Baby girl

Em is now breast feeding once every twelve hours, and bottle feeding every feeding that shes wide awake for. During her feedings yesterday, Em took 21 CC's from her bottle! That is absolutely amazing!! When she nurses, she gets all of the milk she gets out and then they still give her the full amount down her feeding tube.Last night after one of Em's meals, she had a hard time breathing, and they had to keep coming in and checking on her, since the monitors kept going off. It happened for about 2 hours. They positioned her onto her stomach, and so far it hasn't happened yet today. So we're hoping its a one time thing!

The doctors still haven't given us a heads up on when she will get to go home, but they are all happy about the fact that she gained weight! She is up to 3 pounds, 15 ounces! JUST ONE MORE OUNCE AND SHE WILL WEIGH 4 POUNDS!! Mommy is so ready to hit the point where baby girl can home and spend time with her family all at once, instead of a limited amount of people in the hospital room.

Miss Emma

Em breast fed and bottle fed for every single feeding yesterday! She didn't finish her bottles but she got down anywhere from 5 CCs to 15 CCs. And then when we breast fed this morning she sucked continually for about 25 minutes, and still took down her 34 CCs through her feeding tube! She's getting sooo big and strong that its amazing! I have a huge feeling that baby girl will be going home NEXT WEEK! The nurse said for her to be able to go home, she has to finish her bottles for a whole day, and then they'll take out the feeding tube, and she'll have to finish her bottles/breast feed for 2 days and be gaining weight both days! But with as well as she's doing now, I don't think that's going to be a very long time. She does prefer to breast feed over bottle feed.. So we're gonna have to see how that goes.

I was talking to the nurse about how when we went home, I have dogs at mom's house and Tasha at our apartment. The nurse told me to bring in a blanket and wrap Em up in it, and bring it home for the dogs to smell. She said to do this a few times before we brought her home that way they know Em's scent and they're somewhat aware of her. Em was also digging into her face with her nails for the past two days and trying to pull out her feed tube, so the nurse and I got some socks and put them over her hands (: No more digging!!

After a breast feed!

I think she wanted
more food at this
time (:

She's always playing
with her hands!

one bottle from
yesterday (:

Miss Em slept through her labs once again tonight. That makes 4 nights in a row of a good quiet sleeping baby! She got bottle fed this morning and again and did pretty well! They increased her feeds to 34 CCs. More and More every day to make the baby girl fat! She's still weighing at 3pounds, 14ounces but she has some time to grow! Mommy can't rush everything! We got baby girl all dressed up into a onesie, however, she did not like me putting it over her head. And we put a sleeper over top of it to make sure she's nice and warm when she comes out for bottle feedings or breast feedings! Other than that, there aren't many updates so far this morning!! (:

Em's little onesie.
You can tell her momma
picked it out (:

Baby girl all dressed and awake (:

Playing with mommy's finger!

Baby Girl..

Grandma and Grandpa came out to visit Em this afternoon and brought her newborn clothes with them (: So we got her all dressed up in an outfit that Great Grandma Gail got her (: And its absolutely adorable! Then it was time for mommy to pump, so grandma and grandpa went down to get a cup of coffee, and when they came back, we surprised grandma and told her she got to give Em her FIRST bottle!! Grandma was thrilled!! And Em did very good for her age! She drank about 10CCs out of her 30CCs. So the remaining 20 went into her feeding tube. But shes making more progress every single day, and she will be ready to come home in no time (:

A specialist came in today and did a few "tests" with Em. They held her up to see if she would put any weight onto her feet, and she did. They did a test to see if she could lift and move her head. Baby girl couldn't lift it, but she was moving it around and everything. They said shes doing really well for being so young and shes really mature for her age! So that's a plus too!! (:

The outfit Great Grandma
got for Miss Em!

Holding her own pacy (:

Em's first bottle.
grandma has better pics
so I'll get those uploaded
Asap.

Grandpa actually played
with Em a little (:
Soft old man! 

Progress!!

So, Last night Mommy and Emma got to have a skin to skin hold, and as soon as they set Em into my arms she latched onto my nipple and started sucking! So they talked to her doctor this morning, and Emma is now allowed to breast feed once every 12 hours! So during our hold today, Em would suck off and on, and then take a break, then she sucked for 7minutes straight, took a break, off and on, and then 5minutes straight! She did sooooo well! The lactation nurse was shocked on how well she did! That's a HUUUUGE step for Em. That's one of the only things keeping her coming home. She has to weight so much, and then be able to suck breath and swallow, which had absolutely no problem doing! Such a big girl!!

Speaking of weight gain, Our little Princess is now up to 3pounds, 14 ounces again!! Shes gaining weight like crazy! Maybe the whole "3week" stay will get bumped down. She's already been here a week.. so I'm hoping maybe next weekend she will get to come home with me?! That would be amazing! Mommy needs to get back into work and everything anyways!

Grandma and grandpa are going to come out tonight and visit with Em. Grandpa hasn't seen the new hospital yet, due to all of the work that needed to be done on Mom's shop! So it will be nice for him to be able to see her not hooked up to all of the machines! ((: Okay, well its nap time for Em AND mommy! (:

Pretty Girl ((:

Miss Emma had her first sponge bath this morning. She was not too happy about it though. The nurse, Gail, was a lot more rough with her than what Miss Cindy is(our regular nurse) and Em does not seem to like Gail, at all. They bumped up her feeds to 26 CCs and shes still taking it all in and digesting it amazingly well. They did say that if Em is wide awake when they are getting ready to feed her, that I could try to breast feed directly. Of course I was thrilled to hear that and got super excited. And every time they went to feed her today, Em was knocked out cold. lol. That's my luck!!

Em still has no IV, and we're all hoping it stays out for good now. The dr was in today and estimated that Em may be here another 3 weeks. Mommy is gonna be living in this hospital for over a month. Lucky Lucky me. (:  The male doctor mentioned that he could remove the skin tag that's on Em's right here. You pretty much just put a little teeny tiny rubber band around it and it changes colors and falls off. My compared it to a male dog's testicles. I compared it to docking a dog's tale. The nurse had a much better way of describing it. Its more like the same thing you do with the baby's umbilical cord..

Other than that, there really were no changes with miss em today. Shes doing great.. we just have to wait for her to gain some weight so that she can come home!! <3

My beautiful baby girl
during one of our
many holds today.

And this is how she looked
the remaining of the day,
all day. 

precious little thing fell asleep
with her pacifier.

Midnight post!

Mommy was going to try to sleep through one pump time and catch up on some sleep. Em decided she didn't want that! I woke up to her half way off of her pillow thing and the nurse had to come in and help me get her back in the center of her bed! And then we noticed she had a puffy hand, and the IV had gotten lose. So the nurse took out her IV. Which by the way--Miss Cindy is our nurse tonight and she is absolutely amazing!!  AND GUESS WHAT!! We got to leave the IV out for good!  (: Shes now on 22CCs of my milk! So the only thing my baby girl has going on, is the feeding tube(which is only there to help her gain weight so shes not using all of her energy trying to eat from me) and her monitors. Plus, we got to put her into her first outfit!! And she looks so adorable! MY BIG GIRL!! <3

Em's first outfit!

Mommy snuck a kiss!

IV free girl!!

Loads of progress..

The doctors made their rounds this morning and stopped in to see Emma. They had all good news to tell me! (: Emma is now feeding at 20 CCs and they are taking her off of her lipids (one of the things that are attached to her IV) And if she does well with the food increase and the stopping of the lipids, they may take her off of her IV completely tomorrow night!! And if it falls out tonight, they wont have to give her another IV is what the nurses are hoping for!! Great news! Mommy hates seeing the IV in her arms, or legs, or head! It'll be nice just to be able to hold her without having to worry about the IV coming out and if they're gonna have to put a new one in. They also took Em off of her jaundice lights, so we got to see Emma's pretty little eyes all day today (:

Mommy's friend Lairmore made her first appearance this morning and spent an hour or so with Miss Em and I! Em's biological father also made a trip out and managed to do everything possible to annoy mommy. Go figure ;) Grandma came out to the hospital today and got to hold her for about an hour and a half! She only woke up once the entire time when mommy had to check her temperature!

Grandma stepped out of the room to talk to Em's biological grandfather and mommy got her hold me time (: When grandma came back, I was pumping so she got recruited into changing Em's diaper. 1)it was the most poop I have ever seen a baby have in my life. 2) I remember mom stating that at least shes not a boy and she wont pee on anymore. Wanna guess what Em did? yep!! Emma peed on grandma (: It gave mommy a few giggles! My precious girl!

Em was full of energy
and smiles this morning!

Before they took off her
glasses and lights! She hugged
her little mommy doll (:

Sucking on her passy!

Shes so stubborn like her mommy!

Another day of progress!

Emma's daddy(not father) left for his first set of two weeks on the ship last night! But before leaving, he got to skype with us and see mommy change her diaper, and get her hair washed, and fed and what not. And then it may seem unreal, but, she was sleeping in my arms, and heard his voice, and I swear, she recognized him. She got a big huge grin on her face and woke up from out of a dead sleep. We're hoping to maintain at least a skype date every couple of weeks so that Em can hear his voice. She won't understand where its coming from, but it cant hurt to keep her familiar with him, until he's home again!

Last night after my post, my mother came out to the hospital, and got to hold Miss Emma for the first time (: Em pretty much just stared at her grandma for the majority of the time, while she babbled on about everything under the sun! They increased her feeds to 12 CCs last night, and Emma was having a little bit of trouble digesting it all. This morning when they went to feed her again, she had digested all of her milk, so they bumped her feeds up to 16 CCs already! 

They came in to do her labs in the middle of the night last night and Em was not too happy about it, but then again, who likes being stuck in the foot a million times for blood? Mommy had to get up and help the lab guy because she wouldn't stay still for him. She was a fussy little one. The nurse placed her right onto her stomach, and Em slept the rest of the night away without any issues! Every three hours mommy got up and pumped, and she got fed the fresh milk and the remaining of it gets put into the freezer!

Em's jaundice level went from 12, to 9 over night. The doctor said that by tomorrow morning she shouldn't have to be under the blue lights anymore. Which would be a huge relief for us- (More snuggle, cuddling time for mommy and grandma!!) When she gets taken off of the lights, they will also start putting her into baby clothes! No more naked baby (: Aunt Chelsey is working on making her some hair bows so that our little princess can be even cuter.(if that's even possible)

The nurse today let me get Em out of the lights for about half an hour for a skin to skin hold. She literally had my take off my shirt and bra, and laid Em right between my two "breasts" and then covered her with a blanket. She kinda just stared at me for about 15 minutes of the time while I talked to her and then she fell asleep for the remaining amount of time. 

Mommy has a newborn CPR class this afternoon from 6-9. I am now pumping up to 70mls of milk for miss Emma. I think I'm going to look into a donation bank in Columbus for breast milk. There are a lot of mothers who cannot produce milk, and with the way my body is making it, I feel like I should share it with other sick babies at Children's hospital!

Other than that, there are not any other updates so far today with Miss Emma. As always, here are some more pictures of Miss Emma from last night&&today. I plan on uploading new pictures every day so that everyone sees how well she is doing!! (:

Emma under her lights!

Grandma's first time holding
Miss Emma Ann <3

  

Emma during our skin to
skin hold today (:

The Beginning--

Miss Emma Ann Woolworth was born on August 5th, 2011 at 12:24pm. From my previous history she had to be taken through a C-section. Em weighed 3 pounds and 14 ounces! She was a length of 19.14. Emma was immediately put into the special care nursery at Southview hospital in Dayton, Ohio!  After less than a day, they started feeding Emma my breast milk, at 4CC's and had her on a Oxygen machine. (cpap?) The second day they took her off of the Oxygen and increased her feeds to 8CC's and Emma is doing very well digesting all of the milk. It's amazing to think that she's literally surviving off of something my body is making for her! It's a wonderful feeling!

On August 8th, they transferred Emma and I out to Kettering, so that there would be room for her and I to be together until she gets to come home. They have rooms called Baby and I rooms, and it allows Emma and I to be together 24hours a day, everyday. Its a private room where only myself or her grandma can bring in guests. So there's no hassle of other parents being in and out, and the other babies crying and stressing her out. Its just her and I, all day long. (:

At Kettering, the nurse I had her first night there, let me change Emma's diapers, take her temperature, and hold her for her first long period of time. I got to hold my girl for almost two and a half hours! It was the best feeling in the world to see her staring up at me. Shes a gorgeous little baby! I know how to make some precious looking kids now! <3

Unfortunately, my grandmother(Emma's great grandmother) had to leave on the 8th to head back to Michigan, but we will be keeping this blog updated every single day for her to see Emma's improvement! Thank you, grandma, for being there every step of the way when mom couldn't! And Chelsey, thank you, for being there to help adjust pillows, wash bottles, get me in and out of bed, and to take a MILLION, PLUS ONE, pictures and videos! The only thing that could have made it better, was if my mom and dad could have been there, and if Mike could have seen his adopted baby girl born.

Today, August 9th, Emma was put under a white light, to help her gonitis(?). They say its normal for premature babies to have this, so we aren't much worried about it. Emma literally looks like shes tanning. She has little goggles on over her eyes to protect them, and shes all stretched out. The lights don't seem to bother her, not even the slightest! The nurse came in and said she may only have to be on it for 2 days or so, but only for a few hours at a time. They will still take Emma out for my mother and I to hold while feeding. Only short holds, but we wont complain. Whatever is best for our baby girl (: Her grandma will get to hold her, for the first time, tonight. The nurses said usually its limited to only parents being able to hold her, but since her biological father hasn't been at the hospital, its only right to let Emma's grandma step in and take that responsibility!

And so far, that's the majority of whats been going on in Emma Ann's world! We'll just have to wait and see what tomorrow holds for our little princess!

Check out some of our top pictures of our princess below::

Emma Ann with the Cpap still on! 

Our little girl all stretched out and laying like her  grandpa

The first mommy daughter
skin to skin hold (:

Proud mommy and grandma
 taking over and hogging her!

4 generations of Leichty/
Woolworth girls 

Emma's transport to Kettering!

Our first long mommy daughter hold.
She fell asleep just a sucking away at
her little binky (:

Sleeping away in mommy's arms