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.