preemie bird's first christmas

christmas eve

with mommy, happy as can be on christmas eve.

look at how big she is!

(ok, so this was really taken about 2 weeks ago... but it's christmas-y, and she's wearing the same outfit.)

this was wren's first christmas... and it was loads of fun. we were snowed in at our house, so we didn't make it to the grandparent's in time for

another year, and a baby with skillz

we found out i was pregnant 1 year ago today! (amidst the throws of vomiting and the bleary eyed sickness of stomach virus.. came news of great joy!) here's a look back at that post:

our christmas present

on christmas eve we got the best present we could have imagined!

i'm pregnant. about 4 weeks along now.

we were both hopeful, but doubtful, since we had only tried for one

wren <3's echocardiograms....

i apologize for not knowing the technical terms in this post... hope you'll forgive me. i wanted to talk a little bit about wren's echo she had the other day.
it was a little scary. one of the qualifiers for continuing to wean her off the oxygen is the condition of her heart. the pulmonologist explained that when the lungs are damaged, as hers are, that it causes the heart to work extra hard to oxygenate the blood. (this is where i would normally insert the term here _________________) anyway, they had to check her heart and make sure it wasn't overly muscled up.. that it was pretty relaxed and doing it's thing without overworking.

developmental pediatrician

it was the appointment of the year.. much anticipated.. and here are the results:

*wren is beautiful

*she's doing great

that is what i had to promise to post on the blog. haha.. yes, i told the pediatrician about my blog, and asked her to write everything down so i could post it, and she wouldn't do it. she also made me promise

-inhale-

well.. as i've posted, wren got put on albuterol. after just a few days of giving her the treatments it became clear that that was not. an. option.

the first day it wasn't that bad.. that i noticed. but she didn't nap as she should have. the next day i made the mistake of giving a treatment at 930 at night. she was up until 330am!!! needless to say that was not a good night for momma. (especially since she's been sleeping thought the night for a month or so now.) the next day i realized that she wasn't really napping at all...and i called the pulmonologist. they have an alternative, though it's more expensive, and often denied by insurance companies if you haven't been on albutoerol for at least 3 months unsuccessfully, or with unacceptable side effects. it's called xopenex. (thanks thebump.com preemie mommies for the recommendation!) the treatment today, we only had one, went really well, and she didn't seem to have any problems at all! yay... even went to sleep just a few minutes later.
i'll keep you posted... it seems like this will be a good alternative. i believe our insurance will cover it. i suppose we'll see what good ole tricare can do for us.

pediatric ophthalmology

wren had her eye check up a few weeks ago. i was thoroughly pleased with the doctor.

the visit began with a note on the door stating:

"stop! do not enter the clinic if you are experiencing ANY cold or flu like symptoms. we treat premature babies with weakened immune systems. for everyone's health and best interest please call to reschedule

another preemie

what she says-------> i couldn't have put it better.

those parents are just thinking all the same things we thought. what did we do? what can we do? how is our life going to change? what is going to happen?

being a parent who can't just go around popping kids out whenever i feel like it, (or when the bc fails), i have mixed feelings about all of this. of course, i probably have mixed feelings about you too. (do you have kids? did you almost die trying to have them? have you lost more than 2? i suppose there could be a "jealousy checklist"... with varying answers ranking you differently on "charla's jealousy meter".) but, despite the fact that "we're so blessed" has become trite, kids are a blessing. really and truly. now, i just want my allotted reasonable amount.. maybe 3 or 4... but if i had to have beaucoups or none- you'd have to give me the "quiverfull".

so, whatever your thoughts on the alternative "public school classroom" sized family.. you have to try and understand what these people are going to be going through. take a moment... and try.

and... one very long "week" later....

she is always a happy girl in the mornings

smiling with daddy

she loves to sit up in her boppy!

that girl has some stinky poo!

this was our thanksgiving picture.. daddy was already gone to training

as you can imagine, it's been pretty busy around here. and honestly, i just got out of habit of blogging. well, here we go again! we have had some "adventures" along the way the last few months. i'll post about some of those topics soon. but, for now i'll fill you in on the latest news.