End of a journey...beginning of another

Since Maylin is safe and sound at home with us, I feel like her life is most definitely a part of our everyday lives now. With us and her brothers, it couldn't get any better than this!

Thanks to those that followed Maylin's updates from day 1 till the time she went home from the hospital. All the prayers and support were beyond amazing to us!

Please keep in touch with Maylin and the rest of our fam on our regular family blog from now on!
(I'm excited to use this 23 day blog as the journaling to her NICU scrapbook:))

"Just Another Day in Paradise"
www.lindsaymaust.blogspot.com

Maylin's 1st Days at HOME!

Bottom line: It feels amazing to be back home! Tomorrow will be a week that she's been in our house and I just can't believe it! She turned 4 weeks old yesterday and that has just flown by too!

Maylin has been one awesome baby.. You forget how much babies sleep-that's for sure!=) Nothing wrong with a sleeping baby either. After 3 weeks of being "trained" on a 3 hr schedule, she pretty much wakes up long enough to eat, then goes right back to sleepin'. I know I'm kidding myself that this will last, but I'm enjoying the moment now:)

Here she is doing what she does best. Sleepin'. snugglin. and lookin' CUTE! =)

And also getting spoiled by all the lady family members:)

Mamaw Maust &
Grandma Wogoman

Aunt Kristi

Uncle Brian & Aunt Buff

Yep...gonna be one spoiled girlie!

Maylin's Going Home!!

Day 24

Tues. Aug 10th, 2010
Discharge Day!!
Dr. O
Nurse: Leslie

First of all...what a night! Between being a little stressed with what all needed done before we left for home, at about 4:30 in the morning I woke up with "the shakes" and an extremely sore right side. (You nursing mommies know what I'm talkin' about!) I had an infection coming on extremely quick. So I sat in the shower for a while in the middle of the night trying to calm it down. Not a fun feeling.

So not running on hardly any sleep....I guess you could say I was miss emotional all day with getting things around...and of course thinking of how things were going to go at home with that whole picture.

For some odd reason, I always have like an emotional breakdown when I go home from the hospital, but this time it seemed worse with leaving my temporary "norm" of over 3 weeks, with that little room and knowing exactly where everything was, and having a set routine. And the big part of just having to worry about Maylin and myself there.

So our day was a little rough, but we got through it. We were exhausted when getting back home about 5 pm that evening.

So here's some pics of us leaving the NICU!

Here's me with Dr. Olitungee. Missed an opportunity to get Brock with his buddy, Dr. Eziakadoo. (I wish I were kidding...these were our doctor's names...hence the abbreviations of Dr. E & Dr. O=) Another important man that dealt with Maylin's case a lot was Dr. Porter. He was easier to undertand and I could spell his name easy too=) They were all phenomenal!

(A not-so-flattering-pic of me I might add! Looks like mama's got some work to do!=))

Here's our girl laying in her crib one last time....

Me and my princess all ready to go!
Look closely and she's got her first headband/bow in her hair!

We're happy!

And some of my favorite nurses! Katrina and Leslie...absolutely loved them and how much they loved on Maylin during her 3 weeks here. Hard to say good bye to such awesome people!

Set to go in her car seat for her first ride home!

buh bye empty room!

Off we go!

See you at home=)

Day before Discharge!

Mon. Aug 9, 2010
Day 23
Discharge weight: 4 lbs. 3 oz.
Dr. O
Nurses: AM-Shelly
PM-Megan

Today was a day of getting all kinds of things ready for our big day on Tuesday!
Brock came down in the early afternoon and we watched our 3 parent videos...

And did Maylin's car seat test! Oh what fun! She sat in there being monitored for over an hour and a half since that's our drive home. Lovely!

She looks so little in there! But didn't fuss at all. Hope she's as great of a car rider as the boys are!!

Brock and nurse, Shelly going over more "need-to-know" things...and just chatting to. It's Brock...what do u expect?=)

Nurse, Megan loving on Maylin! This girl rocks! So sad to leave such awesome people that took amazing care of our baby girl:)

Feeding time and I'm WIDE awake! Look at those big beautiful eyes=)

Daddy feeding her a bottle since she's getting to be a pro at it now!

"Yep, I'm ready to go to my new home tomorrow!"

We are so blessed, and praying for a smooth transition home!

3 Weeks Old!!

Day 22

Sun. Aug. 8th, 2010
Weight: 4 lbs. 3 oz
Dr. Porter
Nurse: AM-Susie
PM-Katie
Visitors: Mom & Dad

Sunday was a whirlwind of progress, as Maylin kept up with all of her bottle feedings!

She passed her hearing test that morning=)...

Soon after that, Dr. Porter came in and chatted with me, then out of nowhere he thought that Tuesday was looking like a good day to take her home....

Say WHAT?!

Yep...definite shocker! So phone calls were made, Brock got stressed...=)... and started prepping for our baby girl's homecoming. Started making to-do lists in our heads and getting things crossed off!

Mom and Dad came and we went and got some last minute baby supplies for baby girl.

That night before bed we gave Maylin another bath.

This girl loves getting her hair washed!=)

Nurse, Katie drying off her hair

All clean! Doesn't she look thrilled?!:)

We'll be home before we know it! Hooray!

Day 21

Sat. Aug 7th, 2010

Gestation: Would have been 34 weeks along!
Weight: 4 lbs. 3.7 oz.
Dr. Porter
Nurses: Jessalyn & Karissah

That day I got up, got around and said good-bye to my fellas at home to head back to our Lady May after not being with her for a couple days. First time I slept at home 2 nights in a row, so I was really missin' my baby girl!

She was under fantastic care while I was away, and apparently making a lot of progress too! I was about half and hour away and got a call from the hospital and it was Dr. Porter giving me her update. He informed me that she had drank down 2 bottles with 36 cc's from each.

Holy cow! This girl wasn't hardly taking 1/2 of ONE bottle before her surgery! Completely crazy! She must've woke up from that surgery on Friday absolutely starving or something and realized this milk was some Good Stuff=)

So ever since the surgery on Thursday, she rested up a ton, then Friday while I was away they were weining her back onto food by giving her small amount of Pedialite from a bottle. Did good with that, then gave her small amounts of my milk. Did good with that too. Still no feeding tube...mega plus!

Dr. Porter also filled me that they discontinued her IV so she didn't have to have that stuck in her anymore...halleluiah!!

What I was ready to find was my girl with nothing on her face...no feeding tube or nasal tube, and no tape to hold it on her pretty little face!
This is how I found her when I came back. She took my breath away=)

ALSO....here is a Before/After pic of her little nasty umbilical cord with 9 lives=)
Before: (Right after Dr. Smith cut it down)

and AFTER! Check out that cute little innie:) No way I'm letting her pierce this thing when she's in high school! Cost us big bucks to get it looking normal! ha!

The little tape under it in her smiley face incision where they did the exploratory part of the surgery. They tied off the connection from the bladder because apparently an extra vessel was "feeding" this cord and keeping it "alive". I know...gross. So glad it's over with!

Had to get a pic of my peanut in PINK! Yep, I'm getting used to the pink I think;)
This is my clearance buy from Babies-R-Us. My 1st outfit I bought for my baby girl...I like it on her!

The rest of Maylin's progressive day was topped off with her gulping down her 4 bottles for the day in total, then did her 4 last night with me. I am one proud momma!

Day 20

Fri. Aug 6th, 2010
Weight: 4 lbs. 3.7 oz.
Nurse: AM-Merriam
PM-Nicole

While I've been home enjoying myself with the boys, I still called the hospital a couple of times to see how her day and evening went. She's still been content and quiet and doing good!

The nurses told me that they have her feeding tube out, and her nasal cannula out now. So I'm guessing she has nothing on her face...at all. Wow...can't wait to see that tomorrow! ALL of her face...with no tape on it anywhere--so nice!

The reason she has her feeding tube out is because they were just giving her Pedialite in 5 cc and 10 cc amounts...and we know she can bottle-feed that much down. Just this evening they started her back on breast milk, and only giving her 10 cc's at the most. We know she can do that too. So we'll see if she'll need a feeding tube ever again. I hope not!

Her weight loss only went down a tad, which is expected after surgery and no food like that for a while. She'll be getting baby fat rolls in no time I think=)

Something that we've been struggling with with Maylin is her need for her antibiotic, at how crucial it is to keep it in her system when needed. She has had thee worst time keeping her IV's in, and finding other sites for them. It is one of my biggest things I dislike about her being there, and how upset she gets when getting IV's. Please pray for her IV's to STAY IN! And when they need switched, that they find sites easy each time! Thanks:)

Brock and I are currently struggling with what exactly we want for our boys and Maylin with daycare when the time comes, and what the right decision is for our situation. It's so hard to figure out every detail right now when so much is in question at the moment. I'm now feeling a lot of stress like I need to figure this out now. Lots of prayer needed that Brock and I feel at peace with what we decide, instead of getting questioned with the decision we eventually will make.

Surgery Day

Day 19

Thurs. Aug. 5th, 2010
(no recorded weight today)
Dr. Smith (Pediatric Surgeon)
Dr. O
Nurse: AM-Katrina

Started off the morning keeping Maylin comforted, as she was held off her feedings since 3 am this morning to go into surgery. Poor thing was hungry=(

Brock, Mom and Pastor Jon came around 9:30. At that point the nurses were working on finding another strong IV site on Maylin, since her previous one, just from 6 am wasn't staying it. It was awful to watch and hear her keep getting messed with, but that had to get a good stick=/ Kind of a stressful point of the morning. Finally at 10 am they got it in, so we then waited on the anesthesiologist to come up and get things rolling.

In the meantime, I held her as long as possible and she finally got to a peaceful point and took a nap in my arms while Pastor Jon read scripture and we prayed over Maylin. Talk about an emotional time for all of us!

The surgery time got delayed so we waited a long time...2 more hours actually.

Love her little pose here....she was so peaceful napping in my arms=)

Brock also held her for a while, then finally at noon, the surgeon, Dr. Smith came and talked us through the surgery. A few minutes later they got her all set to go, and took her downstairs to get started.

The procedure was estimated to be about an hour long, assuming it would be just removing the cord, and tying off whatever was "feeding" the cord.

While we waited we grabbed lunch to-go at Mancino's and came back to wait in the lounge until she was done.

At about 1:30 Dr. Smith met us in the lounge and said it went perfect! Praise God!
He explained to us that he did a "u-shaped" incision under the belly button, went to the abdominal wall, cut and tied off the bladder, then he pulled back the belly button tissue and attached it, creating the "innie", while the cut-off excess umbilical cord was sent off for testing.

Here she is! Back and waking up already. She wasn't really thrilled at this point:(

Had some oxegon, the switched to a cannula into the afternoon, then had that removed by evening. She is a strong little squirt and didn't have to have many meds in her system for the pain. They kept it under control for her though so that was good.

At this point, the Dr.'s and nurses emphasized how important it was for her to thoroughly rest and stay quiet, no holding or feedings til late Friday or early Saturday morning. They informed me that this was a window of opportunity to go home if I felt I could. That was definitely a feeling of relief because I felt like there was nothing I could do for her at that point, and had been waiting to go home again. So this evening I'm sitting in the comfort of my home with my family, missing my baby girl of course, but I know she is in the best care possible! It feels good to trust them to have her in their hands.

*On a funny note: Dr. Smith is quite the character when it comes to his music selections...so we asked him what he listened to when he performed our baby's surgery=)...quite the variety I might add!!

Here was his play list:

"California Girls"-Beach Boys
"Cashmere"-Led Zeppelin
"Give Me Your Eyes"-Brandon Heith (also my ringtone! so cool!)
"Kiss Me"-Six Pence None the Richer
"Walking on Sunshine"
"Apologize"-One Republic

Thanks for all the prayers....most definitely answered! God was holding Maylin in his hands today, and will continue to as her little body heals!

Day before Surgery

Day 18

Wed. Aug. 4th, 2010
Weight: 4 lbs. 3.9 oz.
Dr. A
Nurses : AM-Sue
PM-Megan

Finally got word on a date and time for Maylin's surgery, which is set for tomorrow at 10 am. He'll be removing the umbilical cord to the abdominal wall, then doing an exploratory portion to see what exactly is feeding the cord. Might be coming from the bladder. So we'll see what he does with that. Dr. Smith will be performing the surgery, so we're praying for peace for everyone...us...the doctors and the nurses as Maylin goes in, and that God heals and protects her little body.

Highlight of her day was that she nurses awesome! I started counted her "clicks and swallows" and she'd do like 10 in a row...take a breath...then 1o more...I was so proud of her! She is doing great with that. Just hard telling exactly how much she is getting when she does nurse so that's kind of the downside of that being one of her feedings. She still gets an entire feeding from the tube when she nurses...so I guess it's ok for her to have a really full belly!

Will update all of you on how the surgery goes in the morning! Many prayers...many prayers...thanks=_

Day 17

Tues. Aug. 3rd, 2010
Weight: 4 lbs. 2.5 oz.
Dr. E
Nurse: AM-Pam
PM-Kathy

Brock left at noon that day to be home with boys.

Feedings were up'd to 36 cc's and TWO bottles a day.

Maylin's IV site started to loosen, so she had to get another one put in a different spot. It took 3 nurses to try to find a vein that the IV would stay in. Ugh! That poor girl was poked and prodded so many times that evening, she was worn out!

I helped give her a bath that night before she slept:) That helped calm her down. She still loves getting her hair washed=)

Maylin's a 4-pounder!!

Day 16
Mon. Aug 2nd, 2010
Weight: 4 lbs. 0.9 oz.!!
Dr. E
Nurse: Susie
Visitors: Grandma Kropf

Overall, today was a great day! Brock stayed with me again, which is always nice! We had a nice lunch date @ Wendy's=)

Maylin drank a record of 17 cc's from her bottle!

Here's some perspective for ya: Dr. E said that a baby can go home once they can drink SIXTEEN bottles in a row. That's 4 bottles a day, 4 bottles at night...2 days in a row. Yep.

Maylin's got 1/2 a bottle down once a day....we got a ways to go=) She's trying her hardest though!

My Grandma Kropf visiting great-grand-baby #15!

2 Weeks Old!!

Day 15

Sun. Aug. 1st, 2010
Weight: 3 lbs. 15.5 oz.
Dr. Porter
Nurses: AM-Jessalyn
PM-Kathy

What a great day!

Woke up, got ready for church, and listened to Pastor Jim for the 1st time in a few weeks. Man that felt great! It still continues to amaze me how his messages relate in some significant way as to what I am currently going through at the moment. One of the big things he mentioned was how as parents we want to take the place of our kids if they're hurting, and wow, how true that is! It was absolutely amazing at how much prayer and support we received from our church family that morning for Maylin...I absolutely love Grace!

After church we took the boys straight to FW to finally meet their baby sister for the 1st time! That was pretty exciting=)
Kahler was very interesting in the baby, while Isaac was just too distracted!

Here come the big brothers!

Isaac checked her out a LITTLE bit=)

Kahler was really curious:)

They had a lot of fun playing in the NICU lounge while we waited on Maylin's feeding time to get her out.

Isaac's new phase of going shirtless everywhere=/ What a goof!

I
Baby sister is out!! Kahler wanted to love on her! Notice me being a tad protective from the huge monster kid! We'll have to teach him to be gentle=)

Silly me wanted to try the "unspeakable" with my 2 crazy boys, and tried to get our 1st family pic together. HA! Keep dreaming Mommy=)

Oh well I still like it...cuz it's exactly how my kids are at the moment! =)...most of all I think I like Brock's expression! Clearly saying "What on earth did I get myself into??!" lol.

After that excitement we took the boys to the Parkview Hospital park. This place is awesome! I'm going to have to get more pics of it soon cuz the playground is just huge! Awesome circuit work out equipment that I'm definitely going to have to look into with my free time! Really pretty grounds to walk or run too!

The giant adult swings! Kahler had this low belly laugh on these the whole time, while it relaxed Isaac a lot--too funny!

News on how Maylin's day went:
*Drank 12 cc's of her bottle that day
*Feedings got up'd to 34 cc's.
*Still no word on date or time of surgery
*Lab results from tests done on previous day showed no growth in blood stream! Great news!

*The BIG news of the day was our baby girl got moved to her FIRST CRIB! How excited we were! She was doing a great job of regulating her own temp in the isolette, that she graduated from that to a crib!

Here's her nurse, Jessalyn making the big move:)

What a difference just to go up and talk to her and even touch her without going through the glass! So great!

The boys went home with Mom and Dad that day and Brock got to stay and bond with his baby girl=)

Love it that he can participate and feed her when he stays!

She loves her dad=)
Brock and I finally got a pic of just him and I with our little miracle! Missed a lot of these opportunities opposed to having a "normal birth"
So we got one....I like it!