New updates and Sydney's first video...

So it's been a week or so since I last updated her blog. She's doing better than ever and we keep getting updates from the doctors that she keeps making positive steps in the right direction. She is now 2 lbs 10 ounces and on her way to 3 lbs! We continue to hold her every other day and sometimes every day for at least an hour or so. She tends to calm down so much she desats (loses oxygen) every once and awhile but she quickly recovers by herself. Sometimes she just doesn't take deep enough breaths which lowers her oxygen level. She is on nasal cannula for 8 hrs per day and cpap for the rest of the day. I think she enjoys the cannula much more! The nurses are really amazed at her progress and they think soon she will be upstairs in intermediate care which is a huge step in this process! Here is a little video I took on my camera.

Two weeks old!

That's right Sydney turns two weeks old today. There is not much to report as she is keeps doing better every day. Angela was able to hold her again today and we got some good pics...We also changed her diaper and took her temp during her care this evening. It just gets harder to leave her but soon we know she will be home with us! On to the pics...

They call her "wild woman"

08/10/2009

Another great day as we saw Sydney two times today! This evening Angela was able to kangaroo with Sydney again for almost two hours! She keeps doing better and better each day. She now weighs 2.4 lounds and has surpassed her birthweight! This is a big accomplishment! She is also breathing room air (has for awhile now) and is on the lowest setting for cpap. She is able to breath with a nasal cannula when she kangaroos. The nurses say she is almost ready to come off of cpap in the next day or two. She could possibly be moving to a less intensive area within the next week or so. One of our nurses is amazed at her progress and how well she tolerates her feeds. The only small setback is that she occasionally has apneas and bradycardias very common for her gestational age. These episodes will eventually go away with time and as her nervous system matures. She seemed very alert tonight and even held her own head up to look at her mom. She had her eyes open almost the whole time. She is also being fed the max (18ml) of mom's milk with supplemental calories to gain weight a little faster. She is responding very well and gained 4 ounces in just a day in a half! Pretty soon she will hit the 3 lb mark! Here are some more pictures...

Kangaroo!

Yesterday 08/06/09 Angela was able to spend some quality time with Sydney. For two hours she was able to hold her for the very first time! They call it kangaroo care just like a kangaroo holds it's baby in a pouch. The nurses encourage it and many studies have shown that it benefits babies in many ways including lowering their heart rate, helping them to calm down, relieve stress and have fewer apneas (periods where premies forget to breathe) common for premies at her gestational age. Today was supposed to be my turn to hold her but the nurses advised to wait another day as her temp last time dropped almost a degree. Also common because they're so small and have no fat yet stored up to maintain their temperature. Pictures below...

Miracle after miracle...

08/07/09:I just want to update everyone on her progress. We found out Wednesday August 5th the results of her brain ultrasound. This is a standard utrasound that is performed on all premies especially ones under less than 34 weeks gestation. IVH or bleeds in the brain are somewhat common but most are harmless or very minor and usually go away on there own. Sometimes they can be severe and can cause for alarm but once again our prayers were answered! The doctor said everything looks normal and no bleeds were found. Most bleeds occur within the first 3-5 days of birth so this is great news that none were found! Another ultrasound is scheduled at 28 days after birth looking more at the brain tissue to see if there is any damage but things look promising that she will be just fine. Also wanted to note that she is feeding on mom's milk and they keep increasing the doses by 3 ml almost every other day! She has lost a little weight but this is normal for both premies and full term newborns to lose a little weight the first week or two. She will be at her birth weight hopefully early this week. She's also digestion the milk which is another good sign that her intestines are working as with most premies at this age their digestive systems are not supposed to be fully functional. With a little food and a sepository she had her first bowel movement the third day after she was born! Now it's a normal finding!

Isn't she lovely...

So as this week comes to an end I'd like to update everyone on what's going on with Sydney...right after she was born she was gone just like that! I took a quick picture of her and it was over. They finished the c-section on Angela and we both went to the recovery room. I decided to leave Angela for a moment to update our family and friends waiting for us patiently in the waiting room. I came out clapping as I was told (I forgot that I actually did that) I guess because I was so happy that Sydney was breathing on her own, eyes open, and wimpering all by herself. I quickly annnounced how well she was doing and her birth weight 2.2 lbs! There were tears of joy and our prayers were answered! At 27 weeks the lungs are not fully developed so this was a good sign! Awhile later once all the excitement wore off I was able to go and see Sydney in the NICU. She looked surprising well for being about 45 min old. Her Apgar score was actually pretty good. At 1 minute after she is born doctors evaluate her vital signs like respiration, skin color, heartbeat, etc. The highest score is a 10 which is near impossible to receive. She got a 7 and then 5 minutes later a 9. I was able to take some pictures and see that she was on a CPAP machine. It is actually better than being on a ventilator because she does all the breathing on her own, wheras a ventilator forces air inside the lungs in order to help you breathe. Most babies at this age are on a ventilator so this was a good sign. I quickly left her to show pics to everyone still waiting. Of course being on CPAP covers most of her face so it's hard to capture a good description. After about an hour or so Angela was able to see her from the hospital bed as nurses wheeled her in to the NICU. She was happy to meet her little girl! I was happy that both of them were stable and on the road to recovery! Here are some pictures we took over the last few days...

The Journey Begins...

07/29/09: Baby Sydney Adair Milsten enters the world at 2 lbs 2 oz and just over 14" long at 27 weeks and 6 days. We never imagined our pregnancy ending this way but this is how God planned it and we trust in his timing and have faith in his promises. We hit our first bump in the road at around 20 weeks during the pregnancy during our first ultrasound. We waited about a week for the results and I received a call from Angela crying on the phone telling me that one of Sydney's kidneys looked to have cysts inside it. I was a little shocked to but thought well if that's all they found then that's not to bad but unfortunately this was just the beginning. Our next ultrasound we had was almost 4 weeks later at Tacoma General fetal medicine clinic. They looked at not only the kidney but other areas and took measurements. The doctor told us it looked like fluid built up in the kidney but no cysts. Good news we thought until we met with the genetic counselor following the ultrasound. During the ultrasound they found two other problem areas. One was the ventrilcles in the brain which were enlarged slightly at 11mm. Normal is 10mm or less. Also echogenic bowel which looks like a bright spot on the ultrasound. This can be associated with many problems like Cystic Fibrosis, infections, diseases, or Down Syndrome. Because of the three markers that were found (the kidney, the ventricles in the brain, echogenic bowel) there is a greater risk for Down Syndrome because these are all soft markers associated with Downs. Of course this was hard to hear coming from such knowledgeable people. We were pretty upset for a couple days but as the days went on it became clear to me that things were going to be just fine. I felt God speaking to me and reassuring me that she was going to be healthy. Of course the real test of our faith started on Saturday July 25th. By now Angela was 27 weeks along. She was starting to feel different than before. Nausea and vomitting after eating, swelling in the legs, hands, and face, and quick weight gain. We decided to check her blood pressure and I'm glad we did. It was very high at 175/95! We checked it a few times and decided it was best for her to go to the hospital. It was even higher there which is expected but it stayed high. Doctors decided to put her on Magnesium sulfate which prevents sezuires. They thought it was possible she was developing Pre-Eclampsia. She was given steroids to help the baby's lungs develop just in case. She was at Good Sam for a couple days and the doctors then decided to take her off the magnesium and send her home even though she had most of the symptoms of Pre Eclampsia. She also had high proteins in her urine which meant her kidneys were not functioning normally. Doctors then decided to send her to Tacoma General where the care is much better suited for high risk pregnancies. They determined she did have Pre Eclampsia and that the only cure is delivery of the baby. For a couple days Angela got continually worse until they woke us up early Wednesday Morning, July 29th and said it was time to do an emergency C-section because her liver enzymes had skyrocketed! What a crazy last few days! It was pretty intimidating going into the the operating room. I just held her hand and continued to reassure her. Pretty soon I heard the wimpering of Sydney as they pulled her from the womb. She had her eyes open and was breathing on her own! Our prayers were answered. I snapped a quick photo and she was taken quickly to the NICU. This is how our journey started and I will continue to update the status of our little Sydney.