One Week Old

I have been bad on updating, Lyla is one week old today! Here is quick look at the past week:

Lyla was born Wednesday April 6 at 9:53 a.m. Her Apgar score was 8 then 9. She was put on a CPAP Machine (I believe that's what they called it) to help her lungs not collapse and help her to breathe. I believe they also put some kind of protein in her lungs to help them out. I was kind of out of it that day from the medication and being so tired from being up all night. The picture of her on the CPAP machine is on the top right. I saw her in the Operating room and then visited her that night at 10 p.m. when I was feeling well enough to get up. Unfortunatly I was nauseous most of the day so I couldn't see her earlier. Bracken got to be with her right after and Mimi and Grandpa Dane visited that evening.

Thursday April 7 they had turned down the rates of breaths on the CPAP machine and she was keeping up with the difference.

Switched to Nasal Cannula tube, breathing on her own with some extra room air on the 8th (bottom right picture). I got to hold her for the first time that morning and in the evening she met Grandpa Paul & Grandma Niece.

Breathing on her own and first bottle feed on Saturday the 9th. She also got to meet Hayes & Kamri Saturday night. They were so excited to finally meet their baby sister!

Moved to Special Care Nursery (a step in the right direction to get home) on the 10th

Went tanning under the bilirubin lights on the 11th. Her bilirubin levels were just a little higher than they wanted but went down after being under the lights for a day.

Had her IV was taken out during the night of the 11th

The 12th they slowly lowered the temp of the isolette until it was at the room temp to see if she could regulate her own body temp and she has been doing great.

Last night (the 12th) we also brought in onesies for her. Her first outfit! Right after she got done bottle feeding with Dad.

They have slowly been upping her feed amount from the bottle by a few cc's every day and decreasing the amount she is being fed through the little tube in her nose. She started out with 10 cc's and now is up to 40 cc's. Before they were feeding the difference through the feeding tube in her nose but the past three days she has eaten all 40cc every three hours and hasn't had to be fed through the tube. She is eating like a champ! I've been going up every other feeding and Bracken has been coming to the one at 9pm when he is home from school.

It has been so much fun to have some little improvement or good news every time we have visited the NICU. We must be weird NICU parents because we are just so excited that she's here and healthy and the fact that she is 34 week was exciting for us. The past two days she has been wide awake for the feedings and has kicked off her blankets and is sucking on her hands waiting for me when I show up. I already know she is a daddy's girl because every time Bracken comes and she hears his voice she smirks. Every single time!

The kids can't wait until she gets home, they keep asking when she will be home. When Kamri saw her on Saturday she said I want to get my sister out of there!

Lyla Hope Longhurst

Lyla Hope Longhurst

April 6

5 lbs 1 oz

17.5 inches

We made it to 34 weeks! It would have been nice to make it a bit longer but we are SO happy that Lyla is safely here. She will be in the NICU for awhile and hopefully the next few days will give us more of an idea of how long. We've been told to expect anywhere from 2-6 weeks. I wish it would be one but will plan on six weeks... although so far she is doing great! A big thank you to everyone that has helped us with our kids, brought us meals, and prayed for us. We'll keep you updated!

33 weeks

Turns out one of the few times I get ready in the past 7 weeks and I wear the same outfit I wore when I took a belly shot at 24 weeks....go figure.

I feel huge. But so glad she's still in there cooking!

Just Because

they are so cute...

Bed Rest-Day 3

The fetal fibronectin test result came back negative. Whew! So from what I understand from the test that means my body isn't going to put itself in labor, or at least the hormone isn't present, but I still need to stay on bedrest so that there isn't pressure on my cervix to start labor. It'll be good to go to the doctor on Tuesday to understand everything a little more but I'm glad that the test came back negative.

Now you can all be jealous at my amazing productivity:

So far I've read two and a half books.

Browsed through way too many blogs and started a list of crafty projects to do...mostly when I'm off bedrest...

and watched a movie called "Stone of Destiny. (Bracken was more than wiling to 'sacrifice' study time to watch it with me, I wasn't too excited about the movie but I ended up liking it)

Discovered that heartburn gets worse with bedrest

but most importantly I beat level 2-11 on Angry Birds. Now all of you who have an iphone/pad don't look up what level that is and mock me, I won't even tell you how much time i spent on it..
Hayes played Angry birds on my dad's ipad awhile ago and really wanted to buy it, so I made him earn the dollar to buy it before we could get it. (Unloaded the dishwasher himself & cleaned up toys) Too bad for him he earned it two days before i went on bedrest. I'm feeling a bit bad that I'm playing his game but hoping he'll just be happy that I've unlocked soo many levels, right?

Oh and this has nothing to do with my productivity but my little, baby-- although taller than me now,--brother EJ got his mission call to Sao Paulo Brazil East Mission. Pretty sweet, my two older brothers went to Brazil as well!

And I miss Hayes and Kamri like crazy, but don't you worry, they were able to squeeze in a 'Goodnight Mom!' on the phone, before they ran off to watch Iron Giant with their cousins. They are having a ball and I'm so grateful for all of you that are taking your turns watching them!

And I'm done rambling for tonight :)

January Journaling-Ordinary Days

Random pictures from ordinary days in January that I love:

pillowfight!

Walked in the kitchen to find her dancing on & singing on the table. She knows she's not suppose to be on the table but I couldn't resist getting the camera....

Quick picture before church as we walk out the door, Bracken keeping us on time!

drawing with melting crayons

Hayes love to sneak my phone away to watch old Mickey/Pluto cartoons on youtube. We find him all the time hiding and giggling. Not sure where he picked up the pen in the ear trick.

Hunting for bugs after breakfast. Not too successful in January.

She carries all of that stuff that is around her, with her if she wakes up in the middle of the night and piles it on my nightstand as she tries to climb in bed with us.

Pregnancy Update

Most recent profile pic of our baby girl, from appt on Tuesday.

We made it past the 26 week mark! I felt so much relief on Sunday to get past that milestone but knowing I still have 14 weeks ahead of me, still feeling a little nervous. I went to the doctor on Tuesday to get my cervix measured. I have been going to a Perinatologist every three weeks to get it measured by ultrasound and the hope is that the length doesn't change since if it shortens that's a precursor to labor. Well it has always been extra long so that was a good sign. This time the measurements on the screen were coming up half the length as usual. I kept hoping that she was just measuring wrong and maybe when she redid it it would come back longer. Then they put pressure on your belly for a measurement to see if pressure affects it and it came up even shorter. I could tell the ultrasound tech knew it was not good but I don't think they are suppose to say much until the doctor checks it out. My perinatologist is out of town so the one covering for him came in and she wanted to monitor me for contractions. I wasn't contracting at all luckily but the fact that it has changed is a problem. So because of my history and the shortened measurements, they gave me a steroid shot to help the baby's lungs and then I went back today for the second dose. Today also took a test that shows if you are likely to go into labor within the next two weeks and we'll get that result tomorrow. Since any pressure on the cervix can shorten it I have to be on strict bed rest. Which means I am suppose to lay flat for four hours and then I can be up for 15-20 minutes walking around so I don't get blood clots and then down for four hours again.

My mom came this morning and picked up the kids, they'll be staying at her house for awhile then Bracken's parents or siblings are going to take them for a few days. I'm grateful for all of them for being so willing to take my kids for the next week. Not really sure what our plan is after that, I just don't think I can go too much longer without seeing my kids. I have another appointment next Tuesday to measure my cervix again but everything is up in the air. From what the doctors have said so far it sounds like they are hoping I'll make it to thirty weeks....and after one day on bedrest I'm thinking a month in bed is going to be...joyus...in opposite world. But it will be worth it. If the baby stays in longer and up to 36 weeks that's like 90 days in bed. I counted. yikes. But laying down for 90 days and getting a healthy baby...I will take that trade any day.

We knew getting pregnant again that this was a definite possibility, and I'm so grateful for my OB backing me up on having this appointment to get my cervix measured even though the perinatologist felt like everything looked so good the last time that I would be okay. I wanted another apointment since it was aroudn the same time during the pregnancy that we had Dane. I'm having a hard time right now wrapping my head around how our life is going to be for the next three months...especially since we have no idea when our little girl is going to enter this world and how long I'll be on bedrest or if she'll end up coming early and being in the NICU. Of course the baby in danger is my biggest worry but I also worry about Hayes & Kamri and how they are going to have to be juggled around by so many different people and their lives being so inconsistent for the next while. But kids are resilient and in six months we'll look back and they'll be fine. I'm grateful for all the offers of help we've recieved and I know I'm going to have to swallow my pride and rely on a lot of help the next few months.

So hopefully my laying flat will keep this baby cooking for a long time, or maybe my cervix measurement next week will come back longer, I can wish right....one more lesson for me on patience and realizing that our life really is in God's hands.


(Just a side note): The perinatologist was trying to get ahold of my OB at my appointment on Tuesday to tell him about the measurements and plan a course of action but she couldn't get ahold of him because he was having unplanned emergency neck surgery. So how awesome is my doctor, he called me this morning to talk to me about everything and see how I was doing. Calling me the morning after his surgery even though he has a partner that could cover for him, now that's an awesome doctor.