Two Months Old

Our baby girl is two months old!  It's hard to believe it's been that long.  Each day we have with her is such a blessing.

Sloan continues to do well.  We had our second cardiology appointment earlier this week with our local (Grand Rapids) Cardiologist.  He was happy with her weight gain, oxygen levels and overall status.  We were happy to get a good report!  In two weeks we'll head back to U of M to meet with Sloan's Cardiologist there.  We'll have another EKG and echo.  This will give us an even better look at her heart to make sure she remains on this path that she's been on since she came home.

At two months old, Sloan's stats are:

Weight: 10 lbs
Height: 1' 11"
Milestones: She's smiling, cooing, kicking and moving her arms around, grasping toys, maintains good eye contact and tracks objects

We continue to enjoy being home together as a family of four!  Here are some recent photos for the baby fix.

Photo shoot with big brother

Play time under my activity gym - one of my favorite places

Look At That Face!

Ladies and Gentlemen.........WE ARE FEEDING TUBE FREE!!!

On Sunday we removed Sloan's feeding tube.  She hit her goal intake of food for two days straight (requirement to remove the tube) so we pulled the trigger and took it out.  Since then she has been doing really well with her feedings, going above goal every day.  I think she likes eating much better now that she doesn't have the tube down her nose/throat.  I know I sure would!  We've also started giving her medication orally as well.  She doesn't love it, as many of them don't taste that great, but she is tolerating them.  Now we just hope that we can keep the tube out.  So far, so good!

Other than that we've been pretty much hermits since we've gotten home, but neither Kyle or I mind it.  We are getting a lot of great family time in and starting to settle more into a routine.  As each day goes by things get a little bit easier with Sloan's care.  She's also been a great baby so we cannot complain at all!  She's much tougher than I could ever be and amazes me daily with what she has accomplished in just 7 weeks of life!

Next week we have another follow up cardiology appointment.  Here's to hoping this one goes as well as her first one!

Cardiology Appointment

We had our first post discharge cardiology appointment today in Ann Arbor and things went really well!  It was odd walking back into the hospital after being home for a week.  We ran into a lot of staff that we met during our stay there.  They were all happy to see Sloan and commented on how well she looks.  Seems like Sloan made quite an impression during our original stay there - everyone ooh's and aah's over her and told me how excited they were when they saw her name on their list of patients.  I thought it was cute that they all seem to love her almost as much as we do.

Our appointment consisted of an overall review of her, an EKG and an echo.  Her stats were good:

First Doctor Visit

• Oxygen levels ranged from high 70s to low 80s

• Weight gain is great - she's now 9 lbs 4 oz.  They said that puts her at an average of 27oz gained per day since discharge.  They want to see anywhere from 20 - 30 so she's right in line!

• Her echo showed improvement in her heart function (squeeze of the heart).  It's now similar to how it was before she had her surgeries.  So the medication they put her on (captopril) must be helping.

Sloan also was such a trooper all day.  We ended up being at UofM for quite some time, appointment started 8:30am and we finished around 1pm, and she hardly fussed at all!  She actually was quite alert and happy 90% of the time.  She even slept through her entire echo which was around 30 - 40 minutes!

Moving forward we'll be going back up to Ann Arbor once a month to repeat the appointment we have today in preparation for her stage 2 surgery (which they figure will take place around 5 months).   In between our Ann Arbor visits, we'll be seeing another pediatric cardiologist affiliated with UofM in Grand Rapids.  These appointments will be shorter and used to just check her oxygen levels, blood pressure, weight, etc and make sure she continues to do well.  

Sloan turned 6 weeks old this past weekend and we are starting to notice she's more alert and interactive now.  She's beginning to coo and will keep eye contact with you.  I was excited that she's hitting these milestones that most other babies her age are. 

All in all a good day and I couldn't be happier with the results.  Now we just hope we continue on this path!

Adjusting

It's been four days now since we've been home and we are so happy to be here together!  

Happy to be home!

Sloan has been sleeping well at night. Her first night she slept all night and we didn't hear a peep out of her.  We were worried that being in the hospital for so long she may have had her days and nights mixed up but that doesn't seem to be the case - thank goodness.  We are on a pretty set schedule right now from the hospital.  She needs to eat every three hours and take in at least 560mLs for the entire day.  She's been doing really well with her feedings and at times will take the entire bottle by mouth during the day.  I'm hoping that means we are moving towards getting rid of the feeding tube sooner rather than later!  We give medications three times a day, once at 9am, 3pm and 9pm and I need to weigh her and check her oxygen levels once a day as well.  We have a visiting nurse coming to our home twice a week which has been a nice extra set of eyes on her to make sure all is going well.  I also have a nurse from UofM who calls once a week to get an update on how Sloan is eating, what her weight gain/loss has been and how her oxygen levels are.  So I feel that I have a good resource of people to rely on for any questions I have that come up.  

Drake has also been adjusting to having sister at home.  He's been such a helpful big brother and is really taking things very well.  He gets a bit jealous that mommy has to spend a lot of time and attention on sister, but we've been trying to also focus on him and make sure to include him on helping with sister.  

Kyle and I are going through the normal new baby stuff - sleep deprivation, anxiety of having a newborn at home, etc.  I think after we get into a good routine we'll feel things are a bit easier.  I'm starting to make the schedule from UofM my own while ensuring we are hitting their main goals.  It'll take time, but I know we can get to a good place.

We'll be heading back to UofM on Monday for Sloan's first cardiology appointment since discharge.  I'm anxious to see how they think she's doing having her first week at home under her belt.  I'm hopeful that they thinks she is doing well and no concerns come out of the appointment.  I'm learning that being a mom of a heart baby, you always seem to have a bit of anxiety and concern in the back of your mind.....but also have a lot of hope and excitement about your baby's future.  

So overall things are going well for this family of four!  We feel blessed to be home, together doing normal family things together!   

Home Sweet Home

Finally....we were discharged!  Sloan had a great weekend and showed them all she was ready to go home.  We headed out of Ann Arbor around 1pm today and made it home around 4pm.  Mimi and Poppy came up to AA to help us pack up and drive back.  Sloan did so well on the car ride home.  She sat in the back seat with her Mimi and only had a few spells of fussiness.

Since we've been home she's been doing good.  I think this is a pretty big change for her as she was a bit upset for awhile.  Drake is adjusting as well to having baby sister at home.  He was pretty clingy to momma, but he's been a great big brother.

Kyle and I are beyond excited to all be home together again.  Walking into our house after being gone for over a month was a very odd feeling.  It felt like we were coming back to a new home again.  But soon after we got here and settled we feel so comfortable.

Our plan now is to hibernate for awhile - have to keep Sloan away from the germs!   And we don't mind spending some much needed time at home.  Then we'll have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday with her pediatrician and another one with her cardiologist on the 11th.  Until then, we'll continue to work on her feedings (which she is doing better and better at each day - she drank 35ml's today by bottle), spend some much needed family quality time together and keep on getting to know her better without nurses and doctors coming in to poke an prod her.

I'll keep trying to update the blog as much as possible while we are at home but if we are a bit delayed just know it's because we are learning the ropes of having two kids...on our own now!

Welcome home Sloan!