Well, I'm still at the hospital...it's 4am Wednesday morning.  All is perfectly fine, but let's start from where I left off..

At 9am, Addy was 7 for 7!  She did so well!!  I went back a little before her next feeding to meet with the social worker to set up our HAM (home apnea monitor) teaching class that is required before she goes home.  Well, the social worker was unavailable at the moment, so we set up another time.  In the meantime, Dr. Arnaez came and talked to me about Addy's continued desats.  Once you see them on paper, they look a bit more concerning.  When she just has them and recovers quickly, you don't think much of it.  Well, she was having probably 15-20 big desats/day (not including the little ones the nurses don't catch because the machine only triggers after a certain time period).  Basically, she was not getting enough oxygen through her bloodstream.  Since he said her heartrate was staying normal during the desaturations, he said it was not an apnea issue.  They checked her blood counts Tuesday morning and her Hemoglobin came back at 9.2 (should be 12-15) and her Hemocrit was 27 (should be around 34-37).  Well, Dr. Arnaez recommended a blood transfusion.  Nothing completely major.  All preemies are anemic, but usually they slide down hill and then start to show a slowed downhill spiral and THEN they start to rise.  Addy hasn't shown any slowdown in her slide, and with all the desats, he said this is likely the problem.  He said some babies will have oxygen desaturations because of anemia, Addy is one of them apparently.  The transfusion would simply get her over the hump and home sooner.  I then had to call Charley and find out if we wanted to use a direct donor or an anonymous donor.

SO, Charley and I agreed on an anonymous donor.  I can't donate as my blood levels are already not great, and if Charley donated we would have to go through the same exact process that the anonymous donor blood goes through and it would take more time.  They would send him to the Red Cross, he'd give blood, it'd get sent to Louisville for all it's testing, and then it'd get sent back to Evansville for Addy.  Problem is that it would take several days for that to happen and Addy will just continue to desat on her oxygen.  We sort of figured she had a better chance of getting an infection in the NICU having to stay there longer then a chance that something would go wrong from an anonymous donor.  Dr. Arnaez also told us that sometimes when you have such a close relative donate that it can sometimes not work as well because the cells are TOO similar.  So, they went through the cross matching system and since she's a universal donor (O+) it was a quick find for blood. 

Before I headed back to the NICU, I got Addy's car seat checked in my car.  I passed!  The lady gave me a few small tips, but said my car and her car seat looked fine.  That was a relief.  I don't know why, but I stressed over that way too much!  I was extremely worried I did it wrong, but luckily, I knew what I was doing amidst the endless instructions they give you, of which only 2-3 steps you actually need!

I went and grabbed some lunch, and went to meet back in the NICU to meet the social worker.  In that process, I walked in and I saw an incubator and thought "Oh, a new baby."  WRONG!  I glanced and "thought" it looked like Addy and they had pushed her open crib down the side of the wall.  I started walking towards her open crib and realized quickly that it was empty.  I looked over to the isolette where a IV tech was working on Addy!  I had a brief heart attack and then realized she was putting Addy's IV in now.  She didn't cry very much at all.  She was more upset they held her arm down and woke her up and got her all naked again then anything.  The hardest part of the whole entire infusion was having to watch her lay there completely naked and BACK in an isolette.  They assured me it was temporary and only protocol..but still..  I tried to feed her at 3pm, but she just was quite tired and I got interrupted about 10 times between nurses asking what was going on (her fave nurses) and the social worker and having to sign the paperwork for her to receive blood.  So, she took 29 of 42ccs (almost an ounce of 1 ounce and a 1/3).  The nurse assured me it was okay to NG (tube) feed the rest.  I was heartbroken.  I felt like we had made so much progress and then wham!  But, the nurse said it was fine and not to take any stock in it.  She just had her IV, she was woken up, she's in an isolette, she's naked, and she's anemic as well..pretty severely.  Well, we NG'd the rest and the nurse had me put her back up.  I went to make a few phone calls and then came back and they had started her transfusion.  I immediately saw blood in her isolette and then immediately saw her IV disconnected.  I looked at the nurse and said "Is this supposed to be like this? Her isolette has blood in it and her IV isn't attached."  She came RUNNING over.  She had JUST checked her and was deeply apologetic.  Addy lost about 2-3ccs of the 25ccs she was receiving.  Her IV came detached somehow and it was infusing into her bed.  She's not sure what happened, but she got her cleaned up and she almost seemed embarassed, but I really wasn't upset I was just worried something bad happened.  After Addy was done and I got her out to feed her at 6pm, the nurse felt so bad she changed all her linens and QUICKLY. 

I had plans to leave around this time to go to a meeting, but after all of this and the emotional wreck I was in from seeing her BACK in an isolette...I just couldn't do it.  At 6pm, she took ALL of her bottle.  No problems what-so-ever and her color was AMAZING!  She looked as pink and pretty as she was when she was first born.  My parents made a surprise stop and brought me dinner (YEAH! Hospital food is getting Old already...after nearly 7 weeks).  My mom scrubbed in and she was amazed at how good she looked.  She's now 5lb 0.7oz (with her IV board on though, so it's skewed by about .2 or so AND she hasn't pooped in 2 days AGAIN!) and her complexion is gorgeous once again.  She is darker than me again, for a while, you could see her start to pale up a bit... but now she looks healthy once again. 

At 9pm, we gave her a quick bath and moved her BACK into her crib (thank God!).  She's been a little on the chilly side, but she's beginning to maintain her body temp well again...

In between 4pm & Addy's blood transfusion, some friends of ours delivered their boy/girl twins!  We are SO EXCITED FOR THEM!!!  We were both due on the same day and it's funny how we both kept doing the same things.  She and I had baby showers on the same day (we didn't know until we told each other "Our baby shower is on..."), we both were having twins, and many more similarities... But the funniest to date is that she's in my OLD hospital room that I was in when I had my c/s!  Out of the 30-40 rooms they probably have in post partum...she ended up in the room we were in! How strange?   Anyway, after 9 1/2 weeks of home bedrest and a 3 1/2 week hospital bedrest (with a hospital stay in those times and a special pump to keep her from contracting), she delivered today at around 4 in the afternoon at 36 weeks gestation.  Their little ones are NOT in the NICU!  The NICU "was" making room for them just in case, but they seem to be healthy, or as far as I know of now!  I told them weeks ago when they ended up in the hospital on bedrest that I did NOT want to see them in the NICU...and I think they are doing it!  I could not be happier to just know they are not back there with Addy.  I hope they are resting right now and hopefully going to get a chance to enjoy their little ones again soon! (Sorry, Brandy & Ryun...I snuck through the nursery after I fed Addy and saw your little boy and I'm assuming his sister is nearby! )!!!

Anyway, so it was quite the emotional day, but all has ended well.  Addy took her 6pm bottle with ease and Daddy fed her at 9pm and at 12am.  I slept from 10pm to around 2:45am and I feel like a whole new woman. I am going to try and take an hour nap before I go feed her again at 6am.

I am debating on whether I'm leaving the hospital or not.  Addy's discharge is within reach right now!  She has STOPPED desating since her transfusion.  When she's getting burped, she tends to hold her breathe and cause a desat, but other then a couple desats at 3am while eating, she's had none...  So, we are having our HAM (home apnea monitor) teaching on Friday evening and then it's possible Addy could come home this weekend or early next week!!!  We don't think she'll need oxygen now, as we think the transfusion fixed that problem.  She will most likely come home on caffeine and iron and she'll also for sure be on a HAM and a special preemie formula called Enfacare22.  I just cannot believe her homecoming is so soon!  The nurses are getting super excited... she'll be 7 weeks on Thursday...  Addy's homecoming will be a big day for us AND the NICU!

So, it's been an emotional 24 hours on about 2 hours of sleep...I'm going to rest up some more, but wanted to update everyone...  Thanks for all the wonderful prayers and support..we are getting close to home... it's extremely scary and exciting all at one time!

The isolette she went into for her transfusion...





Her infusion pump that put the blood into her IV and into her little body over 1 1/2 hours.


Addy sleeping in her isolete while receiving blood...the gift of life!


Addy after getting her blood transfusion and eating her 6pm bottle.  Her complexion looks so nice and pink again.  She was nice and alert too... she really is staying awake more and more now!  I think it won't take long before we can get her to sleep through the night and onto once/night feeds.  The hold up is her weight gain.  We have to literally wake her up every 3 hours to make sure she eats enough to gain enough weight...