We Are Walking in Honor of Briella. Please Help Us Meet Our Goal.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Enjoying Our Summer

I want to start off by saying that I am so sorry I haven't updated the blog in so long! This update is dedicated to Becky D & Katie's Grandma :) I promise to update more once fall comes around. Right now we are enjoying not being in a strict isolation so much that I would like to spend all my time with the family outdoors. I'm already counting down the days that we have until we have to return to 8 months of isolation. Ugh.

I want to suggest signing up for email updates at the bottom of the page. That way when I am able to update you will receive an email letting you know there is one here :)

We have had many picnics. We do not take Briella to restaurants so a picnic is the perfect way we are able to eat somewhere other than the house. At one picnic last month, we ate on the huge lawn of a museum in Kansas City. We noticed that hardly anyone had went in or out so Brian went in to check it out & it was pretty vacant! I guess with school out there aren't field trips going on there. We decided it was ok for Briella to go inside. This was a big deal for us, our first decision to take her indoors in public. She was in her carseat in her stroller and was the best baby. Not even a peep. She even slept for part of it. We were able to take a family photo in front of a Claude Monet painting.
We had about 10 day period in May where Briella had a pretty bad feeding aversion. She full on refused all bottles during the day. She always eats fine at night when she's asleep. Brian & I were very stressed about her health. She managed not to lose any weight though, and even gain weight because of the night time feeds so drs just told us to hang in there & continue what we were doing. Brian found a trick that worked to get Brie to eat. If we layed her flat on the bed, she would eat with minimal fight. After 2 weeks of daytime feeds like that, Briella spiked a fever. After a trip to urgent care we found out she had her 1st ear infection. 12 days later, she's tugging on the other ear. Another ear infection but opposite ear. So we are guessing that because she was lying flat during feeds that the milk was draining to her ears. So our go to position we can no longer use. After about a month of decent feeds, Briella is starting to give us a hard time again the last couple of days. I'm praying that tomorrow will be better.

We have enjoyed taking Briella to sister's softball games!!! She transitioned very well to the noise of cheering & clapping. The first couple games were iffy. We definitely had to take breaks where we walk away & she had her melt down at night from too much stimulation. But by the middle of the season that was over. Brian & I felt that by us taking her to the games we felt normal. Just being able to do stuff. We only do things outdoors that involve Brie. That way if someone was ill the risk of passing a germ to her is unlikely.

Briella has also really enjoyed getting to know both sets of grandparents! She's had a lot of fun with both sets this summer!

We really see a difference in Briella's development since sister has been off school for the summer. During the school year we keep big sis distanced from her sister until the weekend when I can see that she hasn't gotten sick in 24 hrs from something she could have caught from school. So Aubrey was just not as interactive with her as she is able to be during the summer. I love to see their bond. All Aubrey has to do is start dancing and Briella full on belly laughs. It's the best sound in the world.

Briella now rolls over, both ways. We are working on strengthening her core so she can learn to sit up. She is able to sit with support.

My favorite news to share is that we have started rice cereal once a day and Briella loves it!!! That makes me so happy. I was so afraid her feeding aversion might follow through to solids, but I have hope now!! We will start solids closer to 6 months adjusted. She is 5 months adjusted, 9 months old actual on the 4th of July!! She weighs 15 pounds & 1 oz. She is 24.5 inches long. Briella has finally got on the growth chart page for her actual age. She is only in about the 5th percent but hey, so is sister and she was a full term, healthy baby.

Here in KC, the weather has been great. High was low 80s. That is really low for us his time a year. So we have been really lucky that we are able to continue to take Briella outdoors. She has got to go to the pool late one evening. We were able to take her on a boat last week with her grandparents. We were out for 2 hours. It was a pontoon boat so it had shade. I brought the Rock N Play & a set it inside a sun shade tent & she was happy. On the 4th of July we were able to go to 2 different community firework shows. Pretty big ones. We stayed in the car to watch, but you could still hear them & miss Briella never cried. Our oldest is scared of them still. I don't know how I feel about her not being scared of them. It kinda makes me sad that she is used to so much noise; alarms, babies crying ect from the Nicu.

We have seen a change (finally!!!) in her hearing! Web were concerned as she wouldn't respond to sounds. But she now does. And she smiles so big when she looks at us after she hears us talking to her. <3

On the 4th I took Briella for a surprise visit to our Pastor. He baptized Briella when she was only hours new. We had talked before she was born, about baptizing. We would only be able to baptize her if she was born alive. My mother relayed the conversation to me. Telling me that if she was breathing when she came out then I could baptize her myself. Just make the sign of the cross over her & say xyz. Well, literally as soon as Briella was born, I screamed for my phone & called my mom to ask what I was supposed to say. I was so scared I only had seconds. So I kept shouting at the medical staff, who were working on her in such silence, to make the sign of the cross over her & say she is a child of God. Not one of the 15 people hovered over her did it. I think I must have repeated "You are a child of God" 25 times. Finally a nurse grabbed my hand & said "Yes honey, she is a child of God."
So when Briella made it through the night, Pastor Rich came out & we had a baptism for her, right there in her little room. The Nicu allowed us to have more than the usual number of visitors since it was her baptism. The nurse, Jen, was so great. She went and found Briella the teensiest hat I had ever saw. She said she wanted Briella to look pretty for her Baptisim.
Since she was unable to wear a gown or anything. Briella wore a pink soft hat. Well I have brought myself to tears so I'm going to just wrap this up by saying it was great to see Pastor Rich hold Briella. She was so calm, like she just knew. She put her head down on his shoulders like everything is ok.

At the moment, our prayer requests are that Briella starts to gain weight better, that she continues to develop into a happy & healthy baby, and that her feeding issues resolve.


























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