Stick Family

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Ashlyn's First Bath

Since Ashlyn was rushed to NICU after birth, she never really recieved a good bath.....so when we got her home tonight we decided she needed a good scrub down :o)


Finally Home

After a long week and half at the hospital we were finally allowed to bring Ashlyn Mae home this afternoon :o) We are so happy and so grateful to be home with the rest of the family. The boys are happy to have their Mommy home and extra extra happy to have their baby sister home. Thank you to all our family and friends for all the encouraging words, for all the visits, for all the phone calls, and for all the meals. We are blessed :o)


Monday, April 19, 2010

Ashlyn Update

April 19th 2010

Today was a GREAT day :o) :o) I woke up and headed to the hospital for Ashlyn's 6 o'clock feeding and I was happy to see her off oxygen and out of the incubator :o) :o) She looked so happy and so was Mommy. The nurse told me that she was doing good, and that they just were waiting for the on call doc to make his rounds and to see what he thought of her improvement. So I headed back home, took Phil to work, took Ace to preschool and then me and Aidan headed to the grocery store to stock up on stuff before baby sister came home :o) on the way home I called to see how Ashlyn was doing, and to let the nurse know that I was going to miss her 9 o'clock feeding. The nurse then told me that the doctor wants me to start breastfeeding and wants Ashlyn to room in with me throughout the day and night and if she does good we can go home tomorrow. So me and Aidan rushed home....dropped off groceries, and then headed up to the hospital to see our baby girl. She looked so happy to see us :o) and she caught onto to nursing in no time. So me and Aidan stayed there for a while and then we had to leave to pick up Ace and then to pick up Phil and then they dropped me back off at the hospital where I spent the night. Ashlyn did a good job throughout the night, hardly ever cried and fed like a champ. CAN'T WAIT FOR TOMORROW :o)

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Ashlyn Update

April 18th 2010

The beginning of the day was just another day in the hospital....Ashlyn's resp rate has been steadily hanging below 50, so they are no longer concerned with that. They tried to ween her again last night, but she didn't want nothing to do with that :o( and she still can't keep her temp up, so she was still in the incubator. But the night nurse decided that she was gonna ween her off tonight and Ashlyn just had to tolerate it and get better :o) And at 5pm they took off her oxygen and she was doing good at her 6:30 feeding :o) and when Phil went for her 9:30 feeding she was still going strong with no oxygen....nurse says she will bounce around for 91 to 96 and they don't want her under 94, but she manages to bring it back up on her own :o) So we will see how she manages through the night.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Ashlyn Update

April 17th 2010

Today was another rough day for me, I missed my little girl a lot today, so I made it to almost all of her feedings :o) She is doing about same, her resp rate stayed under 60 today but she is still on oxygen and they had to move her to an incubator to help her maintain her temp. Tonight they are going to try to ween her again and see how she does

Friday, April 16, 2010

Ashlyn Update

April 16th 2010

Ashlyn is having a good day today :o) Of course the day I choose to leave the hospital is the day they decide to give her a bottle and I missed it :o( Her resp rate was at 80 this morning but dropped down to 38 this evening. I went to her 6 o'clock feeding and Philip went to her 9 o'clock feeding :o) She is up to 35 cc of milk and is sucking it down like a champ. They tried to ween her off the oxygen but she didn't do too well, so they are keeping her at 1/8 of a liter of oxygen and they are going to try and take the heat lamp off of her to see if she can maintain her temp.....so tonight should be a big night for her :o)

Ace's Surgery

After a VERY rough night of crying and feeling very hopeless, I have decided that I need a break from this hospital room. I love my daughter and I have struggled with this decision, but I need to be at home with my boys...they need me right now, and there isn't really much I can do for Ashlyn. I just go back there every 3 hours to give them pumped breast milk, I sit and stare at her for 5-10 mins, and then I head back to the room. I am only allowed to hold her 2 times a day, and she is always so peacefully sleeping the other times I go and visit. So after a long talk with Philip and another long talk with my sister, I decided to spend most of my time at home and go visit her as much as I can. And I picked a good day to decide this, cause today Ace had a small outpatient surgery today. Philip accompanied him while I stayed home with Aidan. Philip said that Ace was a CHAMP. He did such a great job and was such a big boy. He was nothing but smiles when we went to go and pick him up :o) :o) and his first request was a purple shake from the Purple Cow, so we made a little trip there.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Ashlyn Update

April 15th 2010

Today has been a roller coaster. Doc really thinks that it is immature lungs and we are just going to have wait things out. He explained that if it was pneumonia she would be showing a lot more improvement and a lot faster than she is showing right now. So now it is just a big waiting game :o( Ashlyn did really good this morning. She is now on 20 cc of breast milk, her weight is back up to 6 lbs, her resp rate was in the 50's this morning, and they dropped her down to 1/4 a liter of oxygen. But later this evening her resp rate jumped back up to the 80's. So just when I start to get my hopes up, they get knocked back down. But I have to keep telling myself, that she is where she needs to be, and that things could always be worse than they are. I just need to stay strong for her and keep my head held high....she will be home before I know it.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Ashlyn Update

April 14th 2010

Ashlyn is starting to show some signs of improvement.....slowly.....but still improving. My milk has finally come in, so they decided to try to feed her with my milk this time, and when they went to check on how much she digested....they came back empty :o) So she is doing really good on my milk. So they are going to feed her 15cc every 3 hours. Hopefully that will bring up her weight too, she has dropped down to 5 lbs. Her resp rate has been in the 60's and 70's today :o) :o) and the dropped her oxygen down to 1/2 a liter. I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am so ready to go home and be back with my boys.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Ashlyn Update

April 13th 2010

Today was about the same as yesterday. Ashlyn has her good moments and has her bad moments. The nurses decided to give her some formula through her feeding tube, but when they checked her tummy a couple hours later.....the formula was just sitting in her tummy, so they decided to pull it out :o( Her resp rate has been anywhere from the low 100's to the 70's. So they still need to keep an eye on that. They did drop her oxygen down from 1 liter to 3/4 of a liter, so we are slowly going in the right direction. I did get to hold her twice today...so that was the highlight of my day :o)

Monday, April 12, 2010

Ashlyn Update

Ashlyn is doing good. Last night was a really good night for her. Her resp rate was in the mid to low 60's and they turned down her oxygen from 1 liter to 3/4 of a liter. I spent a good hour with her this morning and she was alert and had her eyes open....she even smiled at me :o) While I was there the nurse let me change one of her diaper and of course it was a poopy diaper....never thought I would be so happy to change a poopy diaper.

Later this morning the doctor came into to see her. He explained to me that she is starting to show signs of pneumonia on her x-rays.....so she either had undeveloped lungs or she has a touch of pneumonia and he is leaning on pneumonia. The plan with pneumonia is antibiotics for 5-7 days and she has been on that for the last 2-3 days....so they are already on top of things in that field. Right now it is just a waiting game. But so far she is starting to slowly improve. The nurse let me hold her for a little while about 20 mins ago and I was in heaven :o) :o) I will continue to keep everyone updated.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Ashlyn Mae Johnson

I am happy to announce that baby girl Ashlyn Mae Johnson is finally here. She made her appearance on April 9, 2010 @ 9:19 pm. All day Friday I was having contractions and feeling a little off. So when Philip came home from work, we decided to head to Labor and Delivery and see what was going on. We both thought that it was either false labor or that if I was in labor the doctor would decide to stop it until I was 37 weeks. Well, we arrived at the hospital, they hooked me up and I was contracting every 3-5 mins and when they checked me I was 2-3 cm dilated. So they decided to admit me. Once we got settled into our room, we were frantically looking for a sitter for the boys until our dear friend Jennifer could pick them up, we were happy when our neighbors volunteered to watch them for us. Once we got the boys taken care of, it was time to concentrate on this labor.....which was kicking my butt since I opted for no epidural. The doctor came in checked me after an hour of labor and decided to break my water to speed things up.....and boy did he speed things up. I went from 3 cm to 6 cm within half an hour. The contractions were getting stronger and stronger and next thing I know, it is time to start pushing. Let me tell you that the contractions are nothing compared to the pain of pushing....but after 4 pushes Ashlyn Mae was born :o) She was 6 lbs 4 oz and was 18 inches long. She was not breathing right away which scared me to death. I got to see her for 2 mins, and then they had to rush her back to the NICU and Phil went along with her. I was left with the nurses to get cleaned up and to switch rooms and once I ate something and rested for 20 mins, I was allowed to go back and see my little princess. She was so precious. They had her hooked up to an IV for fluids and they had her hooked up to Oxygen to help her breath. She needed help breathing and her respiratory rate was too high.

Looking back at my labor experience, there are lots of things I would change. First, I would have requested they either stop labor or give me a steroid shot to mature her lungs. Second, I would not have allowed the doctor to break my water only after an hour of labor. But.....you can't change the past....but I will know better next time ;o)