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)

Happy 1 month Bday Zoë !!!!

Can you believe it Zoë has been here for 1 month. It still seems surreal that she is here, especially since Soilo and I go home alone each night. Its like we are leading 2 different lives. One before Zoë came and then one that she is here. The house does seem empty without her.

Zoë continues to do better each day. She is having less apnea episodes, in which the nurses have to intevene. She had a really good day today in regards to her apnea spells. Zoë also rested and was not fidgety, like the other days. The drs say that at 34 weeks premies out grow of the apnea. We will see if they are correct, as of today she is 33 weeks. So hopefully we only have one more week of this.

She continues to grow. We expect for her to be 3 lbs by Sunday night. Zoë's feedings were increased today to 28 cc ( 30 cc is 1 oz). She is tolerating her feeds, which is a good sign. The more she can eat the more she will grow. She is also being given extra calories in the breast milk and a multi vitamin to make sure she gets all of her nutrients.

I am writing this post from my Blackberry. So hopefully it comes out. Soilo and I are at dinner right now. We went price shopping for a dresser Zoë's room. We are in the process of cleaning out the room, so that we can paint it. We already have the design, with the help of Tia Ashley. We are excited to get her room done. Zoë says "Thanks Tia Ashley!"

We are going to go back to the hospital right now to see what her weight is.

Again thanks to everyones support and prayers, they mean a lot to all three of us.

More to come tomorrow, we will post some more pictures. I wasn't able to do this from my Blackberry....

Zoë is 2lb 12 ounces (1255 grams)!!!

Zoë has gained some weight, she is now eating 26 cc's (30 cc is equal to 1 0z). The Drs. went up on her feeds on Sunday. Daddy predicts that she will be 3 lbs. on Sunday. Do we have a bet going on here. Anyone want to put any wagers on this.

We also noticed last week that she has a birthmark on her elbow. I said it looks like a heart but no one believed me. Even the Drs. looked at me as I was an overzealous Mom. What do you think?

I was right wasn't I. It seems appropriate since she was born on Valentines' day.

The Drs. also did some test on her eyes and they came back with great results. She doesn't have ROP, which is a common eye disease for premies. This is what they were testing for. She responds to the flashes from the camera and the red lights on her bed. Zoë continues to breathe through her fighter pilot mask (CPAP is the official term, if you want to look it up). She continues to have her apnea spells and they were getting better. She was down to 1 or 2 in a day and when she had them, she would remember how to breathe on her own. However with the eye test that was done on her today, she isn't responding too well to the eye drops they gave her. They dilated her eyes with the drops and she was very unhappy all day long and did not rest. This has caused her to have more apnea spells. The Drs. are trying different things to help her, this happens to some premie babies, so it was expected that it could happen to her. As of right now, she seems to be resting, which will help her.

She also got another bath today, before her eyes were dilated, and we were able to get another picture of her without anything on her face. I was also able to carry her without any wires on, she is still tiny but has gotten a lot bigger since she was born.

See my faux-hawk....

This is from a couple of days ago, I have a new best friend...

Finishing up Week 3.... also Happy Birthday Tio Toven !!!!

Zoë will be a 3 weeks old tomorrow morning, she has had rough week but nothing she hasn't handled beautifully. On Monday she had a blood transfusion to help her apneas which the doctors thought was because of a low red blood count. It lasted about 3 hours and her red blood count stabilized and did help her for a couple of days but unfortunately she is still having a few desaturation spells a day, this is when the percentage of oxygen in her blood goes down, sort of like when we hold our breath. She comes up pretty fast and Amy and I joke about her just looking or attention :) Since the transfusion only provided a temporary solution she was placed back into her "fighter pilot" mask which she definitely hates, like the U of A (that's right I typed it), so it made it difficult for the parents to watch them put it back on. It did provide us an opportunity to see who she looked like, since we haven't been able to see her with all the tubes on here face......

What do you think ?

On other fronts, she is weighing about 2 lbs. 10 oz, which means she has gained about 10 oz in about 10 days which is pretty good. She has also been pooping, a technical term, quite well which is good news because of her future surgery. Amy got a bit to close for comfort when changing her on Wednesday and got a blast of her deuce, sh*t happens ha ha ha couldn't resist. Daddy hasn't changed here yet but I have promised Amy that I will change her once she gets close to being potty trained. She also is getting regular baths from the Amy and the nurses which Mommy and bay enjoy. She is up to 23 cc feedings which is her full feeding at her age and weight. She has also gotten pretty close to he chupi which is great news because she is learning to suck which will make it easier for her to transition to a bottle for her feeds.

In a nut shell, she had an up and down week but this is to be expected. Hopefully she will have the mask off by Monday and back to just her regular nose prongs. More to follow on more regular basis....

Happy 2 week Birthday Zoë!

Can you believe it that is has been 2 weeks since Zoë arrived. We have gone through many ups and downs, mostly ups. It feels like we have been here for more than 2 weeks. We continue to take it day by day. We have though been sleeping at home overnight, this helps bring some normalcy into our lives. We want to thank all of you for your support and supporting words, and visits they have meant a lot to all three of us.

We have some good news. Zoë's murmur closed. She only need one round of medication. This means no surgery to close it up. Her infection is also still being treated and the additional blood work continue to be negative. There is a five day waiting period before we can say for sure that it is negative. So we have 1 or 2 more days before we know for sure.

Zoë also went up on her feedings on Friday. She is back up to 15cc, that is half of ounce. She was a little agitated on Friday because she was feeling hungry. She knew she wasn't getting the same amount of food as before. She was fussy and kept crying in the morning. She is almost up to full feeds for her size. Because she is getting enough nutrition from the breast-milk, they removed the IV feedings. This is great news, since is two less tubes in her. She is only on one antibiotic, the second was removed today also, so another tube was removed today.

Zoë is still forgetting to breathe, however because the murmur closed and the infection is being treated the doctors can now say that this is how premies act at this age. She does remember to breathe, so does not need a breathing machine to help her. This is the life of a premie.

Zoë did learn how to suck on a pacifier. She really likes it. This is good news also since premies do not know how to do this. She learned and now we are working on getting her to correlate sucking, breathing and eating all at the same time, like we do. She has to learn how to do this. We have a picture but the battery died, so we are charging the camera and will post those tomorrow.

31 weeks down, 9 to go.......