Happy 2 month birthday Whitney!

Today is Whitney's 2 month birthday ~ Happy Birthday baby girl White! I received a funny email from my Mom this morning wishing her a happy birthday and her hopes for her to drink as much milk as she desires. teeheehee.

I'm a little late updating this, but Andy, Whitney and I went to Florence last Thursday to meet with the physical therapists. We had a really great meeting with them and they thought Whitney looked really good. They laid her down on some mats and started doing some exercises and stretches with her. Once again, I wasn't completely sure what they were checking for, but whatever it was they liked what they saw, they said they don't need to see her until she is 6 months old. Her muscle tone and movements look good thus far.

We were all so happy for her and the strength that she is showing. They requested we keep doing "tummy time" with her, as it will only help strengthen her neck and arms and we are also to keep working on some exercises we received when we were discharged from the hospital. These "exercises" are nothing terribly hard, and seem like something any newborn should be doing so we really don't mind working with her on them and I'm sure in time she will just think of them as games we play rather than exercises we are doing. I cannot say how excited I am at such great news we have gotten this past week. Between the infant neurologist and the therapists I am thanking God constantly. I know she may have a rough road ahead of her, but for now she is doing so well and we are learning to live in the moment and enjoying all her little milestones and not taking ANYTHING for granted.

On Friday, she has her 2 month shots scheduled so I'm excited to see how much weight she has gained and see how she does with the shots. I've seen her get pricked, poked and prodded so much she will probably SLEEP through the shots (probably not, but hey, wishful thinking) but at least it will be a little less heartbreaking for Mom, I've seen her through much worse.

Oh yes and one more thing, we went to Charlotte this weekend for a friends wedding and on Sunday night when we got back to the house we decided to start putting her in her crib in the nursery, rather than the playpen in our room. She's done great so far (sleeping about 5-6 hours at night) and I really like having her use the nursery. She also did really good traveling to Charlotte. We were able to introduce her to some of my clients for work and she got to see some of our friends at the wedding as well. I was really proud of myself for not overpacking or under packing for our first 2 night overnight trip with her, all went pretty smooth, and LOTS of sleeping for her in the car.

Here are her 2 month old pictures and "milestones" for those of you who don't know, you can double click on the picture and it will enlarge. Enjoy!

Patience and Hope, the life of this Mom

Today Whitney had her first follow-up appointment in Florence with the infant neurologist. As you know, I have have voiced my concerns and nervousness for this appointment. I actually ended up calling yesterday to find out if they were going to run an MRI on her brain, or was this meeting just a scheduled check-up. They advised there was no MRI scheduled, so that put my mind at ease for a night at least.

When Dr. Murthy met with her, he was very pleased with how she looked. He did a series of reflex tests, I'm not quite certain WHAT he was looking for or testing, but whatever it was he was happy with the results. He said from what he could see today she looks very good. He scheduled an MRI for early September and suspects it should be "normal" (shudder...I HATE that word). Each MRI gets progressively  better and based off of how she looks and is reacting he would think this one should follow suit and be even better.
Regardless, this was the best possible news we could have heard. He explained once again, how infants brains can repair itself from early injury, and he suspects the cooling treatment worked properly which allowed just that, the brain to repair.
I of course, am still worried and will just WAIT (once again) for the test and results. I do feel confident though that they should be positive. Whitney is doing so well. She is alert and strong. She's responsive and learning new things every day, I have so much faith in her to do great things, she is already amazing us in so many ways.

After the doctor appointment I swung on by the NICU to show Whitney off to some of the nurses that took care of her. It was a very surreal moment for me walking through the halls of the NICU, something I will probably never be able to shake. All the emotions I was feeling is just too much to write about, but I can say I was so proud to be walking in there WITH my baby girl and not going there to visit her. I saw people in the waiting room and parents walking out. I know that feeling and what they are going through. The struggles and the fears and the questions. But this time I was the face of hope. When the nurses were ohh'ing and ahhh'ing over her, I saw parent's faces peek around the corner and give a little smile, for they got to see a bit of hope too. And when you are in the NICU, that is all you want, hope. You hope for the little things, little milestones. With the help of the nurses, friends, family and God, they gave Whitney hope for a brighter future. She is here now with a purpose and we are feeling oh so blessed.

Growing bigger and bigger and WI-FI too!

The pediatrician's appointment on Friday went as good as it could. Whitney gained 14 ounces in 14 days, which the Doctor was really happy about, she now weighs 8 pounds 14 ounces. He continues to relish in her strength and is very proud of her growth and development. He added once again that she looks like any other newborns who are 7 weeks old and really only time will tell what her outcome will be. At age 2, 3 and 4 is where we will really see if there are disabilities. Ahhh patience.
We also got the clearance for her to stop using her monitor, she is COMPLETELY cord free. The monitor thankfully never went off due to her heart or lung failure, but it really was a good piece of mind for us though. We are extremely happy to have this disconnected and put away in the corner though.

This is a big week for us, for I will be traveling to Florence on Tuesday with Whitney for the neurologist appointment and then Andy has off Thursday and all three of us will be going back to Florence for a physical therapy meeting. Please keep the prayers coming for this long journey.

Busy week

The past two weeks have been very busy with Grandma "JuJu" (Andy's Mom) in town. She headed back to Wisconsin on Tuesday morning, but left with many memories. While she was in town it allowed me to run some errands, see some friends and even have a night out with our friends who came to visit. Thank you again so much Julie for all the help!

Whitney continues to do very well. She is eating four ounces every four hours and is still sleeping a good amount. She also is getting so much more alert and focused. When she is awake she enjoys playing both on her back and tummy. I just got her some wrist rattles yesterday and it's fun to see her discovering them and the sounds she can make.
We have an appointment with the infant neurologist next week Tuesday. We are not sure yet if they will do a brain scan on her on Tuesday or if he will just write up the orders to have one done a different day. It would be great if they could do it all on one day. I am so nervous for this scan I can hardly take it. The good news is we have had enough time now to process and accept all that has happened. Whitney is a miracle just being here with us and we will continue to love her no matter what the outcome. I hate to keep reverting back to the bracelets we received, but "Strength, one day at a time" is so very true.

She has started to smile more and more each day which is so fun to watch.

 Last night was a really special moment for our family, all our visitors have left for awhile and it was just Andy, myself and Whitney. We were putting her to bed and reading some stories to her when she unleashed some really great smiles. This is one of the first times Andy has seen her purposely smile and so many smiles at that! We laughed together and ALL smiled, what a great feeling and moment it was for me.

The time I get with Whitney right now is just so great. She is such a "cool" baby. And so to leave you with a little bit of fun, we just wanted to share a super fun picture. Enjoy!

A star is born

Sunday night was a really special night for our small family, we made plans to go back to the Conway Hospital and have Whitney "meet" some of the nurses that helped her.

Since she was whisked away the night she was born and taken to Florence NICU, most of the nurses did not get a chance to see her or meet her. Most probably had a horrible vision in their head and it was important and exciting for us to bring her back and show them how their hard work paid off. It was also a chance for me to see some of the nurses who helped me through the difficult few days after Whitney was born.

Gina, the nurse holding Whitney was my nurse during my recovery. She was so kind and wonderful and shared many uplifting stories to keep me positive. She is the mother of a friend of ours, who always told us what a great nurse she was, so it was extra special that she was assigned to me. She was one of the many blessings that happened to us at Conway Medical.

Katie, on the far right, worked on resuscitating Whitney immediately after birth. We were told she was the nurse that first heard Whitney's heartbeat. It was quite emotional for us to meet her and her to meet Whitney. The words "Thank You" hardly seem right to say to someone like her. Someone who is responsible for saving your babies life. Someone who was with her from the start and DID NOT give up on her. Someone who KNEW this little girl was destined for great things. Unbelievable. This past month has truly been a month of emotions and disbelief.

Conway Medical also has a beautiful mural on the wall with personalized stars that you can purchase (proceeds go to the nursery) in which you can have engraved with your child's name and birthday on. We didn't get a large photo of the mural, once the star is there we will take another one, but we reserved a star for Whitney and can't wait for it to come in. We picked a star right in between the trunk and leaves of a palm tree, a perfect place. For some reason I can't figure out how to make our vertical pictures show up vertical on the blog, so use your imagination for the photo below.
A star is born!

Doctor's appointment

Whitney’s morning appointment with the pediatrician went well today. She grew a quarter of an inch from last week, but unfortunately didn’t gain any weight. The doctor was not concerned one bit though and said 11 ounces over two weeks is very good. Since she didn’t eat before the appointment she was hungry and wide awake. This was actually a good thing because the doctor could finally see her awake and moving around. He said numerous times how happy he was with how good she looked, he was really proud of her. She was kicking and moving her arms and legs, tracking with her eyes and even let out a cry when he was “annoying” her.

We are now moving up to 4 ounces every 4 hours and will have her next appointment in two weeks rather than every week.

She continues to eat and sleep very well. The last three nights she has been sleeping 5-6 hours at night, what a blessing. Her monitor has not gone off either. I am still in awe over this girls progress, she truly is such a fighter. To see how far she has come in just over a month is incredible, I love her so much. We are so proud to call her our daughter and every little milestone means more than the world to us. We are so blessed to have her in our life.

Picture time

Andy had off of work today so we tried to make the most of the day and get outside and also head to the new SkyWheel on the beach. I was there when my parents were in town but Whitney and I did not go on,since I wanted to wait to go with Andy.
The day was fun filled (Whitney slept through it all!) of going to the SkyWheel, eating at Bumsteads/Dagwoods, going to Costco and hitting up the pool this evening. We brought our nice camera along down to the beach and Andy was able to capture some great pictures that I'll share with with you all.
Tomorrow is another pediatrician appointment for Whitney. I'm excited to see what her weight gain is and to check her progress, we'll be sure to let everyone know. And don't worry, Whitney was covered from the sun the whole day, except for the few photos we took her out of her car seat for!