Abigail update

Hey everyone! Abigail is doing good. She went to the bpd clinic on Tues. 11/4 & they said she looks good. They decreased her oxygen from 0.4 liters to 0.2. When we go back next month they may take her off oxygen during the day & have us put the oxygen on just when she sleeps. She now weighs 9 lbs. 7 oz. She lost a little bit of weight because we've had a some trouble feeding her. But we're adding some formula to her breast milk so she can get more calories per ounce. Abigail is discovering her hand. She'll look at it, wave it around, & put it up to her face. We're doing tummy time everyday so hopefully she'll get stronger & learn to roll soon. Stay tuned for further updates.
Michele & Kurt

Abigail's 1st Dr. appt.

Hey everyone! We are doing well. Abigail had her 1st pediatrician appt. with Dr. Benjamin Almasanu or Dr. Ben on Mon. Sept. 8th. She had to get 5 shots & 1 oral vaccination. She cried during her shots but was fine afterwards. She slept a lot after we got home. Dr. Ben said she looked good. She weighs 9 lbs. 9 oz. & is 19 in. long. Mommy & Daddy also celebrated their 7 year wedding anniversary with a steak dinner @ home. On Tues. Sept. 9th Abigail had her 1st appt. @ the bpd clinic @ Children's. They said her lungs sounded good & that they are happy with the weight she has been gaining. They kept her on 0.4 liters of oxygen. She goes back to the bpd clinic in Oct. when they will re-evaluate her & probably decrease her oxygen. She will go back to the bpd clinic once a month until she is off the oxygen. She is eating well & is pretty much sleeping through the night! Stay tuned for further updates...
Michele & Kurt

Abigail @home

Hey everyone! I wanted to let you know that we are adjusting to our new life @ home with our precious Abigail. She is doing great! She is a good sleeper & only gets up one time through the night to eat. She has gone on a few stroller walks through our neighborhood & slept through both of them. Being in her car seat puts her to sleep. She loves to play in her bouncy chair & went out on the patio in her bouncy chair for the 1st time today while her Mommy & Daddy cooked bratwurst on the grill. She is 19 wks. old & weighs 9 lbs. We are so happy to finally be @ home as a family! Happy Labor Day weekend!
Michele & Kurt

Abigail-134 days old

Hey everyone! We are excited to inform you that Abigail was discharged from the NICU this evening!! After spending 8 wks. @ Riverside & 10 wks. @ Children's we are finally @ home as a family! She slept the whole way home & woke up a short while after getting home to eat. She is home on oxygen & an apnea monitor which monitors her oxygen levels & her heart rate. She will more than likely be on oxygen & an apnea monitor for at least a few months. She has an appt. @ the bpd clinic in 2 wks. when they will determine if her oxygen can be weaned down from 0.4, which is a low level of oxygen. Abigail is now 19 wks. old, almost 5 months old. We will keep you updated on her progress. Stay tuned...
Michele & Kurt

Abigail-132 days old

Hey everyone! Here is an update on Abigail. She is now 18 wks. or 4 1/2 months old. She now weighs 8lbs. 12 oz. She is doing good with her feedings. They took out her ng tube(feeding tube in her nose) last Sat. & she is on ad lib feedings which means that she eats on demand. The good new is that they are going to watch how she eats & gains weight over the weekend & if she does well she could be coming home early next week! We are ready & excited to bring her home. We will let you know when she is home. Thank You to everyone for your continued support which is still needed & appreciated. Stay tuned...
Michele & Kurt

Abigail-114 days old

Hey everyone! Abigail was 16 wks. old on Mon.(8/4) & was full term on 7/23. She is getting big! She now weighs 8 lbs. 5 oz. & has rolls on her arms & legs. I never thought that we'd have a chubby baby! They are continuing to bottle feed & I have started to breastfeed her. Learning to feed by mouth may be a slow process, but we hope she'll get the hang of it before too long. The still have her ng(nose) feeding tube in until she can be fed by mouth on a consistent basis. She's having a little bit of a hard time because her gag reflex is still very sensitive. She loves her baths, especially getting her hair washed. She continues to do good on nasal canula. We have her rainforest swing & bouncy seat set up in the family room at home. She loves to fall asleep in her swing in the NICU. They haven't given us a send home date yet. It just depends on how well she starts to progress with her mouth feedings. Stay tuned for further updates on Abigail!
Michele & Kurt

Abigail-96 days old

Hey everyone! Here is my 10th blog. Abigail is now 13 wks. old & was 39 wks. gestation on Wed.(7/16). She will be 14 wks. old on Mon.(7/21). The good news is that Abigail went on nasal canula on Sun. July 13th & is doing great on it! Nasal canula is just oxygen prongs in her nose. Abigail is breathing all by herself! This is what we've been waiting for most of her short life. She still has her feeding tube in. They moved the feeding tube from her mouth to her nose. They did this so that when they start bottle feeding her there is nothing down her throat. Bottle feeding will be a slow process. They attempted to feed her a bottle for the 1st time today but she didn't take much & gagged some on the breast milk so they will try again next week. It will take time, but eventually she will get the hang of bottle feeding. She has to learn how to suck, swallow, & breathe at the same time. She now weighs almost 7 lbs. Abigail is making a lot of good progress. Stay tuned for further updates on Abigail!
Michele & Kurt

Abigail-83 days old

Hey everyone! Abigail is 11 wks. old & was 37 wks gestation on Wed.(7/2) which one of the nurses told me is considered full term. She will be 12 wks old on Mon.(7/7). Abigail now weighs 6 lbs. 3 oz. at last check. The big news is that Abigail is now on cpap! She went on cpap on the 4th of July. So far she is doing really well on it. When I talked to her nurse this morning she said they turned her oxygen down. With cpap she has oxygen prongs in her nose with a little mask that covers her nose. It is forced oxygen into her lungs, but she does all the breathing by herself. Abigail is such a big girl & is so cute! They encourage her to suck on her pacifier so she is breathing through her nose which makes cpap more effective for her. She still eats through her feeding tube but if she does well on cpap they will start feeding her from a bottle in the next couple days. So there are exciting changes happening & we hope that she succeeds on cpap. Maybe the 5th times a charm. STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES!
Michele & Kurt

Abigail-62days old

Hey everyone! Here is my 8th blog. Abigail was 8 wks. old on Mon. (6/9) & 34 wks. gestation on Wed.(6/11). Abigail was transported to Nationwide Children's NICU downtown on Thurs. evening. They got her settled in & we went to visit her & see her new home. We will miss the nurses, doctors, & other staff who cared for her at her 1st home, but hopefully by being at Children's she will get better sooner & come home with her Mommy & Daddy sooner. She is on a floor at Children's that specializes in BPD (bronchopulmonary dysplasia) & other lung diseases. We're confident that she is getting the best care. We don't know much yet, but they plan to wean her oxygen down a little bit every other day until they find a comfortable oxygen level for Abigail on the ventilator. The goal is to get her on cpap, but it will be a slow process. It could take her several weeks. She now weighs 4 lbs. 13 oz. & is eating 37 oz. of breast milk every 3 hrs. & has graduated to newborn diapers. I am now able to hold Abigail in a cradle position. She does pretty well with it for the most part. We are almost done decorating Abigail's Pooh room. We keep telling her that she needs to come home so she can see her bedroom. We don't know when she will be coming home at this point. Time will tell. STAY TUNED FRO FURTHER UPDATE ON ABIGAIL! Michele & Kurt

Abigail-54 days old

Hey everyone! Here is my 7th blog. Abigail is now 71/2 wks. old. She will be 8 wks. old on Mon. She was 33 wks. gestation on Wed. They tried to wean Abigail off the ventilator & on to cpap yesterday afternoon. She was only on cpap for just over an hour before she had to go back on the ventilator. She is having such a difficult time with her breathing because of her early gestation & because she has what is called BPD or brochopulmonary dysplasia. This means that the ventilator that she needs to breathe has damaged her delicate lungs & impaired their natural healing process. We hope that she'll be able to try cpap again in a few wks. It will just take time for her lungs to grow & heal. Abigail is getting big. She now weighs 4 lbs. 2 oz. & is 14 1/2 in. long. She is also in a big girl crib! She was getting too hot in her isolette. She is also wearing clothes that we brought in for her to wear. When we visited her last night she was swaddled & looked comfortable & cute with a little bow in her hair! I go back to work next Tues. but will be able to visit Abigail on my lunch hour & after work. This has been a very trying time for Kurt & I but I appreciate everyone keeping us in your thoughts & prayers. STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON ABIGAIL!

Abigail-38 days old

Hey everyone! Here is my 6th blog. Abigail is 38 days old & 31 wks. gestation today. Abigail is doing really well with her nutrition. She is now getting 23 ml. of breast milk with calorie fortifiers. She weighs 2 lbs. 131/2 oz. She is getting to be a big girl! She has a little belly and is getting what Kurt calls a Chris Farley chin. She gets a sponge bath right in her isolette every Mon. Abigail is unable to get off the ventilator so Kurt & I have decided to have her Doctor start her on steroids. They started the steroids Mon. evening. It will be a 10 day course of steroids. The steroids will help to decrease the inflammation in her lungs & help them heal to help her get off the ventilator & on cpap. We will let you know when she gets on cpap. STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON ABIGAIL! Michele & Kurt

Abigail-26 days old

Hey everyone! I thought I'd write my 5th blog while I have a minute. Abigail is now 26 days old & was 29 wks. gestation on Wed.(5/7). The exciting news is that I got to do kangaroo care on Tues.(5/6/08) for the 1st time! Kangaroo care is when you hold your baby on your chest. The skin to skin contact can be therapeutic for preemies. Abigail did really well with the kangaroo care. She loves having her Mommy hold her & her Mommy loves holding her! The NICU staff said that I can kangaroo once a day now. Abigail is back on the ventilator, but may go back & forth between the two for a while. She now weighs 2 lbs. 1oz. & is 13 1/2 inches long. She's a growing girl! She is continuing to do good with her feedings. She is getting 18 ml. of breast milk & a powder added to the breast milk to give the breast milk more calories. She doesn't have any IV's. She is getting all of her nutrition through my breast milk & powder substance. I'm excited to be celebrating my 1st Mother's Day this Sun. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mother's!
STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES! Michele & Kurt

Abigail-19 days old

Hey everyone! We just wanted to give you a quick update on Abigail. She is now off the ventilator & on the cpap, which feeds her oxygen through her nose instead of having a tube down her throat. She's doing very well with it. She's also gained some weight. She is up to 2 lbs. 1 oz. She is also up to 12 ml. of breast milk every 3 hrs. They are also adding a powder to the breast milk to give her more calories. She is looking good & making progress. We love our little girl!STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES! Michele & Kurt

Abigail-17days old

Hey everyone! This is my 3rd blog. Here's another update on Abigail. The exciting news is last night(Tues. 4/29)when her Mommy & Daddy were visiting her, Abigail opened up her right eye & was trying to open her left eye! I called to check on her this morning & the NICU nurse told me that she had both eyes open! They put drops in her eyes once they both opened to prevent any damage to her eyes. The nurse said she was being nosy & watching everything they were doing. The nurses think that right now she sees in black & white & can't see too far. She'll be able to focus more around 32 weeks gestation. She's 28 weeks gestation today. She's off the photo therapy for jaundice now, her levels are 1.9 at last check, which is good. She is up to 8 ml. of breastmilk & is having regular BMs. This means that her digestive system is working. She was born with a small opening in her heart valve, which has closed with medicine. She had a brain scan which is rated on a scale of 0-4, 0, 1, & 2 being good. She got a 1 on the scan, which means they're not even worried about her brain activity. Abigail & her Mommy & Daddy are doing pretty good.
Thank you to everyone for your thoughts & prayers. STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON ABIGAIL. Michele & Kurt

Abigail-12 days old

Hi everyone! Here's an update on Abigail. She was born on April 14, 2008. She is 12 days old today( they count her birthday as day 1). Abigail is our little fighter. The NICU nurses say that she will have good days & bad days. She is now under what is called a photo therapy light which is to treat jaundice. Jaundice is a common condition in any baby, even full term babies. It is a breakdown of red blood cells. The nurses explained it to us by saying that jaundice is a babies inability to heal their skin when they get a bruise. Our skin heals when our bruises change colors.
She also wears little foam "sunglasses" to protect her eyes, from the photo therapy light causing any permanent damage. She is on a ventilator tube which breathes for her if she forgets to breathe, but she is breathing quite a bit on her own. I received 2 shots of steroids while in the hospital before she was born, which helped to further develop her lungs. She is getting 1 1/2 ml. of my breastmilk which they feed her through a tube that goes down to her stomach. To give you an idea how much 1 1/2 ml. is there is 30 ml. in 1 oz. of breastmilk. It doesn't seem like a lot but they have to start her out with just a little bit at a time to teach her digestive system how to work. They also want her to poop so her bowels can learn to work. Premature babies have to learn so many things like how to breathe on their own because they aren't at the gestational age where they've learned to do these things on their own in the womb. So when babies are born early they aren't prepared to do these things. The NICU nurses & doctors say that Abigail is doing pretty good for her age & weight. STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES. Michele & Kurt

Kurt & Michele's story

Hi Everyone! I finally found an extra moment to post my 1st blog. Before I tell you about Abigail I need to tell you why my pregnancy was high risk & why Abby was born early. About 4 yrs. before Abby was born Kurt & I were having trouble getting pregnant so I started fertility testing. The 1st test was called the hcg were they shot dye into my fallopian tubes to look for any blockages. They take an x-ray of your reproductive organs. When my Dr. saw my uterus he saw that half my uterus was on the right side & half was on the left side. I have a birth defect called uterine didelphys, which means I was born with 1 uterus but the 2 halves never fused together. So Kurt & I knew that when I got pregnant I would be high risk because a baby has only 1/2 the space of a regular uterus to grow in. We went to a fertility clinic to try to get pregnant last summer. I did injectable drugs & IUI(intra uterine insemination). The 2nd time we did the injectables & IUI we got pregnant! We were so happy! My pregnancy was going great until week 25 when I started to have bleeding & pains. It all started Thurs.(4/10). I was having pains & my Dr. offfice told me to go to Labor & Delivery. Well, they sent us home. They thought the pains were from a growing ligament. Sat. morning(4/12) we went back to the hospital because I was still having pains, but more consistently. They checked me & said my cervix was efaced to 18(it was complete at 32 on Thurs.), & I was 1/2 a cm. dialated. They said I was staying in the hospital until I delivered. What a shock! They got the contractions under control with an IV drip of a medicine called Magnesium to stop contractions & relax the uterus. Mon. night I started having contractions again. They tried to stop them with medicine but couldn't. The Dr. on call, checked me & said," You're 8-10 dialated, we're having a baby. " They threw some scrubs at Kurt & rushed me to the OR for an emergency c-section.I was scared but I was in good hands. I had great Doctors & nurses caring for me.

Abigail Faye Sexton was born on Mon. April 14, 2008 @11:35 p.m. weighing 1 pound 11 oz. & 12 inches long. She was born at 25 wks. & 5 days. Abby is truly our little miracle in many ways. Her Mommy & Daddy are so happy to have her! STAY TUNED! I WILL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT ABBY IN MY NEXT BLOG! Michele & Kurt (Abby's Mommy & Daddy)

Welcome home Michele

I am glad to hear you are home.  Hope you are feeling better soon!  Don't forget to take care of yourself.  My hope is that this blog can help you and Kurt to communicate with family and friends about how everything is going.  Please let me know if you have trouble.  

*jen*

Welcome Abby

Welcome Abby!  There is a whole big world of princesses, tea parties and dresses waiting for you.  And of course a big family who loves you very much.