A couple of days ago, Mattigan got her feeding tube out. She eats most of her feeds. She finished her whole bottle for Mama and yesterday she ate the whole thing for Daddy. Yay!
On Sunday we started Matti's 2 month immunizations. She got a couple as combos so instead of 5 there were 3. Once again things are different in premie land. So she got one shot every twelve hours to make sure she had no bad reactions such as: respiratory distress, fever, allergic reaction, etc. She yelled like a very angry banshee for a couple moments then settled in with her paci. So the only reactions she's shown have been tiredness and a difference in hunger. She spit up a bunch after one shot and today she is sleepy so she didn't finish her feed. Sooo she has her feeding tube again. Only for today we hope as she recovers from her shots. I guess you'd call this mixed news but we'll take the progress.
For some good new... Matti passed her hearing exam!
Annnnd she had an echo done with good results. I have to get the specific results today but that was nice to know in general that everything was 'good'.
Thursday she gets her third vision test. So far so good. We hope her blood vessels have "matured" so we can do the next eye exam in six months instead of every two weeks.
Matti is now 5# 2oz. She had gone up just a bit higher but lost 20 grams yesterday cause of being tired out from her shots and not eating enough. It's quite the balancing act.
So we are getting close to going home. We don't know when exactly and don't want to curse it but within the next week or so. Keep your fingers crossed!
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Keepin' It Real
Greetings everyone! So many updates we're not even sure where to begin. :)
Mattigan is doing fantastic. She's the tiniest bit away from 5 lbs. She gets to wear clothes now and believe it or not is outgrowing her preemie outfits! We can't tell you how nice it is to see her outgrow something. Even if her preemie clothes are freaking cute because they are so tiny.
Does that make you laugh? Having such a tiny baby makes us look at newborn clothes that we would normally think 'ooooh how cute! look at how little these are!' and now say 'wow, these are giGANtic!'.
Matti is still mastering the bottle. Some feeds she has no interest in trying the bottle and others she drinks half of it while yet other times she downs the whole thing in one go. Her bottle is 50 cc's.
She is being given protein to help with her growth and weight gain which has been totally normal. As well as vitamins including vitamin D and iron. Her hemoglobin was slightly low but this is what often occurs in 2 month olds. So no worries.
Matti's second eye exam was good. Vessels are still immature, which was expected, so she'll have another eye exam in 2 weeks.
Her hearing will be tested in another week or so.
She will get her first shots in a couple more days.
Matti's heart murmur is still intermittent. Sometimes a doctor or nurse can hear it, sometimes they can't. It hasn't caused any issues so we are still just keeping an eye, or should we say ear, on it. Will most likely resolve on its own.
So we are in the final stretch to take our girl home. The last hurdles still remaining - 1) Matti taking all her food via bottle so we can ditch the feeding tube 2) Matti passing the car seat test. The car seat test is given by putting Matti in her car seat for the length of time it will take to drive her home. This is to watch her breathing to make sure the seating position doesn't cause her any issues.
So we are very close to Matti joining us at home. We can't wait but we're trying to be as patient as possible. When she's ready, she's ready. :)
Mattigan is doing fantastic. She's the tiniest bit away from 5 lbs. She gets to wear clothes now and believe it or not is outgrowing her preemie outfits! We can't tell you how nice it is to see her outgrow something. Even if her preemie clothes are freaking cute because they are so tiny.
Does that make you laugh? Having such a tiny baby makes us look at newborn clothes that we would normally think 'ooooh how cute! look at how little these are!' and now say 'wow, these are giGANtic!'.
Matti is still mastering the bottle. Some feeds she has no interest in trying the bottle and others she drinks half of it while yet other times she downs the whole thing in one go. Her bottle is 50 cc's.
She is being given protein to help with her growth and weight gain which has been totally normal. As well as vitamins including vitamin D and iron. Her hemoglobin was slightly low but this is what often occurs in 2 month olds. So no worries.
Matti's second eye exam was good. Vessels are still immature, which was expected, so she'll have another eye exam in 2 weeks.
Her hearing will be tested in another week or so.
She will get her first shots in a couple more days.
Matti's heart murmur is still intermittent. Sometimes a doctor or nurse can hear it, sometimes they can't. It hasn't caused any issues so we are still just keeping an eye, or should we say ear, on it. Will most likely resolve on its own.
So we are in the final stretch to take our girl home. The last hurdles still remaining - 1) Matti taking all her food via bottle so we can ditch the feeding tube 2) Matti passing the car seat test. The car seat test is given by putting Matti in her car seat for the length of time it will take to drive her home. This is to watch her breathing to make sure the seating position doesn't cause her any issues.
So we are very close to Matti joining us at home. We can't wait but we're trying to be as patient as possible. When she's ready, she's ready. :)
Monday, April 14, 2014
Tech Specs
Technical difficulties interfered with adding photos. Will try again tomorrow.
Today's update:
Mattigan finished her entire bottle for the first time! :)
Mattigan is off the oxygen altogether! :)
Mama was sick so no visiting Mattigan today :(
Still not feeling good so no visiting tomorrow either :(
Daddy visited Matti after work :)
Daddy saw Matti's face without the oxygen line :)
Daddy skyped with Mama so she could see Matti too :)
Mattigan weighs 4# 6oz :)
:) 5
:( 2
:) wins!
P.S. There is a blood moon lunar eclipse tonight though I am not sure we'll wake up to see it.
Sunday
Daddy did physical therapy with Mattigan and PT while Mama watched. Was neat to learn some new tricks for her tummy time and other positions to strengthen her muscles. Mattigan impressed us by lifting her head and turning her head to face the opposite direction. PT said this is hard to go against gravity while laying on the ground so that was fantastic.
Sunday night's tech specs for Miss Matti:
Weight 4# 4.8oz
Length 16 1/2"
Today's update:
Mattigan finished her entire bottle for the first time! :)
Mattigan is off the oxygen altogether! :)
Mama was sick so no visiting Mattigan today :(
Still not feeling good so no visiting tomorrow either :(
Daddy visited Matti after work :)
Daddy saw Matti's face without the oxygen line :)
Daddy skyped with Mama so she could see Matti too :)
Mattigan weighs 4# 6oz :)
:) 5
:( 2
:) wins!
P.S. There is a blood moon lunar eclipse tonight though I am not sure we'll wake up to see it.
Sunday
Daddy did physical therapy with Mattigan and PT while Mama watched. Was neat to learn some new tricks for her tummy time and other positions to strengthen her muscles. Mattigan impressed us by lifting her head and turning her head to face the opposite direction. PT said this is hard to go against gravity while laying on the ground so that was fantastic.
Sunday night's tech specs for Miss Matti:
Weight 4# 4.8oz
Length 16 1/2"
April Showers....
Baby Mattigan's shower was Saturday April 12th. We had a great time. It was half virtual with guests at our house in Arizona, as well as attending via computer from New York, Florida, California, New Hampshire, and Nebraska. Plus Daddy at the hospital with Matti so everyone could get a peek at her. | ||
| Tieah and Patrick at the Crown Point, NY location |
Special thanks to my mom Berni, sister Sam, brother Patrick, cousin Tieah, and husband Joe for their efforts to coordinate the shower. The decorations were super creative with a Winnie The Pooh theme.
 |
| Clothesline at our house |
 |
| Decorations at Tieah's |
 |
| Flowers from my husband |
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Flirty Thirty
Geez, more BIG news! Mattigan ate 30 cc's from her bottle today in one feeding! Yeah, 3 0. Thirty!
Mattigan also met Poppy and Grandma Stacia today. (I swear there will be photos!)
Mattigan also met Poppy and Grandma Stacia today. (I swear there will be photos!)
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Fourgive Yet Another Post Today
"Four is the only number that has the same number of characters as its value in the English language."
And yes, Mattigan Kensi weighs more than four pounds! Officially 4# 1.4oz as of tonight.
Whoo-hoo!
Yeehaw!!
Hot diggity dog!
Fantastico!!!
Well butter my biscuits, that's great!
And yes, Mattigan Kensi weighs more than four pounds! Officially 4# 1.4oz as of tonight.
Whoo-hoo!
Yeehaw!!
Hot diggity dog!
Fantastico!!!
Well butter my biscuits, that's great!
Bottle Day!
Happy bottle day to you
Happy bottle day to you
Happy bottle day dear Mattttiiggggan
Happy bottle day to you
Congrats on your first bottle! You drank 2 cc's. Not a lot but you latched on and just started sucking. You paced yourself, taking rests so you didn't choke or splutter. For a first try (or even the first few tries) that is pretty darn impressive. You go Little one!
Love Mama
P.S. Kangaroo cuddle time now commenced.
P.S. Daddy says he's proud of you. :)
Happy bottle day to you
Happy bottle day dear Mattttiiggggan
Happy bottle day to you
Congrats on your first bottle! You drank 2 cc's. Not a lot but you latched on and just started sucking. You paced yourself, taking rests so you didn't choke or splutter. For a first try (or even the first few tries) that is pretty darn impressive. You go Little one!
Love Mama
P.S. Kangaroo cuddle time now commenced.
P.S. Daddy says he's proud of you. :)
Monday, April 7, 2014
40 Days and 40 Nights
Mattigan is 40 days old today aka 33 weeks old. Big news!Mattigan moved to an open bed, a crib. She's wearing a kimono style shirt that is gigantic on her, is
swaddled in two blankets and has a third across her as well as a touque (hat). Gotta make sure she keeps her temperature up.
Feeds have been upped. She went from 30 to 35 cc's. Still over half an hour.
Annnnd high flow oxygen is now gone (again) so she has low flow oxygen.
We also started vitamin D today.
So lots of changes today. Remember when we were excited about 1 cc increase every 12 hours? :)
Mattigan was doing great per our call to the night nurse. She weighed Mattigan tonight. Matti went from 3# 13.9oz to 3# 14.6oz. Yip yip! Cellllllebrate good times, come on!
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Matti Can't Drive 55
Hello all,
Sorry the posts are slowing down. That's a good thing though as there isn't a lot to update as Mattigan is progressing nice and steady. Of course I say that but I'll write a ton in our update.
Tomorrow Mattigan will be 33 weeks adjusted (this means her gestational age) or 40 days old (from her date of birth). It gets weird telling people how old Mattigan is. Preemie speak is confusing sometimes. Some of her goals are set by how old she is from when she was born and some from how old she is counting from conception.
Anyways, she's now weighing in at.....weight for it....ha, get it? 'weight' for it....3lb 13.9oz. Yowza!
Eating 30 cc's over a half hour. Hoping to start introducing Matti to a bottle the end of this week/start of next week. That's optimistic though and we may have to wait til end of next week to start trying. She won't really feed from it yet, it's just teaching her the basics. Feeding requires a preemie to spend a lot of calories and that burns off her weight gain, so it's a balance. And remember, for a preemie to feed is like trying to learn to drive a car. We've been doing it so long we just drive. But that first time you get behind the wheel you have to adjust the seat and mirrors, watch the road, use the gas and brake and clutch, shift gears, WATCH THE ROAD!, don't forget to signal, stupid windshield wipers, WATCH THE ROADDDDDD!!!!! So yeah, it's like that. :)
In other good news, Matti's first eye exam came back with good results. Very exciting news. We didn't expect anything bad, but it's stressful each time they test her for anything. Also, that exam stresses out the baby. The staff dilates her eyes about 3 hours ahead of time, then they do numbing drops right before the procedure. The doctor holds her eyes open then uses a little paddle to rotate her eyes side to side and up and down. (Obviously you can't just ask her to look left, look right nor which ways do the 'E's point.) All this causes the baby to usually require more oxygen and attention as they are understandably upset. Mattigan did great. We didn't even know they'd done the test until the nurse told us later on because Matti wasn't behaving any different. So like usual, what we expected was not what Matti did. :)
Mattigan met her Aunt Sam, Uncle Patrick, and cousin Dominic last week via the computer. Check out the new photo of Dominic! He's getting so big. He's a happy boy. :)
Today, Aunt Kimmy got to meet Matti via computer as well. Matti interrupted Aunt Kimmy's study break. But Aunt Kimmy said that Mattigan is way more interesting. Or at least that's how Matti interpreted it.
This weekend Mama and Daddy got the house and yard 92% picked up, cleaned, and ready for guests. Still things to do but if we can get Mattigan's room decorated then we can call it quits.
Also this weekend, we were lucky enough to celebrate Oma's 50th birthday! Fantastic time outside the Wild Horse Pass Casino at Bike Fest 2014. Lots of neat motorcycles, interesting people, and music. We met a nice Canadian couple. Eh? Tried out a new BBQ place. Then watched Sammy Hagar perform. Then capped off the night with a couple tries at the slot machines. We didn't lose much but didn't win either. Only game we really won at was called ATM. You put in your card and get money. Though even when you win at ATM, you lose. :)
Back to the grind tomorrow. On the road again...
Sorry the posts are slowing down. That's a good thing though as there isn't a lot to update as Mattigan is progressing nice and steady. Of course I say that but I'll write a ton in our update.
Tomorrow Mattigan will be 33 weeks adjusted (this means her gestational age) or 40 days old (from her date of birth). It gets weird telling people how old Mattigan is. Preemie speak is confusing sometimes. Some of her goals are set by how old she is from when she was born and some from how old she is counting from conception.
Anyways, she's now weighing in at.....weight for it....ha, get it? 'weight' for it....3lb 13.9oz. Yowza!
Eating 30 cc's over a half hour. Hoping to start introducing Matti to a bottle the end of this week/start of next week. That's optimistic though and we may have to wait til end of next week to start trying. She won't really feed from it yet, it's just teaching her the basics. Feeding requires a preemie to spend a lot of calories and that burns off her weight gain, so it's a balance. And remember, for a preemie to feed is like trying to learn to drive a car. We've been doing it so long we just drive. But that first time you get behind the wheel you have to adjust the seat and mirrors, watch the road, use the gas and brake and clutch, shift gears, WATCH THE ROAD!, don't forget to signal, stupid windshield wipers, WATCH THE ROADDDDDD!!!!! So yeah, it's like that. :)
In other good news, Matti's first eye exam came back with good results. Very exciting news. We didn't expect anything bad, but it's stressful each time they test her for anything. Also, that exam stresses out the baby. The staff dilates her eyes about 3 hours ahead of time, then they do numbing drops right before the procedure. The doctor holds her eyes open then uses a little paddle to rotate her eyes side to side and up and down. (Obviously you can't just ask her to look left, look right nor which ways do the 'E's point.) All this causes the baby to usually require more oxygen and attention as they are understandably upset. Mattigan did great. We didn't even know they'd done the test until the nurse told us later on because Matti wasn't behaving any different. So like usual, what we expected was not what Matti did. :)
Mattigan met her Aunt Sam, Uncle Patrick, and cousin Dominic last week via the computer. Check out the new photo of Dominic! He's getting so big. He's a happy boy. :)Today, Aunt Kimmy got to meet Matti via computer as well. Matti interrupted Aunt Kimmy's study break. But Aunt Kimmy said that Mattigan is way more interesting. Or at least that's how Matti interpreted it.
This weekend Mama and Daddy got the house and yard 92% picked up, cleaned, and ready for guests. Still things to do but if we can get Mattigan's room decorated then we can call it quits.
Also this weekend, we were lucky enough to celebrate Oma's 50th birthday! Fantastic time outside the Wild Horse Pass Casino at Bike Fest 2014. Lots of neat motorcycles, interesting people, and music. We met a nice Canadian couple. Eh? Tried out a new BBQ place. Then watched Sammy Hagar perform. Then capped off the night with a couple tries at the slot machines. We didn't lose much but didn't win either. Only game we really won at was called ATM. You put in your card and get money. Though even when you win at ATM, you lose. :)
Back to the grind tomorrow. On the road again...
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Dom Arigato Mr Roboto
Kangaroo time. Baby Roo is enjoying her nap. She looks very comfortable. Mama is kinda envious.
Mattigan is wearing her first onesie tee. It is gigantic on her so it really looks like more of a kimono style bathrobe. But whatever. As Will Smith would say, she makes it look good.
Matti is up MORE to 3# 8oz! She's actually just below 9oz! So do a little dance cause Mattigan is over 3 1/2 pounds!!!!
She was 14 1/2 inches long at birth. She is now 15 3/4 inches "tall".
Our feeding/rounds times have changed to be 8:30-11:30-2:30-5:30. Still at 29 cc's but now being fed over 45 minutes instead of an hour.
Her breathing has been good. She still d-sats which means 'desaturatizes'. Her oxygenation drops a little while she pauses in between breaths. Versus apnea where she would breath for a moment or two. No significant apneas or Brady's. So we have lowered her high flow oxygen to 1 liter and her rate is still 21-30%. So pretty much what we breathe.
For a couple weeks now she has also been picking up her head and looking around. If she wants to see Daddy or Mama when she is kangarooing then she will crane her head back to look at us. Or she'll lift her head off our chest, turn her neck, and put her head down facing the other way. Strong little bugger.
As said previously, Mattigan is getting more vocal. Still usually quiet noises but she'll grunt or whine if you disturb her.
She still has a murmur sometimes. It's hard to hear and most the time nurses and doctors can't. So no concerns there at this time.
Her fingernails are also getting sharper. Mama knows because Mattigan is sharpening them Wolverine style on my neck right now.
Mattigan is on her way to being homebound. She needs to keep growing, get off breathing line, feed from a bottle, and keep her temp. She'll have to pass a car seat test which checks to see if she'll have As and Bs on her way home. This position is harder so if she tolerates it that's good. Progress in all areas so we are optimistic. :)
Mattigan is wearing her first onesie tee. It is gigantic on her so it really looks like more of a kimono style bathrobe. But whatever. As Will Smith would say, she makes it look good.
Matti is up MORE to 3# 8oz! She's actually just below 9oz! So do a little dance cause Mattigan is over 3 1/2 pounds!!!!
She was 14 1/2 inches long at birth. She is now 15 3/4 inches "tall".
Our feeding/rounds times have changed to be 8:30-11:30-2:30-5:30. Still at 29 cc's but now being fed over 45 minutes instead of an hour.
Her breathing has been good. She still d-sats which means 'desaturatizes'. Her oxygenation drops a little while she pauses in between breaths. Versus apnea where she would breath for a moment or two. No significant apneas or Brady's. So we have lowered her high flow oxygen to 1 liter and her rate is still 21-30%. So pretty much what we breathe.
For a couple weeks now she has also been picking up her head and looking around. If she wants to see Daddy or Mama when she is kangarooing then she will crane her head back to look at us. Or she'll lift her head off our chest, turn her neck, and put her head down facing the other way. Strong little bugger.
As said previously, Mattigan is getting more vocal. Still usually quiet noises but she'll grunt or whine if you disturb her.
She still has a murmur sometimes. It's hard to hear and most the time nurses and doctors can't. So no concerns there at this time.
Her fingernails are also getting sharper. Mama knows because Mattigan is sharpening them Wolverine style on my neck right now.
Mattigan is on her way to being homebound. She needs to keep growing, get off breathing line, feed from a bottle, and keep her temp. She'll have to pass a car seat test which checks to see if she'll have As and Bs on her way home. This position is harder so if she tolerates it that's good. Progress in all areas so we are optimistic. :)
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Tuesdays with Mattigan (Who the heck is Morrie anyway?)
Tuesday scoots along. Mattigan has the hiccups. They aren't delicate ladylike hiccups either. Poor kid.
Mattigan continues to thrive. She's not afraid to tell us when we aren't doing things the way she wants them, when she wants them, or how she wants them. You better be ready if you're going to wake this little sleepy dragon because the doctors took her off the caffeine so no more morning lattes for little Miss Matti.
She's up to 3# 6oz and almost at 7oz. Fantastic weight gain. Doctors are happy with it. We're happy with it. If you're happy with it and you know it clap your hands. If you're happy with it and you know it clap your hands. Oh. Sorry. There's been a lot of singing to Mattigan lately. :)
Mattigan is at 29 cc's still but once the doctors do their formula/weight/weight gain/calories calculation, she's probably due to go up any time. She's graduated to the BIG syringe that holds her food. This one goes up to 60 cc's. We're still using a machine to "inject" her food into the gavage feeding tube over 1 hour's time. Eventually they'll start compressing the time down to 45 minutes then 30 minutes. We spread it out over an hour to give her time to "eat" it. Otherwise she'd feel like us after a Thanksgiving meal. We want her to not be hungry but not overfull. Otherwise she won't eat the next time we feed her.
We're enjoying the space in her room on the 4th floor in the Nursery ICU. She has a roommate. It would be nice to be in a private room so we could turn on our tv or make noise and not disturb them, but they seem nice and I think they'll be out of here the end of this week or beginning of next. We have a couch, two chairs, and a footrest. The tv I mentioned is a tiny 10" screen that is held to the wall on a swivel arm. I believe they're basically leftovers from when adults used these rooms. But hey, I'm not complaining. Most of the time I leave it off, but sometimes it's nice to use it.
We're waiting for Daddy to get done with work so he can come play. If Mattigan is alert enough Mama will show Daddy how we do physical therapy and then they'll have father-daughter cuddle time. Then back to Oma and Opa's house and probably some leftovers from last night's delicious dinner. We're getting awfully spoiled at not having to fend for meals ourselves. All 4 of us now that I think of it. Not that The Khaleesi nor Mattigan contributes much to meal time beyond their occasional tribute donations.
Mattigan continues to thrive. She's not afraid to tell us when we aren't doing things the way she wants them, when she wants them, or how she wants them. You better be ready if you're going to wake this little sleepy dragon because the doctors took her off the caffeine so no more morning lattes for little Miss Matti.
She's up to 3# 6oz and almost at 7oz. Fantastic weight gain. Doctors are happy with it. We're happy with it. If you're happy with it and you know it clap your hands. If you're happy with it and you know it clap your hands. Oh. Sorry. There's been a lot of singing to Mattigan lately. :)
Mattigan is at 29 cc's still but once the doctors do their formula/weight/weight gain/calories calculation, she's probably due to go up any time. She's graduated to the BIG syringe that holds her food. This one goes up to 60 cc's. We're still using a machine to "inject" her food into the gavage feeding tube over 1 hour's time. Eventually they'll start compressing the time down to 45 minutes then 30 minutes. We spread it out over an hour to give her time to "eat" it. Otherwise she'd feel like us after a Thanksgiving meal. We want her to not be hungry but not overfull. Otherwise she won't eat the next time we feed her.
We're enjoying the space in her room on the 4th floor in the Nursery ICU. She has a roommate. It would be nice to be in a private room so we could turn on our tv or make noise and not disturb them, but they seem nice and I think they'll be out of here the end of this week or beginning of next. We have a couch, two chairs, and a footrest. The tv I mentioned is a tiny 10" screen that is held to the wall on a swivel arm. I believe they're basically leftovers from when adults used these rooms. But hey, I'm not complaining. Most of the time I leave it off, but sometimes it's nice to use it.
We're waiting for Daddy to get done with work so he can come play. If Mattigan is alert enough Mama will show Daddy how we do physical therapy and then they'll have father-daughter cuddle time. Then back to Oma and Opa's house and probably some leftovers from last night's delicious dinner. We're getting awfully spoiled at not having to fend for meals ourselves. All 4 of us now that I think of it. Not that The Khaleesi nor Mattigan contributes much to meal time beyond their occasional tribute donations.
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