Video of the last 4 months

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Caroline Jane Cooper

We are finally home

23 days of bed rest (21 in the hospital)
102 days in the NICU
91 blog posts with over 25,000 views
$10,035,431 paid for parking in the medical center (okay, not quite that much)

We are finally home.  All of that to gain just a little under 5 pounds.  She did well last night.  She loved riding around in her stroller and in the car.  I was very surprised.  We took her into our backyard when we got home and she just kept looking at the sky.  It was pretty cute.  She seemed pretty disoriented from about 7 pm to midnight.  She needed A LOT of attention during that time.  Finally, she ran out of adrenaline and slept until about 6 am.  We fed her through her feeding tube at midnight and 3 am without waking her up.  We didn't sleep more than a few minutes until about 6 am and then she allowed us to sleep a couple of hours.

We are crazy and actually have two monitors, one to make sure she is still breathing and the other to watch her.  The angel care monitor (breathing one) only had one false alarm.  It was at 6:30 am and she had moved over to the corner of her crib.  

We will try to write more later this week as we have some time to reflect.  Here are some pictures from yesterday:

Last few minutes in the NICU

Time to go home

Claire, Michelle and Kristine, our wonderful Level 2 NICU
nurses, say goodbye

Loading up in the car.  Katie wants me to clarify that we did
not ride home in the Yellow Cab

Welcome home, Caroline

Now what?

Her 5th bed in 102 days.  This one is the
cheapest of them all.

Here are a bunch of videos for the Caroline junkies:

No more monitor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62_UYv73YqY

Into the stroller - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EriFeY5Wiok

Out of the NICU forever (hopefully) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj1K61w7QPs

On Norris Drive - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47dFaBkFt7g

Home - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAPVwKsu3kk

In her new bed - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6gGNrdzXy8

Who needs the dress? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKSK4t-d2xw

It's official

Caroline is coming home this afternoon.  Now what?  Details later...

Last quiet night in the Cooper house?

The doctors said we are still on for tomorrow or Tuesday.  So...  we are going to go to work tomorrow as if it is a normal day.  When we get the call, then we will go pick her up.  Today's nurse seems to think she will get released on Tuesday, but we will see.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days:

6 pounds, 10 ounces

Getting tired

Nap time

Dogs snuggling with her clothes 

Here are some pictures that my sister took on Caroline's birthday.  I scanned them, so they are not the best quality:

Cannot wait for her to come out

foot prints

The Kangaroo Crew and TCH doctor

Caroline just a few hours after she was born.

Going to show Katie in Labor and Delivery

Katie's first look

On the way to TCH

  

Day of life 100

When Caroline was in Level 3 NICU, the doctors would round and say "Babygirl Cooper, day of life __".  It was so intense in her first few weeks of life.  They would talk about so many serious issues, like her very low blood pressure, her oxygen levels, her very brief heart issues, infections, etc.  I remember the doctors did a head ultrasound, which was standard, but I could not be there when they discussed it.  Now we are at day of life 100 and I imagine the topics will be whether or not she took her bottle and if she has a dirty diaper.

Still on track

Caroline had a very quick brady yesterday (heart deceleration).  The doctors had just increased the volume of her food and that is what caused the brady.  I was worried that would set her back again, but the doctors were not worried about it.  She is still on track to be released on Monday or Tuesday.  She will have her car seat test tonight.  They will put her in our car seat and see how she responds.

Katie said that our doctor today said that they are very happy with Caroline and that she looks great.  I am happy if they are happy.

Getting Stronger

After a few bad days of bottle feeding, Caroline is doing better again.  Hopefully, she continues doing well.  The doctors are now trying to release her from the hospital next Monday or Tuesday.  She just has to keep on working on her endurance.  Here is a video I took of her "training".  Strangely enough, her hair looks darker and the video looks kind of like 1980 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuULcVaMTf0

She continues to do well with breathing.  She has not been on any oxygen for 6 days and she is stating pretty high.

Here are some more pictures from last weekend and this week:

In her swing.  She ripped out her feeding tube.  Kind of nice to see her pretty face.

She used to be half the size of the doll. 

Stating high.  The "X" means that the monitor is
not finding her heart rate.  I assure you that her
heart was beating.

For Aunt Kim, a picture in her "Off to Auntie's" outfit

Here are some videos my Dad took last weekend:

Nurse Katie

I learned how to put in an NG tube today. It was actually way easier than I imagined. This is the tube that you see going into Caroline's nose. She gets at least two of her eight meals this way. We've been told that, once babies come home, they do not usually need an NG tube very long. When Caroline is home it will be just Ryan and I working on feeding her a bottle instead of several nurses and both of us.

Caroline was really alert today so I feel pretty certain she will not take many bottles tonight. She did nurse well two times and took half of one bottle. The little stinker fell asleep after the first half of her bottle. Once I decided there was no waking her, I put Caroline back in her bed and she was wide awake. She was scared she would miss something exciting in the NICU. Please pray that Caroline continues to build her endurance and improve on bottle feeding.

We are very much looking forward to having Caroline home by Thanksgiving but are disappointed that we will not be able to show off our sweet baby girl to our friends. Since she was born so prematurely and has some lung disease we have to keep her pretty secluded her first year. Of course, it doesn't help that it's flu and RSV season too. If Caroline got the flu or RSV she would be back in the NICU.

Not coming home this week

Caroline will note be coming home this week.  She has taken a step back with her bottle feedings.  While we could feed her through the feeding tube at home, the doctors do not want us to have to use it for every feed.  The goal is now to get her home next week, but it will depend on her feeds. 

I got some good pictures from this weekend.  I will try to post them tonight or tomorrow.

More progress

We got the results from the oxy-whatchmacallit test and the doctors were very happy.  She did better than expected.  She is still wearing the cannulas, but her oxygen is off for the time being.  She will receive oxygen on a need basis.  She will probably need it when she eats.  Heck, I would like a shot of oxygen when I eat.

She is still having some trouble eating.  They did a swallow test yesterday and found that she swallows very well.  However, she has some reflux.  They started medicating her yesterday and she is already doing better with her feedings.  The doctors said that the medicine doesn't usually start working that fast, but who knows...

Katie went to an event for work last night and spoke with a doctor that is currently doing research on prevention of preeclampsia and related issues in pregnancy.  The doctor said that she is finding some good results so far.  That was very interesting to us.

I am going to TCH in a few hours to do my CPR training and then my Dad and Step Mom are coming to town.  My Dad has not seen Caroline in person since she was born and my Step Mom has not seen her yet.  It should be a fun weekend.  I will try to get some pictures.

Holiday Cards

If you are sending out a holiday card this year, consider purchasing your cards from Texas Children's.  A portion of the proceeds from sales goes to TCH.  All of the cards were designed by TCH patients. 

You can order the cards here.

oxycardiorespirogram

Yep, that's a real word.  That is the name of the test they will conduct tomorrow.  It will let us know about Caroline's oxygen needs for when she comes home.  If all goes well, Caroline will probably be able to come home in 7 to 10 days.

Caroline has not gained very much weight the last few days.  She was having to work a little too hard to eat.  So, they are going to cut back her bottle feeding and give her food through the feeding tube a little more.  That means that she will likely come home with the feeding tube for a short time.  I think it sounds a little scarier than it really is...  We would be nervous about putting it in, but it is apparently not that difficult and they will teach us.  We have seen them set up the feeding tube so many times, I think I could do it right now.

We have CPR training on Friday.  That is a little scary, but it is necessary.  They installed our car seat today and gave Katie the rundown about car seat education.  We are getting closer and closer to going home.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

We had a great weekend.  Fall is my favorite time of year.  Katie and I have been coming to the Medical Center since July 21st and I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away.  I am crossing my fingers that I have Caroline home in time for some pumpkin pie.

My Mom and Step Dad were in town to see Caroline this weekend.  She partied pretty much all day yesterday while listening to the music from her toys.  Her grandmother's bought her these toys because she is obsessed with them.

Caroline did awesome with her feedings this weekend.  She was really struggling earlier this week with bottle feeding, but she has had 3 really good days in a row.  It is looking like we may have to go home with the feeding tube, but maybe we can get it out if she continues to do well.

Sometime this week, the doctors will put Caroline on a monitor that will download all of her breathing stats for 4 hours to see how she is doing.  Alright, Caroline, show them what you can do and do not hold your breath.

Physical Therapy is still coming by 3 times a week.  They notice a few things that are not completely normal, but nothing really serious right now.  They said that only a specialist would be able to notice the things they see.  We qualify for a physical therapist to come to our house to work with her for awhile, so that will be nice.

We had to buy an extra refrigerator to freeze her milk.  I think we have about 400 ounces at our house and another 135 bottles at TCH.  Some of those bottles are small, but we have a ridiculous amount of milk.  Her doctor this weekend said she can take it to college in a backpack.  I joked that I was going to start selling it.  The conversation turned serious really quick.  Apparently it is frowned upon to sell breast milk (maybe illegal in Texas), but we can certainly donate it if it comes to that.

We had a visit from Alicia, one of Caroline's level 3 nurses.  It's always fun to see old friends.

Here are two videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfY1oUBSKrY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggr17ZTxqKg

Here are some pictures:

View outside of our window at Caroline's bed

Visit from Krystie, the nurse at Methodist that
took care of us several times and was in delivery room

Six Pounds

Caroline is 6 pounds exactly.  I think that Katie uses a 6 pound bowling ball.  She needs to start hitting the weights.

Caroline had a fabulous photo shoot today thanks to First Memories Texas!

She is still sleeping most of the time during her 3 pm bottle feed with OT. I think we may switch the time to 9 am because she nurses so well with me in the mornings. Please say an extra prayer that Caroline will be able to increase her bottle feeding attempts soon.

Thank you all for the prayers and support. We are both so ready for Caroline to be home with us... Of course, this makes us a little nervous too. I asked Ryan if he thought we would sleep the first night she was home. He laughed and said we will probably take turns. :)

Todays news

5 pounds, 14 ounces.  Doctors are very happy with her weight.  I think it's safe to say that Caroline is one of the few people that have more than tripled in size in less than 3 months. 

18 inches long.  Pleased with growth.  5 inches in 11 weeks.

 They are doing some chest xrays and tests on her lungs.  Everything looks pretty good so far.  She will probably be followed by a pulmonary doctor for a little while.  She may have to come home with oxygen for a short time period. 

Doctors guess that we need two more weeks in the hospital.