital

Olivia, Steve, and I arrived at DeVos Children's Hospital pretty early this morning. I was very fortunate to be able to be discharged less than 40 hours after my c-section. We are even more fortunate to have an amazing group of friends in Sault Ste. Marie who made sure we had just what we needed to make the trip from Petoskey to Grand Rapids (Thanks Deb, Tara, Trevor, Craig, Samantha, and Chad for everything!). So at 10:30 last night Steve and I left Petoskey following Olivia in the ambulance full of the team from DeVos. On the way to pick Olivia up, the ambulance hit a deer, so they got started a little later than anticipated, but they made the trip back in good time, with no problems and Olivia responded really well to the initial treatments.

God has been faithfully providing just what we needed and making sure that we are in the right places at the right times. We were able to be transferred from Sault Ste. Marie to Petoskey while I was in labor without a problem. The surgeons in Petoskey were able to get us in almost immediately for our c-section (my apologies to the moms who got bumped on the schedule so we could be treated first). Then we were able to have a quick transfer to Grand Rapids and Olivia was able to see doctors who work with preemies everyday. When we arrived at DeVos at 2 a.m. the nursing staff had arranged for a room for Steve and I at the Renucci Hospitality House, which is connected to the hospital building. Having a bed and shower right in the same building as the NICU was such a blessing after being awake all day and driving long and late into the night. And being in Grand Rapids we are able to see Abby and stay with family while Olivia gets well.

This morning we were finally able to hold Olivia and she was instantly a happy baby. The nurse was able to turn her oxygen level down from 40% to 37% almost immediately after she started snuggling with her mom. When I left at noon she was down to 34% oxygen on the ventilator and the nurse was hopeful that she would be off the ventilator and back onto the CPAP sometime tomorrow. After the CPAP Olivia may be able to breathe totally unassisted and start eating and possibly even nursing. Abby was able to come to the NICU this morning to meet her baby sister. She did amazingly well and spent about 20 minutes visiting with Daddy and checking out her Baby Sister. She got scared about the "Big Sister" sticker they wanted to put on her shirt and the visitor bracelet they wanted her to wear.

Steve is spending the afternoon loving on Olivia, while I am back at Mom and Dad Hodges' house resting and giving Abby some quality time. The trip down last night really made me sore and probably wasn't the greatest thing for someone so soon after surgery, but I wouldn't have stayed in Petoskey while my littlest princess was in Grand Rapids. I wish I could spend every minute up at DeVos with her, but I know that she'll do best with a rested mommy.