Standing!

Well, where do I start? Thursday Hailey woke up not feeling well and vomited 4 times. Yikes! Because of this I stopped whole milk for the time being and went back to formula. I am not sure what caused the vomiting since she had shots, started whole milk and tried a new food all in the same 24 hours. It could have been any of those things, but I feel better going back to my original plan of delaying things till her adjusted age. I delayed starting solids till she was 8 months actual, 6 months adjusted and had always thought I would follow that plan with whole milk and when introducing it I will take a slower approach.
Anyway, I really wanted to post to let you all know that Hailey stood on her own not holding anything for 2-3 seconds today, not only once, but three times!!! I was in shock and so excited! The physical therapist has been working with her on this, but she always has lost her balance when we let go, but not today. All three times she was leaning on me and then just decided to let go and there she was still up! Way to go Hailey!
Lastly, I told Tia that I would give a RAVING review of her birthday party so here it is ... Tonight Hailey and her parents were invited to a lovely party to celebrate Tia's 26th birthday. We all had such a great time and Hailey loved every bite of the cake :-)
Happy Birthday Tia!
Love to all!

Growth over her 1st year

Just beginning:
2lbs – 15.5oz
17 in

1 month stats:
3lbs – 12oz

2 month stats:
6lbs – 7oz

3 month stats:
7lbs – 10oz

4 month stats:
10 lbs - 10oz
22 ¼ in

5 1/2 month stats:
12lbs – 15.5 oz
24 in

6 month stats:
13lbs - 10 oz
24 ½ in
head: 40 1/2 in

7 1/2 month stats:
15 lbs - 9 oz
25 ½ in

9 month stats:
15lbs - 14 oz
26 ½ inches
head: 43 in

11 month stats:
16lbs – 10oz

12 month stats:
17lbs – 3oz
26 ¾ in
Head: 44.8

1 year check-up

I still can't believe she is 1! I am having a hard time leaving behind the baby stage, mostly, because I know I probably can't have another child without weighing out the huge risks and so as we go forward I am thrilled to watch her grow, but sad knowing I may never have a "baby" again.
Well, on to the good stuff. Hailey weighed in at a whopping 17lbs, 3oz and she is a long, o.k. short 26 3/4 inches. She is in the 5th percentile for her height and weight. The ped was happy about her growth saying that they didn't expect her to be 25lbs at her year check-up since she started out so small and as long as they see that she is steadily growing they are happy. She does recognize the doctors office now and wasn't a happy baby overall. The funny thing was the time where she was the most relaxed was when they did the finger prick and drew blood. HUH?! You heard it right - she cried while the doctor examined her and when she was given shots, but sat quietly during the blood draw. Can't explain that one ... Any her growth is good, her iron is good and she is doing well overall. We were also given the go ahead to wean her zantac and start whole milk. No more formula, weaning the bottle?! Most mom's would be happy about this, but like I said before I am having a hard time, bittersweet ... leaving the baby "year" behind and not to mention as we start more solid foods I am deathly afraid of the "c" word (choking) - yikes!
Now on to physical therapy. It was scheduled for Thursday, but had to be moved up due to a scheduling conflict with the therapist. We weren't sure how Hailey would do since she was just returning from the peds office, but she was fine. She really likes the therapist and since it is done at home I think she feels comfortable. She was defintely worn out though after her long day and was asleep by 7:30pm! The appt went well and the therapist gave us some goals for where she should be at when we are done and we were very happy with them. I will post them another time. She did notice yesterday that Hailey was a little stiff in her hips and unless she is standing/cruising her legs are always in the frog-like position. She said we can correct it with positioning & therapy. We will be looking into getting something called hip helpers (www.hiphelpers.com). They are the answer to excessive hip abduction in babies and toddlers with low muscle tone. They have been found to improve rotational movement and limit "W" sitting in babies who are developing their movement skills (quote from the website). Anyway, I am very happy with all the physical therapist is doing and glad we went ahead with getting Hailey followed up.

We have teeth!

We have teeth! YEAH! Not one, but two bottom teeth at the same time! We can cancel our appointment for dentures :-) All weekend she has been exceptionally crabby, with a runny, stuffy nose, grabbing her ear and by Sunday she didn't even want to eat. Saturday night Meme and I checked her mouth because I figure she had to get teeth sometime, but nothing was there. Sunday while having one of her many mood swings she started screaming and there they were gleaming - two bottom teeth. Well, at least the tip of them. At least we have an explanation for the "symptoms". She has her 1 year check up Wednesday and I was getting worried that she was sick.
Also, at the young age of 1 Hailey is already driving. Yes, we bought her a car this weekend. She received a gift card for her birthday (thank you Uncle Jeff, Auntie Jessie, Bing and Manny). So Friday we went to Toys R Us and got her first car! She loves it. We are trying to teach her to keep both hands on the wheel and use the horn like her daddy :-) At least for now daddy can use the horn for her. She drove to the park yesterday and absolutely loved it. This week Hailey has her 1 year checkup and her first physical therapy appointment so I am sure there will be updates to follow later in the week.

concert at the park

Look at the pretty dress Elijah sent me for my birthday!

Therapy Begins

Hailey had her physical therapy appointment yesterday. Just as the physical therapist was about to arrive we lost power. It doesn't take long for our third floor apartment to heat up when the air goes off and its 100 degrees outside. The appointment itself went well though. Hailey immediately decided that she like the therapist and showed off her newfound skills. The therapist could not believe how far Hailey has come since her last evaluation. After seeing her though she put it this way, she said that by 2 or 3 Hailey would be caught up with kids her "actual" age or we could do therapy for a month or two and have her caught up now. What would you choose?! So we are going to have her come to our house once a week for two months to work with Hailey. Mostly what we are working with is her "core" strength. She does crawl and cruise with the best of them, but here and there you can defintely notice some strength issues. I will keep you updated on how she does week by week. Also, next week she has her 1 year check-up with shots - yikes! She does not like the doctor anymore so that should be fun (not)!

Party Girl!

Hailey is officially 1! She had a wonderful birthday party on Saturday and really enjoyed herself though it was quite hot! She received LOTS of wonderful gifts - thanks to everyone who came and even those who couldn't. Its hard when you have so many you want to invite, but a limited number you are able to invite. I will post some cute birthday pix below.
Before I do that I had to share that Hailey finally said Mama yesterday and bye, bye! We were so excited! She also started clapping on Thursday. So many milestones... I think it will still be awhile before she walks, but she is getting steadier on her feet these days.
We also had a scare this weekend, Hailey woke up congested on Sunday and ended up having a nosebleed. So scary! It was coming hard and fast, but looking back I used saline to help her congestion and that could have thinned the blood and made it look worse than it was. We were scared to death. All is well now though. She wakes up many morning's congested, I think it is the dry air in our apartment.
Lastly, we had Luke's 5th birthday party yesterday which was a great time and Hailey ended up going in the lake with Meme, Daddy and then Auntie Tracey and surprisingly - she LOVED it! I think it was because we slowly introduced her this time and the water was like bath water. It was great to see her enjoying herself.
Well, here are the pix!

One year ago our life changed forever ....

I have been thinking today about how blessed we are. Our tiny baby girl has gone from 2lbs, 15.5oz to a “big” 16lbs, 10oz in a year. She went from relying on machines and meds to crawling and cruising all by herself!
A year ago tonight, July 13th my water started trickling. I disregarded it thinking that urine was leaking and ended up going to bed. No more leaking through the night, but many cramps to follow. Surprisingly, I slept through most of it till about 5am when I couldn’t stand it anymore and I woke Tim up. We decided to be safe and called my OB Dr. Timoll who told us to go to L&D. I just thought I was constipated and having cramps from the pizza we had the night before (because at that point in my pregnancy I was dealing with LOTS of heartburn). We got ready and joked all the way to the hospital still oblivious that I was in premature labor. I was dressed for work! Once we got there they hooked me up to an IV and said that my water had indeed broken. I actually was in shock because I only had that small leak the night before. We didn’t know what the future would hold for our beautiful baby girl and that broke our hearts … By that time I was having severe, constant cramps, not on and off contractions. The nurses just kept telling me to hang in there. By this time I was in excruciating pain and couldn’t sit still so they called my OB again, he said to start magnesium and give me the steroids shot for Hailey’s lungs. Well, they gave me enough magnesium to make me very sick just in time to push. Yes, they checked me and I went from 1cm to 10cm in a half hour! After that it is all a blur, a “million” doctors rushed in, none whom I recognized and told me to push because her heart rate was dropping. I pushed will all my might, but they still had to cut me – twice - NO pain meds! Surprisingly my parents, whom I called on the way to the hospital and told that I was going in for a check-up and not to come to the hospital, ignored my advice and made it in just as she was cresting. She was out within 5 minutes and screaming up a storm. All this happened before 9:29am. Little did we know what life held beyond that moment. Would our child live, what would her life be like, what did it really mean to have a preemie, what are some complications she could encounter?! About an hour after birth they let us go to the NICU, what a sight. We didn’t see the blood, the wires, the CPAP – we saw our beautiful tiny little girl! We were blessed!!!!
That night as we were settled in at the hospital and all family and friends had left the doctors came in to get consent to check for spinal meningitis. At that moment again, our world spiraled out of control – we were certain she had meningitis. We eventually learned that they test for many different conditions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she has them. Over and over we went up and down on this rollercoaster ride called “NICU”, two steps forward, one step back really felt like four steps back, one step forward. Many nights we cried out to God to save our tiny baby girl’s life and He did. By the end I was getting very jealous of the nurses who took care of my baby and we were ready to break her out of there, but whenever we got close to going home a small set back would occur. Finally, after 7 ½ weeks in the place she called home, we broke her out. I was worried she wouldn’t adjust well to her “real home”, but she did better at home then she did her last few days at the hospital. She had to go home on an apnea monitor, but that was o.k., she was home!!!! We are blessed!
Now we watch our baby girl crawl and cruise, we watch her take a 6oz bottle in 5 minutes and think back on when we tried for a half hour and couldn’t even get her to take 5cc’s without her turning blue and choking.
We stand in amazement and look forward to what her future holds! Mommy and Daddy love you our Itty Bitty Baby Girl! Happy 1st Birthday!

Hailey has learned to wave, well, sort of ...

Hailey has learned to wave! Well sort of ... As you can see from the picture below she proceeds to wave with her middle finger high up the air. You should see the looks we get! In all reality, would I really teach my 11 month old child to give people the birdie, I don't think so! Truthfully, we have noticed that her middle finger snaps when she bends it and she can move it in many "strange" positions. Our theory is that she is double jointed. She does bend it to grasp things, but when waving or tapping her fingers she keeps that one finger straight. We have had many nights of good laughs over this, but I am starting to feel bad since we get people who shake their heads at us in public. She thinks she is waving, so how do you tell her she can't wave?
Also, the physical therapist finally called to schedule Hailey's appt to see why she isn't crawling, o.k., so she is now not only crawling, but cruising. Well, the therapist said it was stated on the report that they were also concerned she favored her left side, which at this age shouldn't happen. So we decided to still have her come out and see how Hailey is doing. Worst that can happen is she gets some therapy, best is that its a quick appointment and we get a clean bill of health.
Lastly, we had our first MOPS meeting tonight. We had alot of fun and it was great to be around other mom's.
Here is the pix of Hailey "waving"!

By the way, I am holding her arm because the flash takes a moment and she kept putting her hand down before we could take the picture, usually she "waves" all by herself :-)

Friends for Life

I had to share that last night while at church, as usual, Hailey could not sit still so I took her to the mother's room. Well, it seemed many of Hailey's "friends" could not sit still as well and so we had a room full. Adia, Sidney, Erin and of course Hailey. It was so much fun to watch all of them in action and it was especially neat to me because this was the first time since Hailey became mobile that she actually played with other kids. She crawled after them and played with toys and had a great time. It was also neat to see how we all came a full circle, Mandy, Sarah, Elita and I grew up together and as we got older we all moved to different places, but now we are all back with kids not aged to far apart who will grow up together. SO much FUN! Wish I had my camera to take pix, but I am sure we will have many play dates ahead!
Also, with Nana and Dooda on vacation Hailey spent a couple days at Meme and Papa's house and had a great time. On Wednesday Taylor was there as well, and Hailey has always loved Taylor from start so I know she enjoyed spending time with her. Meme taught Hailey to drink from a cup and also pick a small tea cup up with her thumb and forefinger. Oh my gosh, so cute! She also introduced Hailey to the baby cookies and Hailey LOVES them. Meme has lots of pix, so when I get them I will have to post for all of you to see.
Today Hailey is home with Dada and its our 5th year wedding anniversary!!!! Happy Anniversary sweetie, I LOVE YOU!

And she's off ...

Hailey has "conquered" crawling in the last week. As you can see from my previous posts she has slowly come along, but now she is off and running. Not only has she conquered crawling, she has conquered going from crawling to sitting and from sitting to standing. As those of you who are parent's know, nothing is safe. Especially the cat! Bedtime has become a new problem as well and can take hours because as soon as we lay her down she is up ... if anyone has any tips let me know! We have lowered the mattress and she still gets up. I have to say as much as her new found "freedom" can be a pain, I can't help but smile, even after going into her bedroom for the hundreth time. A year ago I would never have imagined where she is today, even a few weeks ago I was wondering if something was wrong because it was taking so long for her to start crawling. I just sometimes forget she was a preemie because of how far she has come! Now if we could only get those teeth to grow. I keep saying that we are getting her fitted for dentures soon! Well, I was on "vacation" from Thursday through today and though it wasn't a "real" vacation it was nice to be home with Hailey. Daddy was at camp so Hailey, I and Nana went shopping and to the beach. Then daddy came home and we went to the lake on Monday, which went sour as soon as we attempted to take her in the water! Lets say we won't do that again for awhile :-) For the 4th of July we went to visit my family in Buckfield and had a great time. Many of them hadn't met Hailey yet because we had to keep her secluded during the winter.
In the midst of all the "fun" Hailey still has a runny, congested nose from a week ago and has been rather sour lately so we took her the doctor on Monday after our beach episode to rule out an ear infection. Thankfully it is just a cold and not an ear infection. She is now at that age where she recognizes the doctors office and has grown to despise it and all you can do is hold your child down while the doctor checks her out. Not fun, and it took both Tim and I to hold down a 16lbs baby. Yes, we weighed her - 16lbs, 10oz. So in a year she went from 2lbs, 15.5oz to 16lbs, 10oz. Not bad! Well, that is all for now. I have a couple cute pix I wanted to share. Notice her on the rocker, when I tried to get her off she squeezed her legs together so I couldn't get her, she LOVED that thing. I think she was hinting to us what to get her for her birthday :-)

Growing in leaps and bounds!

Well, every weekend brings new surprises. What's neat is she waits for the weekends so we can be a part of all her firsts! First of all, as you know last weekend she started saying Ba, Ba ... well, as of Saturday night, she was talking to "Elmo" and said DADA for the first time!!!!! And now she doesn't stop saying it. It is so precious! She also was able to go to her first fireworks Saturday night after the Strawberry Festival. I was a little nervous because they are so loud, but she LOVED them! We started out in the car, but she just sat back and watched so I attempted to take her out of the car and she was mesmorized ... She might be alot like her daddy, but she defintely has her mom's fearlessness :) Then on Sunday she was off and running. Ok, maybe not running, but up until now she was army crawling and would occasionally get on all fours, but then fall down. Sunday she was off on all fours across the floor. Watch out world! She has also figured out how to go from crawling to sitting and laying down to standing in her crib. She scared me half to death last night when I walked in her room expecting her to be sleeping and she was standing in her crib laughing at me!
This morning though my poor baby woke up all congested. She cried out then just started mumbling under her breathe, almost like she was complaining. My heart melted. I am hoping this will be a quick passing cold as we are supposed to go to camp this weekend. She is a fighter though and still had lots of smiles this morning!
Robin also has Hailey's 1st year dvd almost finished. I cannot wait to share with everyone! She has come a LONG way! I am so proud of all her accomplishment ... by the time we get the physical therapy consult she won't need it!

A weekend of "First's"

First of all, I want to say Happy Daddy's Day to Hailey's wonderful "Dada". I couldn't have asked for a better husband and daddy for my baby. Right from her first appearance he has been there taking care of her (and me) every step of the way. Many late nights in the NICU after a long day at work, many days of moving his schedule around to be at her doctors appts once she was home, many nights rocking her sleep in the bathroom (with the shower on) to soothe her when her reflux would make her cranky and mommy couldn't take anymore :) Thank you honey - we love you so much!!
This past weekend we had daddy all to ourselves and we had many "first's". Hailey said her first word "BABA" - now we are not sure exactly what she is referring to, but she does not stop repeating it and a few times we swear she said "DADA"! She also had her first bites of chicken and her first popsicle and absolutely loved them, yet when I tried to give her a strawberry with a touch of chocolate, she gagged. Funny child!!! She also took her first crawls forward up on her hands and knees!!! Up until this weekend she just did the army crawl. Oh, and the princess used to give kisses and then decided it was a game so when we asked for them she turned her head, but this week she started giving them generously, slober and all. And there is more, she had her first trip to the beach and her first birthday party, Adia turned 1 and Hailey throughly enjoyed herself! Happy Birthday Adia! We found out at the park this week Hailey LOVES sand, so we took her to the beach and she did love the sand, the water was a little scary for her! All in all, we are tired, but had a great weekend.
Also, Tim and I wanted to say thank you to our dad's! We love you both so much and we are so blessed to have in your lives and to be able to share you with Hailey!!!! As my daddy's day card said to my dad, you both are some of the best things in our lives! We couldn't do it without our families! We love you!

And here we are now ...

Well, to bring you up-to-date Hailey is doing wonderful and has a birthday approaching very soon! We have sent out the invites and are getting very excited! We have been taking her out more and more and she just loves it. Yesterday she stuck her feet in the sand for the first time and loved every moment. Actually, when I picked her up to go home she cried! I think we will try to take her to the beach this weekend. We also did WalkAmerica on May 7th, we raised $415.00. Thank you to all who supported us! As far as her early intervention appt, they said she is average for her adjusted age and above average for her actual age!!! The only issue is her core strength. Sometimes because preemies are in the isolette laying flat for so long and not floating in the tummy they can have muscle tone issues. So we will be working with a physical therapist through the summer. On a side note, while waiting for our first appt she started slithering along on the floor and rolls everywhere. She also gets up on all 4's and rocks so maybe by the time we get the appt she won't need it! Also she can pull up on things now when sitting, though when laying flat she can't seem to sit herself up. Anyway, we are getting there! She also had her first night away from home June 2nd at the TBS staff retreat. She did wonderful and did not cause one disturbance. When she gets out of her normal routine she gets very overstimulated and is a happy baby, but does not like to sleep so needless to say the next day she (and we) were exhausted! Here is a recent pix of her watching Elmo on the computer!

Don't you love the little clips I found for her hair?! She hardly has any hair, but I have been dying to put something in it so there is my attempt :)

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Long time, no update! Mostly because no news is good news! She and I did have the flu around April 5th and boy was it bad. My grammy and relatives were visiting from ME and all of the sudden Hailey let go and that was it. We were out for a few days. Now that we are over that Hailey is doing amazing, she had her 9 mo check up yesterday. She hasn't gained much weight, but the doctor thought she is doing wonderful and was so proud of her progress. She is now 15lbs, 14oz and 26 1/2 inches long. Usually they don't give 9 month shots, but she is off schedule so unfortunately she got some yesterday and didn't take it so well. In the past she has cried and then gotten over it. This time she cried all the way home. I felt so bad! We are so proud of how far she has come and love her so much! On May 11th we have her early intervention check-up, her pediatrician thinks we will be happy with the outcome because she is right no track. I will let you know how it goes. Also our walk is Sunday, I am looking forward to it and praying for no rain!Thanks!

Friday, February 17, 2006

I haven't updated this journal forever though I try to keep the pictures and stats up-to-date. Life has been pretty hetic since we moved! Just wanted to let everyone know Hailey is now about 14lbs, 6oz. She goes for a shot today and I will get her exact weight at that point and will post under her 7 mo stats. For those of you who followed us along the way you know one big issue Hailey had was bowel movements. Up until December she was still glycerin dependent, but as of recently she has started to go twice a day! Sounds funny to post, but its a big miracle for us because we were headed for more testing and possible surgery if things did not "speed up"! She is still on reflux meds, reglan and zantac which I am hoping and praying she will grow out of soon because reglan can cause serious side effects, but is needed for babies who have extreme reflux. So other than the reflux and being small for her "age" she has no other known preemie issue or developmental delays. Praise God! We will continue to watch her closely as she grows because some issues can come up when they start to crawl - walk - talk, but you know we are trusting God that she will be just fine and from what I am seeing that is absolutely true! As for the holidays they were wonderful. We spent Hailey's 1st Thanksgiving home with my family, then after making sure everyone was healthy we ventured over to Tim's sister's house to be with his family for a little while. Hailey did well and stayed healthy. Sadly, a few days after Thanksgiving Hailey's cousin, Jordy's ALL relapsed. Please keep her in your prayers! On Christmas Eve, we had a small party with Tim's family and then spent Christmas Day with my family. On Christmas Day she blew her first raspberries, too cute! She also came down with a small cold and was a little fussy for a few days, but after a quick dr's visit to make sure it wasn't anything to worry about she got better on her own! Also, this month I started back to work part-time. It was really hard! Many days I cried and felt like quitting, but as time goes on I realize it will be o.k.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Today Hailey had her 4 month checkup. Her current stats: 10lbs, 10oz - 22 1/4 inches long - head is 39 centimeters. She is in the 5th percentile for her weight and head, but not on the growth chart for her height ...They also checked her red blood cell count to make sure she was doing well and not anemic. That was great! They also decided we could stop fortifying her feeds now, and they increased her meds just a little. Overall the doc said she is a healthy baby just born a little to early :) I also talked to him about her bowel movements because they are still sporadic, but he said he isn't worried because some babies just go longer between bowel movements. Also at Johns Hopkins they had said she might favor her right side just a little which should be watched, but he didn't see it and says she seems just fine. Well, for those of you who still check this, sorry I go so long between posts and thanks for looking! We are now into cold and flu season and trying hard to keep her healthy. The bad news is her dad is sick! Pray we can keep her well!

Monday, November 14, 2005

Hailey is 4 months today! I cannot believe it! We go to her first pediatrician visit up here on Thursday so I will have her 4 month stats at that time. She will also have to get her 4 month shots :( She does so well though ... She is meeting lots of new people and enjoying every moment, though we have to be very careful when they come to visit that they are not sick and wash well before touching her. I hope you enjoy the new picture that I posted. She has been smiling and cooing for a few weeks now, but its the first one caught on film! I have lots more pictures I will post soon.Will update after her doc appt!

Monday, November 07, 2005

We moved to Maine to be closer to family on Thursday. Hailey is doing wonderful and took the car ride well. We left Baltimore at 10am and arrived in Maine at 8pm. She never left the car the whole time and I can't believe how wonderful she was. The first hour of the trip and the last hour were the hardest. The first hour because she decided she wanted to eat and so we had to pull over rather quickly and figure out how to make it all work via the car, the last hour I just think she was SICK of being couped up and nothing worked to soothe her until we put "white noise" on the radio. We made it the rest of the way peacefully. She met her Auntie Tracey and cousins Jordyn and Taylor on Saturday and loved them instantly. We are excited to be home!
The day before we moved Hailey went to get her synagis shot for RSV and was also weighed. She is now 9lbs, 12oz! We can't believe it. She will see her new pediatrician here on November 17th. I will try to add pictures soon, but right now I have limited internet access.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

In case any of you haven't heard we are moving to Maine on November 3rd! I can't wait! It has been so hard being down here in MD without any family, especially having a new baby and not being able to take her anywhere. Sometimes you just need to go out! At times we will just take Hailey for ride to starbucks just to get out of the house :) Tonight we took her for her first visit to a store - IKEA - around 8pm when not alot of people were around. We can't do that for much longer though because RSV season is here! Well, Hailey is doing pretty well, we are again having issues with pooping. She hasn't gone on her own for about two weeks. The doc said to give her glycerin every 3 days, and that is what I have to do to make her go. I can tell it bothers her b/c she cries, grunts and passes ALOT of gas! Between that and the reflux she can be fussy at times because of pain many times to soothe her to sleep we have to rock her in the bathroom with the shower on and sing to her. I guess the noise of the shower works because 9 times out of 10 it works, until we leave the bathroom of course. Anyway, since we are moving I will f/u with our new ped in ME. She also has some kind of baby acne or rash on her face and scalp. We see the ped tomorrow. Hopefully it is nothing and will go away on its own. I am hoping they will weigh her as well. She may be over 8 lbs! Please check out the new pix!