Month Eight - Doing Great!

Month 7 Here We Come

More Pics - Getting Bigger - Sixth Month

How Long Has It Been? Whoops!

Okay, so it has been awhile since I posted some pictures. :) We left off at 4 months. Here she is at about 5 months.

Jillian is doing well. She is a thriving nine month old today! Thus far, we have avoided all sickness. Yay! We are planning to hibernate a bit this winter as soon as the Nutcracker is over to avoid bringing anything home to her.

Finally in her own home...

She's about three and a half months old here.

And Still More Pictures....

As the First Month Went By...

Just Before We Left...

I'll try to get these in chronological order. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Hey friends and family!!!!

It's Jennifer here. We are all doing really well. Jillian is FOUR months old today!!!! What a sweet Mother's Day present for me. :) Her first month and a half out of the NICU have been pretty intense, but I feel like we are just about out of the woods. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay with my parents for the first month of her life while James and many of our friends worked to make our home safer for Jillian's lungs. I don't think I would have made it without Mom and Dad's help. When I was tired, Jillian could sleep on her Pop bed or her Grandma's shoulder. :)

As of today, Jillian's only trouble is GER, gastroesophageal reflux. It is no fun to eat a full meal only to lose it all due to reflux. She is being treated, and it helps a lot. Hopefully, she will outgrow it by the time she is one year old.

She is gaining weight beautifully. We'll have an official weight on the 18th, but with our own scale, she is around 9 pounds! That is about a 6.5 pound gain from birth. Yay, Jillian!

I thought our many friends and family members would like some updated pictures. :) Here are a few for your enjoyment!

Three Months

Four Months

Jillian Leaves the Hospital !!

Jillian left the hosptial Friday afternoon and took her first car ride at 3:33pm. Jennifer and Jillian will spend about a week at Jennifer's parents to give them a period of time to adjust before she comes home.

We're doing this so we can prolong the blog just that much longer!! Hehe.

Jillian's first night was a little rough as she is having some reflux problems. We're making some adjustments that seem to be helping. She is nursing wonderfully! Praise God! She also takes her bottle supplements that have her vitamins and iron. Once she took over 60 mL (that's about 2 oz) of Mommy's milk from the bottle! She's eating like a horse! God is faithful and so good to us.

Thanks to those who gave coming home gifts! Jennifer is beginning to write thank-you notes for all of the gifts we have received thus far. We are beyond blessed with friends and family who love us so much.

I promise to get the camera back from Jennifer and post some "Leaving the Hospital" pictures.

We love you all!

James & Family

We're not quite home yet. Jillian may have gotten to go home today, but she lost a tiny bit of weight. We're praying for a big weight gain tomorrow so we can head home.

Here is the first shot of the entire family together. Thank you for your prayers and support!

God bless!

James, Jennifer, James, Jocelyn, Jillian

Family Reunited for the First Time!

"Children, Daddy has something to tell you," I had just gotten off of the phone with Jillian's doctor who said it would be okay for the children to visit their sister for the first time in the hospital with Mommy. "You have to take showers and get fresh new clothes on before we leave." Out of the kitchen they flew to make preparations to see their baby sister for the first time.

They both took turns sitting on the bed with Mommy and then got to hold their sister for the first time. This has been such an exhausting trial, but God has been faithful to help us through this process. It won't be much longer now!

I can't let a day go by without expressing our sincere appreciation for the gifts and prayer that we have received from our friends and family. We even have whole churches in other states praying, which is very humbling. I pray that we too can support the body of Christ when we find someone in distress. There have been many tragic and trying events which have happened to families this year. My prayer is that our Father would comfort you and hold you in His arms if you are experiencing a difficult situation. We have been so blessed despite all that has gone on lately. I know that our final destination is an eternity with Jesus in heaven and it gives me more resolve to run a good race. We have been far from perfect during this trial, which is all the more reason that we are thankful that our Father is our advocate and strength.

God bless you all. Pictures of our departure are coming soon!

All Systems Go!

Jillian is now eating on her own and has passed all the requirements necessary to go home!

She has been taken off all monitors and is now rooming in with Mommy. Daddy comes to visit in the evenings after home schooling the children and working on preparations for Jillian's homecoming. Nani is staying with the children and helping with the remodeling, evening activities, and overnight stays when Dad is away. In light of all of the new developments in our lives we will be staying in our home a bit longer until life settles down a bit.

Jillian passed her car seat test with flying colors, is nursing and taking a bottle on her own, has not lost any weight over the last couple of days since rooming in, and has not had any medical issues. I would not be suprised if we were released tomorrow, March 12, 2009!

We're Getting Closer ...

We're beginning to make a bit of progress! It is still difficult to tell when Jillian will be coming home, but we have just started a "trial" by which Jillian is taking her feedings by mouth (PO) only.

I would like to say triumphantly that the tube has been removed, but this is more of an experiment to see how she'll do without the tube feedings. We started this experiment on Sunday, March 8th (yesterday). We're praying that Jillian's doctor will allow us to go home and work on this on our own.

I do have some really exciting news! She has successfully nursed about 3 times for over 20 minutes each time! Successful nursing is AWESOME news and is very encouraging. So far Jillian has only done this when she is wide awake, but we're praying that these increase in frequency. The picture I provided is indicative of Jillian's sleepy disposition, even when she's eating.

Jennifer and I stayed in the hospital overnight and attempted to nurse and bottle feed Jillian. The order is to now feed her whatever she wants whenever she wants it. The first night was a little rough as this is a rather sudden change for her. Please pray that she acclimates quickly to the new exclusive PO feedings and we have favor with the doctors to go home.

I'll try to update the blog daily in light of this new development. I have been focusing on our family and preparing our home for Jillian's return. Jennifer and Jillian will most likely spend the first week out of the hospital with her parents and then transition to our home.

We're getting closer! We are so blessed to have so many of you that are faithfully praying. Pray that Jillian becomes a more awake eater and that we are released soon.

God bless you all!

James

Prayer Needed To Come Home

Prayer Request: Jillian needs to take her feedings by mouth instead of by the nasogastric tube.

As promised in my previous post Jillian is essentially one step away from coming home. She is doing wonderfully well and God will see us through this final step. As I have said many times before, I believe that the hundreds of people (perhaps more) who are praying for Jillian have been the reason that this stay at the NICU has gone so well. Jillian has had no developmental problems and has not had to undergo any invasive procedures with the exception of an IV in her ankle, IVs in her bellybutton artery/veins, and her PICC line. God is faithful to hear and answer our prayers!

Our final hurdle is the feeding issue. We have been told that this particular issue can sometimes be the most difficult of all to overcome. The hospital staff says that sometimes a light will just go off and Jillian will take off eating on her own. We started bottle feedings about 2 weeks ago and she was able to take whole bottles (about 1 ounce) by herself. After the eye examiniation these successful attempts decreased. Jennifer felt that we were pushing too much and the hospital staff agreed so we backed off a bit only allowing her to take what she wanted when she is able to. She can still take a full feeding by bottle, but only once or twice a day.

Jennifer travels to the NICU at least twice a day and attempts to breast feed. Jillian is latching on, but doesn't suckle much. When I go to the NICU I will attempt to bottle feed her, but lately she has not seemed too receptive. If Jillian began breast feeding properly then Jennifer could room in at the hostpital and feed her exclusively and she would most likely come home in a couple of days thereafter. That is our prayer.

Please pray that Jillian is able to stay awake, begin breastfeeding, bottle feed if necessary, and come home soon.

Many of our friends and family have been sending gifts of clothing, money, and prayer. We are keeping a list of these items and will send an individual thank you out to each of you who have given. I pray that God blesses your gift and returns it back to you many times over. We are blessed beyond measure to have so many friends and family standing with us during this time. It has strengthened my resolve to offer help to others whenever they are in need. This has been a very humbling experience and I am grateful for God's blessings through each of you.

Praise God for His faithfulness and goodness.

Week 5 - Criteria Update

Jillian has now completed criteria 1 and 2 with flying colors. See below for the original list.

About a week ago she underwent a retina check which is a very stressful procedure. Her eyes were just fine, retina is great, optic nerve is developed properly, etc. Unfortunately, the procedure was a bit traumatic to her body. She began to have a few "events" in which her heart rate would slow down and her oxygen level would drop, but she would recover on her own. It is normal for preemies to have these events and they generally happen during feeding times. Jillian would sometimes have an event during her first weeks of life after birth when Mommy or Daddy would hold her and she would be so peaceful and content that she would "forget" to breathe.

Criteria number 4 and 5 should be taken care of very easily. In my next post I will address the most important criteria which is Jillian taking everything by mouth.

List of exit criteria:

1. She must weight over 1800 grams (1.8 Kilograms / about 4 Pounds).
2. She must maintain her own body temperature in an open crib (bundled up of course).
3. Take all fluids by mouth. That means her food and supplemental vitamins with iron (if needed).
4. Have no events with her heart rate or her breathing.
5. Be able to ride in a car seat without having trouble breathing or with her heart rate.
If you recall, I predicted that Jillian would get to come home by March 1st. It looks like she may be home a little before Day 40 which would be February 19th. My new prediction is that Jillian will be home sometime between February 21st and 23rd. That's less than two weeks away!!!

Jillian is Over 2 Kilograms - Almost 5 Pounds!

Jillian wearing Mommy's "Apple Hat"
Jillian Sleeping Only Moments Later - Surprise

Jillian Going Home Criteria

Here is the list of things that must take place before Jillian can come home. We're getting close!

1. She must weight over 1800 grams (1.8 Kilograms / about 4 Pounds).

2. She must maintain her own body temperature in an open crib (bundled up of course).

3. Take all fluids by mouth. That means her food and supplemental vitamins with iron (if needed).

4. Have no events with her heart rate or her breathing.

5. Be able to ride in a car seat without having trouble breathing or with her heart rate.

If you recall, I predicted that Jillian would get to come home by March 1st. It looks like she may be home a little before Day 40 which would be February 19th. My new prediction is that Jillian will be home sometime between February 21st and 23rd. That's less than two weeks away!!!

Thank you for your continued prayers! We're blessed!

Jillian Week 4 Update

A lot of things have happened over the last week so let's get to it!

1. Jillian is off of caffine. The caffine was necessary to make sure her heart rate didn't fall too low causing a defibrillation event.

2. She is no longer on reglin. Reglin was necessary to make sure her digestive tract was moving things along.

3. She will be moving out of an isolete into a crib to see how she does maintaining her own temperature.

4. She is still taking epogen which is used to encourage her bone marrow to produce its own red blood cells. She should be taken off of this as soon as her blood levels look good.

5. She is taking about 31 mL of breast milk 8 times a day. That is a little over 8 ounces a day.

6. She weighs about 3 pounds 10.4 ounces.

Jillian is Almost 4 Pounds!

One of the criteria for Jillian heading home is she must weigh over 1800 grams, which is a little over 4 pounds. She should get there by about day 37 or 38, which is in just 4 or 5 days from now.