March 29

Reiley is full-term now! She is 11 weeks old, but only now are we able to start counting up on her development. She was at the dr. again this week. He is so happy with how she is growing, we don't have to go every week now. On Thursday she was 7 lb. 4 oz. & 19 3/4 in. long! If you watch her closely you can almost see her growing! (Just kidding!) She can only wear a few of her preemie outfits anymore & is starting to fit into the newborn size. Her waking periods are getting fairly long & she loves to hang out on her Boppy & listen to music. (Well, her favorite is mommy holding her while listening to music.)
The other day we got to go see the two little boys mommy was nanny for. They loved Reiley. It was so special for me to take my own baby to meet the honeys that were my babies for a while!

March 22

This week has been a new and wonderful experience for us! Reiley came home on Monday, exactly 9 weeks after she was born. She didn’t sleep as well that night as she had been sleeping in the hospital. Her room was darker and more quiet than her NICU pod had been. I definetley didn’t sleep as well either! I kept checking on her to make sure she was still breathing and doing ok. I would have been nervous bringing her home full term, but was even more so because of her breathing episodes she had at the hospital. She is doing so awesome, though. Her feeding has really improved. She only gave Mommy one scare so far, choking/not breathing during a feeding. I am having so much fun taking care of her during the day. Loren does well helping at night unless he has an early morning run at work.
Reiley had her first doctor visit on Wednesday. He is very happy with how well she is doing, but needs to keep a close eye on her development. She is 2 ½ months old, but will not be full term for another week. It usually takes a year for a preemie’s development to catch up to her age. She still gets over stimulated if we have too much company or gets held too much. Also, we need to keep her away from larger crowds for several more weeks.
We are so thankful for how well she is doing. On Wednesday, her weight was 6 ½ pounds, and she was 18 ¾ inches long.





Hangin' with one of my friends from the NICU!

March 19

This band was a 24 hour pass at UVA Hospital that let us visit Reiley anytime, day or night. It was glee to finally cut it off!!!!


Uncle Steve finally get to hold!

We arrived at our house at 2:30 on Monday afternoon. Steve and Delilah were there to meet us and Steve's camera came in handy. Delilah did a great job setting the house straight, as I did not do the best job while I lived there alone.

Going Home!!!

This morning - Monday, March 16 - the Dr. & Nurse Practitioner were at Reiley's bedside when we got to the hospital. Their first words were 'You get to go home today'!!!!! So excited...but almost couldn't believe it! It's been so long that it just didn't seem this day would ever come. Tomorrow is 10 weeks that this whole ordeal started. Reiley is 9 weeks today & weighs 6 lb. 5 oz.
We got to have one of our favorite nurses for our last day in the NICU! We got Reiley all dressed up in her going home outfit, signed all the papers, & were heading out by noon. It was so awesome to take her leads off for the last time & hear a SILENT monitor. Reiley is ALL OURS now! She did excellent on the ride home - a little over 2 hours.

Sunday, March 15

Reiley had a few words for the nurse practitioner this morning when she told us we could not go home today. Since Reiley lost a few grams of weight during the night, the practitioner wants to see a weight gain before we are allowed to leave.

Saturday, March 14

Great news, we are home bound within the next day or so. Reiley has been taking all of her feedings by mouth since Friday morning. The nurse pulled her NG tube out this morning, and Reiley is taking just short of 2 oz of milk every three hours. After several hearty belches, she spends most of her time sleeping. About twice a day she will be awake for a while, and that is my favorite time of day.

March 8

Wow, this week had potential to have us go home, but for some reason, God has seen fit to keep us here. Not much progress has been made with Reiley's bottle feeding. Mama does not have enough milk to keep the little piglet fed, so she needs to learn to take a bottle before the hospital will let us go home. The problem is, she totally hates a nipple. When she was learning to eat, she had a few choking episodes while being fed with the bottle, and now she seems to have a nipple phobia. Some feedings she will take most of her feed (usually if it is mostly breastmilk), and the next she doesn't want anything to do with the bottle. She has been gaining weight nicely, but it is hard not to be discouraged. Her doctors are a bit puzzled, but not worried or concerned.
On the positive side, we had some good things happen to us. We met a very friendly family at a restaurant who paid for our meal. What a Godsend. Our nurse this weekend was very nice and ordered Ruthie and I to go on a date and enjoy the great weather. Reiley smiles at us when we sing to her. She has longer waking periods. She no longer has abnormal reflux after each feeding, or needs oxygen during feedings. She now weighs 6 lbs! So, we really do have a lot to be thankful for. Thanks for all of your prayers, and don't forget us yet!

March 1

Reiley has made a lot of progress this week. She is off her nasal cannula, and tonight she finally took her entire feeding with a bottle. We have been working at it all week, and never could get her to take all 50 ml without getting too worn out. When she gets tired while taking the bottle, she would start choking, forget to breath, and her heart rate would plummet from lack of oxygen. The nurses like to put her cannula on her when she takes the bottle, but take it back off once she is done. She only gets to try the bottle 2 or 3 feedings per day to keep her energy level up.
Reiley now weighs 5 lb 8oz, is 36 gestational weeks, and Monday she is 7 weeks old.