Kaitlyn Ryan

Our new family wishes everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. We are grateful for the amazing support we have had over the past six weeks. Without our friends and family, we could not have made it where we are today. Our little girl is a miracle, and we are thankful every day that we have this beautiful and amazing baby girl in our lives.

In this age of pipes, tubes, and the Intarweb, is not keeping up with a blog about your daughter considered bad parenting?  I hope not, because otherwise I am off to a pretty bad start!

So I know that all of you are anxious for an update about the little one.  Well, all of you are going to have to wait a bit longer.  As I have been thinking about writing for the last couple of weeks, it occurred to me that you know nothing about how Tori and I are doing, and how the room is coming together.  So this post is about us.  Kaitlyn’s post will follow sometime tomorrow.

Tori is doing great.  She is 100% recovered from the surgery, and is finally able to drive some.  That’s nice, because I was getting a bit tired of our personal rendition of Drivin’ Miss Daisy.  More importantly, though, is that she is kicking ass in the “production” department.  For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, you obviously weren’t paying attention is 6th grade health.

The room is coming along nicely.  We had some issues with the floor.  Basically, our foundation has a crack running down it, and it happens to go straight through Kaitlyn’s room.  So KB Home was nice enough to send some folks out and get that sealed up for us.  The painting is done, and the custom closet system is up.  We are having some issues with the window treatments, as the window frame is not exactly square.  And we still have to get the chair rail up at some point.  But we have a bit of time, as Kaitlyn will be spending the first few months in our room, not hers.  I think we will get it done before she comes home, but it is nice to know we have that bit of a buffer if we need it.

As for me, well, I am steady.  Wife, child, work, home, hospital – it definitely adds up, and honestly it was nice to take a bit of a break from these posts.  Not that I don’t enjoy your company.  It’s just that I needed some “me time.”  And based on what I have written here, I am definitely a bit rusty.  But don’t worry, the next post will be all that you could ever want…from a blog post.

-Dad

This post will be a recap of what has happened this weekend.

Shower
We had an excellent time at the Charleston shower, and want to thank everyone who came and spent some of their Saturday afternoon with us.  All of the gifts rock, and we are looking forward to when Kaitlyn comes home so we can start using them!  I am keeping this brief in hopes of motivating Tori to post about it.

Kaitlyn
Our baby girl is doing very well.  She is growing very quickly.  As of today, she is 3lbs 3oz and 17 inches long.  For those who need help remembering this is half a pound and nearly 3 inches longer than when she was born.  It is hard to see since we see her every day, but looking back over the pictures yesterday, it is amazing to see how much she has changed.  Even over the last couple of days, she has gone from looking very thin to looking like a “normal” baby.  It is really quite neat.

Also, now that she has reached this weight, she is starting to wear clothes.  You can check out the pictures from yesterday to see what she looks like with a jumper on.  And yes, that is the smallest outfit they have at MUSC, so you can tell she is still pretty tiny.  It also means that she is maybe a couple of days away from moving out of her isolet and into an open crib.  I think that will be a big step for us in terms of viewing her less like a preemie and more like a normal baby.

So where are we in terms of getting home?  I am glad you asked.  It looks like she is probably holding her temperature pretty well on her own.  The nest is running at room temperature, and she is doing a good job of keeping her temperature up, so I think we are pretty close to meeting that goal.

However, she still bradys now and again, even on caffeine. We are hoping that as she gets closer to 36 weeks, the bradys will go away on their own.

To further complicate things, the bradys seem to happen almost exclusively around feeding time.  She is also really struggling to feed from a bottle, which is another big requirement for coming home.  She hasn’t been able to take one full feed yet, much less eight.

Three weeks ago, worrying about something as simple as eating from a bottle would have seemed silly.  She has made such great progress.  I think we have gotten used to her moving forward so quickly with everything they want her to do.  Now we have something which is not happening quickly – something we actively participate in – and so we are getting frustrated with ourselves.

So we are going to ask the nurses to start doing the bottle feeds instead of us, at least for the next few days.  That way, there isn’t inexperience on both sides of the bottle.  Hopefully once she gets it figured out, we can start doing it ourselves again. And then soon after that, she will be home.

I never thought I would say anything like this about my child:  pray that she sucks.

-Dad

Well, she is putting on weight like crazy now. On Wednesday, she was 2lbs 12oz. Yesterday she was 2 14. And then today she is now 3lbs.

Of course, she is still having problems eating from the bottle. Which is one of the major requirements for getting home. But I am confident we will get there.

Also, we got a quick summary of the head ultrasound. Everything looks great. No new bleeds. We will get more details today (I think), but that is great news.

On related topics, the room is coming together nicely. We still have a few more things to do, but the painting is done, which was probably going to be the most time consuming. Everything else should be pretty easy.

Also, we are looking forward to all of the showers we are having. Tori’s work is throwing her one today, the Charleston Shower is tomorrow, and my work is throwing us one next Saturday.

And by that point, we should have everything we need. Which is a good thing, because by that point, Kaitlyn should be a few days from coming home.

-Dad

PS – Sorry updates have been a bit thin lately. Tori and I have been crashing pretty hard when we get home. Plus she can go several days without anything dramatic happening (which is a good thing). I would imagine that as we get closer to coming home, we will have more to say.

Back in the day before we had all these tubes, moms and dads had to figure things out for themselves, and hope that what they were doing would allow their child to grow up in a great home.  I tend to think the most important ingredient is love – unconditional, unfaltering love.

But I know that there is more to it than that, and this article outlines 7 habits of highly successful fathers.  Not sure if they actually work, but they seem logical.  They can even apply to moms as well.

-Dad

So we found out today that our dearest Kaitlyn is moving out of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and into the Special Care Unit (SCU). The SCU is where preemies go when they are healthy enough not to need quite as much equipment and attention as the ICU.

Which means that Kaitlyn is rocking it! Tori and I are excited, but scared. It means our baby is doing really well, but at the same time the NICU has become very comfortable for us, and we are nervous about changing anything until she is ready to come home.

But they doctors and the nurses think she is ready for this step, so Tori and I are just going to have to learn to deal with change. I suppose we should get use to it, since that is what children are all about – change. And like everything else with Kaitlyn, it looks like it is going to happen whether we are ready or not!

-Dad

Well, this post isn’t so much about Kaitlyn, as it is about her mother. Today, Tori got to hold Kaitlyn for the first time. They did something called “kangarooing.” Basically, Tori wears a button front shirt, and unbuttons the top few. They then place Kaitlyn inside the shirt, resting on her mother’s chest.

I have known this woman for many years, though not nearly as many as some of you. We all know that she is kind and gentle. But seeing the two of them together like that, after all of the hardship they both have been through this last week, was just incredible. All of the pain and worry melted away from Tori, and she was more peaceful and content than I have ever seen her. It was the most beautiful thing I have seen in my life.

We have some pictures that will be posted momentarily, but they will never do the moment justice. Mother and daughter together for the first time…I am in awe.

-Dad

PS – I got to hold her too, and though it probably didn’t look nearly as amazing as T&K did, it was for me. I am a dad, and I am loving every minute!

As Sean, aka Daddy, has already mentioned… our beautiful baby girl decided to join us sooner than expected. We were very lucky that Kaitlyn informed us she was having some trouble in my womb by decreasing her movement, and even luckier that we mentioned it to our Doctors who did what they needed to save her life. Though the experience is far from what Sean or I expected, we are thankful to have Kaitlyn in a safer environment with a team of incredible Doctors and nurses caring for her every need.

These past 6 days have had their ups and downs, but our little girl is a fighter. She is incredibly active for a preemie, and has a bit of a temper at times too. She is anxious to come off of the ventilator and is slowly getting there. We are heading down to MUSC in a few minutes to spend more time with her and for me to do another photo shoot . I am sure Daddy will post another update later this evening.

Sean and I are very lucky to have such an amazing support system. We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers that continue to shower our new family. We cannot wait to bring our baby girl home and let her meet all of you!

With Love,

Mommy