Lydia has been home from the NICU for 6 weeks now! It is hard to believe. She is doing great! So great that I haven't updated this thing because I can't keep my arms and eyes off this cute baby! She came home on July 25th, which is her due date.
Oxygen needs: Lydia came home from the NICU on oxygen. After her first appointment in Texas, she was on oxygen only at night. After her second appointment, she was only on the monitor at night for a week and now she is off everything!
Weight: At her last appointment which was about 2 weeks ago, she was 7 1/2 pounds.
Feeding: Lydia switched from the 30 cal intense formula to neosure at her last appointment. She likes the neosure a lot better and seems to be doing well on it. She takes about 2-3 ounces every time she eats which is 2 1/2-3 hours. If it my night to feed her she gets up every 2 1/2 hours. If it is Thomas' night, she sleeps for about 4 hours. She is a stinker....
Milestones: Lydia rolled from her belly to back when she was 2 weeks old adjusted age. She has rolled from her back to her belly a few times, but it is not super consistent. She laughs in her sleep every night. She smiles and likes to make noise. She has started scooting off her blanket when we put her down. She is getting better and better at holding her head up on her own.
The Drive
We drove from Utah to Texas a few days after Lydia was released from the hospital. This is a 24 hour drive. We took 3 days getting there. I hated it. I whined and cried and wished we were there already. It took way too long because we were hauling a trailer on the back of our tiny car. Basically all the diesels were passing us up the whole way- embarrassing. We then had car trouble in New Mexico when the muffler dragged on the ground and came off. Lydia, however was an absolute angel. She just chilled out in her carseat and was happy as could be. One of the first times I saw her in the NICU she had her foot propped up on the bumper. I thought it was so cute. She continues to like her foot propped up and she propped it up on her carseat for most of the drive.
Finally Home in Texas!
When we got to Texas, my sister, Cami and her two kids were waiting for us... well for Lydia anyway. The kids were so excited to meet their new cousin! Lanie was obsessed with her. She just say and stared at her while she was in her swing. She also read her stories and talked to her. James read her stories too. It was so fun to see the cousins play! Jill and her boys came to visit after we got there as well. They loved snuggling with her and holding her. They also loved their other cousin, Ellie who was born 5 weeks after Lydia (even though Lydia was due 6 weeks after Ellie). It was fun to be around all the family. We took Lydia to the alligator park because it was outside and we just pushed her in her stroller. We saw about 20 alligators and one was even growling. She did great and we had fun being able to take her somewhere! We were extremely careful and made all the kids put on hand sanitizer. They had to shower before they could hold Lydia. The adults had to wash their hands and put a blanket over them before they could hold her. I am SOOO happy she didn't get sick from having all those kids around, but she did great!
Life with a NICU grad
Having Lydia home is seriously the best thing in the world. She is precious and adorable. It is not easy though. I know it is not easy even when it is a full term baby, and I can't really say it is harder, but it feels like it is. Lydia is not allowed to go anywhere because she is so susceptible to getting sick. Her risk is even higher because of how long she had to be on oxygen. This means Thomas and I switch off who gets to go to church each week. It is hard. It is hard to see all the other moms with their kids and its hard to sit there for 3 hours and not have my baby in my arms. It is hard on my week home with Lydia to not be able to go and hear the talks and lessons. It's just hard. But when I am at church I hear all the kids coughing and see all the snot it makes me really glad she isn't coming... kids are nasty.
If we go anywhere, we have to come home and change before we can hold our precious baby. That is also hard. I don't really go anywhere or do anything because I don't want to be exposed to the sicknesses going around either. I hate being out in public and hearing someone cough. I have never been so paranoid in my life of germs. If Lydia gets sick, she will most likely end up in the hospital. The first winter is the most critical, so we have to be super careful with her. Every time Lydia coughs or sounds stuffy, I start getting paranoid.
It is also hard when it comes to feeding time. Lydia is not a perfect eater yet. She drinks from a bottle, but still has reflux. She spits up a lot. the other day she projectile vomited 2 ounces of milk. It was pretty cool looking, but it was sad. I don't like to see her suffer like that. I know what it is like to throw up all the time and it isn't fun. I feel so bad for her and wish I could take it all away. She sometimes chokes which is probably one of the most terrifying things in the world.
We can't just let her cry things out very often because when she gets mad enough, crying makes it hard for her to breathe. This freaks me out because I still don't totally trust that she can breathe well on her own anyway. When she holds her breath I get ready to run get the oxygen if needs be. We have only had to put the oxygen on once when she was having a hard time breathing. It is still scary though.
I love my baby. I didn't know this much love was possible. She is my everything. We are so blessed to have her at home and healthy. She is doing so well and is progressing just like she should, even though I have a hard time remembering she should hit milestones by her adjusted age, not her real age. It is hard having a NICU, but such a huge blessing- just like all the best things in life.
All the pictures on this post are from my phone. Thomas has a bunch more SUPER cute ones on his phone. They will be uploaded to a not too distant post. Jill, I updated it-you are welcome.
