There Can be Miracles: Meet the Family

People often describe certain life experiences as being like a roller coaster ride, mostly referencing the emotional ups and downs. I think the whole bed rest/delivery/NICU experience goes beyond just the ups and downs of a roller coaster- it was fast, with lots of twists and turns and when the train pulled back into the station, I was dizzy and my head was spinning. I even felt a bit nauseous.

There are a ton of other things I should be doing right now... like thank you cards. And cleaning the bathroom. And laundry. But I have pictures to blog, and that can't wait! ;)

So first, an update- I hesitate to say that Emma's bradys are getting better because I don't want to jump the gun or jinx it (God knows I'm great at jinxing myself. Remember this post when I was just sooooo confident that I'd be doing a "virtual happy dance" when I made it to 34 weeks? And how my water broke that night and I delivered her the next morning?! Yea. I jinx myself pretty well), but she only had two bradys yesterday and two today. Or maybe one today? I've been slacking on writing them down and I really need to get into the habit of doing it again. We have an appointment with the pediatrician on Wednesday and I'm going to ask for a referral to see a speech therapist (yes, a speech therapist for a newborn. Not a typo) so we can get a swallow study done on our little sweet pea. I really want to know if she's aspirating and if they can help us get to the bottom of her choking episodes. She's choking more often, but it seems that she isn't having bradys with them as much and sometimes it appears that she'll get very close to setting off the alarm but brings her heart rate up just in time.

About the choking... she scared the bahjeebers out of us tonight. We had a lovely visit at her Gram and Pop's house (my wonderful in-laws) this afternoon and hubby sat down to feed her on the couch. I was really hoping that she wouldn't have a brady- I didn't want to frighten everyone. She did great, until she burped and choked at the same time and made the most God-awful noise I've ever heard. You could tell it was a burp at first, but then she started choking so loudly that I think my heart stopped for a few moments. She was practically convulsing she was choking so hard. Luckily she didn't brady, but it was absolutely terrifying... hubby played it cool but I know he almost had a heart attack when it happened. That kid is his life... and it bothers both of us so much when something happens to her. This event seemed to be harmless enough, but it was scary.

In the last few days, Emma has gotten to be snuggled by four out of her five grandparents and one of her uncles! So she has some very happy relatives right now :) And of course she loved the attention and made some cute little faces and such and dazzled her audience. She's something else! Oh, and I need to start calling her by her real name a little more often so she doesn't start thinking that "sweet pea" is her name. I don't want to confuse the poor kid! And as far as development, she's really such an amazing little baby- she seems to already be focusing on things and tracking moving objects in her visual field. This is a milestone for full-term babies at four weeks, so she's about eight weeks ahead of the curve on this one ;) And of course I thought it was just a coincidence when she followed a little zebra toy back and forth, but she's done it repeatedly and does follow it back and forth when I move it around. She'll lose focus after a little bit, but I'm so proud of her!

She's currently in her pack n play about ten feet from me making a bunch of noise and farting. It'll never stop making me giggle when she farts. I'm really mature, I know. And I guess I need to curb my laughter before she's a toddler and starts farting at inappropriate times because she thinks it's funny...

Picture time!