(above) Lauren - 38-weeks old (AGA), weighing 6lbs 11 oz!! She's been in the hospital for 83 days, but this big girl is almost ready to come home!(below) Connor and neighbor Raya play on the hippo at the Denver Zoo!
Lauren is on the homeward-bound countdown! Her doctors are telling us she will likely be discharged this coming Wednesday! This is exciting news and we are thrilled and a bit nervous about the upcoming transition.
Grant and I have spent almost the entire last two days with Lauren. Her primary nurse Bobbi has been teaching us all that we need to know about her care: how to use the home oxygen tanks, how to mix her 'milk shakes' (breast milk with a cornstarch-like thickener that seems to help her reflux), how to crush her synthroid pill and give it to her with multivitamins, how to work her home monitors.....there's a lot to learn, but I'm sure it will become second nature soon. We have decided to bring home an oxygen saturation/heart rate monitor for piece of mind and extra precaution. We've been warned that the monitors can go off even if there's no emergency, and that they may just drive us crazy. She may just be moving around enough that the monitor can't get a good reading. But we've also heard that a monitor can help parents sleep better, knowing that if anything scary happens, the monitors will alarm and wake us up. We've decided to try them at first and then work with our pediatrician to help us decide when she no longer needs them.
We continue to enjoy our new neighborhood and neighbors. Now that the weather is warming up, we're been exploring the many parks and outdoor activities nearby. Last weekend we ventured to the zoo to watch the many animals frolicking in the sun! Connor and his neighbors Raya and Julia loved every minute....until it was time to go. Then we experienced a full-on Connor Meltdown. I guess we're nearing the Terrible Two's!!
Thank you all for donating to the Walk America - March of Dimes. Team Lauren has raised over $1300 and we're still going strong! Here are some of the programs that your donations will help support:
- 43 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Family Support projects. This program works with families of critically ill newborns and staff to develop customized services, which could include support for siblings and extended families, helping the family cope with the NICU experience, easing the transition from hospital to home and, if needed, bereavement support. By year's end, with your help, there will be a NICU Family Support project in every state, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. (this Support Project has helped our family immensely! Especially during the tough days when Lauren was sick.)
- More than $43 million allocated for research and medical support in 2006. The March of Dimes, over its history, has funded the work of 13 Nobel Prize winners.
- Educational materials distributed through hospitals, doctors' offices, healthcare centers, schools and online at Pregnancy and Newborn Health Education Center®. Millions of women of childbearing age are advised on how to have a healthy pregnancy and reduce the risk of premature birth.
- Advocating for women and children. The March of Dimes led the effort to pass the PREEMIE Bill, which was signed into law on December 22, 2006. The bill authorizes expanded federal research into the causes of premature birth. The Foundation is also lobbying for expanded access to health insurance for mothers and babies.
- Focusing on the health of children. If you or your child received a polio or rubella vaccine to protect against these diseases, you've been helped by the March of Dimes. (Every child benefits from the March of Dimes. Not just preemies!)
- More than $43 million allocated for research and medical support in 2006. The March of Dimes, over its history, has funded the work of 13 Nobel Prize winners.
- Educational materials distributed through hospitals, doctors' offices, healthcare centers, schools and online at Pregnancy and Newborn Health Education Center®. Millions of women of childbearing age are advised on how to have a healthy pregnancy and reduce the risk of premature birth.
- Advocating for women and children. The March of Dimes led the effort to pass the PREEMIE Bill, which was signed into law on December 22, 2006. The bill authorizes expanded federal research into the causes of premature birth. The Foundation is also lobbying for expanded access to health insurance for mothers and babies.
- Focusing on the health of children. If you or your child received a polio or rubella vaccine to protect against these diseases, you've been helped by the March of Dimes. (Every child benefits from the March of Dimes. Not just preemies!)
3 comments:
Just a few days away and the Nesbitt 4 will be all together under one roof! All our best wishes to you guys during this exciting and emotional transition. We're here if you need an extra hand. -Lor, Bill and Oliver (who loves having little friends over!)
Congratulation on being homeward bound. She looks just beautiful and all of us here on the Coastside are looking forward to seeing Lauren and Conner at some point in the hopefully not-to-distant future. Oh, and their parents too, of course! We expect to see their grandparents much sooner! Good luck to all of you! - Clay & Celeste
I am so excited about Lauren's homecoming, my bag is packed and I am ready to be on call. Connor was happy to see GranDoc and me last weekend, but he was most excited to see Opus. Thanks to all of Kaia and Grant's family and friends for the tremendous support they have given over these past three months. We didn't get eaten by lions in Botswana and are ready to be working grandparents again. GranD Histand
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