The Hiatus is OVER!  Why it began?  No idea.  I have lame excuses like being busy with work, battling a cold myself, daddy being sick, trying to keep Addy healthy, taking Addy to the doctor, holidays, shopping for the holidays....etc..etc..etc..  I won't bore you with the details, but I'll make an (probably a lengthy) update with some new photos!

So, let's start with the most important person of us all.  MISS ADDISON!
As of Monday, she weighed in at 9lb 4.4oz and 20 3/4in long.  My mom finds this hilarious as Addy will be 4 months on Dec. 2nd (this coming Sunday) and she's not even what I weighed when I was born!  I was a 9lb7oz baby!! YIKES!  She's still on Enfamil Enfacare, which is packed with extra nutrients and extra calories.  It's working on her!!  We just found out through a good friend (an Enfamil rep) that she needs to stay on the special formula until she is 9 months adjusted, or 9 months from her due date, so until she's 11 1/2 months old.  No big deal.  It's more pricey, but we have several coupons and we found a wal-mart where it's considerably cheaper for the ready to feed/instant formula, which is what she should be taking.       

She has been doing increasingly well since they upped her meds.  We are dealing MAJORLY with gas problems.  So, we broke down and used Mylicon against the wishes of the Neos.  Her doc, Dr. K, said it was fine, but I absolutely was NOT fine with any of it until AFTER her due date.  After an evening where she SCREAMED from 5pm until 9pm, and then screamed through the next few days until I was in tears, I broke down and gave it to her.  I had tried everything else and none of the tricks worked.  Within a day, she was a WHOLE different girl.  We now just put 1-3 drops in each bottle and she rarely has trouble now unless she's constipated.

They re-checked her Hemoglobins and she received her 3rd Synagis (RSV) shot on Nov 16.  Her shot went fine, but she was still fussy for a day or so, so we now just give her Tylenol for about 36-40 hours to take the edge off.  Her hemoglobins were a whopping 10.1!  So, although not HIGH, they are increasing.  We are continuing the 2nd dose of Iron in the evenings (although it's forgotten by accident several times because of her settling into a routine and we keep forgetting she goes down to sleep so early now!).  Hopefully in another month or so, we'll lose the Iron too.

She has her 4 month check-up tomorrow and she'll be receiving her 4 month shots, plus she'll be starting her Hepatitis shots as they didn't start them in the hospital.  I think it's a total of 5 shots.  Bless her heart!  They sometimes combine some, so we'll see what they combine.  Then, she's back in 2 more weeks for another Synagis shot.  Honestly, she just hates being stripped to her onsie and then hates being held down.  The stick part?  Not too bad...

We DID go to some Thanksgiving dinners.  I was in a constant state of paranoia.  NO ONE held her but myself and my mom helped a few times, like when I needed to go to the bathroom or I was cooking something at my Grandma's.  We kept her away from all the kids and she was either held by me or in her bouncer.  We could tell that it took a toll on her.  She was VERY agitated at one of the places and the ONLY way I got her calmed down was to put her on my chest.  So, I put her in the carrier and placed her snugly on me and she did fine then.  At the other place, we brought along something familiar, her favorite bouncer and she sat in it and was comforted.  Now, we just have to get through Christmas, and then it's onto Easter and then RSV season will almost be over.

Speaking of RSV, I have had some nasty change of weather nose issues.  Not sure it's sinuses or a cold, but we are doing extra handwashing and now Daddy (Charley) is sick!  He got sent home from work today and his boss delayed his start time tomorrow too.  I think she knows he cannot get full-blown ill or we risk having problems with Addy, but Charley DOESN'T miss work, so you KNOW when he's sick.  He's been sleeping in the recliner for hours tonight, so hopefully by morning he'll feel well.  For now, it's just me and Addy.

Also, I had my Remicade treatment for my Crohn's today.  It went well.  We took a good basket filled with Tastefully Simple foods in for them.  I prepared everything and stuck recipes on all of it.  They all LOVED it!  They have just been so good to us.  Giving me a private room and making room for me now that Addy has to come along since other can't watch her yet because of her apnea monitor.  On top of it all, my Crohn's is doing EXTREMELY well.  I've had some problems and was at my surgeon's office with a new Crohn's *issue* just a few weeks back, but nothing major and really my downfall in the last week is that I've just been very tired.  Not new mom tired, but Crohn's tired.  Even my brother noticed it, and so you know it's bad then!  But, I managed and by Saturday, I should be feeling pretty normal again.  It's about a 48 hour turnaround on my health.

While we were at the hospital today, we stopped at the NICU and took them two HUGE thank you baskets!  They were FILLED with goodies for them, all tastefully simple stuff and it's yummy!  It took me a while to get it all together, but it was worth it.  The NICU did amazing things for us!  This was our 2nd visit back and they all came RUNNING out to see us.  One of the nurses told us that Addy is special and you know when she's loved because all the nurses will want to see her.  Dr. Grant, one of the Neonatologist, was there and came out to see her.  He said she looked good and immediately went in his soft-spoken voice.. (he's Australian) "I see she's still looking right, eh"  Yup!  That's right.  When they are in the NICU, every position they are in (unless on their bellies) their heads go to the right.  It's common sense as most nurses are right-handed.  Sometimes we'd flip her crib around so she'd turn her head the other way and we'd keep a frog on there to keep her from favoring sides, but at home, she's still doing it.  And, I checked out her head tonight to see if it had done anything, and it has.  It's a little flattened on her right side and the hair is thinned out.  He told us to flip her around with the light and bright things to her left so it forces her to look left and stay left.  Eventually, she'll build up the muscles and be fine.  We try and do belly time for her too in the evenings, but with the busy last few weeks, it's been limited.  She does like her tummy mat, but she doesn't get near enough time on it.  Either way, this was just even more of an incentive to ask Dr. K about First Steps of Indiana, an early intervention program designed for those babies, infants, and toddlers lagging behind developmentally and preemies.  So, hopefully we get the referral tomorrow!

We also did Christmas photos with Mr. Stephen R. McDonald, the photographer!  AWESOME man!  And, I have some proofs to share!!!  She did really well and slept through a lot of it.  She's smiling SO much anymore, but we only caught the glimpse of one of them!  She had a bad screaming episode for a good 5-6 hours before we had pics, so by the time we had pics, we had to wake her up to change her and by the time he took the photo, she was out..and she slept until 5am the next morning!  Speaking of sleeping, she's been doing so well.  She's back to eating every 3 hours, but she usually eats at 6,9,12,3,6,9 and then is into bed until 6 again.  I feel like I can accomplish something again!  Tremendous feeling!

Hmm..what else?  Not sure.  This is a long enough post as it is!

But, for some MUCH awaited photos of our baby girl:

Christmas Photos by Stephen R. McDonald, The Photographer               
*Note* The Pink bear is Addy's Reagan Bear.  Remember the last post about Reagan's Star?









I've got more photos of Addy around the house and I'll load those tomorrow!  It's late, I'm tired from all the drugs and treatment today, Addy was flustered and it too me a bit longer to get her to sleep, and daddy is passed out in the recliner sick... but..you know what?  I'm so completely blessed!  No matter how many moments that drag me down, I still *know* it's going to be okay, somehow, someway.  And, just look at our cutie!  4 months already! WOW!