Update on Mackenzie Reese Osika...

Andy and I will be getting discharged from the hospital later today. LGH has been great in that they allow NICU mom's to stay as long as they want on their discharge day as long as the census is low and the room is available. With that, Andy and I are trying to spend some quality time with Mackenzie today prior to leaving as we know once we leave the visits aren't going to be as easy as just walking down the hall to pop in and say "hi" to her. But, with me not being able to drive for 2 weeks post-surgery, I am already lining up some "drivers" to transport me back and forth while Andy heads back to work on Monday. He has 2 vacation days left until the new year and he hopes to save them for Mackenzie's big welcome home!

As for Mackenzie, she continues to make Mommy and Daddy proud every day.....

On Friday morning we got an updated report stating that her antibiotic's were discontinued since all of her lab results came back ok. We were also informed that her feedings were getting doubled from 3mL to 6mL. Lastly, her oxygen assistance was removed and she was only getting forced room air through her cannula.

On Saturday morning, we found out that her IV got taken out in the middle of the night. So, as long as her blood sugar remains stable, she will not need her IV! With the loss of the IV, she got her feedings increased once again from 6mL to 10mL. After speaking with the doctor, they are going to continue to increase her feedings over the next day or so. She will get 14mL for 3 feedings, followed by 18 mL for 3 feedings, and ending up with 22mL for 3 feedings. The progression is dependent on how well she is able to maintain the food in her tummy. So, we are keeping our fingers crossed. Mackenzie is surely putting the pressure on Mommy to continue to produce the necessary milk supply for all of these big feedings. Another big step for her was getting her forced air through the cannula decreased from 2mL to 1 1/2 mL.

We were absolutely glowing when we received all this great news. We hope she continues to do well the rest of the day and it will give us a great note to leave on this evening.

Things to come....

Mackenzie has a little bit of a heart murmur that the doctors are keeping a close eye on. A heart murmur is very common in preemies and just needs to be monitored. Full term babies are actually born with this murmur that closes within a few days after birth. However, preemies aren't always strong enough to get this job done. They will continue to monitor it over the weekend and if necessary she'll have an echo done on Monday to see how it looks. The first method of fixing the problem is medication given through an IV. At this point, we are hoping she gets better on her own or that a little medication is all she'll need.

The NICU nurse also thought that by the end of next week I should be able to try to breastfeed Mackenzie. Right now I continue to use an electric pump to provide Mackenzie with lots of good nutrients.

Andy and I want to thank everyone for all of their well wishes and prayers. Your love and support has been greatly appreciated. Mackenzie is lucky to have such wonderful people in her life.

We will continue to provide updates on the status of our little girl....

IT'S A GIRL.......

Andy and I expected to have our normal weekly appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine on Tuesday, November 24th. Well, it ended up being anything but normal. We started off great when we heard news that Baby Osika gained a full pound since our last weight check, now predicted to weight 4lbs 1 oz. After the good news, we headed over to our weekly NST where we quickly found out that I was having contractions every 5 minutes that were lasting anywhere from 1-2 minutes. Ironically enough, I was not feeling a thing. The monitor was telling us everything. So, for precaution, they decided to admit me for 23 hour observation to monitor the contractions and give me a shot of steroids to help the baby's lungs develop in case I would happen to go into labor. We were sent to triage where we were greeted with nurses and Dr. Wyse from May Grant. After an exam, I was told my cervix was completely closed and I felt relief that the baby would stay in for another 3 1/2 weeks until our induction. However, Baby Osika created a scare when her heart rate dropped to 80 (should be between 100-160). I was immediately put on oxygen and had to change my positions in the bed to get the heart rate back up. The trick worked and we were back to normal. However, Dr. Wyse informed us that if this would happen again they don't want to take any risks and I would have an emergency c-section. We were hopeful that the baby would cooperate and we would still be going home on Wednesday. However, a little before 4pm, the nurses came in to check on the status of the Baby and noticed that the heart rate was dropping again. Before I knew it, we were being whisked into the OR and Mackenzie Reese was delivered at 4:13pm at 3 lbs, 13 oz. and 17 1/4" long (at just 33 weeks 4 days gestation). It was surely a whirlwind of events, although it was chaotic from our perspective the doctors and nurses new exactly what they were doing and reassured us every step of the way.

As for now we are just taking our stay at WBH day by day. Andy and I will probably be discharged on Friday or Saturday. But, Mackenzie's departure is unknown at this point. We visit Mackenzie as often as we can. We help with changing her diapers, checking her temperature, and feeding her. Daddy even gave her a bath already!

We can't thank everyone enough for all of the well wishes and prayers as Mackenzie continues to develop in the NICU. She may be little, but she sure is a fighter.

Some of our favorites...

We met with Tessie-Sampson Weaver (Photography by Tessie) on November 7, 2009 to have our Maternity/Belly Photo Shoot. She recently finished editing all 147 pictures....here are some of our favorites.....

1st Baby Shower...

I was pleasantly surprised on Wednesday, November 18th by a work baby shower. The surprise was even greater when I saw that my co-workers had invited Andy to see the surprised look on my face and participate in the fun event! I am fortunate to work with such caring and generous people. Andy and I were blessed with some wonderful gifts at the shower getting us even more excited about the arrival of our little peanut!

Handy Andy!

Andy has become quite the handyman. He is now finished all of his building projects and I wanted to give him praise where it's due. Check out the pictures of the end tables he built (3 of them to match the coffee table and leaning ladder shelf) and the book shelf for the nursery.

Babymoon...

Andy and I decided we'd take a little "Babymoon"
before the arrival of our little peanut. We spent the weekend in Inner Harbor as a means of celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary and also to kick back and relax before the hustle and bustle of having a new born hits us in 5 weeks. It was a great little getaway!

Andy is trying to capture some photos of the growing belly as I'm getting ready! He says it's somewhere between a volleyball and a basketball. All I know is it's getting heavy and pressing on my bladder!

Terrific Tuesday, 11/10/09

We had a great day on Tuesday, November 10th. Andy and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary and got news from the doctor that Baby Osika gained another 9 oz. He/she now weighs in at 3lbs 1 oz. On Monday, 11/16/09, at 32 weeks we will start weekly non-stress tests (NST's) so they can measure the variability of the baby's heart beat. The test will be anywhere from 20-40 minutes in which I get hooked up to both a heart rate monitor and a monitor that measures contractions. I'm curious to see how the baby responds!

31 weeks, 11/10/09

30 weeks, 5 days, 11/7/09

This past week has been a whirl wind. We had our weekly Maternal Fetal appointment on Tuesday morning, our breastfeeding class Tuesday evening, our 2nd child birth class on Wednesday, and our maternity/belly photo shoot this afternoon with Tessie-Sampson Weaver (check out her web page at http://www.photographybytessie.com/).

We found both our breastfeeding and child birth class very informational and are hoping to ease some of the anxiety that comes with labor & delivery and caring for an infant. Andy is determined to find a way to get me to relax during labor & delivery. I think he knows it's going to be a challenge. "Relax" isn't in my vocabulary. But, we did start practicing some relaxation techniques at the conclusion of our class on Wednesday. At our next class we'll continue to learn more relaxing techniques and watch two birthing videos.

Our appointment with Maternal Fetal went well. They performed the bi-weekly biophysical profile and Baby Osika passed the tests. We are looking forward to our appointment on Tuesday, November 10th, to see how much weight the baby has gained since October 27th. Andy is guessing 7 oz. He was right on last time. Perhaps the baby will give us a nice 2 year wedding anniversary present at our appointment by gaining lots of weight??

Lastly, we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to get our belly/maternity pictures taken. The gorgeous weather allowed us to utilize the outdoors to get lots of pictures! Tessie hopes to have the pictures done in 1-2 weeks. I will be sure to post them on the blog once they are available.

Stay tuned as we keep you informed over the next 6 weeks..........