One flu shot down....3 to go

Right back at ya, Auntie :) Camden wanted to share our decorations with you.
THANK YOU SO MUCH ELLIE! The comforter and pillow are beautiful!! I will get another picture of her name on it, I wasn't planning on taking a picture but she had fallen asleep on me and I had to grab a blanket quick to lay her down.

Notice the binki???? FINALLY! For the past two days she is taking one. I hope this will help strengthen her suck.

Today Camden had a well check and the dreaded flu shot. He was very brave, Froggy came along and got a shot too :) Doctor said Camden is very healthy. He talked to him about germs and how we need to protect Ailyn this cold/flu season.

7 pounds 8 ounces!! Doctor and I high fived, he is thrilled with his "star". He doesn't need to see her back until next month. WOO HOO

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GI appointment

Ailyn has had a lot to say the last few days! She coos away. It's the best sound EVER! We stop whatever we are doing and give her all our attention. While taking the above pictures for Aliyn's Godmother she was telling me a fun story. I think she was telling me how much she loves her strawberry hat. I am so excited it fits! Thank you Mrs. Wagner :) :) Seems like forever ago that you sent it us.

Ailyn had her GI appointment today. I think it was helpful. The doctor wants us to split her Previcid, so she will get it morning and night. She also recommended OT for oral stimulation. I have been saying she has a weak suck all along. She barely lets my milk down when she nurses, she doesn't take a binki well, unless I hold it in her mouth, she will get tired while drinking her bottle and just play with the nipple. I am calling her therapist tomorrow to get her some help.

The doctor asked what our biggest concern was. Ailyn for the most part is a great eater, but there are some feedings that will take her over 45 minutes to finish. With her size, she can't afford to lose calories. Her pediatrician stressed that he is not worried about her weight, as long as she gains weight at her weight checks. So we are going to up her calories to 26 calories every feeding. AND, we got the OK to let her sleep 4 hours during the night. YIPPPPEEEE! I don't want to ruin a good thing! She hates to be woken up at the 12am feeding.

Thank you for all the prayers for Gabriella, she is improving! Keep the prayers coming!!
http://listeningthruthenoise.blogspot.com/

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An Heirloom

Ailyn's dress was made for me by my biological Grandmother. My mom passed it down to me many years ago. I put it safely away in hopes that one day I would have a little girl to wear it. When I took it out of storage, it was very yellow. A little soak in Oxy clean and a bleach wash, TAAA DAAA brand new again!

PLEASE PRAY for our little friend Gabriella. She is 4 1/2 years old, she needs a new heart. She collapsed today and is being airlifted to the hospital. You can find a link to her blog on the left of our blog.

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7 Pound Club!

7 Pounds 3 ounces!!!! Ailyn was having some reflux issues so I took her to the doctor yesterday. Her doctor was thrilled with her weight gain, and her overall health. He thinks she needs to see a GI doctor, so he set up an appointment for Monday. Poor Ailyn gets very uncomfortable during her feedings, but she doesn't seem to be in pain. My biggest worry is how long it's taking her to finish a bottle and how many calories she is burning up. I really want to meet our 8 pound goal by October 19th. Even though her doctor told me that he is not going to be concerned if she doesn't make it. I hope we can get some answers for her, but I think she just needs to grow out of this reflux. Camden had it for 2 years, I just hope we can get it under control.

Above are pictures we took today. It is so beautiful out, but we can't stay out long before we get attacked my mosquitoes! And, No, Camden does not like to wear shirts.....I don't think I have many pictures of Camden fully clothed. He takes after his Daddy :)
OK,OK Rebecca I admit, I am posting this one to brag..... how yummy do they look??? You know I can't wait to make my ORGANIC tomato sauce!

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OT was tough work!

Ailyn had her first OT today. I made sure she was fed and had a great nap before Miss Sarah came. Ailyn was all smiles and very happy to show Miss Sarah her tricks. We have been working on neck control since her evaluation and she did show some improvement. YAY We also have been working on reaching for toys. She has started to do this, but is more focused on people, and her surroundings to care about toys (I think she is going to be very social like the rest of us) I put toys in front of her and have her touch the toy, or make her hold the toy. She didn't show much improvement, but did grab onto a toy and hold it for a few seconds! So our homework for the next 2 weeks is to practice bringing her hands at mid-line, touch them to a variety of toys so that she gets more used to touching things and would be more likely to reach out. And, also working on our belly time.

As you can see she is wiped out from her session. Too bad I have to wake her up to eat, she looks so peaceful. I guess next time I will know to feed her at the end of the session so I don't have to interrupt her nap.

Congratulations to my Godson Logan and Evan! They were baptized yesterday. We got the OK from Ailyn's doctor to travel to NH to stand for Logan but a week before everyone up there got a cold, it spread pretty fast. We can't take any chances with Ailyn so we stayed behind and we booked a flight for Aaron to be there (we were going to drive to NH!! Are we nuts??). I can't wait to see my nephews in the spring for Ailyn's baptism! We love you Logan and Evan!

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Ailyn is 5 Months Old!

Amazing isn't it? Ailyn went to a follow up appointment with the Pulmonary doctor. She was diagnosed with Chronic lung disease..... since Ailyn was on a ventilator, Isolator and C-Pap her lungs are very fragile. The doctor stressed to us how important it is to keep Ailyn isolated from now until spring.

She now weighs 6 pounds, 15 ounces and is 20 inches long. She is moving up on the growth chart but growing at her own rate. We have a goal of 8 pounds by October 19th, if she doesn't make the 8 pounds we will start a 28 calorie formula. Ailyn is monitored very closely by various doctors so for now we are trying not to worry about it and just try to stuff her as much as possible. The good news is, she was able to take 1ml more for the past 24 hours! I just have to make sure she stays completely upright and is on the monitor at feedings.

Thank you for the comments on the slide show, I think I have watched it 50 times already. It makes me cry every time. It's so amazing how far Ailyn has come in 5 months (TODAY!). Thank you to everyone who has been following our story.

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Ailyn LIVE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHJPu5Jdg0g

You will need to copy/paste to view it......Happy viewing!

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For my Godmother

Ailyn's Godmother depends on our blog for updated pictures. And, no need to ask me twice to post pictures of our nugget!
We played dress up today, trying on some clothes that were huge on her not too long ago. This outfit was the very first outfit I bought for Ailyn. And, Auntie, I bought it because it reminded me of you.....can you guess what is on it??? yup, lady bugs!
Of course right when I put the camera down I got better smiles, but any smile is a great one!
Her newest milestone is batting at a toy in front of her. Her OT is coming next week, we have been working on our homework :)

Thanks for keeping up with Ailyn!

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Lazy Weekend

As you can see Ailyn is liking her milk!
Ailyn smiles are the best. She can brighten your day!
Our friend Bonnie had this adorable hat made for our Berry!

lazy weekend in our home! But, we welcome the boredom! Ailyn has been getting us up every 2 hours still.....we have tried giving her more milk but her reflux really bothers her. We are thinking she needs another medicine adjustment.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Welcome home Uncle Steve!!!!

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Evaluation Day

Infant and Toddler's, a free state program came out to our home to evaluate Ailyn. As soon as they walked in the door, Ailyn gave big smiles. She continued to show off the rest of the time. 2 nurses and 1 occupational therapist sat around her on the floor. They were impressed. I am so proud of our Strawberry! She doesn't qualify for any OT at this time, but since she is a preemie, they will follow Ailyn until she is 3 and beyond if needed. They told me ways to make her neck control stronger, and gave me advice on certain questions we had. She will have a nurse come back in another month.

They will go by her "real" age which is almost 5 months, but they will always subtract 12 weeks from her age when expecting her to meet a milestone. So far she is meeting all her milestones.

Cognitive- 4 months (she looks at an object)
Communication- 5 months (she cries for hunger, vocalizes)
Social Emotional- 4 months (smiles during physical play)
Feeding- 2 months (taking bottle well,feeding every 2 hours)
Gross Motor- 2-3 months (moves arms and legs,lifts head during belly time)
Fine Motor- 2 months (follows objects visually)

Other than this new game of feeding every 2 hours, Ailyn is doing great. We are on day 3 of being home bound and I can tell it will be a huge challenge for us. I will look forward to my dinner dates with friends!

Thanks for keeping up with our blog, I was happy to hear we had so many followers.

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4 Month Check Up

YOU! PICK ME UP! Look at the outfit! I think we can pass this down to Ailyn's dolls now!

Thank you Jill for watching Camden while I brought Ailyn to the germ factory. Doctor called Ailyn a superstar! She is now 6 pounds 8 ounces! He wasn't worried about her head control, in fact he said she has great head control. Ailyn is still on a 24 calorie formula. We asked about her size since the NICU doctor was concerned, I gave him the low birth weight chart and he doesn't think it's an issue. She still takes small meals every 3 hours.

Ailyn will get the RSV shot once a month starting when it's available. As most know I am a freak about germs, so this will help me breathe a little easier! Speaking of germs....now that the kids are back in school, we are home bound. We will be home schooling Camden. His school is amazing, the new director is allowing us to join them on field trips and offered me to attend some meetings in the future. We are also able to borrow material we will need. They are always a phone call away, and I keep in touch with many from his school, if we need help.

AND! I think we found the perfect solution this winter. Thanks to Facebook! We are now in touch with some old neighbors. An old friend is CPR certified and may be able to babysit Ailyn for a few hours a week. This way I can get Camden out of the house. Now, I am sure some of you are shocked we are going to be able to leave Ailyn with a sitter since we didn't leave Camden until he was 3! But, the thought of Camden home all day with no friends or being able to go anywhere, breaks our heart. It can also be helpful if Ailyn has a appointment that we can't take Camden to.

We appreciate everyone who follows our blog. I feel we are very open people, we chose to make this blog to update friends, family and Ailyn's nurses. We are grateful for every single day we have Ailyn, we know how close we were to losing her. It haunts us everyday. We have two very special children and I believe we are great parents to them. Some might say they are a tad spoiled :) and, well....I believe them!

So please read our blog to get updates on Ailyn, no need to pass judgment on things you see or read..... you don't know the whole story unless you live it. For now I will enjoy sharing my two miracles with you.....

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One Bad Apple

Sorry for deleting our blog. One bad apple almost ruined it for us. After thinking long and hard I have decided to make a new blog. I am very proud of my family and enjoy sharing them with you.

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