Strangers in the NICU... Caroline Meet Grandma and Grandpa Anderson!

Tom's parents came up to see our sweet girl last night.  They were ecstatic to get to hold her!  Thank you to both of them for all they have done from helping with watching Mikayla and Kirstin to driving us around.  We would have been lost with out them!

BATH TIME!

She weighs 4 lbs 13 oz!

So the road goes on forever but this party will end.  Tom and I are very proud of our chunk.  Caroline is 5 weeks old, growing and doing good with bottle feeding.  As you can see from the pictures I got to give her a bath yesterday.  She loves the water but is not crazy about washing her chubby parts.  She is a very laid back baby and doesn't cry much.  She's not crazy about diaper change or taking her temperature but hardly ever fusses past that. 

She is up to two bottles a day!!  We are looking at about two more weeks if I were to guess with the progress she is making.  Every time she gets the bottle we practice breast feeding too.  She wears out very quickly and it's important for her to get all of her food via bottle so we can get her out of there so I only breast feed for a short period first.

Our sweet girl is growing big and I can't wait for all of you to meet her.  We have decided that for my shower it will not be a meet the baby type event but I am shooting for a guest appearance for a very limited time.   It will depend on how long she has been home and how many people are there.  She can not be around too much noise and it is critical that she not be around anyone who is sick.  We will have to play this by ear but I hope that she can come for a very short period of time.  I will however be happy to have visitors to the house a few days after we get her home.

I am excited to say that I am doing very well too.  My c-section wound is almost completely closed and with out my wound vac I am doing 500 times better.  It did it's job but darn it was a pain in my butt... or belly in this case.  I feel like a person again.  I'm even wearing pre-pregnancy clothes again too!  YEH!

Thank you all as always for the support and prayers.

Love,

Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

Photo Bomb!

Hello everyone!  I don't have much of an update so I think I'll just photo share.  Caroline is doing great!!  Just growing which is exactly what she needs to do to come home!  A few more weeks and she will be home!  Keep up the good work baby girl!

Tonight's star... Well always Caroline but also Judy aka Mama aka Grandma (Not sure what she will call her yet) Our first person to get to hold her beside Tom and myself.  She has done so much for us and since this is her first grand kid we wanted her to be the first to hold her.  She couldn't look up for the pictures because she just couldn't take her eyes off our sweet girl.

Here is Caroline in her open crib.  Go baby Go!!!  Holding her own temperature!

Mama and her 4.57 pound chunky monkey! 

Baby girl getting her first bottle!  She took the whole 41 ml... most babies only do about 10 on their first time.  Tom uploaded a video on his facebook page where I tell the nurse... "I told you she would take the whole thing.."  Like duh she's my fiesty kid!  She's got her mama's will and her daddies smarts!  She's ready to come home and cuddle!

So in the next few weeks I need to decide on a shower and or get approval from her pediatrician/NICU doctors for a meet and greet type shower.  I of course canceled my shower on the 9th of June because I was a little busy :).  I'll have Laura and Hailey (My awesome hostess) let all of you know the details.  Be sure to watch for an invite via facebook.  I am not sure we will send out full shower invites a second time. 

Thank you as always for the continued support and prayers.  Caroline is rocking the house in NICU 3.  Keep growing baby girl!

xoxo,

Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

Holly smokes it's hot outside!
Well to start with my dad broke both bones in his lower right leg last night.  : (  OUCH!  Had to have EMS come to take him to the hospital where they sent him HOME!!  Splint and a pat on the back that said good luck.  It came time for him to go to the orthopedic surgeon and he had to have more help getting in the car.  Fire dept call number two... two fire men later and he was in the car for the doctor to send him home to suffer until Friday where he will have a rod in place.  So poor Daddy.

Here is an update on Caroline... She on the other hand is doing amazing!   They have move her to NICU 3 where this chunky monkey weighs...


3.14 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


As I have said before go girl get your chunk on!  So from 3.11 yesterday to 3.14 today she's 50 grams away from getting to come out of her current bed to a normal crib!  The joys of NICU 3 is that we can come and go more freely and take her in and out more on our time.  I am sure that they will still be closed during shift change but this will help with my tough schedule.  The unfortunate thing about my dad's leg is that my mom will now be tied up with helping care for him so I have lost one of my main supporters.  I am not sure how that will effect us but we will work through.  I have had some people come through for us lately and help with dinners or taking the girls and even some rides for me!  I still have one spot on my visitation list... any takers?

More to come soon.   Keep an eye out on my facebook for more pictures of my super sweet beautiful girl.

xoxo,

Casey, Tom and Baby Caroline

"If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings."

Brian Tracy

Look at my pretty head band...  I'm growing so big I can wear big girl things!

Mommy caught Daddy cuddled with one of my scent clothes.  Mommy carries these around tucked into her bra and my nurses place them by me when I sleep.  It helps me remember what my mommy smells like!

THREE POUNDS ONE OUNCE... Yeah I squashed that goal...   Today I weighed THREE POUNDS FIVE OUNCES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm getting out of this place as soon as I can!

I tinkled on Daddy... I wanted him to know how much I love him so I made it in the shape of a heart!

These are pictures of my big girl room... I can't wait to come home!!

Hello visitors!  This message is brought to you by a much happier mama!  I am struggling with PPD and have been given some medications to help with all of the things on my plate.  Although I am not normally a fan of taking medications, this is 100% needed if I am going to keep up with my beautiful daughter.  I am also trying out something that will help with milk production.  So far so good.  I am staying home a bit more now although super hard to leave her I need to be here and resting too.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday I spend all day at the hospital.  The rest of the week I try to visit twice a day.  It's ok for me to be gone because I know she is there and growing!  Tomorrow we meet with the speech therapist... hopefully Caroline will get to start taking a bottle soon!  She evaluated her already but Caroline isn't quite ready.  Soon though!  We have a had a much better end to our week than we started.   More to come keep the grow prayers coming!!

A special thanks to Kelly (the girls mama) she came down and has done so much for us.  She went to Costco and helped stock our fridge, bought me a boppy pillow, took us all to a nice dinner out, spent time with the girls and all of this on top of the beautiful flowers she brought me the day I delivered.  I can not say that our relationship is normal because when people hear she is so helpful they ask "that's his ex wife?"  The answer is yes and I will scream it from the roof tops that we are a village raising children.  Our friendship started because of the girls but I can say that she has given me the gift of step daughters and never once given me a hard time about being "The new girl".  I wanted to say thank you so everyone knows how much it means to me that we can count on each other.  So thank you Kelly from Tom and I both!  Congrats on your engagement,  I know Richard will be amazing in your life!

You must be this tall to ride this roller coaster...


"For many families, a baby's NICU stay is like a roller coaster ride, with ups and downs, triumphs and setbacks. Of course, the parents are also along for the ride."

This statement is from the March of Dimes website.

As a child I can remember the first time that I saw The Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas boy did it look fun. My dad was the one to take me on this monster of a roller coaster. It was terrifyingly fun... little did I know I would get the chance for a roller coaster ride of this extreme.


Today was a rough day for us. My mom took me to visit Caroline this morning and I got to meet the Nurse Practitioner that helped in Caroline's delivery... she was the one who popped my joyful ride. I am not going into too many details for several reasons but the main ones being there is not enough information to really say exactly what is to come and two I am emotionally and physically spent. In short I need some prayers for my little girl... She's needs to grow. The growth that has been seen is not where it needs to be for her. She was small to begin with. So grow prayers are needed.

Having a baby in the NICU is like no other journey I have experienced. I could compare it to my mom's car wreck in 2003 but this is so much harder. I think back to that roller coaster ride and question how I went on for so many months being the rock that I was. How did I hold myself together? How did I keep on going? How? Two weeks in and I feel more overwhelmed each day. I have a baby but I can't do much to help her. Pumping every two hours is physically exhausting but it's really all I can do.

Looking back to my roller coaster ride with my dad it was the start of many to come. Some ups some downs but the test of will power and strength is to be had. We are of course in this for the long haul... with what looks like will be many more weeks of triumphs and setbacks.

On a side note:  Happy Father's Day to my sweet, loving, wonderful, amazing Tom Tom.  I could not ask for a better man for Caroline to call Daddy.

Big week for our big girl.  As of today she's 2.14 lbs and is wearing clothes.  I know it's not the best picture but it's what I have to show for now.  She needs some cute outfits but mama has to have time, energy and a ride to get out and shop.  Grandma had bought her some preemie stuff but it's still a little too big.  She is growing daily so it wont be long before she's in it. 

We have big news today...(I'll spare pictures of this aspect) our little squirt is doing so great that at 32 weeks gestational age 2 weeks old she's getting to nuzzle at the breast!!!!  HUGE for a baby her age.  They don't normally start until 32 weeks.  Babies learn the suck, swallow, breathe technique at 34-36 weeks gestation so for her to be ready to start learning at 32 is awesome!!  We tried for a short period today.  She latched a few times and got a few drops of milk but she's not quite sure what to think about it.  I had just pumped to ensure that she was not able to swallow gulps as she could choke.  We had a great first session though being a bit chesty with a baby a third of the size is a little difficult.   It is a learning process for both of us but I am ecstatic to have her try.

My big girl is doing great and at this rate maybe she will be home around 36 weeks!!  So pray that she gets the whole breast feeding thing down and that mama learns how to help her quickly so we can start bottles and get this girl growing!

I wanted to add a special thanks to the people who have stepped up and helped.  We really appreciate you and everything you are doing.  We of course still need volunteers this is a tough road.  I met a few other NICU parents today and the struggle is the same for them.  There is a Ronald McDonald Room that gives us all a place to sit down and relax in between visits.  What a great charity!

That's all for today this mama needs to get her boobie... I mean beauty sleep.  More to come!

xoxo,

Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

I would like to introduce... Caroline Leigh Anderson... aka Rock Star Baby

  So we have had a great week and I am very proud of my little girl.  I can not tell you all how amazing this journey is but for any of you that know it first hand it changes you.  Let's see... Caroline decided that she no longer needed oxygen and took it off and since she tolerated it the NICU doctors decided lets see how she does with out it.  Well my feisty little girl is doing just fine!  She is back up to birth weight officially in ounces but is a little up and down with her gram weights.  It's expected since she is now in a self controlled environment.  Basically her very expensive bed heats her up if she gets too cold.  She is wearing clothes and is swaddled now.  She is off of all support with exception of monitors and of course and her feeding tube.  The feeding tube you see in the above picture is actually in her nose now which is much smaller and more comfortable for her.  She also can turn her head completely over which is unusual for full term babies.  She kinda does what she wants.   :) 

Biggest news is that her heart mummer is now closing and they do not expect to have to treat it at all!!!!!  This is fabulous because had they had to treat with medications they would have had to cut back on her feedings to do so.  This of course would have set her back growth wise.  They will check again in a week.

Now for a bit of a me update.  I have placed the girls in day care from 10-2 everyday.  This allows for Tom and I to kangaroo at the 11am visit.  On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have 3pm wound care in the hospital.  Those are very hard days for me.  It's simply painful and exhausting.  I am still not able to drive so getting to and from daily can be hard to manage.  I put it out there on my facebook that I was in need of some help but unfortunately I've had only a few responses.  (A special thank you to those of you who are able to help, I am forever in debt).  I am a very prideful person and I hate asking for help but I am physically unable to do so much because of having an open incision on my belly.  It will take half the time to heal and prevents serious complications so it's worth it but I am at somewhat of a loss for the simple things like how to cook dinner on the nights that Tom is at work.  (Tues.-Sat.)  Any help any of you can give is much appreciated.  If you have some availability even if it's just some time to pick me up from the hospital or grocery shop for me those things really count.  I have to pump 12 times a day in order to keep up with the supply Caroline needs.  I'm hardly doing so due to a lot of factors but any time I can free up allows me to dedicate that much more time to providing breast milk for her.  It's critical in getting her to come home!  At 35 weeks gestational age (she's 32 Thursday) I have to have enough milk to sustain her or they will put her on formula.  If I can prevent this it would be ideal.   If you would like please share this with anyone you think might be able to help.  I am not shy if you know me and well I can say that I haven't met too many people in my life I can call strangers.

If you think you can help at all please contact me:

countrycasey@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/caseylmeredith



I will update again soon.  Here's one more picture.  Tired, Happy mama and my little chunky monkey.  Love to all.

xoxo,
Casey, Tom and Baby Caroline