How cute is she???

She loves her swing...mommy does too!

Amazed with the light

Took me all day to do laundry. This may be why!

Teehee!

A thumb sucker???

I was eating my lunch when I looked down and this is what I saw...

Holding her head up!

For the longest time when you hold her upright she will move her head back and forth when she's hungry. Then she started doing it when laying flat on our chests. Lately, we've been spending a lot of time on our tummies playing and trying to do mini push-ups! Lifting her head almost 45 degrees when lying on her stomach is a milestone that generally most babies are to reach by the second month. By the third month, they should be able to raise their heads and shoulders between 45 and 90 degrees. We're still waiting for that one. 'Baby steps' as they say.

Happy Zero Day!

Today was my original due date. I put together a video montage to highlight some special moments from when she was actually supposed to still be in the womb.

Developmental Follow-up Clinic

Today was our first developmental follow-up clinic appointment at St. Joseph's hospital. It was a follow-up appointment with the physiotherapist and dietitian where they checked her weight and made sure she was where she needed to be. She also had to redo the car seat challenge, which she passed! Yay! We're so glad to get rid of the car bed, it was very inconvenient. She's in her car seat quite snugly but she cannot be in it for a long period of time. No baby should be in them for an extended period of time no matter how old they are. So they were happy to hear that our stroller is not even compatible with the car seat so that she is able to stretch out. The physiotherapist didn't really have much to say. We need to continue to strengthen her core, but that's expected with a preemie. Dietitian is pleased with her weight gain, especially since she's almost solely breastfed with only one or so bottle a day.

She's now 7lbs 10oz. My once so tiny baby isn't so tiny any more. She's fussy when you put her down, I think it's because she has some reflux issues. She gets quite upset about it all.

It's been a very long day, so I don't imagine I'll get much sleep tonight as I don't think she's going to be able to calm herself down.

Cheers,
Lindsay

Update

I realize it has been a long time since I've posted pics on here. We've been busy around here! The first two weeks home have been up and down. When she came home, she was no longer on her 3hr schedule that they had her on at the hospital. The first week home she didn't gain much weight, but was adjusting well to her surroundings. The next visit she gained 5 ounces and is now up over 7lbs. Hard to believe my once 2lb 14oz baby is now the size of a 'typical' newborn. She is doing really well with her development. They said she might be a little delayed in development compared to a baby born on March 13th who was a full-term baby.

A quick lesson on this...there's chronological age and corrected age. She is 2 months old chronologically from March 13. But she's still minus one week corrected age. Once we hit the 28th, she will start at zero days old because that was my original due date. The only reason we use is this is because while yes, she's 2 months old, she wasn't supposed to be born when she was so we go by her due date for development...ie holding head, grabbing things, crawling, walking, etc. And we use this only until about 2 years of age. I had a lady at the doctor's office ask me how old she was, and instead of explaining everything, I said she was just a few days old. To compare, my cousin's baby who was born a week before Alyssa is now I think 13lbs. Make sense?

That all being said...she is holding her head up pretty good, much like a 2 monther is supposed to. She sometimes smiles, though I still think it's gas, or when she's really full. She's ravenous when she eats and I have a hard time keeping up with her. She sleeps ok through the night. Though I think she's going through a growth spurt and wants to eat all the time. The dogs are doing really well with her, they don't bother her too much.

I think that brings everyone up to speed. Hope all is well with everyone.

Much love,
Lindsay, Craig and Alyssa

Lovin' the itty bitty feet

Hanging out on the grass on such a beautiful day!

My three children

She quite enjoys her black and white Art Cards that Vicki Bailey gave us

Pretty in purple

And because our life is never exciting enough, we're doing all new floors!

It was either now when you put the baby down and she doesn't move, or when she's all over the place.

We chose now!

At home in the basinette.

Getting comfortable on the couch.

"Way to go, Dad"

Riley just isn't too sure about this noisy thing.

Relaxing after a great nights' sleep.

Best Anniversary Ever!

We woke up early Tuesday morning to find that the nurse had taken her feeding tube out. She had done well with her feeds and managed to get them all down closing in on 24 hours. She then had 24 hours from that point to prove she could do all her feeds or they would have to put the feeding tube back in and it would be 48 hours from that point that we could go home.

Well my smart little cookie managed to get all her feeds over the next 24 hours and they let us go home as of 2:30pm yesterday afternoon!!! We were so happy and so excited to FINALLY be able to go home with a baby! Yesterday also managed to be our 3 year wedding anniversary and while we both let the anniversary slip our minds, bringing Alyssa home is the best gift we can give each other. There’s no better gift than that!

Things at home have been going great; we wake up in the morning and can't believe she's sleeping right beside us in her bed! We can't have a lot of visitors in the house because we want to be careful with Alyssa’s immature immune system, so we’re hoping we can spend the summer safely out in the fresh air.

Here are some guidelines that we need to follow to ensure Alyssa stays healthy. I'm posting them here, so everyone's aware and therefore we're putting Alyssa’s best interests first!

Please don't...

• Presume Alyssa is a "normal" term baby, because although she appears to be healthy her immune is fragile and will be for the first couple years
• Visit if you or any of your family members are sick or if you've recently been around anyone ill. The most important thing you can do when coming to visit is to wash and sanitize your hands as soon as you enter the house.
• Touch or handle Alyssa, she needs to spend the bulk of her time right now sleeping so she can grow
• Bring young children around Alyssa
• Smoke anywhere near Alyssa
• Bring large groups of people into our home
  

Please do…

• Call ahead if you would like to arrange a time to come visit our family
• Check the blog for updates!
  

Thanks for understanding!