Good Morning!

I took these pictures this morning while she was lying in my bed waiting for the bottle warmer to finish it's job. She was wide awake so I starting snapping away....
I just wanted one picture of her chubby legs and she likes to roll from side to side so I had to keep her still with my size 11's.
That's my baby!!!!!!!!!

Random Pictures

TGIF!!

Katie attempted some "tummy time" on Wednesday with Aunt Sarah here to help. I'm not really sure she understands what she is supposed to do, but we put some toys around her so when she felt like quitting she had something to look at. She does do pretty well pushing herself up, all 8 pounds of her!
This is the aftermath of all that hard work. Daddy comes home and she zonks out on his chest. I guess it's hard work growing as fast as she has, plus evil me I make her work out!

More Pictures

My dad rocking Katie on Christmas Day....
Sleeping baby.....
How Cute!!!

Happy New Year!!!

This is how you celebrate the new year when you have a 7 week old baby! Unfortunately neither Nat, Katie or I made it past 10:30pm; the picture is from 8:45am. Everybody sleeping!

Katie at 7 Weeks!

Four generations of the Lucia family, how cool! This picture was taken on Christmas Eve and as you can tell Miss Katie was about half-awake. Of course she was most likely overwhelmed by all of the gifts she recieved, including clothing, jewelry, money and the most awesome book called "My Own Name" which spells out her name, page by page, and tells a neat little story in the process. It made me cry, not only because it was so special but because Katie is so fortunate to have a family that loves her so very, very much.
This picture was from Christmas Day. My parents and sisters and brothers-in-law came over for breakfast and then to open gifts, my mother makes this sausage and egg casserole every year on Christmas morning that we all crave and devoured quickly, oh and you have to have it with corn muffins. Tradition! I think Katie was still worn out from all of the excitement from the previous night because she slept through the whole opening gifts process, Aunt Liz and Uncle Tim made sure she was snug as a bug, while Aunt Sarah took picutres. (Secretly we all think Uncle Doug is scared of tiny Katie so he did a lot of staring but no holding!!) Katie got books about Bikes (the pedal kind), some Hokie baby stuff, and tons of stuff from Grammy and Grandpa Sylvanus including the cutiest outfit from Baby Gap with a fur collared sweater and fur rimmed jeans, OMG it is sooooooo cute!!
Today, December 26th, Kate had her 2 month doctors visit. I know it's two weeks early but becuase she was born prematurely her immunizations are off by two weeks so she had to get her second round of one shot and they decided to give her the 2 month shots two weeks early so she wouldn't have to come back. That was horrible; I have never heard her scream like that. And why haven't they figured out a way to combine all of those shots into one needle stick, I mean come on, five pokes in her thigh, that just seemed cruel. She did pretty well the rest of the day, she was very sleepy and we actually had to wake her up to eat, but by 10pm she was back to her normal self, watching TV in bed with us (that's the picture above). Oh and ginormous news, she is now 7 pounds 1 ounce!!! What a porker! I love it, she's filling out and getting rolls, it's awesome. Ok well that's it from us for now, I hope everyone has a great new year and keep checking back for new pictures, I try to post a few a week!

Me and Kate

Katie decided that she would stay awake and alert to watch the Eagles beat the Giants today, she was actually watching the television. Is that bad? Ok that's it for me for now, she's giving Nat some problems right now so I better go help. More later.........

Just some pictures....

Just some fun pictures to share. First, Katie sleeping with her finger in her ear, why, I have no idea, but it was jammed in there pretty good.
This is a common after meal face, she get's tired of being burped and just starts blowing bubbles and making faces. I can't wait until she brings a boy home for the first time and I have all of these awesome pictures to share!
Finally, my tiny munchkin in her swing. She still can't keep her head forward facing for too long so it ends up facing the side like in the picture. Still, she enjoys the swinging and will fall asleep if in the right mood....lovely.

It's Been A While......

Sorry no blogging in a bit, we are having some sleep issues here so even if I think about blogging, I forget about it 10 minutes later!! I have posted some pictures, below, so you can see how big Katie is getting. She is doing well, except for the weird sleeping patterns, and is growing up and out every day. Last Friday, the 8th, Katie had her 1 month check-up and was 5 lbs. 11.5 oz. and 20 inches long. By Monday we were back at the doctors office becuase Katie has some green poop, sorry, and was having some gas issues so I just wanted to see if there was something I could be doing. Basically preemies are notorious for having acid reflux, or GER, because of underdeveloped digestive systems, the hope is that she will grow out of it by 4 months. Anyhow, she was 5 lbs. 14 oz. on Monday's appointment so we are pretty sure that by now she is a 6 pounder. We can tell that she is getting some fat on her becuase all of her newborn wrinkles, where there was no fat, are gone and being replaced by rolls and more rolls. It's so cute!! Ok well she is stirring so I have to go, I hope you are all ready for Christmas!!! Look for more pictures soon.........

Home Alone!!

Today is our first day home alone, just me and Kate. So far we are working through some gas issues so sleeping is optional and sparce and fussing is a very high priority. Nat was planning on going back to work full time this week but last night after some tears of frustration, on my behalf, he has decided to work today, Wednesday and Friday so every other day I can have full time help. I don't know why I thought after 6 days I would be ready and prepared to do this on my own but I made a mistake and thank goodness Nat works for a company that understands that schedules can be broken at times. Well I am going to try and catch a nap while the babe is sleeping. I hope you all like the picture, she flashes the peace sign all of the time, this time was getting out of the bathtub. (She is equally fond of giving me the finger while nursing so I don't have a good read on her yet?!)

First Doctors Visit

Katie had her first pediatrician visit yesterday and just as our lactation consultant had confirmed for us the day before, Katie is doing great!

Her weight at the doctors office was 5 lbs. 1.5 oz. and she was 19 inches long. She is gaining and growing like a weed and everyone, doctors and parents, is pleased with all of her progress. The only problem with her growth that we are experiencing is trying to find clothing that fits her, she's small enough to fit into preemie clothing but way too long for it. Right now she is in newborn outfits, they fit her long legs but her tiny body just swims in them. Hopefully she will start filling out soon, she has started eating more often so I think she might be hitting a growth spurt. I'm hoping.

Anyhow, the doctors visit went well, it was short and Katie didn't have to get any shots. We are scheduled for our 1 month check-up next Friday and we will be rolling duo since Nat will be back at work. We were told that at her 2 month visit Katie will be getting 5 shots, so I don't think Nat will be getting out of that one!

One thing we learned yesterday is that Katie likes riding in the car, she was awake, quiet and with all of the rain yesterday she had something to look at while we were on the way home. We are still having an interesting go at trying to get her to sleep at night, she doesn't appear to like her crib and nothing we do between the hours of 1am-5am seems to be the right thing. I know it will get better day by day but with Nat heading back to work on Monday I am getting a little bit more nervous that I really won't be sleeping at all!

OK well I am going to grab a quick bite to eat before the feeding machine awakens. I'll keep posting pictures and interesting tid bits when I have time, hopefully I won't lose all of my gumption this coming week, but if you don't hear from me know that I have good intentions!!

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

Ultrasound at 32 Weeks!

Here's Katie!!

She is currently weighing in at 4lbs. 8oz. and is in the 53% for weight. We learned that she does have hair on her head, obviously they can't tell you the color, and she is very flexable, yes that is her big toe right by her mouth in the first picture. Nat, my father and I both think she has Nat's nose, thank God, and other than that well we think she's just down right adorable.

I have another doctors appointment on Friday so I will fill you all in about me then, today was Kaite's day in the spotlight so I really don't have more to say than she's looking perfect!!

32 Weeks!!

Good Morning!!

Well here I sit at 4:52am, bored, awake, and tired at the same time. I have been wide awake since about 3am; I wish I had a great story as to why I am so awake but I think my bladder woke me and my mind wouldn't let me be, so here I am. I just wanted to give everybody an update on my doctor’s appointment yesterday and my first NST (non-stress test).

First and foremost Katie is looking great and she passed the NST with flying colors. All the test consisted of was strapping me to a baby monitor and handing me a button to press every time she kicked or moved, as expected I was depressing that button constantly and told the nurse I would pay for the next ink cartridge for the machine. (A black line appeared on the print-out every time I pressed the button.)

About half-way through my 30 minute NST my doctor thought it would be funny to zap my stomach with a little hand held buzzing device that looks like a mans Norelco shaver to get her really fired up. I tried to tell him that was a bad decision, but he did it anyway and we couldn't get a fix on her heartbeat for about 3 minutes because she was flipping around and making too much noise with her kicking. The doctor and nurses thought it was hilarious meanwhile I'm getting the crap knocked out of me and I had to deal with a foot-in-lung situation that literally took my breath away for a few minutes.

So Katie did well, but Katie's mom is still having issues, of course. My blood pressure was 140/90 and I had 3+ proteins in my urine, again, but in a small but countable victory my weight was down about 3 lbs. which sounds like a weird plus but with my swelling issues loosing some weight is good and indicates decreased swelling. (small hooray!) Due to the high blood pressure I am now mostly confined to my bed, laying on my left side and ordered to take my blood pressure a few times a day.

I am now visiting the doctors office twice a week, having NST's done every time and on watch for any new signs that I could be slipping in to more trouble like headaches, more swelling and vision problems. My doctor can't predict when Katie will need to make her appearance but she will not be a Christmas baby, we are all thinking she'll be a Turkey baby. I am currently 32 weeks pregnant and both my doctor and I think I should be able to make it at least to 35 weeks, meaning Katie will be small and premature but her lungs will be developed and she will most likely be able to avoid the NICU.

Up next is our ultrasound on Halloween and tacked on to that visit another NST. Hopefully we will get some good pictures of Katie to share, this is our last ultrasound and even though a c-section looks more and more likely I'm still holding out hope to see her in the right position just in case I can have a natural birth.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we scramble to get things ready for Katie's arrival; it's going to be a fun ride here with me on bed rest and Nat working over an hour away from home!! Have a good weekend!!

Another Weird Day!

I just wanted to give everybody a quick update on my current situation since I haven’t blogged in about a week so I thought I’d let you all in on my exciting life!

Yesterday morning I woke up with some swelling, nothing too bad, but after weighing myself and noticing a 5 lb. Increase in my weight in the past week I decided that I had better call my doctor just to be on the safe side. They told me to come in and have a quick evaluation just to rule things out and wouldn’t you know that I had to go and add some high blood pressure to the mix.

Ugh.

The first reading was 128/90, which for me is high; my blood pressure normally is in the 110’s/70’s. My weight from swelling was up 5.5lbs. and I had 2+ proteins in my urine once again, so my doctor thought he would check my blood pressure one more time and damned if it didn’t come out 128/100. That was that and my happy butt was heading back to the hospital for some observation time.

My all too frequent trips to the hospital must be boring you all by now, I don’t even think Nat and I react to them anymore, it’s almost an expected trip following every appointment. Anyway, I waddled back over to the Labor hall to room 2314, same boring room with outdated wallpaper, to be poked and prodded and hooked up to machines for a few hours before inevitably being sent home to stay off of my feet.

As soon as I got in my bed I was hooked up to a blood pressure machine and an IV line was started. I had some tests done and although my blood pressure stayed high, around 130’s/90 it didn’t do anything funky like jump up and down so they called it high but normal. They did hook the baby and I up to a fetal monitor and for the first time we got to hear her have a bout with hiccups, which was funny and cute, but no doubt annoying to the woman in the bed next to me trying to sleep off some nausea. And yes once again Katie seems to be unmoved by any of my problems, happily kicking me and flipping all around.

The final call from the doctor is that I am headed for preeclampsia but no one is quite sure when it’s coming. His analogy was that of skating on a pond with a big hole up ahead, I’m going to hit it at some point but the ice leading up to the hole is thin and at anytime it could crack and send me in the drink. Long story short, am I going to make it to my due date, probably not, am I having her this week, probably not…but she’s coming sooner than later.

All of my other blood work was fine and just like I had predicted I was sent home and told to back off on all activity. I am back at the doctors office on Friday and fingers crossed everything will be somewhat normal again. Oh and did I mention that my parents are in Ireland, so making a big deal out of this might send my mother to an Irish hospital or she might start swimming home, either way $10 says they don’t leave York until she’s born.

Ok, I will say goodbye for now, I’ll update again after my doctors appointment on Friday, pray for lower blood pressure!!!

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures from the past few days. Obviously the picture of me is just to show you my current size, extra large, since I didn't get any pictures from the shower of me standing up or moving around. This picture is at 30 weeks and 3 days.

The other two pictures are of my Dad and Nat running the Dr. Segro Memorial 5K this past Saturday in Red Lion. It was a great morning for a run, about 50 degrees and sunny, my Mother did a 1 mile fun walk after the 5K so we both watched the boys take off and met them at the finish line. Nat clocked in at 30:09 and dad at 32:21, both had minor complaints about their personal run but Mom and I thought they did really well. Also you can tell luck was not on Nat's side with his random number assignment?!