Friday

Test Test

Two Months-A-Versary

Yes, today is Alexandra's 2nd month after birth. She started just under 2 pounds and is now just an ounce under 5 pounds. Jeanette was able to see and talk to the doctor last night. I stayed at home with a cold that Amanda seems to have as well. I didn't want Ali do get my soar throat and pains. Anyways the doctor gave us a ton of information that I will summarize in bullets instead of a large paragraph so you may digest the information easier:

• The Upper GI test turned out negative. No signs of issues or concerns. Alexandra is growing well but she is under developed or developing slower that we would like but not abnormally. In english, she may be a few weeks behind with her digestive system than a baby born at the same time span but all is working well.
• She should be home in April. The doctor wants to release her when she is totally off all medications and feeding perfectly. But that doesn't happen in America, since the insurance companies demand independence earlier. So she will be at the hospital until the doctor's feel we can handle any conditions she may have. Such as a monitor during her sleep hours to ensure she breaths normally and consistantly.
• They removed her feeding tube today. All feed will be done by bottle. That is a huge step but she may not gain weight as fast now since she has to excert more energy per feeding.
• All contact by HUMANS OTHER THAN Jeanette, Richard, Amanda and Liana is FORBIDDEN! The doctors clearly stated that no one but us four should be touching, holding, kissing, or getting too close to her. Amanda and Liana will do so sparingly. Once she goes home this will be hard for many to swallow. That includes family members not listed. The doctors explained that germs (especially lips kissing baby) can cause her a lot of harm and undue stress, fighting bacteria her body may not be able to cope with. More details on this one later ... no need to start whipping the horse when we don't have the cargo or wagon hitched!
• She started to receive her vacinations today. Another step toward going home.
• More news to come after I visit her later tonight.

Robo kid

The one time I forgot the camera was the one time I really wanted a good picture. Alexandra was hooked up to a monitoring system to detect sleep apnea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_apnea).

She looked like a scene from Matrix when Neo was attached with wires on his head and chest. She looked very uncomfortable. I had to feed her sitting up as well as try and burp her sitting up. Wrapping her up as well was tough. The test was for a 12-24 hour period to measure and analyze her breathing while sleeping and eating. On Monday she had an upper-gi to see if her digestion system was well or if she had any stages of reflux. All tests on that came up negative. We should find out about the apnea test later today. Once I get the pictures we took off of Jeanette's cell phone I will post them so you can see all of the wires. Alexandra weighed 4 pounds and near 13 ounces. So she is a fart (black beans and mojo one) away from 5 pounds. Her real due-date is next week so lets see if she will be home when we "planned" her to be originally.

Where my time goes

I have to get my tax package ready to send to Jack to see what I owe or get back. I created a chart to show where my time goes during the past weeks since Alexandra has been born. I am a PowerPoint commando, capable of showing all types of data in various graphical formats.

Too Funny to Ignore

I received an email advertisement from some local joint. At first I thought this was a joke but it is a real posting for a real live band, group, or idiots playing nearby. Ok, so my parents called our music and performers idiots, assholes, scum, etc. And at times the 80's Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, etc. could be viewed as such. However these guys look ludicrous and I can only imagine the visceral sewage that spews from their mouths that is incoherent with nothing more than a rhythmic beat and slurring rhymes to keep it moving.

What the ...

Saturday we pawned the girls off to Tia for a Build-a-Bear birthday party at the Falls, while Jeanette and we able to listen to silence for a few hours. We wanted to see a movie, something we haven't done in a while but her pumping schedule didn't sync in with the movie schedule and lunch so we dropped that idea. We did however go to P.F. Chang's for lunch. Neither of the girls like the food there so we don't waste our time going as a family and decided it was the best place to eat in peace. So we actually ate with the pigeons outside while it was a bit windy and cold (mid 60's imagine that). The local pigeons went to town on a table next to us when the people left. I thought at first a cat was on the table as they moved stacked plates, fought and ate everything imaginable on the table. Even the dam birds in Venice are not as bold. I was hoping one would land on my table so I could eat for free, but no luck there. I should have had my camera ready.

The Sunday Dance
Amanda's Cupcake group (or is it Brownie?) had a jamboree with other local troops (or is it squads?). Each troop had a country to represent and then perform a skit, dance, story or something to represent the country. Amanda's troop had Scotland. I suggested a nice 15 year old scotch sampling for the table but they selected the safer cookie and dance routine. Below is a quick video of their dance which they had maybe an hour or two practice beforehand.



Sunday Feedings

Our Sunday after mass was spent at the Brownie (or is it Cookie?) event. Then we shipped Jeanette to the hospital for the 5:30 feeding of Alexandra and then I raced to the 8:30 feeding.

Weekend Frustration
This weekend lead to a new level of frustration. Alexandra has been having issues during some of her feedings, not being able to keep all of her milk down. At times she seems to have some of it come back up during any of the three different methods (breast, tube or bottle). On Friday we were told a pH test was to be given. Which is a swab, down her throat to test and see if she what the acid level is down the throat. If high, that indicates reflux or stomach acid coming up. When I heard this news I immediately thought it would be high, due to the fact of a tube down her throat for the tube feeding, which could or does irritate the throat passage. Let’s keep in mind it has been there for almost two months. In my mind I felt it would give a false positive, but I assumed the doctors already took that into account when they order the test. On Saturday we found out the test was cancelled. After more digging, cancelled due to the fact that the test cannot be done while a tube feeding is in place. NO SHIT.

Now an Upper GI has been ordered for today. This will reveal or give a better understanding if something wrong is happening with the digestion of her food and passageway. In my mind I feel her digestion isn’t the issue but the timing of the feedings. Every 3 hours, no matter what.

"Are you sleeping? Hmm, well let me wake you and shove this 38, or wait
43 ml of milk down you, give you 30 minutes to binge. Oh is that spit up? Here
let me shake you so we can cram the last little bit down you. Are you cranky? Is
that gas, hold on let me shove more down your throat, just a little more, hold
on bitch, quite squirming you have another feeding in an hour…"

Hospitals don’t take into account the baby's timing just the timing. Some kids may need more frequent feedings. In my mind Alexandra needs maybe 6 feedings of slightly more but a longer in-between time to digest and sleep. She gets, maybe 60-90 minutes of sleep before she is fed each time, each and every day. So I need to talk to the doctor and ask questions, and insert my opinion instead of letting the system dictate and then create issues instead of fixing issues. I am tired of “When is she coming out question” when I have no clue on what is going wrong, why is it taking so long, and when are there any signs of improvement.

On the positive side, she did great me last night with a small but deadly fart while I was changing her. For a minute I thought Liana was in the room. DAM that stunk!

Operation Escape Codename: Zero Two Nineteen

Our third operation escape was planned and started on the same day. After arriving home late (late to me is near 6pm) we had to scarf down some fast food (which never happens on a week night) and then make brownies for the school bake sale. Of course the gremlins wanted to help "me lick, me lick!". As you can see they did their job cleaning our spatula and whisk. No need to put them in the dishwasher. Our 7pm licking will haunt us later as Liana had issues going to sleep ... too much sugar and/or chocolate. Our rule, which we observer religiously ... no chocolate after 6pm. It will, and always does keep her up. Either the caffeine or the sugar combo, but a cookie, cake, ice cream, ant, anything with chocolate keeps the kid awake. So we do the Gizmo standard minus six (remember from Gremlins, "don't feed them after midnight"?).

Christie was our parent impostor and she was well briefed capable of performing her task with her eyes closed, laying down on the sofa. Jeanette left just after 8 so she could try and give Alexandra some milk on tap. I had to wait until just after 8:30 when Liana decided not to come out of the room. I arrived at the hospital just as Ali was finishing her "gabage" feeding. That is the tube down the throat process. Just a few hours before I wrote the doctors put her on all 8 feedings by bottle but she was too tired to take the milk on tap or from a bottle. Alexandra just wanted to sleep. And I heard that her feeding earlier she had breathing issues so, the move to 8 bottles went back down to 4. I am no rocket scientist but I thought that was a huge jump myself.

So I was able to hold her for at least an hour while she slept, perfectly still. She looked like she would have stayed days in the curled up position, too cozy and hot as a furnace. She now weighs 4 pound 9 ounces. I am hoping to visit on Friday evening for bath time. Our third mission went well as no alarms or issues occurred, not until 1pm and 5:30 am when Liana woke up wondering if it way daytime yet. Dam school brownies.

Have a good weekend. We are actually planning to go to the movies while Amanda, Liana and Tia go to a build-a-bear birthday party.

Drink, Drink, DRINK!

I was not going to post today due to lack of news. But as we plan not to, plans change too. I received a call from the update queen (Jeanette) that Alexandra's new orders are to take 45ml of milk, 8x day, all by bottle. If she passes this test she will be one step closer to pledging for a sorority during binge week. She already has experience using a syphon to the stomach. So I guess testing her limits at an early stage is a good and bad sign. Needless to say if all goes well in the next couple days she could easily get the car seat test, which is then 24 hours or less away from getting kicked out of the hospital. Her due date was March 13 and our "planned" Cesarean was a week prior. So if she is in fact out before February ends she will be steps ahead of a normal schedule. What is normal?

More news to come. I will be heading to the hospital to shove the 5:30 feeding down her throat. Lets see how it goes.


Here are some past pictures of Amanda and Liana when they were Alexandra's age:
Amanda










Liana

Two hours is never enough ...

Our day started like any typical Monday but Tuesday hybrid. No one wanted to wake and get back into the routine. Luckily I had the stay in bed pretend to be sick card I got for passing Go and landing on Chance. Dam, that was a dream after playing Monopoly Junior with the girls.

Which in fact is a great game for most kids and not as intimidating as the adult Monopoly which usually takes 3 hours, 2 fights, and/or a board flip to finish. We can easily play a game in 15 minutes and the have fun acquiring rides (instead of property) and money (1-5 dollars only). I will have to invent the 2010 Monopoly version as you avoid foreclosures, bad loans, unpaid bills, bail outs, cheating bankers, fraudulent loan officers, poor credit, bloated houses ... you get the point. Sounds like a fun game.

Actually Amanda and Liana where at top form that evening, fighting, playing, screaming, fighting, dressing up. Liana had on her Princess Aurora costume with a chain around her black-tongued elephant, parading her around the house like a dog. I didn't get a picture of that scene but I did get these later. Alexandra will have her work cut out for her getting up to speed with these two clowns. Jeanette and I were able to visit the hospital as Abuelo came to watch the girls sleep while we snuck out for 2 hours.

Our Visit to see Alexandra was a typical two hour session. This time my aunt Carol and my cousin's wife Thai stopped in for a visit. We found the NICU more than busy as ever child had at least a parent or two visiting. The room on the 3rd floor is much smaller, almost like a closet, holding 8 or 10 babies. One baby that was born a day or so after Alexandra graduated to the same floor and is behind her. He weighs just over 5 pounds and started at 2 pounds just like Ali. She now weighs 4 pounds 4 ounces. The next question is "When will she come out?" I have no exact answer on that one. I think we have to meet 2 or more of the following:

• When she drinks all her milk from all 8 feedings from a bottle with no issues


• When she can sit in a car seat for an hour


• When she craps on one of the doctors


• When she cries for more attention and the nurses go crazy


• When the moon turns blue and a cow jumps nearby


• When the insurance finally gets their act together and starts paying the bills without stupid questions holding up claims

Pictures say more than words ...

A Visit through Liana's eyes

Liana was finally able to see Alexandra on Friday. The best we could do was take a picture at the window and let her see her sister from a few feet away.



As you can see Liana is not too keen on seeing and not touching visits.









A Rare photo of the Abuelo and Ali

Amanda's Visits with Alexandra

Amanda's Zoo Field Trip on 2-10

One last group of animals in their natural habitat.

Too cozy to drink

Thursday's visit was different. I went from work to the hospital to meet my parents, Tom and Melanie. It was near her 6pm feeding time so both my Mom and Melanie were able to see Alexandra uncovered with just a one-zie on. We were also able to open up a window that oversees a hall on the 3rd floor, so my Dad and brother could see us and take pictures. Our nurse was incredible as she was more than helpful and willing to help Jeanette breast feed instead of the prescribed tube feeding. She is now taking 35ml of milk per feeding and just over 4 pounds.

I started to feed her and she started on the bottle well. Drinking and then dozing off. I had to tickle her feet to keep her stimulated. After about 15 minutes of the swallow, sleep, swallow, sleep process I had to get her less cozy. Unwrapped her and she started to whine. "Whaa, whaaa waa" in her little mousy tone (she really does sound like a high pitch mouse). The nurse came by to see how things were going while I was burping her.

"Buuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!"
"Oh, that was a truck driver burp!" the nurse said as Ali looked content and less uncomfortable. It actually was a huge belch. One that Liana nor Amanda has done. More like a Jessica belch (my 23 year old niece who burps like a truck driver). It was funny and satisfying, finally burping a baby (no bigger than my arm) and they give you a response "Job well done!". So I put her back on and when she slowed down, burped her some more. None were as loud or satisfying. The nurse explained that if this wasn't breast milk she would have more gas and constipation. Imagine that.

So, my family left the hospital at 6:15 to meet some old friends at The Big Cheese. A very good Italian place near Dadeland on US1. Great pizza and salads. Too bad I couldn't join but Jeanette was at home with the monsters, cleaning the house and then when I got home she had to return by 9 to feed Ali by breast.

My evening ended at 11:30 when I called Jeanette, who hasn't returned and she was in the middle of a Familia party at the hospital. That is a small support group of Catholic mothers who travel around aimlessly on Thursday evenings with food, gossip and small talk (just kidding ;-). All I could hear was laughter, screaming and yelling like a sorority party that just started. At least I knew she wasn't sleeping on the road. I planned to download the pictures before I went to bed but we know how plans go ...

Since my last few posts lack the pictures I added a screen shot of the site sniffer I added, which tracks the amound of visitors since the mid of January. I was unsure if anyone was out there but at one point 41 viewed on the 10th. That must of been a Chineese family surfing the word "gum".

Alexandra's New Home

Alexandra's home has changed on both ends.
She was moved to the 3rd floor at the hospital. One step closer to the door and home. Alexandra Michelle now weighs 4 pounds 2 ounces. In 46 days she more than doubled her birth weight. She now needs to take all of her milk from a bottle without any breathing issues before she can go home.

Home has also changed. It is now cleaner than ever. We hired an arc welder to blow torch all of the dust, soot, and cob webs from the house. We had someone perform a cleaning like none other as the house needed to be at least clean for Ali to come home to. Time has not been our friend for the past couple months (really years when it comes to cleaning). Our house is small but detailed cleaning always takes time, which we never set aside. So I am thinking of looking to turn my girls into Cinderella, so they can clean, cook and toil while I sit back and complain how bad things are. I might have to wait a few years before I can get Liana to vacuum or mop. Not much time today. I will try and get the pictures off the camera as we have a couple days already piling up. I will have to look into the wifi-memory card for the camera so it can upload all of my pictures to flickr without having to touch a computer.

The Condensed Evening

Tuesday started out different. I was taking Amanda to school for our field trip day to the zoo. We had a great day at the zoo, good weather. Amanda had a few minor complaints:

• Why the new Amazon section? We just went there last week.
  Most of the class hasn't and it is new part of the zoo.


• My Jelly sandwich doesn't tast good.
  Well if you eat ham and cheese like a normal child I wouldn't feed you crap.


• Why wont you let me run like the others?
  This isn't field day or slam dance sessions, it is a field trip.


• Why can't I feed the birds?
  Birds are like telemarketers, feed them once they will never leave you alone ... hence the current issue.


• Why can't I do sand angels and throw sand?
  You can if you want me to chop off your hair so it is easier to get out.

Dam, wait until you are a teenager and you think I am strict. She has NO idea what is in store for her with her mother. Despite the "why's" we did have fun and enjoy a day away from the normal routine. It was nice seeing the other parents, sharing stories, and taking over the zoo with 32 screaming kids.

Coming home started the avalanche as we actually tried to accomplish something before the 4pm dash. We had a 5pm CPR class at the hospital, another checklist item to get accomplished before taking home Alexandra. I had to give them a bath before leaving, drop them off at Abuelos for dinner and then race to the hospital fighting traffic. We got there late but still able to make it to the class. The class was simple and to the point. One of Alexandra's head nurse, who knows us well gave the class with 3 other couples. We visited Ali after class and found out she is right next to the door now. She will be moving up stairs to the 3rd floor, with the normal babies which is a step out the door then.

She is very close to receiving all her feedings by bottle. She eats like a hog, as we were told by that nurse at 5. Which leads to plenty of gas and dirty diapers. That is leading to her real only issue. A diaper rash. It is very bad to where she has two creams, one to treat and the other to coat. And we can't clean her but too much or her skin will peal. That's the hard part. She looked very cute sleeping with the pacifier, making the sucking sounds. She is two or less ounces away from 4 pounds. I think sometime this weekend or a week from today she will be at home with us.

Her next feeding was at 9pm and Jeanette wanted to breast feed her prior to the bottle. So we had to get some dinner down in the cafeteria, race to the Abuelos to get the girls home and in bed and then get Jeanette to the hospital by 8:30. So in reality we scarfed down our food at the hospital, yanked the girls out of the Abuelos and then raced home to throw them in bed. Jeanette pumped while I got the gremlins in bed. Just as she left for the hospital and Liana waking up 3 times since she had a long nap during the day I started to watch a movie I got from Netflix around 9:30. I dozed off on the sofa just as Jeanette was opening the garage door at 11. I guess the laudray will just have to wait another day.

Split forces ...

Monday was typical as any plans we had made changed during the day. I had to go straight from work to the hospital. Jeanette heard in the morning that Alexandra was doing well on the bottle and a 6 pm breast feeding would work. So my task was to meet them at the hospital, take the girls and the van after they left ballet and leave Jeanette at the hospital stranded. This would allow her to feed Ali before 6 (since they got there at 5:30) and I would take everyone home for dinner, homework, complaining, arguing and bath time.

"Gum" is my first name, if you haven't known. I changed it legally a year or so ago ever since I gave Liana her first piece of Juicy Fruit. The second I sat in the van to take them home the word "Gum? Gum!? Gum please! Gum?" comes out. "Not yet I just started driving, you will have to wait until I stop." Which in Miami occurs more than moving forward. Gum in Jeanette's world is sin in the mouth. She is a tooth brush maniac. She hates the candy, gum or food that cause turmoil in the mouth. Sticky items are just cavities waiting to happen. I am on the other end, never having a cavity or teeth issues, don't see harm in the small items in moderation. One stick of gum a week is toooooo much. She's the candy nazi, hence the bombardment of pleads when a change in command occurs.

"Movie? Movie!? Movie!!!" Which is my middle name. I hate giving into the movie since we reserve it for long trips instead of traffic. But what the hell. I gave them both after a while of waiting in traffic and we finally made it home after 6:30. So now I had 2 hours to cook dinner, do home work with Amanda, give Liana a few minutes, laundry, trash, bath time and any other fire that comes up. It had to be a full moon since I got cooperation most of the evening. I started them off with a cookie. My way of "don't ask for anything" so I go to the top of the wish list.

Jeanette got home around 7:30 when her dad picked her up at the hospital and dropped her at home. She was able to breast feed Alexandra for the entire feeding. She is now over 3 lbs 13 ounces, closing in on 4 pounds. The magical 6:30-8 time that was restricted from visits for nurse change is just a myth. Some policy change that occurred last year but the signs never came down. So most assumed it was in force but it never was. These pictures are from Amanda's visit on Sunday.

Ol Kleyr

A handful of changes since the weekend leads us to the sign of "Ol Kleyr" that Amanda posted on the bathroom door after her and mommy used the bathroom. If you read the words phonetically, you get the safe "All Clear" message that one can interpret. Despite the sign I didn't open the door to see if "All was safe" as I have a keener sense of smell then Amanda does.

However the "Ol Kleyr" words lead me to a theme for Alexandra. On Friday she weighed in at 3lbs 12 ounces. She just started to wear regular clothes and she no longer is in the bassinet (I call incubator, which was a temperature controlled, plastic encased cube that had holes for our hands to get inside). Alexandra is now wrapped up in a blanket, with clothes on. On Friday I visited her on my way home from work which then allowed Jeanette and her sister to visit. That evening turned into a very long visit but Tia was able to hold and feed Ali with a bottle. Something few of us have done and maybe never do since we hope to get her off the bottle and straight on tap. I myself prefer a cold beer on tap more than the bottle or can. I can only imagine what the warm milk tastes like when you have to work for it.

When, when, when???

That is they question I hear more than anything. Alexandra is progressing well. No exact day on her release but she is getting closer. We just attended one of two classes last night. Which was a checklist of basic items the hospital covers when it is time for baby to go home. I have a feeling she will be home sometime next week. But if she is on our schedule, meaning having the house clean and us ready to move at our pace with her, maybe next year. All Alexandra really has to do now is drink from the bottle with out de-satting (no breathing issues during and after feedings). She has good feedings and then some where she only take 15ml of her 35ml from the bottle. Below are some great pictures of Ali's first "real bath". One where her whole body went in the water not just a sponge bath that I gave her a while ago. I have more updates from the weekend but not enough time to post the pictures:

• SJN Fun Fair pictures
• Gifts for the girls (dresses, hair clips, shoes, etc.)
• Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. My niece Jaclyn sent us some hand made chocolate for us and the girls. Not just chocolate but the real crap one dies for as we have a large selection of white and regular goodies for us to get high on for a while. Pictures coming soon of this.