We survived our first week!

Just barely! Lol. Two kids is harded than I thought it would be. We are sleep deprived, our house is a total mess, and my Mom has to be here from the time I wake up in the morning until Curtis comes home from work- but we are loving our sweet baby girl! There have been some rough nights, Olivia has reflux, and some tummy issues we think, so sleeping is hard to come by. Overall though, Livvy is very calm and so so sweet. Curtis is so wonderful with her, and has been awesome to get up with her and help in the night, even though he has to go to work. And Ansley is a great big sister, today she rocked Livvy for me while I got ready- I wish I had gotten it on video, because it was the cutest thing- EVER! I have more pictures to get off my camera, so I will work on that!

We are HOME!

My Mom might kill me for posting this photo- but it is so cute of Ansley and Olivia! My Mom came over early, because Curtis had to go to work. So excuse the no make-up look!

My girls! Finally together! Ansley loves her sister. She keeps telling Livvy, "I am your new sister, Ansley!"

Little Livvy Lou!

Holding her for the 2nd time, the first time she was screaming because she was hungry, and we didn't get a picture.

Daddy is outnumbered! And he loves it :)

We are SO SO SO happy to be home. We are exhausted today, after a long night, Olivia spit up (okay more like projectile vomited twice in the middle of the night all over me, and her clothes, had a poopy diaper up her back, and thinks 5 AM is a good time for a party, but we are thrilled to just have her home, so we don't even care that we are in for a long few weeks!

Funny thing Ansley said!

With all this Livvy stuff, I have neglected to mention that Ansley is doing just fine. She stayed with Curtis' parents for one week with Curtis' sister Courtney (THANKS SO MUCH!!!!), and now she is with my Mom and Dad. My Mom was on the phone with me yesterday morning, and started laughing, and I had no idea what was going on. She proceeded to tell me that Carter had just come up stairs all dressed and ready to go to school, and Ansley looked at him and says, "Uncle Carter you look a little gay!" UM.... don't know where she learned that one, but it was too funny!

Livvy is coming home...

THURSDAY! After 2 weeks in the NICU it looks like we get to bring our baby girl home on Thursday afternoon. She is looking great, and the Doctor said he wants to get her out there ASAP so she doesn't catch some bug from being there. Um, yeah, thanks! So, as long as she has a good day and a half, we are all set!

Well...

We arrived at Primary Children's yesterday, hug your babies and kiddos tight, and count your blessings, this is the most depressing place I have ever been in my life! SO SAD! When they got Miss Olivia and we went back to see her there were 5 nurses gathered around her bed oohing and awing over her. They could not figure out why she was there! They were shocked to get a "normal" baby in. Livvy's nurse told us that the apneas she has been having would not even count at their hospital, and that she would bet that if you hooked most babies up to a monitor they would be doing the same thing!? The neurologist came and checked her out this morning, and declared her healthy, and said they would not be doing the EEG on her, that she did not need it. Then the doctor came in and told us that we could take her home- I was so excited, but then he realized that she was on caffiene, and told us he would have to wean her off of that first- 3-4 days. So, it's been a little crazy, but we are relieved, and praying our baby girl gets to come home healthy- without a monitor or caffiene later this week! Thanks so much for all the prayers!

And we spoke to soon...

Olivia is being transferred to Primary Children's tomorrow for more extensive testing. She had an another apnea last night. The doctor said it could be seizure activity, and they will do more EKG's and sedate her. I am so worried about my baby girl, she looks so perfect, and I just don't know what could possibly going on with her. She is in good hands, and Primary is one of the best children's hospitals in the country. She will be moved to tomorrow at around noon by ambulance.

So...

We had a great day! I needed a great day. I am just terrified that we will have more set backs tomorrow, but praying we don't! The doctor called me shortly after my depressing post earlier to tell me "good news" Olivia has a viral infection! She was so cute, she said, "I normally hate giving parents this news, but this came as such a relief to me!" I was so happy! We finally have some answers as to why she has been acting this way! She also got the other IV out of her head, and tonight when we left she had been off oxygen for 4 hours and was doing really well! I don't want to jinx it, but maybe, just maybe she has turned a corner. If nothing else, she does look pretty darn perfect with no IV's in her head! OH, and she is in a big girl bed, maintaining her own temp!

1 Step Forward 2 Steps Back

That pretty much sums it up... Olivia will make great progress, and then she will go backwards. It is so frustrating, she is back on oxygen, back in the isolet, but the warmer is not on, so she keeping her own temp. She is still eating really well. But, the doctors are stumped as to why she cannot keep her O2 levels up when she is asleep. When she is awake she is fine, but when she gets into a deep sleep her numbers drop again. They are going to give her a few more days, and then they will start running more tests to see if it is something more obscure. Please pray for her that she has a good few days, and that this is nothing more than lung immaturity and not something more serious. Every test they have run so far has been negative, and she has had a lot of them! I don't want to see my baby poked and prodded anymore!

A good day!

YAY! Olivia had a much better day today. She got one IV taken out of her head, the feeding tube is gone, she is in an open air crib, and she is on caffeine to help her breathe. The caffeine has helped greatly. They are letting her feed on demand, and when they were taking too long to give her to me for her 1:00 feed she got mad! It was the first time we had ever really seen her cry- and boy did she! We also found out we will be coming home with a monitor, and caffeine to give her. They think that she was more premature than we thought, so they think that the apneas are nothing more than premature lungs, and they said it is normal for a baby born at 35-36 weeks, which is what they are guessing she might have been.

Update on Miss Olivia

We have had an emotional few days. She had a few more apneas on Monday- although, I am not sure if they were real or not, because the nurse was not there to see them, and she recovered on her own in 20 seconds. I really question them because her O2 levels went from 18 to 86, with no gradual climb. She also had 2 heart decels, and they did 2 EKG's on her, and an ultrasound, all normal- except for a very very tiny hole, which the Cardiologist assures me will close by her 2 month appointment. We do not know what is causing the apneas, the doctors are wondering if she may have been a little earlier than we thought, which would explain why I was measuring so small.... She has also been put back on oxygen, which the nurses say is normal after they start eating- which brings me to the good news- she is breastfeeding like a champ, and took her first bottle of EBM (expressed breast milk) last night, so we may be losing the feeding tube soon! So, as of now we are not sure if she will get to come home with us on Friday or not, and she may be coming home on monitors when she does.