18 inches long and 5 lb. 9 oz.!

Many people assume that 5 lbs. is the magic number for leaving the NICU, but this is not the case. Technically, Becca only had to weigh 4lbs to come home. After she hit  the 4lbs mark, the only thing that keeps her in the NICU is her oxygen support and tube feedings. Becca came off her nasal canual on Friday and has been doing an excellent job breathing without any additional support since then. Currently, the only thing that is keeping her in the NICU is her feeding tube. In order to come home Becca must take all her feedings through the bottle. Though she had a great start, right now Becca isn’t doing too well with her bottle feedings and we’re expecting that she’ll being the NICU until sometime in February.

We continue to be pleased with Becca’s progress and good health and are thanking the Lord for working on her behalf. Thank you for your continual prayers.

This past weekend, Josh and I enjoyed our 2^nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day getaway. We traveled to Dallas and stayed at the Magnolia Hotel. The Magnolia Hotel is the former Mobile building (i.e., Exxon Mobile), and it was built in 1910. At the time it was the tallest skyscraper in the city and was the first to have air conditioning. We stayed in a corner room on the 24^th floor – the “historic” floor – and enjoyed our view of the city. Once again, our vacation was sponsored by credit card points. (Rent and tuition really help the points add up during the year!)

At the Magnolia, we enjoyed soda during their “happy hour” and a milk, cookies, and coffee snack at the late evening cookie bar. For dinner, we walked to a little Italian restaurant. The hot breakfast in the morning was great.

Our little vacation was relaxing for us both, especially after the events of the past 10 weeks. Josh started back to school on Tuesday and has an exciting semester ahead of him. Our next big event will be Becca coming home!

A picture from today…notice anything missing?

This week I was surprised with a “shower in a box.” My sister-in-law, along with other friends and family members, organized a special shower for us all the way from SC. Josh informed me that he had a surprise for me this week. So after coming home from school and taking my nap, I was invited by my husband into our living room to see my “surprise.” I overwhelmed to see our living room full of gifts from friends and family. (See video below!)

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After eating our angel food cake with strawberries, Josh and I enjoyed opening our gifts. As of this evening, we’re only half way through opening everything. I’ll post more pictures once we finish opening all the gifts.

The shower means so much to me. With everything going on with the unexpected early arrival of Becca, I keep thinking how I’m missing out from all the “events” surrounding one’s last three months of pregnancy (some might say that’s nice — but I was looking forward to experiencing pregnancy all the way through). It means so much to me to actually open up presents, instead of buying everything with gift cards. I know it was a lot of extra work for Ashleigh to pack and ship all the gifts — and we appreciate all that went into planning and preparing our shower. Thank you to all who helped making our shower so special!

This photo is from a couple hours ago. Holding Becca is Jennifer, her day nurse today.

Becca’s weight today is a whopping 2230 grams — that’s 4 lb 14.6 oz! She’s not getting the suck-swallow-breath thing too well, but she’s still negative 5 weeks old, so we’ll give her a break.

Amy’s working on another post to follow this one shortly.

From last evening . . .

Yeah, no posts since Becca’s last birthday. Sorry. As you may know, this is Amy’s second week back teaching, so she’s crazy busy (and tired!). Last Thursday and Friday I was at a linguistics conference in Baltimore, where it was almost as cold as it was here in Texas last week. This week I’m gearing up for my semester, which starts next Tuesday.

Becca’s weight yesterday was 2120 grams, about 4 lb 10.8 oz. She’s being fed every 3 hours, which comes out to 8 times a day. As of today, they’re giving her 42 ml per feeding. Every day for three of the eight feedings, they give her a bottle. After 20-25 min of bottle feeding, they pour the rest down her tube so as not to wear her out too much.

Sometimes she does better with the bottle than other times. Yesterday afternoon she took almost the whole bottle (all but 5 ml). Last evening, she didn’t want to wake up, and she only took about 15. This afternoon, she was awake, but she choked a few times and maybe got discouraged. She took about 25. So the big developmental prayer request right now is that she coordinates her suck-swallow-breathe routine better — on a consistent basis. Once she does, they’ll move her to bottle every other feeding.

To reward you for reading all this, here’s another photo I like from last evening:

Today is Becca’s 6-week birthday! She started out this week (Sunday) by coming out of her incubator and is now wearing clothes and working on learning to take her feedings from a bottle. Once she learns to take all her feedings through a bottle, she will be released to come home! So far, Becca takes one bottle during the day-shift and one during the night-shift. The occupational therapist works with her bottle-feeding during the day, and Josh has been able to go in during this time and learn all that goes into bottle-feeding a preemie!

Becca’s current weight is 4 lbs. and 4 oz. We’re very pleased with her progress. Thank you for your continual prayers for our little girl!

Hint: it’s one of the pretty girls in the photo. . . . Okay, here’s another photo to help you figure it out:

This evening we called the night nurse to find out her daily weight, and Becca’s reached 1800 grams! Tonight they may see how she does outside the incubator in a crib — with just clothes (!) and blankets. She may not be ready yet to hold her body heat without help, but it’s a positive step forward for her nurse to try the crib. Probably next week they’ll try her on a bottle, too. At her gestational age, she may not have the coordination to suck, breathe, and swallow all at the same time, but again, it’s great that they’re ready to try. (I have trouble myself with breathing and swallowing at the same time.)

In the photo above, you can see Becca getting a bath last night. It was the second bath Amy and I have given her (with supervision, of course).

Tonight we called the nurse instead of going in to the hospital since it was date night. After dinner out, we played 3 rounds of Memory (another gift from Aunt Cindy). Guess who won two out of three rounds?

We wrapped up the evening by reviewing last year’s goals and setting new ones for 2010. Now it’s bed time.

Today is Becca’s 5-week birthday! She currently weighs 3 lbs 11 oz and is 15.5 inches long. We’re looking forward to when she weighs 4 lbs – that’s when bottle-feeding can begin and bottle-feeding is a big step toward coming home.

We’ve enjoyed being able to participate in caring for Becca more. This week we’ve been learning how to bathe her. Each nurse has her own technique, so we’re learning lots of ways to give preemies baths. Last night we did most of the bathing on our own (with supervision) – Josh washed her hair.

Today we took a spoon into the NICU to “retake” the picture my mom took on Nov. 27th. As you can see, Becca is making progress to someday being able to use a spoon on her own. It’s amazing to look back at pictures and see how much she’s grown since Thanksgiving.

We’re having a quiet New Year’s Eve – Josh is working on finishing up his dissertation proposal, and I’m trying to get some things in order before I start back teaching on Monday. I’m breaking my maternity leave in half, so when Becca comes home from the NICU I can go back on leave and be home during her first few weeks home. Thank you for your prayers for Becca. We are praising God for her good progress and health.

We had a delightful white Christmas. I haven’t had a white Christmas in several years and found it funny that we were in Texas, having a white Christmas. We started out our day by visiting Becca and singing Christmas carols to her. Becca is still in the isolation pod and will continue to be there until she comes home. We’re praising God that the MRSA is just colonized in her nose and that she is infection free.

Late morning and early afternoon, we enjoyed homemade cinnamon rolls and opening presents by the Christmas tree. We’ve been saving gifts sent to us or Becca to open on Christmas day. Our Christmas tree was lent to us by Aunt Rita (a lady in our church), many of our lights were given to us by David and Caroline, and most of the decorations were lent to us by Sandi (another lady in our church). It was so nice to have a Christmas tree in our little apartment.

In the afternoon, we went to see Becca and I was able to hold her. She was quite alert and seemed to enjoy being held, even though it was through a gown and gloves. We came home, read the Christmas story, had homemade bean dip with chips, and enjoyed watching Charlie Brown’s Christmas.

In the evening we had our Christmas dinner, which consisted of ham, fresh green beans, and baked potatoes. Josh made a delicious pumpkin pie for dessert. After dinner we made our evening visit to Becca and then enjoyed watching a movie. We both agree that we had a lovely Christmas. We enjoyed being able to spend the day together without the pressures of work or school. We enjoyed our visits with Becca and are praising God for our darling gift from Him.

Today is Becca’s 1-month birthday. Her weight, as of this morning, is 3 lbs and 4.9 ounces. It’s hard to believe she’s a month old already. We’re looking forward to when she can celebrate her month birthdays at home with us.

Earlier today, Amy mentioned that this is our first Christmas in our own home. Not to be outdone, Becca decided she wanted her own room at the NICU this afternoon — and she wants her parents to dress up special whenever they visit her.

When we went today for our 2:30 holding time (it was my day for holding), we had to wait a while to go back since the nurses were drawing blood from a baby. When we went back, we found out it was our baby. They had decided to run extra blood tests because they had just gotten back results from a weekly nasal swab culture showing that Becca’s nose is “colonized” with MRSA, the hospital-care associated staph bacteria (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

She hasn’t shown any signs of being infected — she’s still breathing great and gaining weight — but they’re looking at her c-reactive protein levels (high levels can indicate there’s inflammation or infection) and blood cell count (particularly “bands,” which are precursors to white blood cells, I believe). They’ll also do a blood culture, which I think takes a couple days. (While we were there, the c-reactive protein test came back, showing she has normal levels. They’ll call about the blood cell counts. [Later in the evening they called to say her blood cell counts are normal.])

Because MRSA is easily spread among patients by health care workers, and because it’s dangerous for people with weakened immune systems (preemies definitely qualify), Becca is being moved to the Isolation Pod–I-Pod–to reduce the risk of spreading the bacteria. Benefits: privacy, quiet, one-on-one nursing care. Dis-benefits: we have to wear gloves and a sterile hospital robe whenever we visit. We can still visit whenever we want. She’ll be in isolation till she’s discharged. (In the photo at top and bellow, I’m not wearing gloves because they forgot to give them to me.)

Naturally we weren’t expecting this change, but we’re thankful that Becca still appears to be very healthy. She’s in God’s hands just as much as she was last week when she didn’t have MRSA in her nose. And Christmas time reminds us that God doesn’t ask us to face anything that He was unwilling to face for Himself. It reminds me of Dorothy’s Sayers’ jarring words:

[F]or whatever reason God chose to make man as he is — limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death — He had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace, and thought it was worthwhile.

And here’s a photo of Amy holding Becca yesterday (we love the hat!):

And by they way, it snowed here today! Yesterday it was in the mid-70’s; today it got below freezing and we have a nice covering of the good stuff. It’ll stay cold all night, so we’re set for a white Christmas.

Today is Becca’s 4-week birthday – it’s hard to believe she’s a month old already. This is a picture of Becca with the bear Santa gave her for Christmas. The bear’s head is about as big as Becca’s. (To give you a perspective of how big the bear is, check out my hand in relation to the bear’s body.)

Today Becca weighs 3 lbs and 3.5 ounces. We can definitely tell a difference in her size – she’s starting to fill out and actually look like a little girl, instead of an old woman. The nurse last night gave Becca and her teddy bear matching hair bows.

We’re looking forward to celebrating Christmas tomorrow. It will be our first Christmas as parents and our first in our own home. We’re grateful to people from our church family who have lent us Christmas decorations (will post pictures later). I’m looking forward to spending the entire day relaxing with my husband (he’s not going to do any dissertation work tomorrow) and visiting our little girl.

Thanks for your continual prayers for Becca.

The Olympic Torch

A half-gallon of milk

The human brain

Rebecca Grace Jensen!

Last night, Becca weighed in at 3 lb 1 oz. We thank God for her steady weight gain. It’s fun to watch her filling out a bit! (Maybe Santa inspired her.)

Thanks to everyone who’s following her progress and praying for her.

Sunday night, Becca had a special visit from Santa! Santa visited all the babies in the NICU and left them Christmas presents. The nurses took the above picture…looks like they dressed Becca up like a little elf.

I enjoyed holding Becca Sunday afternoon. Josh brought a mirror so I could watch her face, since kangaroo care doesn’t allow for much “face-time.” Becca settled right in to being held and did really well during her 30-minute holding time. Afterward, we changed her diaper and settled her in for another long winter’s nap.

Today Becca came off the SiPAP and is now back on the nasal cannula. The haze in her lungs is clearing up and the doctors are satisfied with her progress. Her current weight is 2 lbs and 15 ounces, and we’re excited about her reaching the 3 lb mark. Yesterday, the doctor changed Becca’s feeding process. She is now being fed 28 ml in 30 minutes, every three hours. This is to prepare her for bottle feeding.

Today is Becca’s 3-week birthday!! Anna stopped by to give Becca a birthday present – two cute outfits! This picture was taken by one of the night nurses the other night when she had Becca’s SiPAP off. They’ve decorated her bed for Christmas and put a red bow on her head. The haze in Becca’s lungs seem to be clearing up, but she will remain on the SiPAP until she can consistently stay at 30% or less oxygen saturation. (Currently she is around 37% oxygen and does not do well on her own when they removed the SiPAP.) Thank you for all your prayers for our little girl – we appreciate them.

Today Becca’s doing better than yesterday. Her x-ray this morning showed that her lungs were less hazy, and the doctor thinks the Lasix is helping clear the fluid. Aimie, Becca’s day nurse today, said it’s common for preemies to be on and off Lasix till they go home.

The night nurse hopes that Becca may be off the SiPAP and back on the nasal cannula soon, perhaps tomorrow. (I explained the difference between a SiPAP and nasal cannula in a comment yesterday.) Because the SiPAP is forcing about 15 breaths a minute through Becca’s nose, sometimes she’ll swallow some of the air, and it has to be aspirated out of her stomach through the feeding tube between feedings. So if the SiPAP isn’t necessary, it’s nicer for Becca to be on the nasal cannula. She also hates the helmet. This afternoon she was pulling at it, which was really cute — and really sad at the same time.

In other news, we got a box today from Aunt Cindy, who sent Becca, among other things, a Sock Monkey. It’s a little scary, but I like it.

This morning, when Josh called the NICU, he was given the doctor, instead of the nurse. The doctor said that today’s x-ray showed haze in both of Becca’s lungs, and that she was being put back on the SiPAP (see picture) until this problem clears up. About a week ago she had a foggy section in her left lung, and they started respiratory treatments, in the hopes that it would loosen the fluid. There have been no improvements, so she’s now back on the SiPAP and our holding of Becca has been discontinued until her lungs clear up. Becca also may have an infection. The nurse said that this is all part of the preemie roller coaster. Please pray that Becca’s lungs would clear up and that there would be no further complications with her respiratory system.

Last night we got to hold Becca for the first time. I was a bit nervous as we drove to the hospital. Susan, her nurse, bundled her up so we could look at her face for awhile before letting her snuggle on our chests. Susan was Becca’s the nurse on her first night in the NICU and it seemed appropriate that Susan would be there the first time we held Becca.

Becca seems much smaller when she’s out of the incubator – I was surprised how tiny she is. We were delighted to be able to hold our little girl and were pleased with how well she handled being held. We’re allowed to hold her once a day (being held causes her to burn more calories) — as long as she’s handling well.

Becca now weighs 2 lbs and 7 ounces. Today, her doctor increased her feeding to 11 ml per hour. Right now the goal is weight gain. Thank you for your prayers for our family!