2 months until Feb 14

Yes I said it, Zoë will be 1 year old in 2 months. It has been a while since we posted. Everything has gone by soooo fast. Where has the time gone. I didnt realize it had been so long since we posted an update, sorry.

Zoë has been doing really well. All of us caught a cold the entire month of November and we are all finally better. She has been off all machines for about a month and a half. She misses the wires because anytime she gets near drawstrings, wires, necklaces, she goes right too them and chews on them. She is about 13 lbs now, so she is still small. But she acts like a 9-10 months old. We have kept the same 24 calorie diet, but she now eat baby food and oatmeal cereal. She loves it. Except she does not like peas. She was making faces and was gagging herself. She has tried: Pears, oatmeal, oatmeal with applesauce, green beans, carrots (her fav). For Thanksgiving she loved the taste of pumpkin pie, she only had a tiny taste. Zoë also learned to hold her own bottle. She started doing this about 2 weeks ago. She still gets constipated once in a while but we take care of it faster now, so it doesn't last as long and she isn't as uncomfortable

She acts so mature for her size. Right now she is able to sit by herself. We actually put her in highchairs at restaurants. The big thing right now is that she started to crawl(scoot), the week of Thanksgiving. Everyday since then, she has gotten faster. She is doing the sniper crawl and she is fast. She looks so cute because she is so small. So since she is crawling, she now loves to be on her tummy. She used to hate it soo much, but once she learned how to keep her head up, she started to love it. She is still sleeping in her playpen in our room and in the morning, she flips herself to her tummy, lifts her little head and peaks over the edge to see if we are awake. If she wants to play she turns herself over and plays. If she wants us to get her, she grunts until we wake up. She is a good sleeper through the night. She goes to bed by 10p and wakes up abound 7a.

She also knows her name. When we call her by name, she turns. She definietly knows who her mama is and has started to want to go to her daddy this week. Zoë recognizes people, cartoons, the beep from the door in the house when it opens, toys, etc. She loves Hello Kitty. She already has 4 of them. One she stole from cousin Bryna.

She also got her ears pierced about 3 weeks ago. Daddy did not go because he couldn't take it. So we went one day after work and didn't tell him what we were doing. He found out when he came home from work. He got over the shock in a couple of minutes. Her top tooth also broke through this weekend, we noticed because she was grinding her teeth.

She finally made it to her first ASU game. It was the game on Halloween. She had fun seeing all the people. She also made it to the last home game. Unfortunately we lost :(, but Zoë looked cute in her different ASU outfits. Zoë was a honey bear for Halloween, she had fun trick-o-treating. She would kick and giggle as we went to the next house.

In the last 3 weeks Zoë has progressed so much. Everyday she does something new or is perfecting something she is already doing. We also went from seeing doctors every week to every 2-3 months. Zoë is such a sweet little girl. She is very sociable and a very happy baby. She cries when she is hungry, dirty or sleepy. She also has the cutest laugh. We can laugh for hours, especially while playing peek-a-boo. As I am writing, she is crawling towards me and smiling. She is just the cutest :). Im trying to teach her to say "Mama" but she just stares at me. However she is starting to wave hello/goodbye. She puts her little hand in the air and moves her fingers around.

Well only 11 days until Christmas and we will be going to the happiest place on earth to celebrate. She is going to love the lights and characters. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

Zoë is off her oxygen!!!!!

Yes it has happened. Zoë no longer needs oxygen!!!! We are so excited!!!!

We took off the cannula and she looks like a different person. She seems so much more comfortable, but she does look for the tubing, since she used to play with it. She is still on the apnea monitor, but this is OK because we can sleep in peace, they are actually going to have to pry it away from me. I need to learn to let it go in the next month or so :(

So a lot has happened in the last month. Sorry for not updating sooner. We hadnt realized that it had been so long. We had break from DRs visits so it was pretty quite. Last we talked, she was having problems with her feeding, we finally found the right bottle/nipple combo that she liked. But we realized that she was eating less because of the 27 calorie diet. Then at the beginning of Sep, she got constipated :( This was really hard to watch and we got worried because of her surgery repair. We didnt want anything to rip. So we decided to change her back to 24 calories to give her more fluid. Daddy also had a heated discussion last week with the nutritionist. We didnt tell her we switched her calorie intake but she was insistant we stay on the 27 calories and add oatmeal. We said we would give it a try. We then saw her surgeon and this helped us because everything looked good and she was just constipated. She needs more fluid. The surgeon said to give the 27 a try and if it didnt work then go to 24 with the oatmeal. She eat more oz on the 24 then the 27. Also she did not gain the weight she needed. This was according to the pulmonologist. We then come to find out that they are grading her on a 7 month old, not a 29 week preemie. We thought at this point that they would keep her on oxygen, but that didnt happen. Friday night we took her oxygen saturation test and today we got the results. this has been the best news, since they told us she was coming home. Well we did fess up to our Zoë on a 29 week preemie chart and she is in teh 25%, this is good for her. So she gave the ok to stay on the 24 cal diet and agrees with us the Zoë is not your normal preemie because of her surgery. We love our pediatrician, she always makes us feel much better. She was going to talk to the nutritionist for us and fax over the growth chart she uses, hee hee. She is so much on our side.

Zoë has also started to do many new things. She holds up her head on her own. She found her feet; she grabs them and plays with them. She also knows who her Mama and Daddy are. She gets seperation anxiety when we are in the room and are not with her. She rolls over much more and has started to like tummy time much more. She learned to lift her head during tummy time. She loves her toys that we hang when she lies down and reached for them. She laughs a lot, it is the cutest laugh. She also learned to scream. She loves to cuddle with Mommy, she falls asleep on my shoulder now.

The biggest news is that she was teething all this time. Both her bottom two teeth have broken through the gums. The first one broke through 1 week ago and the 2nd one on Monday night. She loves to bite down and does not let me check her gums anymore.

She is already 7 months. She has grown up so fast. She has finally been home more then she was in the hospital, this is such a relief. Her 1yr old BDay part is in less then 5 months. We need to start planning. But first we need to find her Halloween costume and get ready for her to attend her 1st ASU home game. We have not been because it has been too hot for her. Maybe in the next 2 home games we will go. Thanks for all the prayers and messages from everyone, we appreciate it :) It is such a good feeling to know how many people love her. She is so easy to love :)

Happy 6 month Birthday Zoë!!

Happy 6 month birthday Zoë.!! Can you believe it has been 6 months already. Where did the time go??? Before we know it, we will be sending her off to pre-School.

Zoë is still on oxygen. We went last week and she weighed 10 lb 7 oz. She is gaining weight but not as fast as the pulmologist would like. Their theory is that if gains her weight now, in a few years she would be the small kid. If she doesn't grow now, she will be the small kid and have more trouble with her lungs. So the oxygen is to help her not work as hard. Because if she has to work hard to breathe, she will lose calories and we want her to retain the calories that she takes in. She was only gaining a half ounce per day and she needed to be at one ounce per day. The result of this is that she is now on 27 calorie formula. Regular formula is 20 calories. The results of the apnea monitor is that it only went off 3 times since she came home from the hospital in July. This didn't seem to concern them. They also did take into account that she had the swine flu and were told that it can take a long time to recover from it and a possible reason for the slow weight gain. I think this is another reason they are keeping her on the oxygen.

Today we saw our pediatrician. She however is not concerned about her weight gain. Today Zoë weighed 10 lb 14 oz. So in the last 7 days she has been gaining one once her day. She is very pleased with her weight gain. This is the frustrating part because you get two different doctors telling you two different things. On top of that we have been struggling with finding a bottle/nipple that Zoë likes. Her eating habits had changed and we thought it was the nipple. I think we found the right one. Now our pediatrician looks at the overall picture. As we discussed our concerns about the two different messages we are getting and her eating habits, we have decided to pay attention to the pediatrician. She made a lot of sense when we discussed everything. I think it is because we did discuss Zoë's overall progress, not just weight. She also got her 6 months shots today. Poor baby cried, she even had tears :( We did help her by giving her Tylenol before the shots. This helped so much today. She wasn't as fussy as she could have been. So it seems that both doctors are looking at different charts and we just need to be patient and know that all of this is to make her stronger physically. We already know she is a strong person inside.

We also saw her surgeon this week. Good news is that everything is healing nicely. We have gone from monthly visits to going every 2-3 months. She also is pleased with her progress.

Other good news is that each doctor was pleased with development. She is doing a lot of things that they are expecting. Here are some of the new things she does.

• She turned to her tummy. Not once but several times.
• Is liking tummy time more, but still gets mad
• Sits up by herself in her Bumbo chair
• Is sleeping through the night (every night), except for the night it rained (she woke up and wanted to play)
• She intentionally grabs her doll and hugs her. It also looks like she wrestles with her. Her name is Dolly
• Notices her toys when they are in her reach and tries to grab them
• She notices her hands when she moves them in front of her
• She has the biggest smile when she sees Mommy and Daddy
• Rubs her eyes when she is tired
• She still talks a lot, doesn't complain as much as she used to. She likes to just talk.
• Tia Lissa noticed her laughing in her sleep two days ago
• Likes to dance with Daddy

She is still the sweetest baby. I love her personality. When you look into her eyes, it just melts your heart.

Daddy has also started his marathon training. He joined the Phoenix Children's' Hospital Miracles in Motion marathon training team. He gets help training for the PF Chang's Marathon and he will help raise money for PCH. We will be asking for your help on this. He needs to get $1500 in donations by November 15th. There is a web link where you can donate. Once he gets it, we will post it on this blog. They have given us so much, that we want to give back to them. His first meeting and run is tomorrow morning. Good luck Marathon training Daddy!

Zoë has recovered

Zoë has fully recovered from the swine flu. It has been over 1 week that she has gotten over her cough. Now we are dealing teething. This kicked in a couple of days ago. She is whiney and not her happy self. You think she is crying, but when you look at her, she is whining. It sounds like she is complaining, it is the funniest thing. We have even had multiple conversations with her and she is complaining to us. This morning at 7a, on a Saturday, she talked to me for about 5 minutes straight. She complained and complained, you can't help but laugh. She is so funny. She also is chewing on her hands a lot more and drools. We got some Orajel but this seems to help only a little. This also is changing her eating, since she doesn't want to eat at time, and this is starting to worry Daddy. Since we still log her feedings, she is taking in the volume she needs but the times she takes it in has changed. We have about a 2 week break of doctors visits. We start again the begging of August.

She is growing up fast. She is 2 1/2 months adjusted age, but is 5 1/2 months old. She is developing at about a 4 month old pace. Here are some of the new things she is doing since the last post:

• She kicks her blanket off (intentionally)
• Laughs a lot (she's ticklish just about everwhere)
• Has started to grab her left hand
• Sticks both hands in her mouth
• Puts her left hand in her mouth (She gags herself, since there is no thumb to stop how far it goes in)
• Talks a lot. She converses with us and other people
• She pulls off her nasal cannula. Sometimes she sticks it in her mouth.
• Talks to herself in the mirror. It's like in Finding Nemo, Deb the fish has a twin sister Flo, its her reflection in the glass. We call her reflection Chloe.
• Talks to her doll. We haven't named her yet
• Today she grabbed her doll and stuck it in her mouth. It also looked like she was hugging it.
• Tries to grab her chuppie. She'll hold it but doesnt know to put it in her mouth.
• Discovered her right hand. She stares at it and goes cross eyed
• She plays with her blanket, as she stares at her hand
• She is seeing objects farther away
• Spins herself in her play pen, hasn't turned over yet
• Loves it when you sing to her or make her dance
• Recognizes Mommy and Daddy
• Recognizes our voices. Daddy had Mommy on speaker phone one morning and she was looking around for me. I was at work.
• Likes watching "So you think you can dance"
• Loves her friends (animals) on her bouncy, she loves to look at them move above her.
• Is sleeping more through the night. She eats more in the day then at night.
• Doesn't like to be cradled like a baby. She likes to be upright looking at the world. She is very social.
• We moved up to size 1 diapers and she has grown out of most of her newborn clothes.
• Sounded like she said "Mama" when she was talking this morning. I think it was an accident, but Daddy heard it too and says that she said it the other day. I still think it was an accidental "Mama".

We are having fun watching her become a big girl. Daddy right now is worried because she has been getting really fussy the last few days. Teething is the only thing we can think of. One minute she is ok, then the next she is not happy and she chews on her hand, drooling. Right now she is complaining to Daddy and he is encouraging it, she sounds so cute.

Zoë had the swine flu

Yes we said it... today we got confirmation that she had the swine flu. She was released from PCH last monday and today we had a follow-up appointment with her pediatrician and we got confirmation today that it was the swine flue. Since she is better now and is no longer sick there is nothing else that we need to do. Sorry for not posting sooner, once she came home we have been busy trying to get back into our old routine.

Zoë had recovered beautifully. She is back to her old self and even better then before. She is so active. She has started to cup her bottle and had held on to her chuppie, she just doesn't know how to put it back in. It looks like she wants to hold it. She is eating so much. She became a better eater in the hospital. She is growing so fast now. She now weighs 10lbs 2oz. She is a big girl now.

She will also remain on the oxygen for at least another month. The swine flu and pneumonia set her back some. Since we have been home, we have had no beeps on the monitor. This will help her lungs heal.

We are in disbelief that she had the swine flu. I think Soilo is still in shock as we sit here. We have no clue where she could have gotten it. On the bright side, she is now immune from it. We hear it was supposed to be a bad fall/winter for the flu. She at least has some anti-bodies in her system and will be in the clear this winter. When we were in the hospital last week, we were saying she has used up her sick points and now has a credit and wont get sick again for a while (this is our hope).

We have been having a lot of fun with her this last week. She is a happy baby. She laughs and smiles almost all day long. You know there are some babies that seem to be mad at the world, they dont smile and cry all the time. Zoë is not like that. When she is upset it is because she is hungry, diaper is wet, cold, tired or we are messing with her. She is aware of her surroundings and loves her bouncy chair. It has a bird and elephant that she loves to stare at. She also discovered the TV and ceiling fan. She can stare at them for hours (minutes for her short attention span). She also still loves her thumb. We thought she gave it up, but yesterday she started sucking on it again. She self soothed herself and put herself to sleep. She also put her two fingers in her hand from her left hand. Since there is no thumb, she found a work around. She is sooo smart.

It was a little scary being in the hospital last week, again. We didn't think we would be back. She keeps showing us what a strong spirit she has. We just love her so much. Thanks again to all of you who also love her and we appreciate your prayers. :) Thanks for being there for the three of us.

Spending the 4th of July at Phoenix Children's Hospital

Zoë is still at PCH. She has been doing a lot better and is back to her normal self. She slept through the night and has been awake most the day, taking her normal short naps. She is also talking a lot more today and has been smiling all day. We had some good cuddle time today. She caught me up on all that happened to her. It was a good conversation. She has been very happy today. She still has a small cough, but it is not bad at all. Even the nurses commented how much of a good baby she has been and are surprised how fast she got over the flu. Most kids spend weeks trying to get over this type of flu. She is a fighter, she always has been (even all the way back since I got pregnant).

She has had no apnic spells since she was at the PICU. We were given a tentative release date of Monday. There are two reasons, 1) we need to have 48-72 hours of no apnic spells, early Sunday morning is 48 hours. 2) It is the holiday weekend, so the doctors that need to see her before her release are not in until Monday. They are also not able to download the data from the apnea monitor until Monday, because of the holiday. We are also waiting for news about the pneumonia. She also took out the IV in her head. We were not in the room when she did it. Every single piece of equipment, monitors, IVs, CPAP, etc., that she has had on her since the NICU, she has taken off at least once. I don't know how she does these things. She is a very smart little girl.

We continue to see nurses that took care of Zoë in the NICU :) They all say "didn't you leave...why are you back." At least today we can say that she is better and we are almost out of here. We also saw Fernando Nieto here, his baby is in the NICU. So we understand what they are going through with their baby. They are almost going home also.

Her hospital room is facing in the direction of Indian Steele Park, so we will have a front row seats to the fireworks. These will be her first. At least we will not have to be in the heat to see them. We did put on her 4th of July outfit, she wanted to be festive (thanks to Tia Bere, who gave it to her). She also got a stuffed bear from the hospital to celebrate. This was very nice of the staff.
Oh I forgot, we also found out that she is ticklish. The nurse today also tickled her by accident and she smiled with a tiny giggle.

Here are two pictures from yesterday. Happy 4th of July!

Zoë is in a regular room

Zoë has been moved from the PICU to a regular hospital room (510B). This is great news since she doesn't need the constant supervision. Last night they removed the low flow cannula and placed her on the regular oxygen. They started her at 2 liters. Last night she had a couple of apnea episodes but we expected something to happen since this is a dramatic change. I would have been surprised if she didn't have an episode but you are always hopeful if they do not.

She is eating like a champ. Right before we got to her room, she hat 110 cc in one shot. She is eating so much now. Which is good, since we are always worried that she is not gaining enough weight.

They also have stopped the IV antibiotics and she is now getting them orally. She still has her IV hat on though. She has less wires, which is a good since that she is getting better.

When we walked in she gave us a look like, "where were you, they moved me and you weren't here." We both took turns holding her. She then warmed up and smiled a couple of times.

If you might remember, we were scheduled to be here on July 2. Her surgery was originally scheduled for her 2 month corrected age. I was bumped up because of the specialist being here in April. Today is July 3 so we still ended up being her on July 2.

She is allowed visitors, we are just limiting the kids from going into her room. We are here for one other night, but if she has no apnea we could possibly go home tomorrow. It was very empty at home last night.

I'm feeling better today

Zoë is doing a lot better today. She seems like her old self. She has been more awake today then yesterday. She doesn't looked wiped out anymore. She is also eating like a champ. She has been eating every 2 hours. She has been taking down 75cc (2 1/2 oz) each time. She also takes it down from 4-5 minutes. This is much faster then when we were at home. She has even started doing her hungry cry. Her hungry cry is her being mad. She has such a temper.

Today they started to wean her oxygen down. This is going to be the kicker for us going home. She started out at 5 liters 50% and is currently down to 2 liters and 40 % oxygen. They are going to try to take her off of the low flow oxygen machine and put her on pure oxygen. We need to get to .2 liters with no apnea episodes. Her last apnea episode was late last night. She also needs to finish her rounds of antibiotics. Her XRay from this morning came back. The pneumonia is starting to go away, it is less then the other night but not fully gone. The antibiotics are helping. Since they are given by IV, she wont be able to go if the IV is still in her. Also since her veins in her hands and feet were week because of the NICU IVs, they had to stick the IV in her head. I know it sounds kind of weird, but this is done on preemies all the time. It is a bunch of tape and gauze covering it up, so it doesn't move. I call it her hair bow. She did not have to have her head shaved, I've already had that question asked. We did try her feet first, but the veins were too week. She is still in the PICU, we may move to a regular room but this is not for sure. This all depends on her progress

She currently has a cough and runny nose. She sounds so cute when she sneezes, its like she is trying to hold it in. We need to record it and post it. It seems like with her that every 12 hours we have seen some type of improvement.

We are here for another night and will possibly be here through the weekend. Sorry we will miss the pool party on Saturday for cousin Bryna and cousin BJ's birthday.

I have ran into several nurses that took care of Zoë in the NICU. It was good to see them, just not under these conditions. Her pediatrician also stopped by today to see how we were doing. This really meant a lot, since she came to see how we (Soilo and I) were holding up. Her pulmonologist also stopped by to check on her, they had been downloading the information from the apnea monitor directly to his office. Phoenix Children's is the best.

Since she is stable, I am off to work tomorrow. Daddy has the day off, so he will spend all day with Zoë. It is good to see her smile again and converse with us. Right now Daddy is holding her and she is awake looking around the room. Only a couple more days of this and we are back home......

Sorry so long....

Sorry the post below is so long, a lot has happened in 24 hours. I am spending the night at the hospital with Zoë. There goes the apnea monitor again. It is loud.

I'm sick and back at PCH PICU

That's right, Zoë has been re-admitted to the hospital and is at Phoenix Children's in the PICU. :( She has been diagnosed with Influenza Type A and the beginning stages of pneumonia. This all happened so fast, from one minute to the next. We are in just in shock that we are back in the hospital. Most of you already know that we are here and thanks for all your support this far.

So this is what happened. Yesterday we went to see her surgeon for our regular check up. Zoë was alert and being playful. She was talking to us and smiling. The Dr. even commented on how good she was doing. When we left, then it started. Her apnea monitored went off on the way home, we hadn't changed it so thought she moved them or they were dirty. Then it started to go off and throughout the day it was going off more often and for longer periods of time. She threw up once and was not her happy self. So Soilo went home early and off they went to the ER. Thanks to Tia Lissa who was able to notice that Zoë was not being herself and noticed something was wrong. As soon as they got to the ER, her temperature shot up. She was being very apnic and her heart rate even dropped. When I got to the ER I could tell that she was not the same baby that I saw that morning. She looked sick and that something was definitely wrong with her. We got her to the ER in time, since it could have been worse if we had waited any longer.

We were admitted last night to the PICU. We both stayed overnight with her since she was not doing so well. She kept going apnic and they were even talking about intubating her. This was the scary part. The intubation kit is here sitting on the cart in front of us, so they were ready to do it if needed. They did change her to a low flow oxygen cannula and this little help seemed to do the trick. Zoë fought her way through it and the apnea episodes decreased through the night. We even got about an 1 1/2 hour straight of sleep at one time. So right now it doesn't look like they are going to intubate her. The apnea monitor is really really loud that the entire PICU hears it. They think it is a fire alarm going off.

She looked sad and you could tell that she was not feeling very well. You know this feeling when you have the flu, you do not feel too hot and just want to sleep, but you are hungry. Everything hurts. She definitely has the flu, you can see it in her face and her other symptoms. She is coughing and sneezing, her nose is now runny. However it is a good sign because she is able to get all the gunk in her lungs out herself. She has been crying, which is not normal for her. With preemies this affects them even harder because their immune system is already immature. Zoë also already had lung problems, so this flu just escalated the issue. You have probably gone through this, you feel sick then it levels off and you get worse again before you get better. Right now is a waiting game, since we need to see if she has reached her peak of the illness or if she is past that stage and starting to get over it. Since the monitors went off half the night, we didn't get much sleep. So we both spent the entire day with her today. The apnic episodes have decreased and she is coming around to her old self, she even smiled a little this evening. She finally got to eat after 30 hours of having nothing to eat. Within 1 hour she took in 146 CC. We are hoping she has passed this peak.

She is way better tonight then she was yesterday. We estimate to be here a couple more days. They are trying to get her back to how she was before she got sick. She is in the PICU which is a different part of the hospital and different then the NICU. We have a window and a TV (which we really haven't watched). Today her respiratory therapist was Anne, Zoë had her when she was in the NICU. This was comforting. We also saw ran into another Anne, the resident who had Zoë in March at the Good Sam PCH campus. For sure we are here tomorrow, after that it is day by day. The apnea machine really did its job and let us know that something was really wrong with Zoë.

Some good news before she got sick was that she had become a lot more interactive then the week before. We talk to her and she talks back. She also found her thumb. Before she would just suck on her entire hand. Last week she just started to suck on her thumb like a pacifier. I tired to give her the chuppie and she spit it out (she got some distance on it), she only wanted her thumb. She looked so cute just sucking her thumb. She was also 9lb 7 ozs yesterday morning. We also still think she is teething because she sometimes just chews on her hand to sooth herself. She is growing so fast.

Since Zoë does have influenza Type A, they did send it to see if it was the H1N1 virus. We wont know the result until after we are home. But they do not think it is. Because of her pulmonary problems she was put on anti-viral mediation. They also gave her a higher does of anti-biotics because of the pneumonia and this also takes care of her bladder reflux that she already has. They are will also try to ween her down to the oxygen flow she was at before she was admitted, this will be the item that keeps us in the PICU longer. Tomorrow they will be taking another chest XRay to check the status of the pneumonia. She does seem more stable tonight, so if she keeps this up, we both may go to work tomorrow.

So if you are a nurse from the NICU and are at Thomas, maybe we will see you around here or come by and visit Zoê.

It is just surreal that we are back here. We almost made it to 2 months out of the NICU, May 2nd we were released from the NICU. This is just another stage of her life as a preemie.

Again, thanks for all those that have texted and Facebooked us. We really appreciate your support and prayers. We will keep everyone updated on her progress.

Zoë loves to talk

Happy father's day Daddy!

Zoë has started to talk a lot. We noticed it at first in the mornings after she eats she will talk to herself for about 30 minutes. She doesn't do it all the time but she also started to talk to Mommy and Daddy. Today at the Auditory specialist office her and Daddy were having a long conversation. She has become so reactive to anyone that talks to her. She also discovered the TV and the ceiling fan. She stares at both for minutes on straight. She also follows us as we leave and enter the room. We pace in front of her sometimes to see how long she will follow us.

We went to the surgeon and pediatrician last week and she was 9 pounds. She does have reflux a little bit. Its not too bad but we did get medication to treat it. The pediatrician was pleased at her development. We even got the go ahead and let her sleep through the night because they were very pleased with her weight gain. Before we weren't able to let her sleep past 6 hours. We would have to wake her put to eat. She also estimates that Zoë is developing at a 3 1/2 month old pace. For preemies you are to go by her adjusted age for their milestone, which would put her a 1 1/2 months. So right now she is ahead of the game.

Zoë also started to fight her sleep. She gets fussy and you see her eyes are heavy, but she refuses to fall asleep. She'll take cat naps but she is still tired. We also think that the fussiness may be her starting to teeth. She chews on her hand and today she blew bubbles. Her NICU friend Jonathan already has his first teeth and he is a 1 1/2 months older then Zoë and he was born at 28 weeks. Her friend Scarlett was born on April 1 and she also has a tooth. So we are thinking to ourselves that it is possible. We will have to wait and see if this is one cause of her sporadic fussiness.

Today we went to the audiologist. When she was in the NICU, her right ear didn't pass the hearing test. For today's test we had to put her to sleep, she fought it for almost 1 hour (she had to be asleep for the test). Tia Lissa had kept her up all day to prepare for the test, so we knew she tired. Finally she went to sleep and the good news is that she passed. Everything looked normal. So out of her many doctors and specialist, we get to cross one off. This feels good, since it is one less office visit we have to make. We have literally had at least 1 doctor/specialist visit a week (Sometimes 3) since she came home. We had so many that the nurse at the pedestrian's office tried to make a joke when she saw all the future appointments that Zoë had. She said " You are here so much, we should just pull out a bed here in our office so that you can sleep here." Ok well I freaked out on her. I was like, NOOOOO, we were next door for 11 weeks, we will go home and come back (Zoë's pediatrician part of Phoenix Children's so her office is right next door to the hospital). My heart dropped when she said that.

We also want to thank those that help celebrate Zoë's homecoming. She is very blessed to have so many people love her. If you did not get to see her reactions, she loved it. We also apologize for the short notice, that is how it has been with her since she got here. She doesn't like to wait for our time table. She has her own agenda.

Also her room is not done yet, we are about 3/4 the way finished. It is starting to look like her room.

Today I am 4 months old

Today was Zoë's 4 month birthday. She is also still on oxygen, we return on July 16 for the next evaluation with the pulmonologt. She still struggles through the feedings, we think she may have reflux. In the middle of her feedings, she sometimes throws herself back, grunts and sometimes starts to cry. She is a feisty little girl. She gets mad when she doesn't like something. We already told her pediatrician, so when we go to her next appointment, we will talk about it more and see what is really going on. Besides this, she is a really good baby. She cries when she is really hungry, usually she just coos and whines when it is time to eat. She is a whiner when she is hungry.

She is getting really big. We had to adjust her car seat. She is also starting to out growing some of her newborn clothes and the newborn diapers. She is in the body of a 6 week old baby but the mind of a 4 month old. She was 8 lbs at the end of May. We also had to move her out of the basinet she was sleeping in because she moves around so much. We put her one way and she turns her body in the opposite direction. The last straw was when she got her little leg stuck between the bars of the bassinet. She screamed when she couldn't get it out. The poor baby was so upset, that when we left to work, she looked sad from the trauma. After this Tia Lissa set up her Pack N Play playpen, so she is now sleeping in that and now has a lot more room to move in. I cant believe how much she moves. She still hasn't turned over on her tummy but it is only a matter of time.

Her room is almost done. Tia Ashley has been putting the finishing touches to the walls. She is painting the flowers by hand. One more session and she will be done. After this week her room will be completely finished. Thanks Tia Ashley!!

Zoë is also starting to react to us. She follows us when we move around the room and reacts when we talk to her. I think I saw a dimple on her cheek, but wasnt 100% for sure. Need to see the next time she smiles. She dreams when she sleeps because we will see her smile and then frown then smile again.

Zoë is doing really good and so are we :) It is really good to have her home.

I am still on oxygen

My lungs are still not strong enough, so I will be on oxygen for at least 30 more days. We went on Friday and Zoë still need a little bit of help so that she can grow and not lose so many calories. This way she can grow new lung tissue and get off the machines sooner. Good news is that on Friday, she weighed in at 8lbs. She is getting big and we even had to adjust her car seat so that she can fit right. It was getting a little tight.

Zoë has also been out on the town. She went to Mommy's work, where she met everyone in person. She had been around them for the first 6 months that she was getting ready to be born. She also went to Macy's, CPK and to Juan and Vero's house for their baby shower. She wanted to give Daniella a present, since this will be her play mate when Daniella is born and comes to Arizona to visit. She also went to Pei Wei and Pita Jungle. She did really well and didnt mind those that held her. This is result of the NICU, since she had different nurses take care of her, she got used to different people holding her. Which is a good thing. But she does love it and has even screamed for Mommy to hold her.

Mommy also went back to work on Monday and Daddy was out of town since Sunday. He came back yesterday. We all survived but we both missed Zoë. She has had a good time with Tia Lissa taking care of her. She is a really easy baby to take care of. She does fight with Tia Lissa when she is trying to fix her nasal cannula for the oxygen. Zoë tries to swipe her hand away. It was weird leaving work and going straight home. I was going the opposite direction of the hospital. But it felt good when I got home and she was there waiting. However we have not lost some of our NICU habits. We are still counting everything and have a set up sort of like it was at the NICU. We count every CC and diaper change. We even dim the lights and try to emulate the environment we had there so that Zoë can feel like she did when she was in the NICU. Even when we talk to the doctors we use terms that no other new parent would even use or think to ask. Like "how many CCs per kilo should we be at now that she is 8lbs" or "Is she getting enough calories and will that stimulation make her loose calories". Another good one is when they weigh her, the nurses give us the lb and oz, we ask for her weight in grams. We have even started pressing the buttons on the scale without asking the nurse if she was ready. They are the same scales from the NICU that we became experts at. We have caught ourselves at our many doctor visits doing one of the above.

Zoë's room is almost ready. We just need a couple of more things to finish but it is looking like her room not the storage/office room that we had before.

Zoë is doing really good. She is happy baby. Thanks for everyone's well wishes. I will post some pictures this week.

I am a big girl!!

We have been home for 2 weeks now and we have already had 3 follow up appointments. At our last pediatrician check up, Zoë was 7 lb and 9 ozs. She is a big girl now. Preemie clothes do not fit anymore. She is wearing Newborn sized clothes. We can tell she has gotten bigger.

Next week to are taking another visit with the surgeon and the pulmonologist. Hopefully he will agree with us that Zoë doesnt need the oxygen any longer. We like the apnea monitor since it lets us know when she stops to breathe. Luckily it has never gone off while she sleeps and only when she is eating, but it has not gone off in a week. When it used to go off was when she was half asleep and trying to eat.

She is doing really good and we seem to have her routine down packed. Zoë also took 2 trips besides the Drs. On Thursday we all went to Home Depot to get tape to start painting her room (it will be done by Memorial day, right Daddy!). Then she took her first trip to Pei Wei. This will be her first of many trips to Pei Wei as Daddy is starting to train again to run another marathon in the fall. Today we went to eat lunch, went to Baby's R Us then to Ikea. She had a very busy Saturday. She did really well. I also swear that Zoë laughed the other day. She smiled really big and then it sounded like a giggle. Daddy thinks that I imagined it. She is a 3 month old stuck in a newborn body. She holds up her head and is awake during the day, more then your average new born.

All three of us are doing really well. More to come as things happen. :)

Zoë's home

Zoë has been home for one week now. It is really nice to have her home. The three of us have adjusted to being together. The first night we were really sleepy but both Mommy and Daddy got up to take care of Zoë. It took her one night to get used to her new surroundings. Now that a week has passed we have seemed to find her patterns and we are all doing well. Family nap time during the day really helps. Zoë also was able to meet all of her cousins. They weren't able to go to the NICU. Since all but 2 were under 12 years of age.

She did come home on .2 liters of oxygen and an apnea monitor. I think this is why we are able to sleep in peace, when we do fall asleep. If she stops breathing for 18 seconds the alarm goes off and it is loud. So far it has only gone off a couple of times, all when she is eating. So we have had no scares while she is sleeping. She seems to suck and suck on the bottle and holds her breathe. It like she is too busy eating to take the time to breathe. We also have an oxygen concentrator in the house with portable oxygen tanks when we need to leave the house. She is way over her daily volumes that we need to watch for in her feeding. She is supposed to get 220 cc every 12 hours and she is eating about 260 cc every 12 hours. We have a lot of Drs. to follow up with. We have an appointment every week with a different Dr., this is ok, since it is to make her better and she is home now.

We have always wondered what Zoë used to do when at the NICU. Now we now. She eats, sleeps and when she is wake she looks around at everything. She it awake about 3-5 hour straight during the day. She likes cuddle time. Noises don't even bother her. She is also a big chatter box when she is awake. She loves to look around

And for all those that ask, her room is still not ready. Even though it is not ready, Zoë has taken over all the other rooms in the house. She sleeps in Mommy's and Daddy's room in her bassinet. We haven't left the house, only to go to her pediatrician's visit and the follow up with the surgeon. Maybe we will all leave the house next week. Daddy's says he'll have it ready by next week.

The surgeon follow up visit was a good one. Zoë is healing very nicely and everything looks like it should. Mommy is home from work for the rest of the month. She will go back to work the first week in June. So this time is being spent to be with Zoë.

We will continue to post items here since Zoë's recovery is not 100% complete. Plus a lot of you want to know how she is doing. We are taking visitors at home as long as you are not sick. Just call us, if it is during the day, since we may be away at one of her appointments.

Zoë was 3 months old yesterday. In some ways she acts like a 3 month old, but is in a body of a newborn and has a lot of newborn behaviors. She also is wearing newborn diapers and has grow out of her preemie clothes. She is wearing newborn and 0-3 month old clothes.

We do want to thank all the nurses, Drs., respiratory therapist and nurse practitioners that took care of Zoë, we do miss all of you. That was the hard part of leaving. We left a lot of new friends. You know who you are and have our information. We are glad that we met you all. Zoë also misses you and sends you kisses.

Here are some pictures of Zoë from this week:

Here I am in my bassinet

I love to sleep in my stroller.

I was sleeping on Mommy's lap

I am sitting up like a big girl playing with Mommy

It's Go Time....

That's right, today is the day Zoë comes home !!!!!

We're waiting on the discharge process which should take a couple of hours. Mommy has been with her for most of the day, daddy had a few meetings but managed to figure out the car seat base with Tio Naz. On her last day she had a bath that Mommy gave to her all on her own and she had a play date with a couple of babies in the NICU. We have a bassinet ready that we got from Tia Bere and Tio Rick. Zoë is coming home on oxygen and an apnea monitor, the oxygen is at .2 liters at 100%. The monitor is cool, it is loud, so if she holds her breath for more than 18 secs. the alarm goes off. She's been doing well, hasn't beeped in awhile, she only holds her breath when she's eating, still working on the suck, swallow, breath thing. She has done well with her ad-lib feedings she takes in anywhere from 65-75 cc's per feeding, about 2-2.5 ozs. They did find a bit of reflux between her bladder and kidneys they said that she will eventually out grow it but she is coming home on a few medications. She weighed in at 3085 grams about 6 lbs. 13 ozs. and is about 20.5 inches long, this would have been her birth stats had she gone to term. OK we are ready, I think, the neonatologists just came to give us our discharge papers !!!!!!

Mommy & Daddy I'm ready !!!!

Today is my due date............

As the saying goes careful what you wish for cause you just might get it, Amy and I came in on Thursday night and she was doing well so as we were leaving the nurse practitioner stopped to talk to us and said that she may be home in less than 2 weeks with oxygen which is normal. This the first time that anyone has talked to us about going home so it was a bit surreal. We went to dinner and we were both in a state of shock. We devised a plan on her coming home in 2 weeks, so we woke up early and went to register at Babies R'Us which was interesting explaining our situation to the clerk. So we take care of that and we eat lunch and then take Amy back to see Zoë since Daddy had a work function. Today Zoë's central was to be taken out and she was going to begin ad-lib feeding, i.e we feed when she gets hungry not on pre-set schedule like has been on since birth. So Amy calls me as soon as she talks to the nurse and says guess what, they gave us a window for her discharge, between THIS Tuesday and THIS Thursday, holy crap !!!!!!!

Amy and I have been waiting for this day and we always knew it would get here but this has been a roller coaster ride and this came out of left field (which I will playing for my men's baseball team on Sunday). She's currently on .6 litters at 21% oxygen which is just like room air. It looks like she may not come home with oxygen but they are going to start to test her out tomorrow without nasal cannulas. This will be cool because it will be first time she doesn't have anything cover her face. She has taken well to the ad-lib feedings , she's taken in more than the what's required in a 12 hour shift. As I type we're waiting to see if she wakes up for a feeding, she had her 2 month vaccinations today, which she hated, yes like the U of A, so she may be out with the tylenol the gave her for any side effects.

Are we ready ? YES !! is the house ready NO !!! but we will manage as my mom put it she brought us all home in worse situation and we turned out just fine, I think.

Amy and I have been waiting for this for 77 days and we will only be here for no more than 5 more days and then Zoë is coming home !!!!!!!!!!!!

Please stay posted we will update more frequently as news breaks.

What Happened ????

This what I think she's is saying to us.....

Well, it has been over a week since her surgery and she is now looking like the little girl we last saw on the day of here surgery. The above picture was taken on Sunday, we've been bad and haven't updated the blog in the last week, amazing how time flies.

Zoë came of her breathing tube on Thursday night, she didn't like that thing she tried to take it out a couple times. her Dr.'s even said that if she took it out they wouldn't put back in, luckily they took it out for her Thursday night. After the tube came out, she was a bit wheeze because the tube irritated her throat so she got strider, basically her throat was inflamed. They put her on some breathing treatments to help her out with her oxygen level and high-flow pressure. She started out at 60 % oxygen and 4 liters per minute. Friday and Saturday were a rough few days for her but with the breathing treatments it made things easier. On Sunday, the proverbial light bulb just turned on, she was active and trying to figure out "What Happened ?"

She's started back on her feedings on Monday, after going a week with out eating. She was started on 9 cc's, she was up to 60 cc's before surgery so she was a little agitated once she realized that was all she was going to get. They have been increasing her feedings by 3 cc's or so every 3rd feeding, she is up to 24 cc's about a half an ounce. Before she struggled to take in her feedings but last night she sucked down 18 cc's in a few minutes and she was still looking for more. She has gotten wise to the "chupi" method, nothing ever comes out !!! It's pretty funny when she spits back out at you in a act of defiance which I'm certain is one of many that Daddy will have to deal with it.

On a side note: Did you know for 135$ you can get a Burberry trench coat for an infant. Damm you Kanye !!!

As of last night she was back up to her pre-surgery weight, 6 lbs 7 ozs., Nana Lola go to hold her, she answered yes even before I finished asking her if she wanted to hold her. Zoë was amused with Nana's voice and was happy to finally got to hang out with Nana D.Lo. She has had 4 good days, no major issues, her surgeons have said she is healing well and is being monitored very closely. A few nurses have already begun to toss around the H word (home). My guess it will be sooner that we think, before Memorial day is my guess-timation. Amy and I think she is on the home stretch and barring any major set backs she should be home soon. Which is cool but daddy has been loligaging, which makes him a loligager, and hasn't finished her room.

Currently, she is on 25% oxygen and 2 LPM, which is great, by the end of the week she'll be back to full feedings.

Also, with the swine flu situation PCH has changed it's visitor’s policy and put the hospital on lock-down. Starting this morning, she can have only 2 visitors in the hospital at one time, that means only 2 people can be in the hospital visiting her, everyone else has to wait outside of the hospital, even Mommy and Daddy. All visitors will be screened at the front desk for any flu symptoms and no visitors under the age of 18 years will be allowed. Hopefully this won't last very long but better safe than sorry. That's it for now, sorry for the delay in the updates, thanks to everyone for the text messages and support we definitely couldn't not have gotten this far with out your support.

By the Way, Zoë is always being watched by Sparky , Go Devils !!!!

Update on Zoë's surgery recovery

Zoë is still recovering from her surgery. The actual surgery went very well. Her surgery couldn't have gone better. We had the best case scenario in all aspects of the surgery. Everything went beautifully. Our surgeon checks up on her every day. The specialist that was here actually did other surgeries besides Zoë's and some of those kids were worse off then Zoë.

Zoë still has the breathing tube in. They are trying to wean her off of it. We hope that by tomorrow it is out. She had a lot of surgery done to her and for a long period of time for a little baby. So this is something that was expected, plus she is doing the same things she did when on the nasal prongs and CPAP. She drops her stats but then comes right back up on her own. Yesterday she needed more help to bring up her numbers, but today she is doing most of it on her own. She also gets build up from the breathing tube, so some of the drops in her stats are from this. So they suction her and she does a lot better. She looks better then she did yesterday. She is not as puffy as she was before and seems more at ease. She isn't as mad as she was yesterday. She is on pain meds as she needs them.

The surgeon is waiting for her to heal and get off the ventilator before she can begin to eat again. She did say this can take up to 5 days. Zoë is getting her nutrition by IV. We call this her gatorade and fat. Since one is white and the other looks like lemon-lime gatorade (the original one). We estimate that she can eat again on Sunday.

Once she overcomes this, we are one BIG step closer to being home. Hopefully they remove the breathing tube tomorrow and she goes back on the nasal canulas. We will keep you updated

Zoë is Recovering.....

Well Zoë is now in her room recovering from the procedure. She had both of her hyenas, I mean hernias :) taken care of as well as her other issue. She still has her breathing tube in but the nurses are waiting for her to begin t breathe more regularly before they take it out. Sh looks good, not to puffy she may be bit agitated over the next few days since she won't be getting her normal feedings. She will be drugged on pain meds which may take off a bit the hunger edge. Mommy will be spending the night again while I go home and try to clean. We are waiting on the surgeon to come a give us full briefing on the surgery. All is well, she is one big step closer to coming home........

She's now in her room....

She just came out and they rolled by her by use, we have to wait until she gets settled in, she looked good. She still had her breathing tube until she wakes up and gets her rhythm back. She was opening her eyes as she rolled by......

UPDATE

Zoë surgery went well, we are waiting for her to come. Our surgeon said she did really well and her issue has been taken care off. They expect a full recovery and normal progression once she begins to potty train. We will continue to update as we get info.....

UPDATE

UPDATE: The nurse just came out and told us that they done the major work on her and now they are fixing her hernias. She said it will be about 30 to 45 mins. She said she is doing wonderful and is handling the anesthesia just fine. I will update as soon as she is back in her room for recovery.

Zoë just headed in...

Zoë just headed in to the surgery room, she looked alert but very hungry. They stopped her feedings at 9 AM yesterday morning so she was a bit agitated, she did weigh in at 6 lbs 7 oz.. last night and she looks big ( compared to when she was born). We also got a very good surprise this morning, Zoë's nurse that she had when she was born actually got floated to the main campus and has her for her post-op recovery. This makes Mommy and Daddy feel so much better, here is to hoping she gets her favorite night nurse floated over to main later tonight.

Amy and I will be here all day today so please feel free to visit besides the food is way better here that at Good Sam.

Please stay tuned to for Updates.

Tomorrow is the big day

Tomorrow is Zoë's big day. She is having her surgery. Today we talked to the surgeon and she gave us the run down. They already started to prep her today. She got another central line put in. This will be for her IV fluids. Her feedings have stopped and wont start up again until 5 to 7 days. They will be giving her nutrients through the IV, just like when she was first born. The surgery will start around 10a. It will take about 2-3 hours.

Zoë is now 6 lbs 2 ozs. We wanted her to be over 6 lbs before the surgery, so we are very happy that she is so chunky. We have all gotten settled in with the new nurses. Everyone is really nice here. We have even seen some old friends from the McDowell campus. :)

We will keep everyone posted through the blog on what is going on. I will be spending the night with Zoë tonight so that she wont be alone before the surgery.

Thanks for everyone's prayers

Zoë is now at Thomas !!!

That's right Zoë made it over to my new home PCH Main - Thomas, it was a fun ride (see picture). We left Good Sam about 2 PM via non-emergency ambulance. Mommy got go along for the ride and recorded the whole that adventure which Daddy will edit for everyones enjoyment. The medical team that transported her was very nice and very skilled, Zoë slept during the actual ride which is cool. The whole transfer took about 45 minutes from crib to crib. We did get a private room and a big girl crib which is nice considering there are only 12 private rooms, at Good Sam there were over 100. Zoë did stress out a bit once she got here, she was just looking around trying to figure out her new environment. Today we brought her ASU gear and set up her plush animals. Currently, she is still on her nasal cannulas but her added oxygen is down to about 23%, normal room air is 21% and she has about 2 liters per minute,which is good. At one point she was at 30% at 4 liters. Her feedings are up to 57 cc about 2 ounces, she is getting better at the suck, swallow, and breath rhythm .

We are hoping to get more information about the surgery which is scheduled for Tuesday but we don't know the time yet. We've been advised that surgeries usually are scheduled early in the morning right after shift change. We will update the blog as soon as we hear anything about time and hopefully real time updates on the surgery.

I've updated the visitor procedure for PCH main if you wish to visit.

I'm going to Thomas

Today is Zoë's last day at the Good Sam Campus of PCH. We are leaving between 12:30p and 1p. We will really miss the nurses and Drs that we met here. Zoë hopes that they float them to Thomas so we can see them again. We really appreciate all their help and support. We met some really nice people. They made it really easy for us here.

We are getting one step closer to Zoë coming home. Her surgery is on Tuesday. We do not have a time yet, but will keep you posted. I will be taking Tuesday and Wednesday off to be with Zoë.

Zoë is been doing really well and is off her antibiotics. She weighed 6lbs last night. She looks like a new born. She continues to feed from a bottle for most of her feedings. Sometimes she finishes and sometimes she doesn't. They don't want to push her too much because they will be stopping her feeds for the surgery. She is up to 57ccs. (60 cc =2 ozs.) . She is becoming more interactive with us and the nurses. Zoë is a big girl now. She is at 38 weeks gestational age and 9 weeks (2 months) old.

We have to go finish packing up the rest of her room. Next time we post, we will be at Thomas PCH. See you there....

Zoë is 5 lbs. 10 oz.

That's right Zoë is well on her way to the 6 lb.. mark which I think she will hit by this weekend. She is really starting to look like a newborn, she is also starting to act like one , eat , sleep, and pooping. She has been off her C-Pap over a week, she struggled a bit for the first few days but from Weds of last week to this Saturday night she was doing well. She was a bit constipated, I believe she hadn't pooped for a couple of days we knew this because she had gained 160 and 120 grams on consecutive days . On Saturday night she tanked and had 3 bad spells (back to back to back), well it turned out she has a Bladder Infection which the Dr.'s quickly responded with ampicillin via an I.V.. It was bit unnerving to watch her go through the color spectrum reaching a nice gray -bluish color in a matter of seconds, so Amy and I were a bit worried since she is set to have here surgery on the 21st. So when we came in on Easter, we expected her to be lethargic but quite the opposite she was bit more active she took in her bottle feeding and went back to sleep like a newbie. The nurses were alternative her feedings, one through her pump and the second through her bottle feed. We were beginning to worry about her not pooping and then it happened, I caught an odor as I asked Amy if she smelled it to she said no, so I began to think maybe they left a diaper hidden somewhere, well lo and behold she dropped a massive deuce. So the nurse changed her and then she dropped another deuce, this was at her 6 p.m. feeding where she took in all her feeding by bottle. At 9 p.m. she had another surprise for us, thats when she weighed in at 5 lbs 10 oz agin she took all her feeding in which are to 48 cc and she was fidgeting for more. Today we hope they up here feeding just because she is getting bigger and looks like she wants more (she keeps trying to eat her blanket, looks pretty funny).

We are 8 days from her surgery, we are both excited as we know this is one step closer to coming home with Zoë. At the same time it is a bit unsettling knowing that the surgery is upon us and what she has to go through. Zoë is a strong little girl and I'm sure she will just fine, as for me I may need a couple of pills to get me through....

Anyway here are some recent pictures of Zoë .....

Zoë says "Hola !"

My PJ's Fit !!!!!

Here I am in my Easter dress, I was a sleep but Mommy held me up......she had to have this Easter Picture

Conversing with Zoë

I am still off CPAP

Zoë continues to do well and continues to be off the CPAP mask. She only had 3 apnea episodes today. She is also breathing more consistently, so it looks like she is resting more and not working so hard. She looks more comfortable.

She only ate from her bottle 2 times and they were both at night. Zoë finished all 42 ccs only during one of the feedings. She didn't want to eat from the bottle during the day. She is still learning to eat from the bottle, so it is easier for it to be done for her. She saved up all her energy to eat the entire bottle.

She also stayed up for 2 and a half hours after she ate the 42 ccs and was letting us know she was still hungry. So we followed her queues and she ate 2 hours later. This is when we tried the bottle the 2nd time and she ate 16 ccs. I didn't think she would do anything, since she was up for 2 hours straight. Just being up one hour tires out preemies, but she wanted to try. Once she ate, she passed out, she was so tired. Hopefully she eats from the bottle tonight. For those that are concerned, when she doesn't eat the full 42 ccs from the bottle, the rest of her food is pumped through her feeding tube. So she does not starve.

Zoë was very playful today. She just wanted us to talk to her and she smiled and laughed back at us. She had a good day today.

Pictures of me from the last two weeks

Here I am going..."oooooo", I was copying Daddy

Here is my big girl crib

Here I am in my pajamas. I was in them all night and day

Daddy is giving me a bath for the first time. Can you see me looking at him. Dont tell him I told you , but Mommy helped.

I am so tired....

Here is the first time I ate with a bottle. Mommy was there to help me try.

This is Daddy's first time feeding me with a bottle.

Here is my close up, the bottle is almost bigger then my face.

I got a picture with my first doll. Thanks Tia Ana! It looks just like me.

Here is me and Daddy. I just finished eating.

This is Daddy feeding me again.

Zoë is off her fighter pilot mask!!

Today the drs decided to longer sprint Zoë and leave her on the nasal prongs. As long as she doesn't have a lot of spells she will not have the fighter pilot mask put back on. This is very good news. Zoë seems a lot happier.
Zoë is now 7 weeks old and 36 weeks gestational age. She is now 4 lbs and 14 ozs. Daddy predicts she will hit 5 lbs tonight and over 6 lbs before her surgery. She also is up to 42 ccs in her feedings. She is also eating out of the bottle on some of her feedings. We are trying to bottle feed her each time and sometimes she wants it and others she seems to have the attitude that she wants it to be done for her. As an ode to Tillman, today she ate her full feed of 42 ccs, 2 times. And speaking of Tillman, on Thursday Daddy bought Zoë an ASU mobile to hang over her crib. It plays the ASU fight song and has 4 Sparkys that go around in a circle. Zoë loves it. She calms down whenever it is played.
Mommy also went back to work this week. We both missed each other very much during the day. We are able to see each other at night and on Wednesday experienced our first interactive conversation. Zoë was complaining and giving mommy the dirt on what was happening. Daddy is trying to convert the video to post it here. She was soo cute.

So we all three of us had an overall good week. Also we still do not know when we will be transferred to the Thomas campus, but will keep you updated. We will be taking a tour on Friday to get to know our new home.

Update.....

A real quick update a Miss Zoë, she's doing fine and is still at the Good Sam Campus. She continues to grow and has even started to like her bottle. Last night she almost took all of her 9 p.m. feeding through her bottle, she took in 36 cc and we only had to put 6 cc's in her feeding tube. She is technically a Feed & Grow baby now until her surgery in the 21st. She is still having issues with breathing which we hope it will dissipate well before her surgery. She is now up to 6 hour sprints and seems to do better with out her C-PAP mask, man she really hates that thing. Last night she weighed in at................ 4 lbs 11 oz, man she is getting chunky. She has Mommy's cheeks and second chin and I mean that with all due respect :). I am on way to the hospital but I thought and update everyone and also post a video of Zoë getting a bath, don't worry I have edited out all the showings of her "goodies".

Later I will post a video of her having a conversation conversation with Mommy.......

I am over 4 lbs now

Zoë is now 4 lbs and 2 ozs. We predict that she will be double her birth weight by tonight (as a reminder she was 2 lbs. 2 ozs. when she was born). She reached the 4 lb mark on Thursday night. She is getting big and fits into her preemie clothes now. She gets to wear a different outfit each day. Today she was in her PJs all day long.

Some bad news is that her red blood cell count was very low, so she had to get a transfusion today. She is anemic. This is one reason why she has some apnea spells. This is because she doesn't have enough oxygen in her blood to keep her energy up. This causes her to breathe faster and then she gets tired fast. When she gets tired we notice that she has more apnea spells. Hopefully the transfusion will help her energy levels and this is the last one she needs.

We also started to sprint her again off of the CPAP (fighter pilot) mask. She started at 3 hours on Tuesday and has moved up to 4 hours a shift. On the sprinting, they put on a nasal cannula for that time frame to see how she does and then the fight pilot mask is put back on for the rest of the day. Today they tried to see if could go past 4 hours and she had a really bad apnea spell at the 4 and a half hour mark, so they put the fighter pilot mask back on. This is the worst apnea spell she has had. I think this has something to do with her anemia. She just gets really tired and doesn't remember to breathe, but it was more noticeable today,

Some other news is that her surgery scheduled for July has been moved to April 21. One of the world's leading experts for Zoë's condition will be in AZ for a conference during that time frame. His group was who our surgeon was consulting regarding Zoë's condition. Our surgeon took advantage of his presence here and he agreed to assist in Zoë's surgery. She also cleared this with her regular doctors. She is very excited to do this surgery with him here. This means two things. 1 - Zoë will not have to come back to the hospital after going home, as first anticipated. She will be able to recover from the surgery while still being admitted as part of her regular care of being a preemie. 2 - We will be leaving in a couple of weeks the Phoenix Children's Hospital at Good Sam and Zoë will be transfered to the Phoenix Children's Hospital on Thomas and the 51. She will remain there until she comes home. This has been bitter sweet since we will be leaving the little home we made here at Good Sam. We have come attached to the nurses and doctors here and we will miss them. However this is one step closer for her to come home and be with us full time.

Now some more good news. Daddy helped give Zoë a bath for the first time last night. We have pictures but the camera died in the middle of us taking pictures, so we will post them once we charge the camera. Daddy also untangled her hair while Mommy held her. Her hair gets fuzzy when it is washed and combed.

During the sprinting, since her face is clear, we have tried to see if she will eat out of a bottle. Pictures of this will be posted once the camera is charged. Zoë has tried three times and each time she does better. The first time she had this look on her face, like she was saying "Hold on, what is coming out of this chupie, this has never happened before. What is this stuff?". Then she realized it and drank her milk. She seems to be getting her own rhythm. She swallows her food, then she stops to breathe. Then eats again and breathes some more. She also looked shocked when I tried to burp her for the first time. She was confused but then let out a big burp. She has been here over a month and had never been burped before. Soon she will be eating from a bottle full time and have her feeding tube taken out. This is great progress on her part.

Thanks again for everyone's support and well wishes......

As requested, here are some pictures......

Zoë in her open crib on March, 21, 2009 ( This is the picture that was supposed to be on our previous post)

Zoë in her new crib, check out her new double chin and her cool dress !

Daddy holding during feeding time today.......

Amy will post an update in the morning, one note Zoë is on the brink of breaking the 4 lbs. mark tonight !!

Happy Birthday Cousin Bekah!

Zoë says "Happy Birthday Cousin Bekah! Thanks for my Hello Kitty picture you drew for me!"

"Have a great 11th Birthday!"

5 weeks down.....6 weeks to go!!!!

This was supposed to be posted on Saturday....Can you believe it that Zoë is 5 weeks old. We have approximately 6 weeks left at the hospital. The magic date is May 2. Hopefully Zoë reaches the milestones that she needs to to be able to come home with us on or before that date. She is 34 weeks today, based on the gestational calendar.

Some updates on her condition are basically the same. She has still not mastered the art of remembering to breathe. She still forgets but it is getting better. They even gave her a test run at it on Thursday. The doctors took off the CPAP mask and put on nasal prongs for 3 hours. This process is called sprinting. Unfortunately she only lasted 20 minutes, so she was put back on the CPAP mask. She is quite not ready. The mask helps her with her oxygen intake also. This is how here apnea spells are measured. Up to this point her low number was 83%. Because today she is 34 weeks, the minimum number was raised to 90%. So Zoë will most likely remain on the fighter pilot mask for the entire week. This will help her lungs get stronger so that she doesn't get as tired and is able to breathe consistently. Based on this change we expected the monitor to be ringing a lot. So far as of now she is doing really well and I have only heard the monitor ring a couple of times but only for a second. Zoë brings herself back up above 90. The doctors will probably try another sprint on Wednesday, but this is tentative.

Some good news is that she is gaining weight. She is now eating 30cc (one once). Zoë is also tolerating her food. She doesn't spit up and the apnea spells do not have anything to do with her eating. She is now 3 lbs and 9 ozs (

1625 grams). She is starting to fill out and looks like a miniature newborn baby. The doctor pulled the graph of her growth chart and she is now right on where she should be. She has been gaining around 2 ounces per day since Monday's report. The extra calories helped.

Zoë is also in an open basinet. She is able to maintain her own body temperature. She was tested all week, to see if she could do it on her own and she passed every test. First the isolet bed was put on a manual mode at the lowest setting. This was done for a couple of days. The bed was then turned off and the top opened. This was done on Thursday. Then today they removed the isolet bed and put her in an open basinet. Her hospital room now looks so big.

Because of Zoë's size and temperature maintenance, she is now able to wear clothes. The hospital gave her a couple of shirts. We were also able to bring in some of the preemie clothes and blankets that some of you gave her. She looks sooo cute. Here are some pictures below.

She looks like a miniature newborn baby.

We are also able to see that Zoë recognizes Mommy and Daddy. On Thursday we were both standing on one side of the bed and the nurse on the other. We were both talking to her and she was looking at both of us. She was wide awake at this time. The nurse asked Mommy if she was ready to change Zoë's diaper. So Mommy went to the other side of the bed. Zoë always fights getting her diaper changed. She kicks and doesn't stay still for Mommy. While Mommy was getting the diaper and wipes, she asked Zoë if she was going to let her change the diaper. Daddy then saw Zoë do a double take. She looked at where Daddy was standing then looked at were Mommy now was. It was like she was thinking. "Wait a minute, I thought you were on that side with Daddy. How did you get to the other side?" She looked confused for a bit. Daddy said she looked cute because she looked at both sides and noticed that Mommy had moved.

Zoë says "Happy 10t Birthday cousin Isaac"

Ups and Downs....

Zoë had a great weekend. When we came back from having dinner on Saturday, Zoë was 3 pounds. Mommy and Daddy were very excited. She made it before Daddy's prediction of Sunday. The down side is that she lost 20 grams on Sunday nights weigh in and this put her below the 3 pound mark :( Today the doctors decided to increase her calories in her milk to help her gain weight faster. They do this be adding supplements to the milk. She is not gaining weight as fast as they would like, so hopefully this will help. Hopefully she is above 3 pounds again on tonight's weight in. It seems like she is a boxer making sure she makes weight each night.

On Sunday when we came to her room and her fighter pilot mask was removed and she was on the nasal prongs. Here are some pictures where you can see her face. There is also one when she as 4 days old to compare. This was another up day. So we were really excited, it seemed like progress. She was breathing room air.

Here I am at 4 days old

I am one month old now

She was wide awake for about one hour and a half on Sunday night. She had done really well during the day. The down side is that when we came into the room this morning, she was back on the fighter pilot mask. She got tired and had a rough night. Since we expected her to be on the CPAP for at least another week, we saw this coming when she began to have episodes again on Sunday night before we left. She needs to get bigger and her muscles developed more so that she can physically breathe all the time on her own. This is the ups and downs of being a preemie.

Other ups is that Zoë is starting to look more like a new born baby. Her color is also changing, she doesn't look as transparent as she used to. She also really loves her chupie. Below is a picture of her holding it. She doesn't spit it up as much as she did before, but she still spits it out by mistake sometimes. She doesn't know how to put it back in her mouth yet.

Also Zoë wants to say "Thank you Olga for the scrap book page". You picked two of Mommy's favorite pictures. This will be a great addition to her scrap book :). She was excited to get this in the mail all the way from California.

For all that have asked, "Has Daddy try to hold her again?". The answer is YES, Daddy has held Zoë numerous times since that infamous scare. He even picks her up from the bed and puts her back on his own. He doesn't need the nurses help. He even tackled the task of changing her diaper the other day. He is doing good. Next task will be bath time, but that will be in a couple of weeks, when she gets bigger.

More to come....

I really love my chupie (this is Zoë on Sunday)