Good Little Sister

We took Artu to the vet earlier this week to get his stitches out and they said that he is looking great. He had more blood work done and everything looks good - no more anemia! Yay!!! The doctor gave us the 'ok' to have Artu resume his normal activities. He is still recovering and needs a break every now and then but his little sis is there to take care of him.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We got great news about Artu yesterday. The vet called us late yesterday afternoon with the results of the tests they ran on the mass removed from Artu...it's NOT cancer! Yay! It turns out that it was a polyp. Obviously it needed to be removed so we are very happy we went ahead with the surgery. Artu has been home since Wednesday of last week and we are doing our best to keep him calm so he can recover. He has 4 stitches on his side and 22 stitches on his abdomen. He also had a patch shaved on his bum where a pain patch was for three days after the surgery. As far as Owen and I can tell he is recovering nicely.





Charlotte is pretty excited because she is celebrating her first St. Patrick's day. We were invited to a party this past weekend and since it is my favorite holiday we could not pass it up. Charlotte had a blast being somewhere besides home or the doctor's office. Plus, she had a great time hanging out with her cousin Kyri!


Owen and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary yesterday. We were also very happy to celebrate both of our kids being home and healthy!

This is a long one....

I know that we normally talk about Charlotte first in the blog but today she is going to be playing second fiddle to her brother. As we said in a previous post, Artu was having some health issues that we were trying to figure out. On Sunday he took a turn for the worst. When he woke up in the morning everything seemed pretty normal but he didn't eat and for those of you that have been around Artu, this is not at all the norm and we knew something was wrong. Shortly there after that he threw but then he seemed okay - still not wanting to eat, but ok. Well about a few hours later he threw up again and continued to throw up for the rest of the day and into Monday morning. Owen and I didn't get too much sleep either that night b/c we were worried and we also were trying to make sure that he didn't get sick all around the house. Luckily he was drinking plenty of water so he wasn't too dehydrated but since most of it would come back up we weren't sure how much was being absorbed.

Owen called the vet first thing Monday morning and they said that based on what has been going on and the new developments that we should bring him in to the vet hospital ASAP. So we packed up Charlotte and off to the vet we went. When we got there the ER doc saw him and said that he was in pretty bad shape. She could tell that he was dehydrated and wanted to admit him to the hospital right away and get an IV started. Owen and I decided to admit him so they could get him stable and we could hopefully figure out what was going on. We went back to visit him on Monday afternoon and because of the IV he had already perked up a bit. Unfortunately, the ER vet called later that night with not so encouraging words. She said that his blood cell count was low and dropping and as a result, his iron levels had gone down even more and he would need a blood transfusion. We gave our consent for the transfusion and kept our fingers crossed for the best.

We called this morning to see how he was doing and we spoke the the internal medicine doc who we had met with previously when all his issues started. He said that Artu's iron levels were down even after the transfusion which meant that he was still bleeding internally somewhere. He was very honest with us and said that if they performed surgery, it would be exploratory since they really weren't sure what they were looking for. Their best guess was a tumor or ulcer. The vet told us that we needed to make a decision soon b/c if we were going to do surgery Artu is at the strongest he has been in a while and now is the time. The other alternative was to take him home where most likely he'd only be with us a few more days. We hung up with the vet and did A LOT of soul searching in a short amount of time. We came to the decision that our boy had a lot of fight left in him and we were going to proceed with the surgery. Another visit to the vet was made so we could have a heart to heart with him and give him some hugs and kisses to tell him to be strong so that he could come back home soon. Owen and I tried to keep ourselves busy for the rest of the day since we knew we wouldn't get a phone call until evening to let us know how everything went.

We got the call at about 7:30 tonight from the surgeon to say that she found a cauliflower like mass in his large intestine and was able to remove it all. Yay! I know that this may sound like bad news but this is GREAT news as it is great to finally have an answer of what was wrong! The surgeon considers the surgery a success as the mass was most likely the cause for the blood loss that Artu has been having. She said that he did great in surgery and was waking up nicely. I can't tell you how relieved I am that we made the right decision for our boy and how proud I am of him for being patient with us while we figured out what was wrong with him. He doesn't realize it yet but once he comes home he is going to get what ever he wants! It is amazing what we do for Artu but he has become a big part of the family!

Now for Charlotte's news...we took her for her 3 month follow up visit at the hospital. She met with the neonatologist (same doctor that was there when she was born), a speech therapist, physical therapist and occupational therapist. The doctor and all three therapists saw her at the same time and they all said that she is right on target for her corrected age. They did suggest that we take her for baby massage classes since her muscles seem a bit tight and this might help them loosen up a bit. But besides that, she is just a normal, cute little girl. It was reassuring for Owen and me to hear that we are doing the right things with her in order to promote her development.

Overall, today has to be one of the best days that this Burritt family has had in a long time. Once Artu is home and everyone is under one roof it will be even better!

Charlotte had her last Synagis shot this week which means we are so close to 100% freedom. Cold and flu season is almost over which means we'll be able to take Charlotte out on a more regular basis. We won't know how to handle it being able to go somewhere as a family. When we were at the doctor's office Charlotte weighed in at 12 lbs.! The girl is going to be in the heavyweight category soon!

Not to be outdone by his sister, Artu has been making sure that we pay attention to him too. About 1 1/2 months ago he started acting a little different so we decided to take him to the vet. After numerous tests and different vets we have been able to determine that he is anemic. Now we need to find out why he is anemic. The last vet we took him to is a specialist in internal medicine and the best diagnosis he can come up with right now is that Artu has an ulcer somewhere in his stomach or digestive tract. He is on some meds now to see if it will help calm the potential ulcer. He still is happy and has spunk he just gets tired a bit quicker. Hopefully Charlotte doesn't try to one-up her brother to bring all the attention back to her!

Charlotte is still working on the normal baby stuff (i.e. cooing, sitting, etc) but we have been focusing on tummy time. The doctors and therapists told us that this is very important for normal development. She is getting better at holding her head up but she still doesn't have the upper body strength to push herself up. Her big brother Artu showed her how it is done today but I think she needs a little more time!
Charlotte also has also started sleeping longer at night...yay! She has been sleeping for about 6 hours...not every night but we'll take what we can get!

Entertainment

This is our entertainment on Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day

Charlotte says Happy Valentines Day to everyone!

Freedom

As William Wallace said, "FREEEEDOM". Today Charlotte was able to leave the confines of the house and into the beautiful afternoon weather. Even though she slept through most of her walk, we could tell she thoroughly enjoyed it. Even if she didn't, Mom and Dad did as we are starting to go a bit nuts as we are still being advised not to take her to public places or around groups of people/kids until cold and flu season is over. So we took our first walk as a family! Artu didn't seem to mind sharing his walk time with Charlotte so it was really nice to enjoy a little of the awesome weather.

The nice weather is reminding that golf season is almost here and that White Sox pitchers and catchers report in 5 days!!!!!

Charlotte turned 4 months old this week. She went to the doctor for her 4 month well baby visit and she is now 10 lbs 5.5 oz and 23 inches long. Everything went well at the doctors office except she had some more shots and she was none to crazy about them. Luckily, she didn't cry for too long...hopefully she won't remember the pain when we take her back in a month for another Synagis shot.

Charlotte has been a busy little bee since the last time we wrote. She has met with a physical therapist, developmental therapist and nurse from Dupage County. The physical therapist and developmental therapist are from the Early Intervention Program in Illinois. This program is a collection of services for infants and toddlers and their families who have delays in development or are at risk for developmental delays. Since Charlotte was born premature she is at risk for developmental delays. and we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to make sure that she stays on track with her adjusted age (1.5 months).

Charlotte met with the physical therapist, Marilynn, who showed us some exercises to do with Charlotte to increase her flexibility and promote her strength. We received her written report today and she said that Charlotte is right on track for her adjusted age. Yay! She gave us suggestions of what to work on so Charlotte (and we) don't get bored with the same things every day. We'll follow up with her again in a few months and she will re-evaluate Charlotte for any changes.

The developmental therapist and nurse gave us the same report so we are excited. Since Charlotte is so young it's still early to see any issues but so far, so good!

Besides that we are just waiting for cold and flu season to be over and the weather to warm up so we can venture out! Poor Charlotte has been home for almost 2 months and the only place that she has gone is the doctors office.

The Cousins Meet

Over the weekend, Charlotte met her cousin, Kyri. While they aren't able to talk about their first meeting, we took a few pictures to share the time with you. (Just in case - Kyri is on the left and Charlotte on the right).

Happy New Year!

Charlotte got to start off 2009 with a bang. She went for her second Synagis shot today. This shot is to help Charlotte fight off the flu and cold to help her stay out of the hospital. She was a trooper and only screamed a little. By the time she was back in her car seat on the way home she was back asleep. Since she was so peaceful in her car seat we had to take a picture. I also wanted to take a picture to show how much weight she has gained. She's up to 8lb 1.5 oz!!!!

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!!