Almost Double Digits

The doctor's office scale Wednesday morning said Darbi is 9 pounds 11 ounces! Almost 10 pounds! I was really hoping for 10 but we're happy nonetheless! The doctor is pleased with her progress and told me to make my next appointment for two months out. TWO MONTHS! I'm so happy that he is pleased she is doing well enough to go that long. Unfortunately, that means, at least 2 more months of oxygen.. and likely 3+. I am happy, however, that the Welcome Baby group is still visiting us monthly. In two months time, I think she's still going to be behind developmentally and I want to make sure I don't miss anything.

Right now,
- She can hold her head up but she's still shaky. She can turn it, no problem once her head is up.
- During tummy time, she doesn't try to lift herself up at all. She'll just bury her face in the blanket, scream, and push with her legs. When we do tummy time on the Boppy, she almost does a somersault out of it because she's pushing so hard with her legs. It's kinda funny...
- She smiles, which is good. I'm not too worried there.
- She "has a conversation" with me about 2 or 3 times a week and they don't last very long. I don't know when the constant "talking" will begin. She doesn't seem to have found her voice but I think I can chalk that up to her just barely being able to hear anything that doesn't sound like she's underwater. She did, however, seem to almost giggle yesterday when I was "growling" at her. She likes the deep voices and seems to respond more.
- She doesn't really care for toys when we try to play with them around her. She can fix her eyes on things (like her mobile) but they toys haven't interested her yet.
- There is definitely no rolling over.

Hopefully in the next month, I can check some small accomplishments off of our list. Also, at our appointment, the office let us borrow one of their O2 Sat monitors (through some MAJOR arm twisting by me and the Doctor (you'd think he'd have some pull.. as it is his office). Those iron-fisted nurses would not let it go!) and we noticed she does fine on 1/16L when her mouth is shut. Because then she's for sure getting the oxygen that is going up her nose. However, when she's screaming, she'll go from having her blood 98% saturated with oxygen down to 72% (Perfect is +85%). I think the key is during the day, we'll stick to 1/16L to get her used to it. Then in the evening when she's more fussy, we'll go back up to 1/8L just to be safe. She also had 2 more shots which gave her a fever last night and some major fussiness. Clint gave her a Father's Blessing and after she calmed down pretty quick and went to sleep. Go Priesthood!

Tonight, Clint made tin foil dinners and MAN does he know how. And I had a year's worth of cramps to keep me company today. :(

What a Bad Day

My Monthly Monster has returned. :(

Darbi's Hardware

Quick recap on D's lungs:

She was born at 23w5d due to complications of preeclampsia on Jan 1st, 2009 and she weighed 15.6 ounces. On Day 25 of her life she was diagonosed with BPD - Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. They started her on a 3 week Nitric Oxide treatment (which is a new treatment of which the results can only be determined with time..). She was in the NICU for 4 months and came home on May 4th on 1/4L of oxygen.

Air Concentrator/Compressor or Oxygen Sender-Outer??

They sent us home with tanks and also an air concentrator. (I think that's what they call it) It's a box that plugs into the wall and pulls the air from your home in, separates the gases, and sends the oxygen through the tubes to D. It has about a 50 foot tube that makes it easier for us to move from room to room. We currently live in a basement apartment so I can walk from one end of the apartment to the other with no problems. It's kinda loud and puts out a TON of heat which isn't so fun in an apartment with no AC but we deal.

Oxygen Tank - did you need a caption for that??

For days when we need to leave the house (ie: Dr's appointments or walks with the stroller so I can see the sunlight and not be a hermit...) we have an oxygen tank. They come in different sizes, the biggest being about 3 feet tall with wheels that you usually see old men wheeling around. We have the size smaller than that. It's about 2 feet tall but comes with a little bag that makes it easy to carry around. When we initially came home on 1/4L of oxygen, the tank would last maybe 8 hours? I can't remember very well and I don't have the chart to tell me. It wasn't long. Last week, when we had her on 1/16L 24/7, it lasted about 3 days. Our home medical supply company will bring out as many tanks as we need and we just need to give them about a days head start so they can deliver them.

Foam strap with the leads velcroed underneath - Ignore her gymp-looking hand. I swear she was moving.
Yes she still has a umbilical hernia. Yes it looks funny. :) No it doesn't require surgery... Yet.

D is also on a heart monitor. She has the foam strap that goes around her chest and there are 2 leads; one under each arm. There are no numbers on the actual monitor, just lights. A little green light blinks for every breath she takes and another one for every time her heart beats. The breathing light doesn't seem to register every breath but if she goes longer than 20 seconds without breathing then the alarm with go off and a red light will stay lit under the appropriate blinking green light. So in case I'm out of the room of cannot see it when it goes off, I know why. And if her heart rate goes below 70 the alarm will sound. The alarm is LOUD. We have only had it go off in the middle of the night a few times and once because I forgot to plug it in and the battery died. We jump out of bed so fast! It's nerve racking but when I think if we hadn't had the heart monitor, what could have happened... then we are happy for that annoying little thing.


I'm not sure how much longer we will need to be on oxygen. Because of her little "lack-of-oxygen/no-breathing" episode the other day, I'm thinking a couple more months. She likes it. I'm comfortable with it. There's no need for it to go anywhere yet. And then the heart monitor will be around even longer than that. So those of you with babies easily cart-around-able.. be grateful! This is tough stuff! :)

Her Mobile

The funny thing about last night.. before the whole crying-so-hard-she-started-to-choke thing was that while she was laying in bed, she would stop crying if we made the mobile spin. As soon as it would wind down (we just twisted it ourselves) she would start to cry again. She loves that thing!Sorry for the blurriness.. I'm working on it...

It's starting to slow down...

It stopped. :(

Anyone know where I can get a motor for that?? I'm going to lose my mind if I have to wind it up every 30 seconds! Would a clock motor work?

What. A. Night.

So we learned tonight that 1/16L of oxygen is not enough for D in the evening time. ARGH. I was already on a physical and emotional low and I had already had one crying spell for the night. To make the night worse, Darbi was so sad. The screaming... OH the screaming. NOTHING I would do would make her happy. She was screaming so hard that at one point, she started choking and couldn't breathe. We kinda freaked out for a minute..

Lately, at night, it seems like she's getting the bottle and the boob confused and will not eat from me after Clint has given her the bottle. This only lasts for the initial feeding after the bottle. Then she usually will go to sleep and when she wakes up, she has forgot all about the bottle and is ready for me. This has been going on for about a week now but tonight was horrible. I have a crying headache now because I was so frustrated. I felt bad too because Clint doesn't get any sleep when I can't seem to quiet her. So Clint took her and she calmed down a bit.

He was the one to suggest that we put her back on the air concentrator for the night. The air concentrator only goes down to 1/8L and since the Dr. ordered 1/16L, we've been on the tank solely since July 1st. So I turn off her tank and when I do that, usually the nossle will turn about 1/4 of a turn and it will be off. It turned just barely which means she was hardly getting any oxygen. That is why she was so fussy. Almost instantly we saw a change. She went from being tense and red-ish, to relaxed.. almost like a limp noodle. It took me about 10 mintues of straight snuggling.. the good kind where she is happy.. then she went to sleep. This weening process is going a bit slower than I had anticipated but like the Dr. said, she will go at her own pace and we just have to follow.

I. am. exhausted.

Grandma-isms??

Clint just reminded me of this conversation I had with my Mom when she was here... She's gonna kill me for posting this. :)

Mom: (while trying to boot up my lappy) What is your password?

Audrey: (looking exasperated) Really?

Mom: What?

Audrey: Really, Mom??

Mom: Oh. Ok. Really.

Audrey: No. NOT Really.

Mom: Ok. So Not Really. N-O-T [space]...

Audrey: NO. Really????

Mom: So Really??

Audrey: MOM!!

It was a pretty ridiculous conversation. I must say though, my Mom is the least dumb person I know. I'll admit, she has her moments (as shown...) but if you put this woman on Jeopardy, she would win the million dollars, the car, the trip to Hawaii... whatever. She is a Trivial Pursuit nightmare. We laughed about it right away when she realized how silly she was being but she will never live it down. Got it Mom? Really??

The Weekend Pt. 2 + HB to me!

ACK!! I LOVE this picture!! She looks so goofy!


So a friend of mine did this with her daughter to see what she would look like with longer hair.. Her picture turned out SO much cuter than mine!! We're just trying to see what she would look like with hair PERIOD!! It's pretty dang funny though!!

We celebrated the big 2-4 for me on Saturday while my Mom was in town. She took me shopping for some new clothes which were very much needed and my Grandma got me a cake (white with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting -- mah fave) with teal flowers on it. Fave color, fave cake.. it was good.
My BD is actually today and Clint and I went to Target and got me a new flat iron, a sports bra (to motivate the jazz-er-sizer in me.. Hmph), and then to B&N for new books! I got P&P (a classic that I've read so many times but don't have the book), The Book Thief, & The Time Traveler's Wife. The last two I don't know much about. Then we went to Five Guys and home in time for The Bachelorette.. She FINALLY sent Wes home. It's about freaking time!!

The Weekend

The only time I can get good pics of Darbi is when someone with a nicer camera is around.. Mine doesn't do weel in a poorly lit basement. My Mom came up with weekend with her duo of amazing camers and got these awesome pictures for us!









Because she was in town, we stayed up at my Grandma's in Sandy. Both her and my Grandma (who is a nurse) watched Darbi so we could finally go on a date!! We decided to go to a movie because with all the summer blockbusters coming out, we can't ever go see them because of D. Friday night we went and saw Transformers and Saturday we went and saw The Proposal. She was really fussy while we were gone and I felt bad but it was still nice to get out of the house with Clint.

Freedom Festival

We hit up Provo's Patriotic Hot Spot tonight. I knew it would be the slowest of the 3 days and I needed some 4th of July festivities in my blood bad. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the 4th of July. I love finding cheap 4th of July clothes and putting fun ribbons in my hair and painting my toes amazing shades of turquoise but mostly I think I love it because it's so close to my birthday! It's like the whole nation is celebrating for me!! I wish my birthday was actually on the 4th like my super lucky roomie and D's bestie's mom... confusing?? but I'll just have to settle for the 6th.


We strapped Darbi in her stroller and cautiously went for a stroll around the booths. We kept our GIANT container of hand sanitizer near and used it VERY often. I love my face in this picture below.. If you get near me with a cold.. or get near me at all... I'll kick you in your shins.. as per Ashley's instruction. :)


Here is D peeking out from her little cocoon.. The poor kid is going to grow up and be the "weird" kid in class who can't socialize. We'll cross that bridge when we need to.. when her immune system is ready for germy friends.

Six Month Pictures

LAST Hearing Test

We had Darbi's #4 hearing test this morning.. and we PASSED!!! It's about time I say! After, we went up to the NICU, or "old haunt" as some like to call it, to see some of our most favorite nurses! With the piggy-flu being everywhere, they wouldn't let us 10 feet past the elevators for fear we might bring it in with us. We had to have our reunion in the cold little room with the elevators because no children were allowed on the floor. It was totally fine with us though.. I'd be in a murgerous rage if someone came in with it and possibly endangering my baby.. Because it had to be a quick visit, I didn't have time to get pictures with Miss D and her faves. We may have to wait for the NICU reunion next year.. when Darbi will be walking.. YIKES.

Six Months

Today is Miss Darbi's half-birthday! 6 months actual and 2 months adjusted. I cannot believe it is already JULY. Throughout the whole hospital experience, I never imagined what life would actually be like with her home EVER. At that point, it was all about the hospital and taking life day to day to day. Now, it's about measuring her life by months which, I'm just now realizing, is REALLY weird!!

Right now, you love:

- being held
- being held
- BEING HELD
- laying against our chests
- bathtime before the bathing part begins
- heat packs for tummy aches
- sleeping on your side
- staring at any lights
- to smile at Daddy when he makes funny sounds
- your bink
- pooping your pants ONLY when Mommy is home so Daddy doesn't have to change you >:(
- laying in your Nap Nanny

Right now, you are:

- 6 months old actually
- 2 months old adjusted
- wearing Newborn diapers
- wearing Newborn size clothes but because of your heart monitor strap around your chest, you can fit into 0-3 month clothing
- so happy in the morning when you wake up and give me smiles all day until about 7:00 when "play time is over" (I swear.. That 70's Show can apply to EVERY part of my life! Sorry.. and on we go...)
- at least 8 pounds.. I'm thinking closer to 9 though.

Right now, you can:

- follow me around the room with your eyes
- smile
- slurp on your hands when Mommy doesn't want to find your bink
- pull out your cannula.. because you act like your nose is itchy and when I check back after you're done "scratching" your nose.. it's on top of your nose or in your mouth.
- sleep for at least 6 hours consistently through the night (we've gotten up to 8 once!)
- eat 4 ounces from a bottle in one sitting
- have a "cooing conversation" with me - but only when you are being extremely attentive

In the last 6 months, you have:

- gained at least 8 pounds
- grown 8 inches
- lived in the hospital longer than you've lived at home
- shown us that your eyes will be BROWN
- charmed our lives with your sweet sweet spirit

With my roommates we have a tradition where we always celebrate everyone's HALF birthday's. Who doesn't love "cake in a jar" every chance you get?? Maybe I'll post about "cake in a jar" someday. It's GLORIOUS!! So from now on.. we will celebrate:
January 1st - Darbi's actual birthday
April 25th - Darbi's due date
July 1st - Darbi's half actual birthday
October 25th - Darbi's half adjusted age birthday

I will post some pictures tomorrow of her and her 6 month old self. This was a picture I snapped today with my phone on my way out the door to go to work. Clint was holding her with her bink and she was looking too cute. I love this little girl!

Happy 6 Months Baby Girl!!