Merry Christmas!!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! The best present we could have received is to have Charlotte home with us to spend her first Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho!!

It's been two weeks now since Charlotte has been home and everything continues to go great! She eats every three hours pretty much like clockwork and she doesn't seem to care if it's 2:00 in the afternoon or 2:00 in the morning. So, both Donna and I are definitely learning to function on less sleep. Charlotte had her two month doctor's visit last week and now weighs 7 lbs 3 oz. The doc said that everything looks great which is what her Mom and I like to hear.

We were also very excited when Kyle and Teri welcomed their daughter, Kyri Joan into the world on Wednesday. She is another cute little baby girl Burritt!! Charlotte is so excited too and can't wait to meet her new cousin. But the doctors have given us strict orders not to bring Charlotte out for approximately 8 weeks due to the cold and flu season so she'll just have to wait too meet Kyri.

Merry Christmas!!

My side of the story...(Charlotte's point of view)

Well, my Dad and Mom have been writing about me for a couple months now and I'm not sure of everything they have been saying but I wanted to get my side of the story out there. First off, no one ever gave me a list of rules so I didn't know that I was supposed to wait to arrive until December 11th. I'm a strong, independent girl and felt like I was ready...little did I know how unprepared I was. I didn't realize how good I had it with room and board. The room was warm and quiet and the food was good and plentiful. Now I have to share a room with a snoring dog and the food is this formula stuff that is not so great.

I was in the hospital place for a long time and I'm not a big fan of their accommodations. Granted, they fed me like clock work and I was always clean and warm but they would wake me up all the time to poke and prod me. I kept hearing them tell Dad and Mom how well I was doing so I couldn't understand why they keep pestering me. I figured I would follow there rules so I could get home to the place that I'd imagined. Now, I know that you've heard I had problems eating from a bottle but between you and me, I was just being a little lazy since I knew they wouldn't let me starve. I finally decided to stop the game when I could hear the frustration in my parent's voices.

I can't believe that I've been home over a week already. It is so nice to be around my parents all the time and I think they like it too. I'm sure my parents have thanked everyone but I wanted to personally thank you all for the prayers that you all said for me. I'm strong, but a girl can always use some help. I promise to keep my parents on their toes so they have tons of stories to write about me. If nothing else, I promise to stay cute so they post more pictures of me.

Love,
Charlotte Faith

Charlotte Comes Home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY, after 66 days in the NICU, Charlotte has come home!!!!! She went into the NICU at 3 lbs and came home at 6 lbs 12 oz. We are so happy and excited that it is hard to even explain. Charlotte arrived home about 5:30 tonight and has already had her first feeding at home. She also has met her big brother, Artu. Artu is a bit perplexed by the little one who squirms around a bit and smells different than anything he has encountered before. So, our family is now complete. We cannot thank our family and friends enough for the thoughts and prayers over the last few months. It has been a challenging road at times but your words, comments and emails have helped more than you will ever know. It is truly a blessing to have people in our life who care about us so much. We know it's just the beginning of our fun adventure with her but we can't wait to see her grow up. This blog started as just a way to keep in touch with everyone about her progress but we'll be keeping it updated from time to time with new pictures and family adventures. So stay tuned................

No Tubes!!!

I'm so excited I don't even know where to begin. Charlotte got her feeding tube out and is taking all her feeds by bottle. She has started eating 75 ml's every 4 hours. She has been waking up on her own and letting the nurses know that she is hungry by crying. Actually, it is more of an ear piercing scream but who's counting? Now that she is taking everything by bottle we need to make sure Charlotte continues to gain weight. She lost 15 grams (no biggie) from yesterday to today so hopefully she'll put on a few grams tomorrow to make it up. She'll need to show that she can continue to gain weight while taking all her feeds by bottle.

Once the nurses let us oo-and-ah over the new tube-free Charlotte they gave us the best news yet. They've started Charlotte discharge packet. Yep, you read that right, her discharge packet. As long as she continues with her bottle feedings and gaining weight she should be home within a week. Needless to say we are thrilled to have the NICU chapter of Charlotte's life almost over. We can't wait to start the next chapter of our lives with her at home.

Tough Love

Charlotte has done really well over the past 24 hrs with her bottle feeding. She took 7 out of her 8 feedings all by bottle. At 6pm tonight she just didn't have enough energy left and only took about half. BUT the good news is that the days of everything being handed to our little princess are over. Since the swallow test that was done earlier this week showed no signs of any physical problems with her eating, the doctor has decided that she needs a little push. They have decided to put her on "on demand" feeding. This means that she won't be given formula every 3 hours no matter if she is awake or not. They are going to wait until she gets hungry, wakes up and shows signs (crying) that she is ready to eat.

The best news of all (drum roll please) is that they are going to take out her feeding tube tonight!!!!! Yay!!! If she doesn't do well within 24 hours with the bottle feeds they MAY have to put the tube back in but we won't talk any more about that. We are hoping that when we see our darling little girl tomorrow morning that she won't have any tubes. That will be the first time in 9 weeks that we get a true feel of what our baby girl looks like. If that is the case, you better believe you'll see some pictures tomorrow!!!

Bath Time!

This morning we got the chance to give Charlotte her first bath. Some how the nurse chose to have Dad handle it this first time. Charlotte was surprisingly very easy and calm throughout the entire bath. Apparently, some babies love it and some hate it and scream throughout. So, I was glad my little Charlotte was a good one and just looked around the entire time. It was so much fun to see her look around and just do something different than feed her or watch her sleep!



Afterwards it was time for Charlotte to eat again. She was a bit wiped after her bath so she took about 45 ml's of the 60 ml's from the bottle. Then it was time for her to go back to sleep. The barium test that she went through yesterday went well. They said that everything looks good and there is nothing wrong. Apparently, her not eating completely from the bottle is still due to her immaturity. The word continues to be "patience" as we are told it will eventually just come. The speech pathologist continues to work with her to move her right along. I have faith in my little girl that she just needs more time and we hope to have her home soon!

Closer

Well, it seems like the heart-to-heart that Mom and Dad had with their daughter last night might have worked. When I went to the hospital this morning I was informed that Charlotte took 4 full feedings in a row last night. She took her 9pm, 12am, 3am and 6am feedings all by bottle. She didn't seem to struggle as the longest it took her was 12 minutes to finish all 55 ccs. This is GREAT news!

Owen and I talked to the doctor tonight and even though Charlotte has shown signs of improvement he would like to have a test run on her tomorrow. The test is where Charlotte drinks Barium so the speech therapist and radiologist can watch to see how Charlotte is eating the food and that it is going down the correct pipe. This test will also give them any information necessary needed to alter the formula she is eating so it is an easier experience for her. The easier and more enjoyable eating is for her the more likely she will be to do it better on her own.

So close...

We are so close to having Charlotte come home BUT she just isn't quite ready yet. She is still not taking all of her feedings by bottle and that is the only thing holding her back. The doctors aren't really sure why eating from the bottle isn't clicking for Charlotte since babies her age normally have figured it out by now. They are also saying that Charlotte just doesn't seem as alert and hungry as they expect her to be at feeding times.

As always, they will draw her blood on Monday and make sure that everything looks normal. The only level they have been really watching is her iron level. If her iron level is low she may be anemic which may be the reason why she isn't eating as well as expected. Keep your fingers crossed that the blood test come back normal and Charlotte is just taking her sweet time.

6 lbs!!!!

Hello, it's Dad again. As soon as we walked into Charlotte's room on Tuesday, I saw that she had reached the 6 lb mark. Hard to believe that she has doubled her weight in a little over 7 weeks. She tried taking a bottle while we were there but she would have no part of it. Charlotte kept her eyes closed to tell us that she'd rather sleep than eat. Afterwards, we had our meeting with the head neonatologist, head nurse and the rest of the NICU gang. This meeting was planned so that they can inform us of Charlotte's progress thus far, any areas she needs help in and what we should expect. It was a bit daunting at times but it is always good to hear the doctor say that he is happy with her progress. The only thing she is "slow" on right now is her bottle feeding. They aren't concerned at the moment but if she doesn't pick it up by next week, they may have to run some tests. That of course worries Mom and Dad so we had a little talk with Charlotte afterwards to remind her to work hard on the feeding part. The doctor also mentioned again to us how preemies can be susceptible to some developmental issues, which always puts a scare into us, but the hospital actually has a program which will keep in touch with us, track Charlotte's progress and work with Charlotte if needed. It is comforting in knowing that the hospital will still be there when we need them after we take our girl home. So it seems that we'll be spending some of our Thanksgiving with Charlotte in the NICU but that is OK. We're already thankful that she is here with us, healthy and just looking so damn cute. Did I mention that my little girl is cute?!?!?!?!

Stubborn little girl!

Charlotte continues to improve and gain weight. She is now 5lbs. 13 oz. Hopefully by Thanksgiving she'll be our 6lb. Butterball! The only thing that has changed is she now has to eat her formula within 30 minutes. Before they gave her 45 minutes to eat but they have shortened the time so she has more time to rest in between feedings. They are hoping that this will give her more strength to eat from the bottle.

Our little princess has decided that she likes to be fed when she doesn't have to "work" for it. She will eat from the bottle but she rarely will take the whole feeding that way. She is just fine getting fed through the feeding tube. The little stinker doesn't know that once she masters 'Bottle Feeding 101' she gets to go home! If she only knew the accommodations at home are much more luxurious than the NICU!!

Not much is new with Charlotte but the doctor has upped her feedings to 50 ccs. Since she has been gaining weight like they want, they have dropped the calories from 24 per feeding to 22 per feeding. She'll remain at 22 calories per feeding as long as she continues to gain weight. Besides that everything remains the same.

As you can tell by the pics - she likes to sleep a lot!!

Chunky Monkey

Our little girl is getting bigger by the day and is up to 5lbs 11oz and is 19 inches long! She is also measuring in the 15 percentile for her age for weight and height. I was told that some preemies aren't even on the chart so for her to be in the 15 percentile is great!

I met with the head nurse who caught me up on all the things that have been going on with Charlotte. She passed her hearing screening - good news! The eye exam that Owen talked about in a post was passed with flying colors - good news! She is up to 4 feeds a day by bottle - good news! Of the feedings by bottle, she eats about 75% before they need to finish via the feeding tube - good news! Charlotte still has not had (knock on wood) and breathing episodes that have needed intervention - good news! The nurses think Charlotte's Mom is so nice and laid back that they ask to watch over Charlotte - GREAT news! I know, I know, they say that to almost all the moms but it is still nice to hear!! :-)

I can't wait to get out little girl home so please continue those positive thoughts and prayers. Hopefully with a few extra prayers she'll be home by December. Thanks!!

Charlotte is up to taking three feedings a day by bottle. She still is not taking an entire feeding by the bottle but the doctors and nurses want to build up her strength so they are pushing her a little bit. While I was there this morning they changed the type of bottle she is using to one that has a faster flow. They are hoping that Charlotte won't need to work so hard and she'll start to take the entire feeding by bottle. She got really close today and took 38 ccs! She's getting there...hopefully it will 'click' soon and she'll be eating with no problems.

There hasn't been really any new news on Charlotte for the past couple days. Her breathing has become much more of an involuntary action as her brain is now more developed. She has gone a whole week without having a Brady where the nurses needed to intervene. She has had a few but she recovered on her own!

She is still learning how to eat from the bottle. She is getting better but she needs to get stronger so she can take the whole feeding that way. She is up to 48 cc's per feeding but she is only taking about 1/2 of that by bottle. Charlotte only attempts the bottle twice a day as the doctors don't want her to expend too much energy during feedings. Once she is able to take the entire feeding by bottle and maintain her weight they will give her the bottle more often during the day.

Charlotte's big news is that she is up to 5 1/2 lb.s!!!! She is getting chubbier cheeks and has a little chub on her fingers and toes. She is fast becoming our little pork chop!

The doctors still can't say when Charlotte will be able to come home as everything is up to her right now. Since her breathing has become more stable the main focus is now her eating. They want to make sure that she can eat everything by bottle and still maintain her weight. They have to remind us that she is only 36 weeks and she is right on target so we just have to be patient. Easier said then done since she is so dang cute and we just want to get her home!

Steady Progress

Our little girl continues to make progress. She took two partial feedings by the bottle today. It was a little less than she did yesterday but she ate it in a shorter amount of time. We just need to build up her endurance so she can take the whole feeding via bottle. She is still at 44 oz per feeding but she is tolerating that amount so they might up her again shortly.

The best part is that she hasn't had a Brady, that needed nurse intervention, in over two days!! Her heart rate and oxygen levels have dropped a couple times in the past 24 hours but she recovered on her own and the nurses didn't need to help her. She is at about the age (36 weeks) were the part of the brain that controls respiration is fully developed. This doesn't mean that she won't have any more Bradys but hopefully they won't be as severe.

Growing like a weed

Charlotte is over 5 lbs.! She is up to 5lbs. 1oz. When we were there yesterday she spit up a little on her outfit. As good parents we didn't want her to sit in dirty clothes so we decided to change her. We took out another preemie outfit and started to put it on her when we realized that she was too big for it! Yay! She is starting to grow out of some of her preemie clothes.

Little Stinker

For all of you parents out there you can appreciate my experience today with my precious baby girl. For such a small package she can have a pretty big "blow out!" She was very good and just had a wet diaper during my visit with her this morning but she had different plans for my visit this evening. Before Charlotte is fed the nurses always check her vitals, take her temp. and change her. If Owen and I are around we try to take her temp and change her.

Tonight was no different than any other day except for Ms. Charlotte. When I went to change her, she had pooped in her diaper - no big deal. From the amount in the diaper it looked like she hadn't pooped in a week - still, no big deal. My problem was that she was WIDE awake and was practicing her dance moves...legs all over, booty moving around in the full diaper - all while she is attached to her monitors which have wires that kept seeming to find their way into the poopy diaper. I think the nurse got a little amusement out of watching me struggle to get Charlotte cleaned up and in a new outfit. Luckily, she helped hand me wipes to clean her up because the three that I brought over to the crib were no match for the uber-deuce!

It took a little bit but I got her cleaned up and in her new outfit and then she was ready for dinner. At dinner she took 22 cc's via a bottle and the rest through her feeding tube. After she was done feeding I put her back in her crib for another peaceful night of sleep.

Charlotte is one month old!

There is so much new news with Charlotte I don't know where to begin. As Owen said yesterday, Charlotte is in her "big girl" bed. It is so nice to be able to interact with her with out the isolette in the way.

Charlotte is really starting to spoil us with her good behavior. When we visited her today we got more good news. She is up to 4 lbs. 6 oz! Yes, you read that right...4lbs. 6oz. She is growing like a weed and is now 16.9 inches long. So, in a month she has grown 1.4 inches and packed on 1lb. 6 oz. She is still working on taking food via the bottle and she took 15 ccs for the nurse this afternoon.

We are taking things day by day but tomorrow can't get here soon enough. Charlotte is working really hard to get home so she can meet all of you.

Another Big Day

Today marked another big day for Charlotte. The day included a move to a crib from the incubator, more bottle feeding and a visit from Great Grandma. We arrived today to see her room with only a crib and no more incubator, what an exciting thing to see for us.! Charlotte's body temperature has been steady over the past several days so they decided it was time to move her into a crib. Then as soon as we saw her new crib, it was time to feed her too. She took about 15 cc's from the bottle and then took the rest from her feeding tube. When she is done feeding, she goes back to sleep as she expels a lot of energy feeding from the bottle! Throughout all this, Great Grandma Mickow got to meet her Great Granddaughter.

Mom's back

I couldn't wait for Daddy to have a chance to update the blog 'cause I'm so proud of our little girl. She took a bottle twice today! The first time she took her whole feeding and this evening she took about 10 cc's. I was there tonight and was able to hold her and give her the bottle. The nurse was there to help me and Charlotte with the whole process. She told me what signs to look for from Charlotte about when she was ready for the bottle and when she was done. She also made sure that Charlotte was pacing herself properly. We're still making sure that she is not working too hard and burning too many calories.

In addition to Charlotte being over 4 lbs. she has to be able to maintain her body temperature in order to be moved into a NICU crib. The nurse mentioned she will monitor Charlotte's temperature tonight and if she is able to maintain a steady temp through out the night she might be in a crib when we visit her tomorrow morning. Interacting with her would be so much easier in a crib - especially when it comes to changing her clothes and diapers! Hopefully in the next entry we will have a picture of Charlotte's new crib!!!

Happy Halloween

So, Daddy is back and was able to spend Halloween with Charlotte. Charlotte didn't dress up this year but as you can see, her pumpkin hat will probably still be able to fit her next year. She was sleeping the entire time we visited her as she had a long day. The ophthalmologist looked at her retinas and gave us the report that everything looks good. She didn't eat anything from the bottle as they didn't want to wake her so they'll just try again on Saturday. Our little girl is up to 4 lbs 1 oz now so the NICU may place her in a crib pretty soon.

Great day!

It was a great day for little Ms. Charlotte. She has put on a little more weight and is about 5 grams away from being 4lbs. Once she reaches that mark she'll be big enough to be put in a "crib" in the NICU. Hopefully then we can get some better pictures of our little angel! Per the request of her fans we'll try to get a full length shot so you can see how big she's gotten.

Another good piece of news that I got this evening was that Charlotte took 20 cc's of food from the bottle today!!! This is a huge accomplishment for her and we're so happy. It took her about 8 minutes to eat all of the 20 cc's but the nurse said that she did it without any struggle. We hope that she keeps up the good work but they won't push her. She'll only be given the bottle maybe once or twice a day and probably not for the full feeding of 35 cc's. They don't want her to burn too many calories working at eating. They want to make sure that she keeps gaining weight and getting strong.

I also met with one of the physical therapists and she said that Charlotte is doing good with her excercises. She is tolerating them very well and there isn't anything that Charlotte does or doesn't do to raise any red flags.

Other big news (for Mom) is that Charlotte's crib and dresser came today!!! Yay! Now she'll have a place to sleep when she gets home. I'm sorry that there are no pictures today but I was so excited about all the good news that I wanted to get home and let you all know and I forgot to take a picture. In my defense, she does look about the same - just maybe a smidge cuter! Daddy will be home tomorrow so you'll be back to your regularly scheduled programming...

More from Mom...

I had a couple visits with Charlotte today and both went well! Her Grandpa Seegers came with me this morning and Charlotte as a very good girl for him. Her weight is up again and they have upped her feedings to 35 ml every three hours. At this rate she may get to that 4 lb. mark by the end of the week. That will put her a little closer to getting out of the isolette and into a crib.

My visit with her tonight was uneventful - just the way I like it! I did the skin-to-skin holding and it was great. She fussed a little when I first held her but after about 2 minutes she found a comfortable position and she went straight to
sleep. She is our little trooper that earned that sleep by putting in another hard days work of growing big and strong! We couldn't be more proud of her!

Mom's View

Since Daddy is out of town it is Mom's turn to take a crack at the blog. I went to go visit Charlotte today and she was a good little girl both times. I was there for the 11am feeding and the 8pm feeding. I held her both times for about an hour and a half and she was on her best behavior.

The evening nurse said that Charlotte didn't have any Brady's todays so hopefully our little girl is getting the hang of the whole breathing thing! We can expect her to have more episodes but maybe this is the start of less alarms.

She is still at 32 ml every three hours but all that food is paying off. She is up to 3 lbs. 13 oz. today. I'm hoping by the end of the week/month she'll be 4 lbs. The picture I took tonight is a little dark but hopefully you can see the start of some chubby cheeks!!

We began Sunday with a visit to the NICU's annual Halloween party. Every year, the hospital's NICU sponsors a Halloween party for all the preemies who have been at Central DuPage Hospital. We were able to see all the healthy kids who were at one time a preemie baby and it was a positive sight for Donna and I to see all those kids! I'm already looking forward to seeing my girl being one of those kids screaming for more candy! After the party, we stopped in to visit our little Charlotte. She was doing well and slept pretty much the entire time of our visit. We met with one of the doctors who said again that she is where she should be at her age. He mentioned that he may increase her caffeine dosage in the near future as her Brady episodes are still quite frequent and an increase in caffeine may help this. Charlotte is now up to 32 ml's every 3 hours and weighs 3 lbs 9 oz. As you can probably tell by now, she is gaining about one ounce per day. This is something the doctors watch for so we keep telling her to pack on that weight!!

3 weeks!

So we have passed the 3 week mark now and Charlotte is getting bigger by the day. OK, she only gains about an ounce a day but that is big in our book. The visits the past few days have gone pretty well except for Friday which was a bit stressful. Charlotte had an episode on Friday night at the end of her feeding while Donna was holding her. Her heartrate dropped and she turned a bit blue as she forgot to breathe. She seems to have this at the end of each feeding due to reflux. The nurse came in and helped get her back on track and she calmed down after we put her back in her isolette. While the nurses tell us this is still the norm for a preemie, this was the first time in a while that she really made me nervous. I think she just wants to keep Daddy on his toes and man did she do it that time. On Saturday everything was back to normal and Donna held her without any issues at all. On Saturday night, the Robey family was in town and we were able to tell the Charlotte story all over again. OK, so I became a proud Papa again as I was able to brag about my pretty girl and how good she is doing. So thanks Robeys to listening to our story and how excited we are for the weeks to come.
(Here is another picture to show how big she is getting. Notice the ball is from the 2005 World Series where a certain great team won the World Series.......)

Wednesday morning Grandpa Seegers came to visit. Charlotte was on her best behavior as he held her for quite a while. She is up to 3 lbs 5 oz and eating 30 ml's every three hours now. Donna met the therapist again yesterday who discussed a few more signs to look for when we're holding Charlotte. Since she is so young, she can get stressed out quite easily so we have to watch for these signs and when they show, we need to do certain things to help relieve that stress. Last night, Donna picked me up from the airport and we went straight over to the hospital to see my girl. She had a small episode again as her heartrate slowed down but she got herself out of it. I know we should be used to these episodes but as soon as the alarms go off, it still scares us. But the visit ended well as she again was sleeping when they put her back in her incubator.

Day 17

Tonight's visit was another good one. I changed another diaper and it was only a wet one so I was glad for that. I'm still getting the hang of changing diapers so I'm cool with easing into it. Donna visited this morning too and went through 3 diapers as Charlotte kept going (both 1 & 2) while being changed. Not exactly a blowout but as close as you can get for a 3 lb baby! So, I'm glad Charlotte kept it easy for me. She is up to 1451 grams which is just over 3 lbs and she's also still eating 27 ml's every three hours. Since she is getting a little bigger, her body temperature is starting to stay steady. So now, she started wearing clothes in the incubator. Before she would only wear a diaper in the incubator and we'd give her an outfit to change into when she came out. But now, she can start to wear all the outfits Donna has for her. I have to admit, she looked amazingly cute again!!

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

Last night's visit went well again. Nothing much is new as she continues to progress but Charlotte received a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Burritt. Grandma also got her first chance to hold her grand daughter! Charlotte responded by opening her eyes from time to time to say hello. Grandma looked really good and happy holding her and Donna and I can see plenty of baby sitting in her future!

The past few days visits' have gone well. Charlotte is back up to her birth weight of 3 lbs and doctors said she will gain a few grams each day. She is still off the iv and oxygen and is reacting very well. The doctors have seen no reason thus far to reintroduce her to the iv or caffeine she needed before. Each day we try going to visit her around one of her feeding times so one of us can hold her while she eats. She was full of spunk yesterday afternoon and last night while Donna held her as she was looking around and taking it all in.

Dad is unfortunately out of town for a night so Donna visited Charlotte a few times yesterday and both visits went great. Donna was able to hold Charlotte via the kangaroo method. This is where the baby is held skin to skin with a parent so the baby can feel Mom's warmth and hear her heartbeat. Donna said that Charlotte calmed down while doing this and the nurses said they highly encourage it for both the baby and the bonding it can create between us and Charlotte. Donna changed another dirty diaper as the nurses continually encourage us to do as much as possible when we are there. They are slowly introducing us into all the deeds of parenting and we fully welcome it!!!!

The IV is out!

Today's visits went well yet again!! Both times we were there, Charlotte was mostly sleeping without any fuss. One of the first things we noticed this morning was that she didn't have an IV in her arm. They had taken out her little IV and she was doing OK without it. We gave Charlotte a little high five!! The hospital also performed a head ultrasound, which is usual for preemies, and we found out tonight right before we left, that everything looks normal. More good news for Donna and I! So we left the hospital feeling good as Charlotte was sound asleep.

The visits on Monday went quite well. Charlotte is doing fine and everything is going smoothly. The nurses said they tried to give her a bottle to see how she'd react and Charlotte wouldn't have anything to do with it yet. It will be a while before she learns how to bottle feed but the doctor wanted to see how she would react. Charlotte now also receives a visit from the therapists approximately 3-5 times a week. There is a physical, occupational, respiratory and speech therapist. We are just beginning to learn about how each of the therapists will interact with Charlotte over the coming weeks and understand how we can assist in her development. Last night, Uncle Kyle and Aunt Teri came to visit as you'll see in the picture. Charlotte opened her eyes for a bit to say hello but we left her as she fell sound asleep again.

Day 9

We visited Charlotte twice today and she is doing well. This afternoon Donna got to hold her for quite a while and she was peaceful the entire time. Charlotte had her eyes open for most of the time while sucking on a pacifier. The pacifier of course looks huge for her since she still is so small but cute none the less. Donna also changed her first poopy (yes, I just used the word poopy) diaper. The nurse asked me to assist but I thought I'd leave it all to Mom. They still have her on an iv but the doctor said she may be able to get off of it within the next couple days. That would be another good sign and one less tube to worry about. Her food amount continues to increase every three hours which is another good sign for us. Charlotte has had a few Brady episodes where her heart rate slows down but the doctors say this is "normal" for her preemie age. One episode happened just as we were leaving tonight and "normal" or not, it still scares the crap out of Mom and Dad. We kissed her good night until we see her tomorrow morning.

It's been one Week!

We just got back from an early morning visit and Charlotte is still doing well. They are increasing her food 1 ml every other feeding. She is tolerating most of the food but does have a few wet burps or has some left in her stomach from time to time. The nurses said this is nothing to be concerned about as she is tolerating the food overall. The only other change today is that they took the feeding tube out of her mouth and have now run it up her nose into her stomach. I know this doesn't sound too comfortable but apparently, it's better for her. They want to start giving her some oral stimulation so she can be ready to bottle feed and now they can start that without the feeding tube in her mouth. So now, Charlotte has been in the NICU one week. She has done really well in that week and we can only hope that the coming weeks go just as smoothly!!

Daddy's turn to hold Charlotte

Tonight I was able to hold my daughter for the first time!! I've held other babies before but the feeling of holding my own daughter is truly special. I already would do anything for our little one. Her eyes were open for most of the time and just looking around. She also got the hiccups. Yes, to us the hiccups are annoying as hell but seeing a three pound baby have the hiccups and her entire body shakes, is pretty cute. Oh hell, she hasn't done anything yet that isn't cute! It was a great 30 minutes and I look forward to many, many more times of holding her!

Donna was able to do a few newer things too. She helped changed her diaper and put on her first outfit, pink of course. I know these are little things, but for us every small step like this is an important one. She has been in the hospital almost a week and we are counting down the weeks until we can bring her home. We left Charlotte as her eyes closed shut and she was tucked in for another peaceful night of sleep.

We just got back from our first visit with Charlotte today. She is still off the forced oxygen so still there is no tube and she is now eating 7 cc's every three hours and going well. The only issue today is that they had to change her IV and had to stick her twice to find a good vein. The nurses told us that she was not too happy about that as we had to wait in the cafeteria while they put the new one in. On a good note, the following video is of Charlotte in her incubator but she moves around and cries a bit. We welcome the crying as it shows she has spunk!!!

Donna and I visited Charlotte last night and to our surprise, Charlotte did not have the oxygen tube in her nose. We talked to the nurse and they are seeing how she does without the forced oxygen. Yay!!!!!!! So, we were able to see her cute little face without the oxygen tube. She is so damn cute!!!!! She also had her eyes open for a long time just looking around. I know babies can't focus on anything but I swear she was checking our her Mom and Dad and saying hello! Donna also got to hold her again for a long time. Charlotte looks pretty big in the icubator but when she's out, she is so tiny. Tiny but again, cute!! We just enjoyed Donna being able to hold her and watching her sleep. While Donna was holding her, she thinks she may have seen a dimple. Oi vey, my little girl with a dimple....I would sure be in for it then! :)
Charlotte is also now eating 6 cc's of food every three hours and is holding down the food which is a good thing. We're going to visit her again later this morning to say hello but that's all for now.

A New Arrival

Hello all! Well, I was wanting to start a blog for some time but was not sure if anyone really wanted any of my opinions or thoughts. But on October 3rd, an event occurred which to me was definitely worth sharing. Our daughter, Charlotte Faith Burritt was born at 1:48 AM at 3 lbs and 15.5”. We weren't expecting her until December 11 so you can imagine our surprise when she came this early. I have been emailing family and friends over the past few days with updates and news about everything and therefore, thought this blog was a great way to share all the happenings with everyone.

So, how did this all start?? Donna and I went to bed like any other night with no problems or issues on Thursday, October 2. I was awoken suddenly as Donna rushed to the washroom stating she thought her water just broke. Donna called her doctor and he advised her to go to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital and she discussed the night's events with a few nurses. They continued to monitor the baby's heart beat which started to dip which caused alarm for both Donna and I. When the nurses continued to examine Donna, they told us that she is in fact was having contractions and that "you are having a baby tonight!!" Not only was she having contractions, the nurses found out that the baby's foot was coming out. This was not the right way for the baby to come so as soon as the doc found this out, he told the nurses to prepare Donna for the operating room as the baby needs to come out ASAP.

Donna's emergency c-section went smoothly as I waited in a separate waiting room. A nurse came in at one point and told me I was the proud Papa of a baby girl. What??? I, for no particular reason, had expected a baby boy and now had to wrap my mind around a daughter. I just stood there in awe but still hoping that everyone came out of surgery OK. I was then told that both Mom and daughter were healthy and I watched my new daughter being taken up to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Mom then went to recovery but I still couldn't see her and so I went up to the NICU to meet my new daughter. It was a bit overwhelming and scary as she had all these wires and tubes on her while she was in the incubator. I then went to the main maternity wing and Donna's room to wait for her to come down from surgery and when she came down, she was still recovering from the anesthesia. After a while longer, we were able to share our happiness about having a baby girl and decided upon her name, Charlotte Faith.

We were then able to go to the NICU together to see our baby girl. The doctors and nurses explained to us all of what to expect in her progress in the next, at least 6 weeks. While it was still overwhelming, we tried to take it all in.

Fast forward a bit..........Donna was released from the hospital on Tuesday after spending 4 days there. She is doing quite well but due to the surgery, is not able to drive for two weeks or lift anything over 10 pounds for the next 6-8 weeks. As of this morning, Charlotte is doing well. They have moved her to the back of the NICU ward where it is a bit quieter and we take this as a good sign also. She continues to take forced oxygen but the doctor said they may not have to continue this much longer. This would be another great sign and step in her progress. Donna and I will continue to see Charlotte as much as possible as we watch her grow stronger.

We greatly appreciate the thoughts and prayers from all of our friends and family. We still have quite a road ahead of us but we are hoping that all goes well and we can take Charlotte home in December. It is from the support of our family and friends that has helped us keep a smile even at the toughest of this time.

I will continue to update this blog. If you wish to hear about Charlotte's progress, please stop by and read and say hello.

More to come....

Owen