We Are Home!!!

This is our last official picture from the NICU. Katie was happy to be disconnected from the monitors and it was nice to be able to walk around with her not tethered. The blanket she is wrapped in was my baby blanket from my Grandma George, my mother had it dry cleaned so that I could bring Katie home in it.
The meeting of the two little ones! Scout wasn't as excited to see Katie home as we were. At first she was just sniffing all around her but by 7pm she was getting sick all over the place, I think she is traumatized. Today she has been a bit better, basically she is ignoring us but she shows up once in a while to check and see if Katie is still here!

I know a lot of you didn't think Katie looked too small in most of the pictures that I posted so I thought that maybe this one might change your minds. They make car seats for babies over 5lbs. so we had to rig the seat a bit just to get her in it, she had washcloths rolled up between her legs so the strap would fit and a blanket rolled up around her head so it would fit in the headrest. (As you can tell from this before-rigging picture her head isn't fitting anywhere near correctly!)

We came home yesterday around 4pm and although she slept the whole way home she was up and checking out the place in no time. We didn't get too much sleep last night, the NICU nurses told us the first night is the hardest because the babies have new noises, smells, and things to see. Nat and I did our best with taking turns, I slept from about 11pm-2am and then Nat slept from about 2:30am-7am. I then went back to bed around 7:30am-9:30am while Nat fed Katie a bottle and started some laundry. It was crazy and we are both really tired but I am already learning so much about Katie's behavior and noises, she really only fusses when hungry but makes tons of noises when sleeping.

Well tonight is a bath night so I have to start getting ready now; I know at some point we will move with machine like precision but right now it's all hands on deck for every little thing. Whew!!

She's Coming Home!!

Today is the big day, my baby is comin' home!!

Last night Katie hit her mark, she had to be 4lbs. 12 oz. to come home and she finally did it! We knew it was going to be either last night or tonight so we were jumping up and down that she picked the first opportunity given to her. As you can see she doesn't like being weighed too much, I think she has an opposition to being naked, but that's just a theory.

So after 19 or 20 days in the NICU Katie is ready to join her parents in a crazy new adventure, it's going to be fun and exhausting but we can't wait. It's such a relief to know that she is healthy and gaining weight and all of the nurses kept reassuring us that Katie was ready to go home, and they know when babies are ready.

We are really going to miss the nursing staff though, they were just down right awesome. Some people just fit their profession, you can't imagine them doing anything else, and everyone of the NICU nurses just fit perfectly into that category. I never once felt uncomfortable having to leave Katie because I knew that she was in the best place for her at the time, now the best place for her is at home learning to live away from beeping monitors and bright lights. It will be an adjustment for all three of us and one crazy cat.

Well sometime this afternoon, around 3:30pm-4pm, we will be bringing home a tiny, little bundle of joy. Trust me there will be photos, so keep checking back for updates. I'm so excited and jittery about Katie coming home that I woke up at 4:30am, stupid huh?, so I am going to try and fall back to sleep and take a snooze since it's my last opportunity in a very long while to do so. I will talk to you all soon!!!

Our First Night Together

Last night, the 24th, was our night to "room in" and spend the whole night, just the three of us, together in the hospital. It is a weird experience because even though you are technically alone she was still hooked up to her monitors and the nurse would come in every three hours and make sure we were all awake for feeding times. Basically it was like we were babysitting her, but we still loved getting to experience all of her little moans and groans and funny noises as she slept and sometimes when awake. (Nat wasn't too fond of all of the back end noises she made!)

Katie's Upgrade!

Katie is out of her isolette and in a basinette!! This is big news for two reasons, one she can hold her own body temperature and two it's yet another step closer to bringing her home. She is doing really well in other areas as well, her weight tonight was 4lbs. 6.7 oz. which puts her back and a smidge beyond her birthweight. She has to be 4lbs. 12 oz. to come home so we don't have too much further to go. She hasn't had any more "bradys" since the 14th so we are assuming that she has grown out of them, fingers crossed, and in all other medical areas she is doing well enought that they are telling us that we should have her home "soon". YAY!!!

In other news things are getting back to normal for me, I am up and walking everywhere. I still get tired easily but I think that's par for the course after all that we have been through. I am usually in the NICU during the morning and right past lunch, home for a nap in the late afternoon and then back to the NICU with Nat for an evening feeding. We are both pretty wiped out by the time we get home so if you have called me or emailed me and I haven't gotten back to you in forever it's probably because I fell asleep when I had planned on calling you back, I'm a tad on the forgetful side too.

Ok well I am getting ready to hit the hay, it's 8:30pm and I can barely keep my eyes open. If I don't send anything before Thanksgiving enjoy your turkey!! We have a lot to be thankful for this year so we are going to enjoy the heck out of this one!

First Smile or Gas?!

1 Week Old!!

Katie is 1 week old today and getting bigger and cutier every day!

Tonight Katie's weight was up to 4lbs. 1.6oz which was a gain from the previous night. Her jaundice is on it's way down so she is off of the lights for now, if it goes up again she might have to "tan" a few more times, but we are hoping that she is done with jaundice. She is also pooping regularly now, which was a problem at first, and something that I never thought I would be rooting for. She also had a brain ultrasound done today, something they do for all preemies to make sure there are no brain bleeds, and her results came back tonight and everything looks great. So basically we are doing really well and that dumb little bruise on her head is finally starting to fade.

In my news I had my staples out today, which wasn't too bad except the last two pinched a bit. (there were 16 staples) I am getting back to normal with little to no pain and other than some little tweeks and twinges here and there; I feel pretty good. Nat is heading back to work tomorrow so I am a little nervous about having to do everything on my own in the NICU, he has been such a huge help it's like I'm losing two arms. Katie and I will manage somehow, things just might move a little bit slower.

Well it's been another long day so I am going to head to bed. I have a big day going solo tomorrow so I need my rest. I'll talk to you all soon..........

More Katie

New Pictures

Katie is doing well, she is having a little jaundice issue which is really common with preemies, but other than that she is hitting little milestones everyday. The first picture is of Katie in her isolet getting phototherapy under her "tanning" lights, it helps remove the billyruben in system and will get rid of the jaundice, the shades are so funny though we had to take a picture.

At last weigh in, last evening, she was 3lbs. 15.5 oz., which is down from the previous night, but once again we were assured by her nurse that in the first week of life drops and gains in weight are totally normal. (Even though mommy doesn't like it!) Everything else is going well with her health, no breathing issues at all, and she is breastfeeding like a champ which should help fatten her up even faster.

Nat is taking off of work until Wednesday, basically to keep an eye on my health and then he is heading back Thursday.(We were discharged from the hospital yesterday so no more nursing staff for help.) Wednesday is my staple removal day, which sounds as promising out loud as does in my head, after that I'm hoping that I am done seeing my OB/GYN for at least a week and will be on the road to recovery.

Ok well I am going to take a shower and get cleaned up to see my Katie for her 9am feeding. Today we skipped her 6am feeding for the first time since she was born, but we needed the sleep and I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I woke up at 5:45am. Having a preemie is a lot of work, worry, and stress and I don't think either of us were quite as prepaired as we thought. We will keep you all updated on her progress, with pictures and funny stories. Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers, other than being a little small Katie is as perfect as could be!

Sweet Girl

Here are some pictures of one day old Katherine. She is doing really well, breathing on her own and to our delight learning to suck on her own. She is of course sleeping most of the time, as preemies do, but Nat and I still try and make a run for the NICU for every feeding, every three hours, to feed and bond with our little sweetheart. We take picures everyday so keep checking back, we will keep posting them!! Thank You to everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers......Love, Nat, Suzi and Katie

Katherine Elaine Burt

Just in case you didn't get the news, Katie was born 11-08-06 via C-section at 12:06pm here at York Hospital. She weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs. 6 oz. and was 18 inches long. Both Katie and I are doing well, although I have only been able to see her once outside of the delivery room, Nat has been over as much as he can to hold her and check in on her. I am still on so many drugs that they haven't moved me out of labor hall yet and hopefully at some point today I will be back in my bigger room in the maternity hall and more importantly able to get out of this stupid bed and spend some time with my daughter. Fingers crossed. I'll keep everyone posted as things happen...... I will also try and get some more pictures of the cutest addition.

Ready Or Not

It is currently Monday morning, 4am, and here I sit in my Maternity ward bed awaiting for my vitals to be taken. I have been in this bed since Friday around 1pm when once again my blood pressure went nuts at my doctors appointment and they sent me over to the hospital to be observed. Once admitted to the hospital on Friday I was given some tests, blood and urine, and slowly over the past three days my body has begun to fail them, one by one, to the point where it is now apparent that Katie will be born sometime this week.

So, ready or not, she is on her way.

I am currently 33 weeks and 1 day pregnant, so she will be a preemie, small but developed enough that we are pretty confident that she will not need to be on a respirator. Nat and I are of course worried and nervous but we know that we are in the best place for both Katie and I to succeed and not only are we well taken care of but since I have spent the past 33 weeks living with my doctors so I am very, very secure in the fact that they are making the best choices for our continued success.

There is no definite timeline for this birth, no doctor has given us a day or time, my body will be the final judge. Everything depends on how well I continue to progress downward with my labs. The last doctor we spoke with was guestimating earlier this week than later, which prompted Nat and I to ask to visit the NICU here at the hospital, so we were given a short but mentally calming visit of where Katie will live for the first few weeks of her life. It was an eye opening experience to see such tiny babies, but again we were comforted in the fact that Katie will be very closely monitored and that even at 33 weeks she will be big enough to be out of the real danger zone that many preemies face.

Are we going crazy, absolutely. There are a million things running through my mind at every second, this is why I am awake at 4am and this is why my stomach is currently in knots. I guess I am mostly worried about the unknown factors, I haven't been in control of this pregnancy from day 1 and now it seems as though even my last moments of this pregnancy are out of my hands. I wish someone would just say, "Wednesday at 4pm we are going to induce you." A plan, that would be nice. But I guess planning and I aren't friends right now so I just have to sit in my hospital bed and wait.

Nat and I would just like to thank everybody who reads this for your continued thoughts and prayers, they have meant so much to us in the past and right now we need them more than ever. This is going to be the most incredible week of our lives and no doubt the most panicked and stress filled as well so please keep us close to your hearts.

Hopefully the next time you get a post from me we will have a happy, healthy, little girl to show off. Like I said she will be tiny, around 4 1/2 lbs., but I have been given steroids to pump up her lungs and even being born too soon she should be in good shape. With love from Room 413 at the York Hospital, Suzi