Update on Reese

Today was DOL (Day of Life) 88 for Reese.

I would have been 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

This week she will be 3 months old.

We are just about 2 weeks to due date.

Reese has had a busy few weeks, so I'd thought I'd give a quick update.

This was Reese last night just to let you see what she looks like these days.

 

 

She currently weighs 5 lbs. 15 oz. Thank you for all your prayers about her growth- her growth chart actually looks really good and she's consistently gaining, which is also good. She wears a regular newborn sized diaper now and is in between preemie and newborn size clothing.

 

We actually get to dress her now, which is fun.

 

Reese's "bay", which is basically the spot she stays in at the NICU is right by a window. This week, on Rylee's 6th birthday, we had the kids come see Reese through the window. I think we all had a few tears in our eyes. Jaden was especially excited to see his little sister. She is almost 3 months old and they have yet to see, meet or hold her in person. Hopefully soon.... This was a sweet moment for me as a mom.

This is her size in perspective to holding her.

 

Reese has had several different oxygen systems. She started out with a ventilator for her first 24 hrs, then was on bubble cpap for a month, then went back on the vent when she got the bleeding in her upper airway for about a week, then was on high-flow, then put on vapo-therm. This pic shows the vapo-therm, which she's been on for the past month. (Who knew there were so many oxygen options?) On Saturday, she transitioned from Vapo-therm to wall oxygen. This is a step in the right direction. She will come home on this form of oxygen.

It hooks into the wall here, but when we bring her home, she'll have the nose cannula and then we'll have an oxygen tank and monitor that will go wherever she goes for awhile. It will be a bit of a pain, but we can deal with it.

We gave her a bath tonight. She loves her bath and enjoys being in the water. She was a little cold afterwards, so we snuggled her up to warm her up. Sorry for the sideways picture. She's doing well on the new oxygen system. She now has 2 of the 3 requirements to come home passed off 1. Keeping her own body temp 2. Breathing (on her own or with the help of a wiff of oxygen- typical for babies born as early as she was to come home on oxygen).

The third requirement is that they have to take 80% of their feedings through a bottle. (Reese is fed 50 ml every 3 hrs., so 8 times per day.) We've still got a ways to go. The Dr. said eating for these little ones is comparable to an adult running a half marathon. It takes a lot of energy for them to do it and they have to drink it all within 20-25 minutes or else they'll just burn all their calories they've worked so hard for. Right now, every other feeding is given through a bottle. The other times it's given through her feeding tube. We're working on it and hopefully things will kick in within the next few weeks.

 

Reese had another eye exam today. I never really gave an update from the last exam either. So last week's exam showed some improvement. Her vessels looked less tortuous and less engorged. Today's exam was similar- she still has ROP and some areas of concern, but they've mellowed a little. We're still getting some vessel growth, but we still need more. She is still in stage 2 of ROP and also still in zone 2. Our hope is that she'll stay in stage 2 or really improve and be in stage 1 (stages 1-5) and be able to get more growth- into zone 3. (Ideally, all the way so she doesn't have to have laser and she'll keep all of her vision).

 

Last week, the Dr. felt like she was past the point of benefiting from the Avastin injection. So that is now off of the table and no longer an option or a decision. I feel good about that and have faith that Heavenly Father's will, will be. If we end up loosing peripheral vision, I know Heavenly Father will help us deal with that. I would rather have her have some vision than none. We gave her another blessing tonight and all we can do is hope and pray that Heavenly Father will bless her. Keep praying for her eyes- specifically that she can get good vessel growth and that her eyes will be able to finish developing properly. Also that her ROP doesn't progress into more severity (like progress to stages 3-5) and that her eyes will be protected from any retinal detachment.

  

Her eyes have been a major stress for me. So far, we're seeing that her vessels have grown about 1/2 cm per week. She is almost 38 weeks and apparently babies eye's continue to develop until they are around 40-42 weeks. Sometimes maybe to 44 weeks. The Dr. said that she is about 5 cm away from complete eye development (for the vessels to be grown out to the edge of zone 3). If we get this, then we get full vision. If it doesn't grow to the edge, they will have to do laser to prevent the vessels from pulling on the retina, causing retinal detachment. If you do the math, we might be a little short and laser is definitely likely. But...this is where our faith comes in and we are praying and hoping that we get some really good growth and that she will be blessed with full vision. Anyone who is willing to put her name on the prayer roll at the temple, to fast for her this month or pray in all your prayers, that would be great. We've seen miracles happen before...so we know this is possible. This next month is so crucial and will determine the outcome for her vision. Time to throw in all the chips and hope for the best. What a blessing this would be for her and us. We take so much for granted each day.

 

She is having more wakeful periods during the day and it's fun to interact with her more.

 

 This was her Easter outfit. Love the bunny bum. And it's true....Somebunny does love her.

 

God gave us a miracle.....Her name is Reese.

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