2 months and 2 days - going strong

We’ve been home TWO MONTHS! Emilia has doubled in size. She is 11lbs. She is wearing 3–6-month-old clothing now! Half of her 3-month stuff doesn’t fit at all. She’s above average in height, weight, and length for a preemie her actual age AND for a babies born on October 19th (her due date). We are so proud. One of my favorite things is when she nestles her little chubby cheek into my neck when I am carrying her around.

She’s off oxygen support; only had to be on it for 10 days after we got home. Plus, one night I might have overreacted to some rapid breathing and lower than normal stats, and we took her to the ER. Turns out preemie babies with breathing issues go straight back into a room, so we didn’t have to wait in the waiting area with the sick children. Children’s is less than 10 minutes from the house and has valet.

We still monitor her oxygen saturation level at night, so we’ll have an alarm to wake us up if anything happens…like she pushes so hard to poop that she throws up and chokes on it. I didn’t need an alarm to wake me up for that, I already had her sitting up and leaning forward before it could go off. She didn’t even wake up until I sat her up and started patting her back, and then just side eyed me like what in the world mom. This baby sleeps HARD. She sleeps in a bedside bassinet – which I would highly recommend to anyone with a baby. I can just reach over and hold her little hand without her being in the bed in harm’s way.

Our doctor appointments have slowed down because she is progressing so well. The eye doctor is the most frequented and it’s currently every 2-3 weeks. A month after the anti-vegF injections she had in Lubbock (that worked to straighten out the ends of her blood vessels in her eyes), the blood vessels began to grow out more! They are still in zone 2 but we were thrilled by this news and pray that they will hit zone 3. We go back December 21st. That is all I want for Christmas. Emilia’s eye blood vessels to hit zone 3. Zone 2 is your peripheral vision, and most people don’t even use Zone 3 according to our retina surgeon. All doctors say she won’t know the difference, she might just turn her head more. We would bring her every other week forever but eventually she will get too strong to just be swaddled while they put the metal torture device into her eye and pry it open to look behind it. And that is when decisions will have to be made…they can’t put her under every 3 weeks. We can’t leave the blood vessels not fully grown out because they could start to curl and negatively affect her eyesight she already has, so they will have to laser them. And that will be it. They won’t grow past that. So we need them growing strong now, please God and Santa.

All her blonde hair fell out and she has a full head of fuzz that’s her momma’s color. Her eyes seem to be getting lighter blue. They have a starburst of light near the iris. We are thinking the blue might stick. If you don’t know, babies’ eyes change color until they are about 6 months on average. Unless they are born with brown eyes, then they usually just stay brown. She tracks things and people, namely people. And just calmly watches what’s going on around her. Sometimes I wake up and she’s laying there with her eyes open, not crying, just looking around. Figuring out the world.

She had another inguinal hernia! But this time it resolved itself. Whew. No surgery needed.

Angelica went back to work before we left Lubbock and our first month home, we passed her back and forth during the workday but now we have a pretty solid routine now, and a nanny that comes from 8am-2pm. She is gentle and loves her. Our pediatrician is thrilled with her developments and says she has great head control. I’m so glad our mommy and baby sit ups and planks/tummy time are paying off 

Angelica is doing amazing and looks amazing! She is a boss mom. She works hard and loves gently. Emilia is very lucky to have a momma that learns all about pooping and congestion massages because they are working!

I wasn’t sure if anyone would want updates once we got home but have had a good number mention it so figured I’d put this here for anyone keeping up with her progress and that wants to help me pray for those blood vessels in her beautiful blue eyes to keep growing to zone 3 or even better all the way out and then we don’t have to have laser! Not trying to be greedy though, so zone 3 would be great (all the way would be phenomenal).

Oh and the dogs just love her. Stella gives her kisses when she can and sits guard at her nursery door during her nighttime routine, both wake up if she’s crying. Fin sits with me when I’m feeding her or reading her a story, he lays and watches when we’re playing or doing tummy time, he comes with to get bottles in the night.

We are still staying clear of folks out in the wild as much as possible. Emilia will owe everyone a sip and see rain check until about May when RSV season is over. We’ve only let family with all their shots hold her so she can be soooooo safe. The last thing we want is her back in the hospital. So hopefully we’ll catch you guys in person in the spring. Until then, let me know if you’d like an update here.