It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

With having Anna here with us and moving into our new home, this has pretty much been the perfect Christmas for us in a long time. We couldn't have asked for more than to share it with family and our little girl. We're still astounded to see her at times; knowing how much we wished to have a healthy baby with us to share this holiday.

It's been a hectic few days/weeks and here's a few pictures to capture baby's first Christmas:

 

Anna LOVES all of her gifts from family and friends and she wanted Mommy to send everyone a big Merry Christmas and thank everyone for the wonderful presents and for thinking of her! :)

Marta, Arthur and Anna

Memories

As we approach almost five months with Anna being with us, it's hard not to look back at the second hardest thing we've all had to face as a family, but with a happy outcome this time.

Just wanted to thank everyone again for their support, we know it hasn't been the easiest 5 months and Anna's birth was so unexpected; you could say we are still in shock. So here's to getting through 66 days in the NICU!

Thanks everyone for your continued support!


Please press play for both :)


You are my sunshine - Elizabeth Mitchell

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Speak into my good ear(s)?

Hi all,

As you all remember, Anna had a hearing test back in the NICU last September and got a 'referral' for her left ear. This means that they couldn't quite pass her, which could have meant she had just slept on her ear, had some dirt in there or she could not hear from that side.

She had her referral appointment yesterday and it was really interesting. They hooked her up to four probes, two on her forehead and two behind her ears, and one probe went into her actual ear during the test. Then we made sure that she was fully asleep so that her readings would be clear (that was quite the task!!). If she wasn't fully asleep then there would be spikes in her readings from normal alertness so this way if she was completely in dream land the spikes would only come if she was able to hear the sounds from the test.

We are happy to announce that she passed on both ears!! She will of course have to go back when she is one year old next July, just to follow up since due to her extreme prematurity there is still the risk of her losing some of her hearing up until that age, but I think she will be fine. She seemed to have beat the odds so far with every single thing in her life so I have no doubts that she will beat this too.

Anyways that's the update for now! She has her second RSV shot tomorrow and a checkup with the Pediatrician, and next Wednesday we are starting a program with Durham Health where they send a Nurse out every few weeks to check on Anna's development. So far, from my conversations with them on the phone, it looks like she is right on par with where she is supposed to be. :)

M.A.A.

She Graduated!!

"Na-na-na-naaa-na!" she says to having any more eye exams! 

 She is officially done her eye exams!! What a relief it was to hear that she's graduated and doesn't have to come back anymore. I overheard the eye doctor mention before she got started that she's 45 weeks "gestation" now so she would be fully developed at this exam... and she was! I'm not sure who is more happier that she doesn't have to go through that again; her or us.

*Insert sigh of relief here* :)

When you're smiling :)

Louis Prima - When You're Smiling

We're having so much fun with the wee munchkin now that she's smiling regularly! I don't know why people miss the baby stage of their kids, well I guess I won't know myself until she's a toddler HA, but I definitely can't wait until she's older and cooing and "goo-goo ga-ga"-ing or hearing her laugh out loud. She's got her Daddy's dimples too so it'll be really nice to see her laughing one day soon! She's already smiling at her mobiles and people's faces every day! 
She's such a big girl now and I can feel that we're slowly reaching those "fun" milestones, and soon we'll even be able to play with her.

Here she is smiling away at her toys:

This weekend was busy busy busy, with all the showings for our house and Arthur busy with work, there wasn't much time left to relax. So needless to say, Monkey had quite the weekend as well, and she behaved like a perfect little munchkin, always content to just "be". 

Anyways we finally got to take her out to the infamous Korean Grill House during our outings this weekend. We've been joking and talking for years about going there one day with our kids and we were finally able to take her! Of course she was out cold the entire time, but it was an enjoyable day for us! Those of you who know us well know what this means to us haha! :)

Here she is working with Daddy on Saturday at his office, (I wasn't kidding, he really IS training her to be a future Global student!!):

Here she is hanging out with our friendly Kitty while having dinner, I can't wait until she realizes what and who cats and dogs are! :)

Here she is just sitting, but I can't get over how cute her little bunny feet are!

 A video of her smiling finally!! We've been trying to catch it on video since she started but she just likes to stare at the camera so much and gets so serious once it's near her that it's hard to capture it. But here she is...there's another surprise in there (mind the compulsive cackling from me at the end):
 

Here is another video of her being a little piggy:

And finally, her being such a good girl in the car:

We're going to have a long week ahead of us as well!She has another eye appointment this coming week and we hope hope hope that finally it will be her last one!

M.A.A.

10 Pound Turkey!!

Looks like we're going to have a 10 pound turkey for Christmas this year! At least 10 pounds that is! Anna had her checkup with the Pediatrician yesterday and she has hit the big 1-0 mark! On the dot to be exact! I would have never guessed it, I almost fell off my chair. She is also now 22 inches long (which is about 57 centimeters) which is not that long if you think about it, some babies are born 21 inches (like Liam who I think was just right at 21 inches at birth). So Anna clearly is a shortie like her Mommy. :)

She received all of her shots yesterday, including the RSV shot for the cold/flu season, so we have been keeping an eye on her. Other than some big swelling at the vaccine site, she didn't have any problems at all. She was such a good girl, she cried for maybe 20 seconds while the shots were given to her and then she was over it. I guess for her it's nothing compared to those dreaded eye exams.

Which reminds me, she had one this week and she has to still come back in another two weeks. The Pediatrician explained that all that they are looking for is for her blood vessels in her eyes to reach all the way to the sides which hasn't happened for her yet.  It doesn't mean that that she can see any less than another baby her age, it just means that the vessels and muscles of her eyes have not yet fully developed. Let's hope that the next eye exam will be her last. She was quite upset at the last one, I think because now she has a lot of energy during the day so she didn't want any part of being touched.

One of the reasons why she has so much energy during the day is that she is sleeping through the night. She eats about 5 times a day now, 200mls per feed and her last barrage is usually around 8pm at which point it takes her an hour or two until she falls asleep and then she is asleep for somewhere between 10-12 hours. I'm not sure if this is normal behaviour for a baby this young but we'll enjoy it while it lasts, I'm sure it won't be like this once her teeth start to cut in.

Which is something we've noticed...she has a couple of white spots in her mouth, and they are quite sharp, but likely that doesn't mean that her teeth will come any time soon, just that they are definitely there and waiting to poke through! :)


Speaking of her mouth....Anna officially smiled her first real smile just about a week ago! Since then she has given us a few more here and there, yesterday she smiled at me after she ate and it was just so adorable. There's nothing like the toothless grin of a tiny baby to make your worries melt away!!

So she's still such a wonderful little girl. She only cries if she is hungry or has tummy pain (which is not that often). Overall she's just a content little girl, I guess she was so happy to make it into this world and she's enjoying every minute of it. So are we!!

M.A.A.

Happy Hallowe'en!

It was Anna's first Hallowe'en and first 'real' snowfall even though it was short lived. Although we didn't celebrate Hallowe'en this year (or well any year so far for that matter) I was so tempted to dress her up as a little devil but I couldn't find a suitable costume small enough for a wee baby. :) Oh well, maybe next year!

Anna was so excited this week, she finally got to meet her wonderful Auntie from Ireland! They spent quite some time getting to know each other and I am pretty sure Anna is already attached. We can't wait for her to meet her cute cousins Eva and Finn, maybe next summer?? In any case, she sends hugs and kisses all the way from Canada to her cousins and her uncle Sven. 

Looking at her first snowfall

Auntie Inez and Anna, gazing into each others eyes and having a smile :)

 Feeding time with Inez

Little Miss Baldie at bath time

Daddy multitasking with work and cuddles ~ Anna now knows the ins-and outs of Underwriting :)

Future Global Aerospace Rookie

So as you can tell, Anna is still quite the content little baby. She is spoiled with cuddles and gifts from everyone so she doesn't really have much to complain about except maybe a tummy ache or two. :) She still really only cries if she is very hungry or if she startles from a bad dream. She loves being held which makes it quite difficult to get anything done around the house each day but well worth it. We can't seem to get enough of her and each time we see her in the morning, it's like seeing her for the first time all over again. 

We are loving every single day with her! 

M.A.A.

"I'm a big kid now!"

Anna has been very busy growing the last few weeks. It's incredible how big she has gotten, and to think she is still less than 10 pounds! I guess when you compare it to how much she has grown from her birth weight, this is a massive size for her. She is slowly starting to outgrow most of her newborn outfits, the same outfits that were far too big when she came home only a month and a half ago. She's starting to fit into size 0-3 month now, and thanks to our friend Stefanie who has handed down a lot of both of her cute daughters' outfits, she has a ton of clothes waiting to be worn!

Speaking of inherited items...Anna has also graciously inherited her Great Great Grandma's bassinet! The history is definitely there, I think Liz mentioned that it dates back to 1905 when her mother and siblings were babies, who then used it for their children, and then passed on to be used with Arthur and his siblings (Inez who was able to use it with her children), and now passed down again to Anna and one day to Arthur's brother Floris and his children.

Here is Anna with Grandma soaking in the history:

So other than that nothing much is new. She will get her second set of immunizations November 12th, as well as her first set of RSV shots (she gets one every month until February for the cold/flu season). We have to be extra careful now taking her out, it's tough having a baby home in the flu season months since I need to run errands but it's just so risky now with everyone coughing. Having said that, both Daddy and I have been sick since Anna's homecoming and she hasn't caught either of our horrid colds. I guess all that pumping did pay off! :)

Anna also had ~what we thought was her last~ eye exam last week when she reached her due date, unfortunately her vision is not up to par yet with a newborn so we have to go back again November 2nd. We will try to reschedule that of course for the next day if possible since that's Liam's birthday, but I highly doubt that will be feasible with the eye doctor. In any case, she did well physically during her eye drops, but she had no change in her results from 2 weeks prior, so that's why we have to return again. Let's hope this eye exam will be her last, I just feel so terrible putting her through that but we know it has to be done for the sake of her vision.

But we will keep everyone updated on any new changes or developments. So far Anna is acting just like a newborn still, she is almost 2 weeks corrected age so she is exhibiting whatever is expected of a 2 week old baby. She's able to hold her head up quite well but not much change since a few weeks ago. She's eating about 130mls per feed, every 3-4 hours and sleeps most of the day away up until recently. She will go three hours fully awake, eat and then pass out for three hours, then wake up again to eat and stay awake for three hours. It makes it hard to get much done around the house but if it means she'll sleep through the night longer, then I'll take it! :)

M.A.A.

Anna's Due Date!!

We have been taking it all in today, all 100 days. I can't believe Anna was 100 days early, that she is 100 days old already, considering that pregnancy is only about 250 days long, give or take a few weeks. I say only...ha-ha, doesn't seem that short at the time you're going through it!

Anyways, today is Anna's official due date. I feel like she has so many momentous days that we can't keep track. July 7th, October 4th and October 15th; all of which are special days for us! She is happily snoring away on my one shoulder as I write this, probably oblivious to how proud she has made us. I think often about the day she joined us, and despite the terrifying way in which she joined us; how lucky we are to have her here healthy and thriving.

Speaking of thriving, she had an appointment with her Pediatrician today and she is now 7 pounds and 11 ounces! She is now on a "big girl" formula as of today (no more of that high calorie preemie stuff for Skinny Minnies - now she's drinking the stuff for Chunky Monkeys!) and we are thickening it with rice cereal to try and combat her recent and very frequent bouts of spit up. Seems to be doing the trick so far so let's keep our fingers crossed.Oh, not to mention buying me some extra down time between feeds! :) Yessss!!

While I had her out today, we had the normal barrage of spectators asking me how old she is etc., and one lady asked me when she was born and I told her at 25 weeks and 5 days to be exact. She then had the audacity to say "oh well that's not too early at all". If she only knew...I guess her comment hit home for me because we have gone through so much, Anna has fought so hard to be here and I think being born at almost 26 weeks is incredible and deserves some merit!! And yes incredibly early if you ask me! I just like to give her credit where it's due. :)

So from here on, Anna will have a "true" age and a "corrected/adjusted" age -- however you want to say it. I'd like to refer to it as her 'real' age and her 'fake' age.  As of October 16th, she is 14 weeks old true age, and 1 day old corrected age. Did I confuse everyone?? :) I barely understand it myself but I'll catch on to it one day!

Anyways, today also marks a couple of other things. Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in Canada and is almost 2 weeks before Liam would have been two years old. So of course, lots of overtime in my mind and many many cuddles with Anna for appreciation. Also today, Anna's Great Great Aunt whom she sadly never got to meet, passed away at age 102 in her sleep. It is amazing how the circle of life can be so long and carried through to so many generations. It is just such a shame that we couldn't physically connect the circle, although spiritually it certainly is.

So that is today...October 15th, 2010.

M.A.A.

The First Thanksgiving

I can't believe Anna's had her first Thanksgiving. I remember when we were in Women's College with her, the one nurse had mentioned that we will definitely have her home by Thanksgiving, and she was right!! She was such a good girl and she was loving every minute of the company! Here are a few pictures of the day (she was eyeballing the turkey the entire time, I'm not kidding!) :)

M.A.A.

Anna's Ex-birthdate!

Today was the day that Anna was supposed to be born! October 4th in the morning sometime. Unbelievable. What a long journey for this little fighter. It's hard to imagine that she would still be inside of me until today, I feel like she is so big. I don't realize how little she is until I take her out to run errands once in a while and people stop me to tell me how tiny she is. The little monkey would have been 38 weeks and 3 days gestation, the same age that her big brother was when he was born.

She still pretty much acts like a newborn, sleeps most of the time with the exception of 2-3 hours a day of 'alert' time. She also still rarely cries, only when she is hungry, so she still has such a lovely demeanor. She's just overall very content and loves being held. 

But Anna is doing well, she eats like a little champion now, I'm almost scared at how much she can eat most days. She is up to 20 ounces a day, which is around 600 mls. I have a little pamphlet from Enfacare and it outlines feeding habits of newborns. It stated that around 1 month of age a newborn would be eating around 680 mls per day. So she is doing pretty good, even ahead of the game a little bit.The only thing we have issues with is that she has very dry skin and has reactions to lotions. Today she has a nice rash on the side of her face because she had a bath which meant lots of lotion. We've tried a couple of non oil based lotions and even a few drops of olive oil in her bath water but she seems to always get a reaction. So it's a line we have to choose...dry skin or rash/zits.

The other thing we noticed lately with her is that she is able to hold her head up by herself. It's still wobbling a lot so we always have to keep support handy but it's amazing how much she has changed in one week. And no wonder, the little girl is now 6 pounds and 10 ounces as of today so she is slowly getting strong.

Most of her appointments are done, she will have at least one  more eye exam, and she will have one more pediatrician appointment on October 15th, after that she will have monthly appointments for her RSV shot. Then the last few things will be the follow up with Women's College and her hearing test, both in December.

Speaking of December, we are SO anxious to put the Christmas tree up and celebrate with Anna. We have been waiting so long to share Christmas as a family with children, it almost seems unreal that we are finally able to do it. I don't think a day goes by where we aren't grateful for her little presence.

Here is a video of the little munchkin yesterday showing off to the camera. The video is cropped but in the rest of the movie it's obvious that she follows the camera around with her eyes and loves the attention. :) I think she may or may not be a star in training!

M&A&A

She made it through the eye exam!

The dreaded eye exam is over! Liz and I arrived at 3pm to the hospital where the nurses administered the eye drops and hooked her up to a heart monitor which also displayed her breathing and saturation and she did wonderfully! She was even allowed to eat and she didn't have any reactions at all. Of course the eye exam itself is not much fun for her but she was such a good girl through the whole thing. We're not sure how many more of these she will have in the upcoming weeks, but she is definitely scheduled for another one in two weeks time. The eye doctor said that her eyes are getting stronger and she received an even better score this time than the last four times. So typically they stop the eye exams once the babies reach 40 weeks gestation (Anna is 37.5 and will be almost 40 weeks at her next eye exam) but it is all dependant on the eye doctor's discretion and whether or not she feels that Anna is out of the woods.

Anna was so pooped after the exam that she had a meal at 1am and didn't wake up until I woke her up at 9am this morning to eat. Hmmm...can't wait until those days are here for good! :)  She is eating wonderfully now, about 80-100mls on average per feed. I think in total she has about 16-20 ounces of formula per day, spanned over 7 feeds. She has also gained an incredible amount of weight since this weekend, so she is now 6lbs 1.5 ounces as of this morning (which is just over 2760 grams)!! Looks like she gains about .5 oz each day so at this rate she will be a big girl in no time!

Her demeanor is still the same, she just hangs out and doesn't complain much. But that is expected at this point because she's so little. She really only cries if something significant is bothering her which doesn't happen often.

I finally got in touch with the hearing centre for Anna's follow up hearing test and they informed me that she won't need one again until December when she will be 2 months 'corrected' age and 5 months 'true' age. So I guess we sit and wait, although that doesn't seem right to me so I'm going to definitely bring it up with the Pediatrician. 

Speaking of Pediatrician, we have another appointment for her tomorrow so it will be decided then whether or not she should take anything for reflux. It seems to be under control so long as we don't overfeed her or lye her flat. I found her today 2 hours after her feed, she woke herself and threw up just five minutes after I came into watch why she was stirring. So it's still a bit of an issue but not enough that she's not gaining weight, which is when the real concern would begin.

So not much is happening (hence the lack of posts). Between the long feeds and the numerous doctors appointments, she pretty much just sleeps her days away, maybe has about 2-4 hours of awake time. 

Here's a short video of her today after her bath and lunch trying to doze away into sleepy land:

 

M.A.A.

Reminiscing again...

I was just browsing through all of our media files from when Anna was born and I can't believe how far she's come. It is really hard to watch her earlier videos, I guess at the time I didn't feel sad, I felt happy that she was alive. Now that I look back I feel so sad for all of her hardships, I feel sad that she was ripped off from a normal life in utero and that she had to endure nine weeks of NICU life. Having said that, I am really happy that she's alive, healthy and from what I can see happy as well. That was the only life she knew, but hopefully all that difficult time in the NICU is just a distant memory for her and is replaced with new happy (and easy) life.

She was so tiny, she could fit into Arthur's one hand

I can't believe that a Preemie sized diaper reached her armpits back then

Here she is sucking on a Preemie soother which covered almost all of her face. She could probably swallow that entire thing now...

Here she is today! Although she's only 5lbs and change, to others she is still tiny but she is so grown up and healthy to us! 

Here we are today having some "home-style" Kangaroo care! No nurses, no machines, no breathing tubes, just good ol' fashion lovins'! :) 

Finally! Here she is with Grandpa getting some cuddles today. We waited a long time for this! :)

We still look at her in amazement today and can't believe that she's finally home, here in her own little room, farting and belching as if the last three months never even phased her. :) It's great!

M.A.A.