Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sleep, or lack thereof

Liam was a good sleeper from 2-6 months old. He would sleep 11 hours straight. Amazing, amazing, amazing sleeper. Adeleine is doing the same now - finding her thumb in the middle of the night and self-soothing back to sleep without a peep - good girl! With Liam I thought getting kids to bed was no big deal, they just sleep. What are people complaining about? Ha! I was so naive.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Adeleine's NICU Story: Part 6

There's more? When does this ride end?

Part 6: Weeks 9-15

The "feeders and growers" room was great, more space, less stress, a more relaxed atmosphere with pumping room that had a comfy couch and chair and could seat up to 4 pumping mommies.  The pumping room was where the mommies would pump (obviously), talk, laugh and cry while sharing their stories about premature or sick babies. Then we'd take a deep breath, open the door and

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Handmade with Love

We love handmade gifts. Love, love, love.

We are very lucky to have a few talented friends and relatives that knit/crochet or sew things for us. And they are always so beautiful! We appreciate these gifts and we USE them! If you make something for our family it never just sits in a drawer. It gets used, it gets worn, it gets puked on

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Adeleine's NICU Story: Part 5

Up and down, up and down...hang on tight!

Part 5: Weeks 3-8

In the NICU hand washing is important to keep the germs away from the babies who are either sick to begin with, or, like Adeleine, without a developed immune system to fight them. So, avoidance of germs is key for these little ones. Parents, siblings and visitors are required to

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Adeleine's NICU Story: Part 4

Stop this ride, I'm scared and I want to get off!

Part 4: Dealing


So how did I take delivering a 2 lb baby 13 weeks early? In short, not well. But apparently this is normal.

Adeleine's NICU Story: Part 3

Keep all hands and arms inside the rollercoaster.

Part 3: Weeks 1-3


Miss Adeleine surprised everyone and sailed through her first few days. She showed no signs of being in an infected womb, all her bloodwork was good. After only 11 hours she was off the ventilator and breathing with the help of a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) mask over her nose and supplemental oxygen. Her lungs, though strong for her age, were still

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Adeleine's NICU Story: Part 2

You must be 36cm tall to ride this rollercoaster.

Part 2: The first 24 hours

Immediately after Adeleine was born she was brought to the resuscitation room next door to the delivery room. She was wrapped in plastic to trap in body heat. She was a screamer (squeeker!), which meant her lungs were strong and for a minute they debated about even giving her the surfactant to help her breathe but in the end decided to