Trying to sleep...

Last night was a little harder than the previous ones...we are starting to feel the sleep deprivation I think! Nonetheless, I got a few cute pictures of Lauren today with her new hat and dress that she got. I just can't help myself! Tim and I are also working on the finishing touches of her room. We just installed a new light fixture and dimmer. I'll take a picture when it is complete, it is really awesome!

Grandma and Grandpa Schlake visit!

My parents came down for a visit today and Grandpa Schlake got to hold Lauren for the first time! They were very excited to see her even though she slept for most of the visit.

I promise I'll stop soon...

I can't help myself. I keep taking pictures because she is the cutest!!

Bliss...

She is napping right now, and the day has been perfect...

Ahhh home...

We made it home about 12:00 and are settling into our lives here. So far, so good! We are so happy and thrilled to have her home and we feel truly blessed.

A lot of people have asked when they can come over and see Lauren. Feel free to come by, just call or email me before coming over for a good time. Also, just make sure that no one that comes over feels sick at all and we will make everyone scrub their hands!

This picture is from this morning at the hospital. I'll take some photos of her at home and upload soon!!

Lauren is coming home tomorrow!!

I can't say much more than that!! We are spending the night with her tonight at the hospital without any monitors. I'm home right now to pack my bag and go get a few things we need for her.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting Close...

So far today, so good! She has taken all of her feedings today. They talked about releasing us on Wednesday and having us spend the night on Tuesday night with her. I can't WAIT. Her temperature was about 1/2 degree lower than they would like, so that could be a small stumbling block for us, but otherwise we are good to go home.

Doing Really Well!

The last 24 hours Lauren has taken all of her feedings! So...don't want to jinx us, but things are looking really good for a mid-week release!

I'm starting to lose some steam and I think the homecoming will come at just the right time. I can't wait until we can just cuddle here together and Tim and I don't have to drive down to Children's Mercy 3x a day!

I'll keep you updated on her progress!

A few more pictures

Lauren took the full feeding again tonight! I think she is finally figuring it out and is doing so good!

Tim took a few pictures of her and I. He has a knack for taking the worst possible photos of me (you should see one he took of me in the delivery room - SCARY!).

Also - side note - I realize that I am wearing the same Nebraska shirt almost daily...two reasons...1) I have no "in-between" shirts that fit and 2) it is a Nebraska shirt so I will wear it proudly every day if I have to. :)

The second picture is a yawn, not a cry!

Eating more...

This morning Lauren took the entire first two feedings! This afternoon she ate everything except for about a teaspoon. We are just waiting for her to do two days worth of full feedings and then we can go home. If I don't update for a few days it is because we are just working through the feedings. She seems to eat a lot better when I feed her, so I might be spending the next few days at the hospital 24/7. It is very draining, but it will be worth it if it means she can come home early next week!

I'll try to take some more photos tonight!

Waiting...

Lauren did a lot better this morning with her feeding. She did almost the complete amount with the exception of about a teaspoon each time. It is a little frustrating, but I'm sure that tomorrow she will eat the whole amount. As soon as she does 48 hours of full feedings and gains weight each day, she can go home!

It is just a matter of patience at this point. She is doing so good, we just need to give her a little more time. I'm very hopeful that we will be home early next week, but I will keep you posted.

A bit of a setback...

Well, today has not been the greatest...they upped Lauren's feedings and she wasn't able to stay awake for the entire thing today at 11, so they had to tube feed her part of it. Unfortunately, this sets us back at least a day or two for coming home. I was pretty upset, but we just need to be patient and let her tell us when she is ready.

Hopefully her "lightbulb" will come on today and she will eat her full feedings from her on out!

Say CHEESE!

Okay mom, I finally admit I understand why you have taken hundreds of thousands of pictures of us over the years (you may think I'm exaggerating, but if you know my mother at all, you are nodding your head right now...)

Many, many, many more to come!!

Great day!

To say today has been a great day so far would be an understatement. Lauren is now free from all her tubes - no more IV or feeding tube as of this morning! She is taking the full feedings and is doing great. And...the BIG news of the day...the doctor said that if she keeps this up, she can go home on Saturday or Sunday!!!! Of course, she could always take a step backwards and take a few more days, but regardless, we are soooo close to home, I can feel it!

We've got so many people to thank, I don't even know where to begin. I've got about 100 thank you notes to write after she gets home! THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us, you have no idea how much it means.

Waiting...

Another day of waiting...Lauren is doing wonderfully though! She is taking all of her food and her breathing and heart rate are perfect. She also had her hearing test today and she passed! She pulled off the headphones though and had to take the test twice. She HATES having anything on her face. It is pretty hilarious.

The doctor told me this morning that they will continue to increase her feedings and then take her off of IV fluids hopefully by Friday. That means that if everything continues as is, she will be coming home at the beginning of next week. It can't come soon enough!! I'm just on pins and needles waiting for her to come home.

Eat up, Lauren!

Taking a little break from the hospital. I didn't get a room there last night so she was bottle fed at 2:00AM and 5:00AM. She drank each of them completely!

Tonight I will be spending the night again so we can nurse throughout the night. She is doing really well with eating so far.

I talked to the doctors right before I left and they said the only thing standing in the way of going home is to prove that she can eat each feeding without falling asleep, which can be a problem for preemies.

We just have to be patient during the rest of her time there and make sure she knows how to eat! I'm SO ready for her to come home, especially now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Getting ready to come home!

A lot of good news for today! Lauren pulled out her canular so many times last night that they decided just to take if off for good. She did NOT like having it on. She is doing perfectly without it.

She also did excellent with the nursing last night and this morning and the doctors are going to ween her off of the IV fluids and the tube feeding over the next few days.

So, all of this good news means that they are beginning to discuss COMING HOME! They won't say exactly which day yet, but I've heard from the nurse it could be as early as Wednesday if she keeps up the good work.

I'm at home right now under "nurse's order" to take a nap and rest. I've been awake and with her at the hospital for about 36 hours, just with a few cat naps here and there. The nurse told me I really should go home and rest because before we know it she will be here and then it will be hard to sleep!

I'll keep the blog updated on her expected homecoming!!

Feeding time

Today was a good day and a not so good day. The really good news is that Lauren nursed for the first time today and she did GREAT! The nurse was even surprised at how well she did! Tim and I both said that if she is anything like mommy and daddy she will love to eat. :) We are staying at the hospital tonight so that I can nurse in the night. I'm not sure if I will do this the rest of her stay or not, just depends on how tonight goes.

The not so great news, she was having some problems this afternoon with her heart rate dropping. It happened a few times and was pretty scary. It only lasts a few seconds though. They did some tests and couldn't find anything wrong, so they might just leave her on the canular for a while longer.

More good news!

I just got back from spending the day at the hospital and we have a lot of good news! Lauren is not under the billy lights anymore, so this means we can hold her for longer periods of time. The TPA is also closed and this means that we get to start breastfeeding tomorrow!

The doctor told me this morning that he expects that the canular will come off by Sunday, she is doing really well with it. They turned down the pressure today and then again tomorrow.

Last night we got to help give her a bath and wash her hair. Her hair is so cute and seems to be getting lighter.

I'll be heading back to the hospital in a little while so I can hold her again!

CPAP is gone!

BIG news for the day...the CPAP is gone! Lauren was doing so well with it that they now just have her on the "nasal canular" which is the plastic tube that goes in your nose and just gives a little pressure. It is a huge step up from the CPAP.

She is still under the billy lights and is getting another round of medicine for the PDA, but after those two things are worked out our last hurdle will be figuring out if she knows how to eat.

When they were changing out the CPAP to the canular they had her mask off and you could see her whole face. I had three nurses huddling around her saying she was the cutest baby they had ever seen! She just looks so precious. The nurse also told me that she thinks she is very strong-willed. She fights them whenever they try to put something on her and trys to pull it off of herself! She is so funny and cute.

Here is a picture I took of her while the billy lights were off and she didn't need her special sunglasses. She LOVES the pacifier and gets mad when you take it away...

Skin to skin

Just a quick update from our night visit to the hospital. They lowered the pressure on the CPAP to 5 and the nurse told me that means it can usually come off. We'll find out from the doctor tomorrow!

Also, we had the nicest nurse tonight and she had me hold Lauren "skin to skin" which was AMAZING. We both loved it and she was NOT happy when she had to go back in her bed. I held her for about an hour like that and it was so sweet and cozy.

Tim goes back to work tomorrow, which is going to be hard, but we want him to take at least a week off when she comes home. Hopefully that will be very soon!

No more oxygen!

Well, Lauren is showing what a strong little lady she is again today. She still is wearing the CPAP for pressure, but she is not getting any extra oxygen anymore. She is breathing room oxygen (which is 21% in case you were wondering!)

We did find out that she has an "innocent" heart murmmur, which means that she has to be on medication to close it, for 24 hours. The doctors tell me this is very common with all infants, pre-term and full-term, and that there are no lasting side effects. They will do a scan tomorrow to make sure it is closed.

I'm hopeful that by this weekend she will be off the CPAP and we can try to start breast feeding. Then it is just a matter of her learning to eat and making sure she can control her body temperature before she can come home!

Tim and I both held her again this morning and we read a few books that I got at my baby shower. She really liked the book "Jamberry" that she got from her friend Abigail. :)

We are headed back to the hospital here in a little while. Please keep all of the other little babies in the NICU in your prayers as well. It really makes me thankful for the small problems Lauren is having when you see how tiny some of those babies are.

Pure Bliss

We are taking a little break from the hospital and thought I would update everyone on today's BIG news. We got to hold her!! She is doing wonderful with the CPAP and is barely using any extra oxygen from it.

They took out the "art line" and that meant we can start holding her! The nurse told us an hour, but we ended up with her for about 2 hours! She is under the "billy lights" still so she can't be out from there for too long.

Holding her was the most magical thing I think I've ever done. She just stared at me for about 20 minutes with her (I think) blue eyes. Then she dozed off to sleep for a while. I read her a book about bears which she seemed to enjoy.

She enjoys sucking on her pacifer which I am told is a really good thing for her. Here are some pictures of this amazing event!

Off the Vent!

Last night Tim and I went back to the hospital after eating dinner at home and catching up on things. Much to our surprise she was off the ventilator when we got there! Turns out that she pulled it out on her own around 7:00PM. So, they decided to leave it out and just give her some oxygen through a CPAP. She was doing great with it last night.

We are leaving for the hospital in a little bit and hoping she is doing fabulously.

Welcome Lauren Sara

As you all probably know by now, Lauren Sara Criswell was born on Saturday, May 8th at 12:12AM. She weighed 5 pounds and was 18 inches long.

Since Lauren was 5 weeks early, she needs a little help with her lung development. She is currently at Children's Mercy in the NICU.

Tim and I spent all day in the hospital with her. She did EXCELLENT today and was taken down two "notches" on her ventilator. She also had several other little milestones today and we read her several books which she seemed to really like.

Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers and well wishes, you have no idea how much it means to us to have the support of family and friends.

I think the last two days have been the best and worst in my life...I'm not a very patient person and waiting for her to get better is so hard for me to handle.We think she is the most beautiful little angel ever and Tim and I are both head over heels in love.

Feel free to stop by the hospital to see her, just let me know ahead of time. A parent has to be there with any visitor to the NICU and they only allow two visitors at a time.