Kayley’s first headband, haha.
She has tummy troubles just like Andy did with it’s accompanying crankiness… but when she is content and alert it is breathtaking! Her face has filled out in the past few days and I think she is on the brink of a smile! 😀

Wow, that month flew by!!!

Kayley went to her first movie today, though I can’t say she saw her first movie… we watched “The Lightning Thief” and she slept through the entire thing!

And 2 days! She must be close to 8 pounds now because we made the switch to size 1 diapers today.
I just love this picture!!

Miss Kayley is 19 days old!


Kayley is now 7 lb 10 oz!!!! Holy Moly! She gained 11 oz in one week! It’s gonna be a race to see if we finish off the newborn diapers or she outgrows them first. LOL.
She also has reflux 🙁 Hopefully some Zantac will help her out. We started noticing her spitting up and arching with pain about 2 days ago. She hasn’t been very happy.
Kayley lost her umbilical cord at 15 days and had her first bath the next day. Here’s the traditional ducky robe shot…

Kayley is 12 days old!
Miss Chubba has gained 5.5 oz in 3 days. She weighs 6 lbs 15 oz. Pediatrician appt was this morning. He said she appears about 37 weeks to him (her due date was 2 days ago). Interestingly enough, with girls they determine age based on the how the labia look. He seemed to think I fudged my dates until I reminded him she is an IVF baby and I couldn’t possibly be off. LOL. Her length was 20 3/4 inches… I think that is a bit big… can they really grow 1 3/4 inches in 13 days?! He says she looks great.
Now that she is almost 7 pounds again she almost fits her smaller newborn clothes. I do have some teensy onesies so she’ll be fine for another week in them. She is such a peanut!!!
BFing is going nowhere. I am trying really hard to not resign myself to pumping or formula. Lactation Consultant appt tomorrow morning. We’ll see. Pumping around the clock is SOOOOO much harder than BFing around the clock! I miss the ease of Andy’s breastfeeding.
Tongue-tie gone- took no more than 10 seconds to clip and she didn’t even cry- but apparently K has the beginnings of a tooth already. Dentist thinks it’s a baby tooth, not a “milk tooth” babies sometimes have at birth. We figured for 30 seconds of work each, the dentist makes $44,000 an hour cutting frenulums.
I’m tired. My back hurts. LC appt, OB appt AND PE for the boys tomorrow.

Happy due date!
pump…pump…pump…pump…


How many mother’s know their baby drank 15.8 oz today and they pumped 19.67?
Upcoming appts Tues or Wed (because of the holiday, we couldn’t even make the appts yet):
Lactation Consultant… breast is not what Kayley prefers in her mouth at all!
Dentist… looks like she also has a tongue tie- though it seems less of a problem than the boys had it. She also has a tooth- hahaha! Upper, her right side.
Pediatrician… who hasn’t even seen her yet since she went directly to the NICU.
And to round things out… OB 2 wk follow-up is on Thursday.

After 10 days in the NICU- she’s home!!!!!!


Andy bolted from the room and Brendan had big googly eyes and took awhile to even touch her hand, haha. Kayley is currently in her car seat on the table and is being watched over by two grandmas eager to hold her.
She latched on fairly well this afternoon and more or less nursed for 45 minutes. I had to use a nipple shield and I am sooo curious how much she got. I really don’t think a whole lot despite how well she did because she sucked down 2 2/3 ounces by bottle about half an hour later. Lil piggy!
I’m gonna be up all night, I just know it!

She is off the nasal cannula!!!!! Nothing mars her pretty little face now!
Kayley might come home tomorrow!! BFing ranges from nada nada limonada (nothing doing) to 10 min and from sucko latch to not too bad and with or without a breast shield and with or without sneaking drips of BM to her via oral syringe. I pretty much left in hysterics (you should see all the NICU people that come out of the woodwork when you attempt to leave crying- no way are you getting out of there! Ha!) last night but feel better about it today. Just get her home….
Think positive thoughts for continued good breathing and a weight gain….

Plugged ducts. Ugh!!! I felt achy all over last night and yesterday afternoon… not a good sign. I may have to pay another visit to the Lactation Consultants. We have really good ones here.
Kayley got moved up to 52 cc last night. Little peanut is back to her low of 6-9 again. She was still on the highest cannula settings despite having perfect respiration rates and oxygens sats all day. The night nurse wasn’t one who felt like she could change the settings though. She said the dr would probably do it in the morning.
We also ought to find out if her c-reactive proteins come back still elevated or if the infection scare is done with. So far cultures have revealed nothing.
Evening update:
Well… they didn’t do the c-reactive protein test… hmmpf. But according to our calculations, she should have finished up her 7 days of antibiotics today… so perhaps she’ll be IVless tomorrow!
Nasal cannula set one point lower… now at power level 4. Slow going but it’s moving down. Kayley looks great and is breathing great so I anticipate it being lowered tomorrow. Despite having her feeds upped to 55, she lost another ounce today. My lil peanut weighs 6 lb 8 oz now.
She’s not yet in clothes… but the nurse tonight said she might put her in something after her bath. Maybe we’ll have a cute picture tomorrow night?
Kayley can be amazingly alert! She seems to sleep just as soundly too! I finally feel she is getting to know me… distinguishing me from all the other people.
Still no BFing but the plugged ducts are a little better. I never got a fever so OB didn’t prescribe antibiotics. I’m also watching a red line that has appeared about my incision… might be infection or blood that has collected under the skin. I was told to trace it with a marker and see if it gets bigger.
The pump and I are duking it out. I seem to be on the sucker (har har) all the time. I did not increase in supply very much today. I am hoping for better results tomorrow. After this pumping I will have made about 1 oz more today than she took in.

I took a pumping break and went 5 hours without last night. Does the mind and spirit good! I made my first 2.5 oz full bottle this morning! I’m ahead of her now! She’s at 1 1/3 oz per feeding.
Just getting impatient for her to be off cpap and get a little more interactive with her!
I could use some positive thoughts for a good first breastfeeding, whether it be today or tomorrow.
Some answers to questions I’ve been asked…
I guessed 8-5 and the OB, as I was on the OR table, guessed 8 1/2. LOL! You should have seen the fountain of amniotic fluid though- it went straight up!
The boys are fine- now that I am mostly home- but they were showing stress, definitely.
Note to self- 4 adults (our parents and 1 aunt) who aren’t used to each other in one house is a baaaad idea. Just sayin’.
I’ve had one breakdown (when I heard about the automatic 7 day stay) and a couple teary moments (like when Kayley got her cpap mask adjusted and was clawing her face to get it off). DH also has had one breakdown moment… he’s mortified, lol. I was in the shower when the OB came to visit and asked how we were doing. He sobbed out the story to her… apparently for the entire 10 min I was in the shower. Poor guy.
Evening Update:
CPAP is off! But I just found out the nasal cannula might take several days to wean her from. Opinions differ but general consensus seems to be cannula + BFing is not a good idea. She might breathe in milk. I wonder if they’ll let her off the cannula when it is set lower when it’s time to eat or I’ll have to wait until she’s weaned from it too… or what? She is still fed by OG tube (mouth to stomach). She’s now taking 48 cc every 8 hours. Such a challenge keeping up. I might make 70 cc 2x at night but the other pumpings are anywhere from 40 cc to 48 cc. 8x a day is so hard. 7 is easier… but 7 may just not be enough.
Sigh. I’m tired. But Kayley looks pretty darn good! I held her the entire time we were there today! She has very alert times and is a wiggler, lol.