April 2, 2011 - 29 Days Old

Today, Aiden is showing some signs of improvement. His lungs are still looking good. The x-rays of his lungs are still pretty cloudy with infiltrates, but there are no major collapsed areas as there were before. They have been turning down the support levels on the breathing machine and he seems to be tolerating the reduced help pretty well. His tummy looks a little better, too. There's still a lot of air in there, but his belly girth measurements have been slowly decreasing for the past two days. That's encouraging. They turned off the suction through the Anderson tube, the tube running down into his bowel trying to drain off the excess air. It is now only draining by gravity. When they have tried that before, his tummy immediately blew up again, but it seems to be working OK so far this time. I went out of town for work yesterday and visited Aiden tonight as I was on my way home. I got there just after the nurses bathed him. I was able to lift him up as they changed his linens and took his weight. He has been very swollen and puffy over the past few days from all of the fluids they have been giving him, but some of that swelling is coming down. I don't know if they gave him lasix or if he is just getting rid of it on his own, but his weight was 2092 grams on Thursday, 2085 yesterday, and 1992 (4.5 lbs.) tonight. I never thought I would be happy that my preemie was losing weight, but in Aiden's case, that's a good thing right now.

Today was the start of April General Conference. The morning session this morning was just what we needed. Every talk seemed to have been written just for us. Elder Kent Richards, Elder Quentin Cook, and President Henry Eyring gave talks that were particularly timely and meaningful to me. Elder Richards, a retired surgeon, spoke about pain and shared the story of a 13 year-old girl and an experience she had following a serious surgery. His words were very comforting to both Amaraa and I. As Elder Cook spoke about the women of the church and President Eyring spoke about service and caring for those in need, I couldn't help but think of all of the wonderful Relief Society sisters in our ward that have been so thoughtful and kind to us throughout the past several months. One of many examples of this happened on Friday as I was getting ready to go out of town. I checked the mail and found an envelope with Amaraa's name on it. Inside was a card from a sister in our ward. She shared a favorite scripture and wrote words of comfort and encouragement. Amaraa had been having a particularly difficult time emotionally and the card was just what she needed. This sister knew that Aiden had been struggling, but did not know that Amaraa was having such a hard time. She was simply prompted by the Spirit and she listened to that prompting. I can't begin to express how grateful I am to her and all of the other people who have been so supportive and thoughtful. We feel so blessed to have the friends and the family that we have.

President's Day - 28 Weeks, 6 Days

It's President's Day today and Amaraa had her appointment with the perinatologist. We were excited about this one because they said they would give us a measurement on the baby. He measured just over two pounds a couple of weeks ago, so we were hoping for three pounds or more this time around. The nurse said that they usually only measure the baby every three weeks or so, but Amaraa said "pretty please" and they measured him for her. 3.3 POUNDS!!! Another milestone reached!  Dr. Feltovich, the perinatologist, said that she was really encouraged by the progress Amaraa is making. She said that she never thought Amaraa would make it this far when she was admitted to the hospital a month ago. She was sure the baby would be sitting at an incubator in the NICU at this point. Amaraa has been bleeding into her amniotic fluid which can sometimes cause babies to not grow as well (drinking more blood than amniotic fluid = fewer nutrients), but today, he measured 6 days larger than our dates suggest!  He's doing great! We feel so blessed. Every time Amaraa has an ultrasound, the baby puts his hands over his face, so we always get pictures of his hands and feet. Since I posted pictures of his hand last time, I won't post the one from this appointment. Hopefully we'll get some good pictures of his face at the next exam.
Today, Amaraa had a lot of visitors. My mom and dad came and several of our Mongolian friends visited. They had Mongolian food in tow, so Amaraa was very happy.
Yesterday, Amaraa didn't have much bleeding, so she was joking that she was going to start packing her bags to go home. She told the perinatologist and they all had a good laugh. The doctor said "No packing bags for you!  You're here for the long haul!"

February 20, 2011 - 28 Weeks, 5 days

This week has been fun. A lot of good friends have been to visit Amaraa -- some of which we hardly get to see anymore. We have been blessed with so many good friends. People seem to come out of the woodwork to give us their support during our times of need. We have amazing ward members and amazing friends. Thank you all.

Amaraa is doing well. They finally took out her IV this week and she and the baby have been doing so well that they didn't make her wear the baby monitor last night. She was finally able to get a good night's sleep. The baby's heart rate has been pretty consistent, but they said that he still sometimes has some irregularity. Tomorrow she goes in for another appointment with the perinatalogist at Maternal Fetal Medicine. They'll measure her fluid levels and also measure the baby. They don't like to measure the baby every week, so they only measure every couple of weeks. They say it gives them a better idea of actual growth that way. Two weeks ago, he weighed just over two pounds, so we are hoping for three this week.

The nurse weighed Amaraa today. She lost two pounds this week!  Yay!  Without the IV in, she isn't gaining so much water weight. She is definitely eating for two lately. They'll bring her meals in and she'll eat those, and then her Mongolian friends will bring Mongolian food and she'll eat that too, and then she'll ask me to stop at the store and get her a pint of Haagen Dazs! They let her order the food she wants at the hospital now and yesterday she ordered so much they had to bring it in on two trays! So, she feels pretty good about losing two pounds. I think it's hilarious.

I brought the kids in on Friday. Amaraa misses them so much, so it was good for her to see them. We spent quite a while at the hospital and the kids had fun spending time with their mom. They danced for Amaraa, and Jasmine cuddled up with her mom in the bed and had some mommy-daughter bonding time. They had a great time.

February 16th, 2011 - 28 Weeks, 1 Day

Yay! We made it past the 28 week point and into the third trimester! We took a tour of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit last week and several of the babies in there weren't that far along, so we feel fortunate for every day this baby stays put.

Amaraa has been uncomfortable ever since she had her blood transfusion. Her face, hands, and feet have been puffy and she has had some chest pain and body aches. Her nurses said that it is pretty common to have some discomfort for the first day or two after the transfusion, but they said that ultimately, the new blood should make her feel better. With the discomfort, she has had a hard time sleeping, so the lack of sleep doesn't help either.

During our ultrasound on Monday, they printed two pictures for us. One is a hand and the other is a foot. I'm posting them here. It's fun to see the little dude's little fingers and toes.

Amaraa has been dismayed at the fact that she gained 9 pounds in one week. She's worried that if she stays here for eight weeks, they might have to knock a hole in the wall and lift her out with a crane. Her nurses think she's funny to worry about the weight because most of that was the IV fluids they have been pumping into her. They didn't weigh her after the blood transfusion, but I'll bet she has gained a couple more pounds from that. The blood they gave her had all the plasma spun out of it, so it was all bulk!

Amaraa's poor arms are all bruised and battered from all the needles they have been sticking into her. Every time she has an episode of bleeding, they stick the IV in again for a couple of days and they take blood from her to do blood work every morning. She looks like she has been through a battle. She jokes that the only reason her blood count was low enough to need a blood transfusion was that they are taking all of her blood for tests! Ha! Ha!

Amaraa says the only enjoyment she has in the hospital is the shower. She also enjoys a few steps when she goes to the bathroom. Since the doctor only allows her out of the bed for those two reasons, she feels like a free woman every time she has an excuse to get up.

Thanks for the prayers, and for the comments and emails so far on the blog. Keep 'em coming!