Update

Wow, it has been a while since I did an update. Things have been busy. I feel like I haven't done hardly anything in ages. I go from the NICU to my house to the NICU to my house, over and over and over and over again.

School is back in session. The first day back I went to the NICU as usual around noon-ish and got home around midnight-ish. By the time I got home the girls were in bed and I realized that I hadn't even seen Riley that day and I only saw Kate for 20 minutes (from the time I got her up to the time she left for school.) That is NOT acceptable. So for the past two weeks I have changed my sleeping schedule. I go into the NICU around 8:30 pm and come home around 4:30 am. I sleep for a little bit until I get up to get Kate ready for school and out the door and then head back to sleep until about 1:00 in the afternoon (or at least I try to sleep.) I pick Kate up from school and spend a little time with the girls, get some dinner prepared and do it all over again. It is exhausting.

First Bath

Kiari is doing amazingly well. She is as healthy as can be. She is still in the NICU however. Friday she turned 6 weeks old and her weight is up to 6 pounds. She is packing on the weight. You can't even tell that she is a preemie. On January 3rd, (1 month birthday) she had  her second blood transfusion. She did pretty well, though it took three veins to complete the blood transfer. Poor little girl. She had her first eye exam and there is NO retinopathy of prematurity (ROP.) That was a huge blessing and the nurses were all amazed. We are truly grateful. We have not really run into any of the expected preemie issues. We are totally blessed!

Kiari got a new friend

She has started eating a little bit more. I have been working with her on nursing, and that is proving rather difficult. At this point, she has totally gone backwards and I am beginning to wonder if she will ever nurse. Yesterday was a good day for bottles. She took three. She has to be taking 8 feeds by mouth per day in order to come home. Right now she is only taking a couple. It is really frustrating. They won't move her into an open air crib until she has been doing the mouth feeds.

Chillin (Check out the foot)

In the meantime, I am pumping and producing more milk than I know what to do with. My freezer is full and there is so much at the  NICU. I have no idea what to do with it all when they send us home. It is a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless.

We are constantly asked when she will be coming home. Today is day 45 in the NICU. I had hopes that she would be home last week. But here we still sit. It has been a rather emotional week for me. It is only being made harder with her refusing to nurse. I have just cried the last 3 days. There were a group of us that were pretty high risk and all due right around the same time. Of course I was the first to have a baby and a few others have already followed suit. The only difference is, they are now at home with their babies and I am not. It has been really hard to watch babies come into the NICU and leave and again, here we sit.

Next week my husband is having a surgery to remove his tonsils and fix a deviated septum. The following Tuesday (feb 1) I will be having surgery to repair a hole in my eardrum. I am almost positive that Kiari will be coming home right as we are about to do these surgeries. It will be interesting to balance recovery and a new baby at home. Luckily, I have a fabulous mother. She is flying back out to help me for a week. I felt awful asking her to take more time from work and help me, but I didn't know what else to do...or anyone I would rather have. I love having my mother here. She is a great help and it is nice to know that I don't have to worry about my kids.

My Girls

So, there are a lot of things going on and I am sure it will only get more crazy as we attempt to prepare our house for the housing market that refuses to budge. UGH! But we must move forward... Let the Great Purge begin. :)

Gifts for little Fruit Loops