4 lbs.

She's a whopper!! Last night when we left the hospital, we asked if we could weigh McKenna since she was so close to 4 lbs. the night before. To our surprise, when it took both of us to lift her and put her on the scale, she weighed 4lbs 2.3oz. Dr. Nau gets back today, so I'm sure he'll be very happy. They will more than likely increase her feedings since she's so big now, and maybe within the next couple days, she'll get moved to an open crib. That's all for now. Have a great week!

10 Weeks

Happy 10 week birthday to you, happy 10 week birthday to you, happy 10 week birthday dear McKenna, happy 1o week birthday to you. I think I write almost every week something about how time flies. I think that it' s finally starting to slow down maybe because being up here in the NICU is finally starting to get to us. We know that the end is near and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We obviously don't know exactly when that day will come that we get the word that it is OK to take miss muffin home. But when that day comes, you might see this fella doing kart wheels down 1st Ave. I can't wait for the day that we do not have to come to the hospital to see her. The day that we can stay at home and watch her grow and grow. The day that she gets to lay on my chest as we both rest our tired eyes with the TV on. Needless to say, we're ready to bring her home. The Felton family threw a baby shower today for Suzanne and McKenna. We may have to trade in the car for a moving truck if these things keep happening. Thank you everyone who attended and thank you also for all the really nice stuff that Suzanne brought home. It was very exciting for Suzanne to have her first baby shower after having 2 children.

McKenna has had her feedings increased to 33.75CC every 3 hrs. She will be getting weighed her in just a little bit so I'll have that for you tomorrow. They are still playing around with her oxygen. She'll go for an hour or so with nothing and then awhile with a very low setting. It mostly depends on McKenna's mood that day and also the nurse. Her doctor will probably give her another week in the isolette and then she'll be into the open crib. She does pretty well some days with breast feeding, again it depends on her mood. She's 10 weeks old, 35 weeks gestation and already has a "mood"!! What the heck am I going to do when she gets older?

Thankfully we got to go see Grandpa and Grandma Ohrt last night. Grandpa is on the road of recovery and after everything he's been through, I think he's doing pretty good. Just like our little girl, he's going to need some time to heal up and get better. We wish him luck and send our prayers. Also today, my father came down to help again with the bathroom. We now have a functional bathroom again. Due to the rain, we were not able to put the window in, but there were some major improvements/changes made. Love to all, have a great week.

New Pictures

For all those people that have been begging for new pictures, I have posted a bunch of them today. Even though I am a little biased, they are some of her cutest pictures yet. Not much new to post. Her weight continues to go up at a very rapid pace. Won't be long and she'll be a 4 pounder.

9 Weeks

Sorry that I have been slacking on the website lately. Dad and I have been working on remodeling our bathroom so that McKenna doesn’t have to come home to a yucky bathroom. I thought it would be a lot worse than it was, but I’m still not sorry that we tore the whole thing apart. We have to put the texture on the walls yet, paint, put up trim, install a new window, set the toilet and sink, and we’ll be about finished. In a little more than a week we’ve tore out, replaced all the walls, fixed the plumbing in the shower, moved some things around and then rebuilt it all. I can’t say how much it means to me to have my parents there this whole week to help do this. It hasn’t been easy, but thankfully my father was up to the task of helping us out. Thanks again mom and dad!!

So back to miss muffin, yesterday she turned 9 weeks old. She’s so big!! I know she’s still less than 4 lbs, but that’s pretty darn big to us. She has now more than doubled her weight. It takes a lot of babies much longer to double in weight than 9 weeks. She had another eye exam this week and it looks like her left eye has a little more ROP than the last time, and her right eye has a slight trace of it. Like I said in the last post, ROP is very common in babies like McKenna who were born very premature. They will continue to keep close tabs on her and when they feel the need she may possibly have laser eye surgery. There isn’t much more to update on. She continues to eat well, she’s growing like a weed, and we are thankful for that everyday. This week while I was at home working on the bathroom, every day when I got here, she had changed in some way or another.

To add to our long week, Suzanne’s father had a very extensive surgery performed up at the Mayo Clinic on Thursday to remove some cancer. He is on the road to recovery now and is doing very well with everything considered. Also, my uncle Rodney Hutchinson down in Kentucky went through surgery on Friday to remove cancer. They don’t think they were able to get all of it and he will have to endure some more very aggressive treatment. I know I ask for prayers quite often on here, but these 2 men need your help. We pray that God can guide them back to health and also guide the hands of the doctors working on them. As I watch my wonderful wife asleep on the chair holding our beautiful little girl who is also asleep. I can’t help but to thank God for these two wonderful girls to be in my life. Love to all, and have a great week.

2 Months Old

Little missy is 2 months old today. Some days it’s hard to believe it’s been that long and other days seem like we’ve been here forever. Never less, our little girl is doing great. She is still on the nasal canula, only using around 25-35% oxygen. She is living in an Isolette yet, but maybe in a week or two, she’ll get moved to an open crib. As you can see on the right hand side, she is getting 1 whole ounce of milk every 3 hours, which is a pretty big deal. All things considered, that would be like me eating over 4lbs of food for 1 meal and she gets that every 3 hours. It’s no wonder that she is gaining weight. This week she had another eye exam and it looks like she has some ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). This is pretty normal in babies her age to have eye problems. Thankfully most of it can be fixed with a laser surgery. Hopefully the next 2 months will be as good or better than the last 2. We are so pleased with the care McKenna is getting and the progress she is making. Almost everyday there is something different about her. Have a great weekend. Love to all.

8 Weeks Old

If they are too busy to do update all of you, I’ll have to take matters into my own hands again. Yesterday I turned 8 weeks. How time flies when you’re laying here doing nothing but eating and dirtying diapers. Matter of fact, I’m very good at both of those things. My daddy says I smell like a foot when I really dirty my diaper. With every day that goes by, I am growing in one way or another. Everyone that comes to see me says things about my chubby cheeks. I don’t think they are that chubby, but than again, I don’t have a mirror right here for me to look at. Last night when they weighed me, I weighed 3lbs 4.7oz. The staff is all very pleased at my weight gain and will hopefully increase the amount of milk I’m getting. My hair is turning a shade of blonde and seems to be getting longer. I am still on the Nasal Canula, which is my favorite yet. I can’t wait until they take those things out of my nose for good. I tend to get a sore nose from those things being in there, plus, they make me sneeze quite often so once in awhile I pull them out myself. I can’t see the meter, but I hear I am only requiring 25 – 30% oxygen which is pretty good if I do say so myself. Mom and dad continue to give me baths every couple of days. Hello, I don’t get that dirty laying in here!! I think it just gives them a good excuse to take my out of my little house. Once in awhile when mom is in my room with me and it is time for me to eat, I even get to try and practice getting the milk right from the source. So, another week has gone by with me making great progress. Hopefully this next week goes by as fast and as well as this one did.

This weekend, someone new got to hold me. Mommy said his name is Grandpa Randy. Mommy told me that he would be going away for a little while to a hospital up in Minnesota. I have no idea where that’s at, but I’m willing to make room in here so that I could share my room with him. I sure hope that everything goes well for him up there and I bet mommy and daddy will keep him in their prayers. From up here in my little house, I’m signing off for now. Who knows when you’ll hear from mom or dad next.

7 Weeks Old

If McKenna were still in momma’s belly, we’d probably have a suitcase packed, a car seat ready, her room as close to done as it could be, and Suzanne would have a cute/big belly. Since that is not the case, we have to do things a little different now, but that’s OK. Little miss muffin has made tremendous progress this past week. She was put back on nasal canula on Wednesday and has been doing pretty darn good since. Her blood gases were a little different than they had wanted, but decided to stick with it. They drew another gas on Saturday and that was very good so they decided that no more heel pokes until Monday. She has been receiving diuretics so that there isn’t any excess fluid around her lungs, which in turn makes her pee a lot, which in turn makes her loose a little weight. She is still hovering right around the 3-pound mark, one day she’s a little over and the next she’s a little under. Her milk consumption is up to 26cc every 3 hours. She gets a bath about every other day, which she is starting to do much better with. Another big step for her this week was that they gave her a different type of bed. She used to have what they call the Cadillac and now she has the Hyundai. This one has less options, less frills, and is just smaller. That’s a good thing though because she doesn’t need all of those frills anymore, so she was able to give up her Giraffe bed in case someone like her happens to make a early appearance. Have a wonderful week, we have!!

3 LBS

SHE'S HUGE!!! This morning when we called in to the NICU, McKenna's nurse told us that when she made her nightly trip to the scale that she weighed 3 whole pounds. That is a huge accomplishment. We need to get a couple more pounds on her, get her to maintain her own temperature, and get her to breath, suck, and swallow milk all at the same time. Also, due to her progress, she was switched to nasal canula at 11pm last night. When we talked to her nurse again at 3am, she said that McKenna was doing just fine. She was on about 40-45% oxygen at the time. I talked to Dr. Nau last night on the phone and he didn't suspect any problems with the conversion over to nasal canula. We will try to keep you up to date on everything going on, but for some reason that you don't hear from us for a couple days, please assume that everything is OK.

Why?

This morning after we rang in the New Year, McKenna's newest neighbor up here in the NICU, lost his battle with life. Like all preemies, his lungs weren't ready. This was the young couple's first baby, they had no warning that he was coming, he got off to a rough start, and eventually there was nothing else anyone could do. Unfortunately, this all sounds way to familiar. I can't help but to hang my head low today, kind of knowing what those 2 wonderful parents are going through. A lot of the same questions come to mind after their loss as when we lost Ian. Why does this continue to happen? Why does this happen to such a nice couple? With all of the technology of today, how can this still happen? A lot of the same emotions are with me today as there were just over a year ago. I am angry, sad, and wondering why all of my prayers for him weren't answered. Some day this will all make sense to me, but for right now it makes NO sense at all. Now I ask that you pray for the family and most of all the parents of this precious little boy that they can stay strong as a couple, and that they can make it through this very difficult time. It pains me to say that Ian now has yet another friend in heaven.

Happy New Year :(