No more outtie!

We can now cross off umbilical hernia repair off of our list! Her surgery went well. She's sore and cranky, but doing great. Her surgeon said that it was the largest umbilical hernia he's ever repaired! 17 stitches! I got so used to seeing her bellybutton poking out of all of her shirts and onesies, it's weird to see it gone. I'll post some pictures when she's in a better mood.

The amazing shrinking Hemangioma and other Romy updates!

The first picture was taken right when she started the steroid treatment. The second was taken 6 weeks later. What a difference, huh? Her eyesight is improving as well! We tried to wean her from the steroids, but the hemangioma began to grow again, so we'll have to wait a few more weeks before we try again.

She had a well-baby check up the other day and she's just short of 11 pounds and she's 22 inches long. Other than the tightness in her lower half, she's doing well. She's very talkative these days! She smiles when you kiss her or blow raspberries on her belly. Her eating has drastically improved. We're going on a whole week without one "bad" eating day. She's eating 3-4 ounces every 1.5-3 hours during the day. She sleeps through the night mostly. Every now and then she'll wake up around 5 or 6 for a quick bottle. She's also eating baby food twice a day and she LOVES it. Well most foods anyway. She's not a big fan of green beans, squash, pears or oatmeal. Her favorites are carrots and PRUNES! Haha. She also loves peas, banana's, and sweet potato.

Her hernia surgery got pushed back a day, so it's first thing tomorrow morning. And she has her swallow study the following day. Say little prayer for the little monster, okay?

Will the cutest baby please sit up?

She sat like this for a full 10 seconds! Then she flopped forward to eat her toes. And if you're wondering about her hair.....your guess is as good as mine. It's some kind of natural rockabilly rooster hair-do. I think she might have curly hair. Like me or her Papa Goat. Anyway, her hernia surgery is on Monday.....I'm a bit nervous.

For Romy:

I was reading another Preemie parents blog about what it was like to have your first child be a micro preemie, and a lot of it was exactly how I felt. I'm sure it's completely different than most full term parents felt and I thought that I would share it, if for anything, so it's on the record for Romy to read later in life when she's being an evil teenager.

I remember announcing Romy's birth along with her weight, height and hospital stay and some people didn't really know what to say. Some congratulated me and other's apologized. I remember a few weeks after her birth, Ray, my Mother and I were having a casual conversation about all the baby stuff we still had to buy. We all came to the conclusion that it was best to wait a few more weeks. Although neither one of us said it, I know for a fact we were all thinking how tragic it would be if our house was filled with baby stuff and there was no baby to take home.

But I guess I should start from the beginning. I didn't get to see Romy for the first 24 hours of her life, and for the good part of that day I just prayed that she would live long enough for me to see her. Well as we know, she did:)I was in a wheelchair recovering from my c-section so Ray wheeled me into the NICU for the first time and my ears were assaulted by beeping alarms, little cries and what would become the usual hustle and bustle NICU noises. I passed a few babies on the way in and I noted how unbelievably tiny they all were. Just as I was processing that, we stopped in front of the tinest baby there. My baby.

Her little arms were no bigger than my finger and she was this little, hairy, red, fetal looking thing. She was beautiful. No, she wasn't all cuddly with leg rolls and a head full of hair. But she was a miracle in the making, what's more beautiful than that? But honestly, I noticed the wires and tape and tubes first. They were all over her! Everything seemed real at that point. To say it was bittersweet would be the understatement of the year.

There was a lot of guilt at first. I felt as if it was my fault that she came early, it was my fault for not being able to keep her safely in my womb for 40 weeks. And sometimes I still feel like that, and I doubt that feeling will ever truly go away.

After the first visit with her, I was laying in my hospital bed when I started feeling completely ROBBED. I was robbed of being the first one to hold my baby, they didn't flop her on my chest first thing like other Mother's. Ray was robbed of cutting the umbilical cord. We were robbed of hearing her first cry. It was a complete stranger that fed her for the first time, changed her diaper first and gave her the first bath. Hell, I didn't even get to touch her for the first few days.

Although I was incredibly happy to be a Mother and loved Romy way before she was born, I still felt slightly disconnected. I mean I knew I was a Mom and that the little baby in the plastic thing was MY baby, but it wasn't me who gave her 3AM feedings and rocked her back to sleep. I didn't wake up to her cry, I woke up to my phone alarm reminding me to pump some milk. Don't even get me started on that damn breast pump!

I will admit, I had a big ol' pity party for myself in my own mind. Then I got over it. I started counting my blessings and put all of my hopes in my hand and threw it up to heaven. I wasn't disappointed. Sure, there were highs and lows. I yelled and cried. I'm pretty sure I had an anxiety attack once. I would cry tears of sorrow and of happiness in the same day. But 98 days later it was ALL worth it. It felt odd to walk out of that hospital with a baby in my arms. I couldn't stop looking at her, studying her. My love for that little munchkin just kept on growing and it still is. Every milestone Romy hits, even if it's delayed, I cry tears of utter joy and immediately call everyone I know. She's an amazing soul, and I wouldn't trade her or this whole experience for the world! She can't even talk yet and she's taught me more about life and faith than anyone else ever has. She's just so awesome. She must get it from her Mom.

AWWWWWWWWW!

Playing dress-up with Daddy's beret.

Peanut

Romy has two cowlicks! Old wives tales say that it's a sign of a stubborn child. I think that's about right!

She crosses her eyes whenever she's trying to focus on something, this time it was the camera. Check out the lips on her!

She melts my heart!

Thanks, Uncle Kane for my NC State onesie! I can actually fit into it now! Go Wolfpack!


There's another blog I read about 24-weeker adorable twin girls, Holland and Eden. Their Mother recently discovered that someone has been stealing pictures of her daughter, Eden, and passing them off as her make believe daughter "Dani." Apparantly this other person has been doing this for 3 years! She made up a whole story for reasons that I will never understand. And I've heard that this happens more frequently than I realized. Therfore I disabled the right click function on here so that it doesn't happen to Romy. For friends and family that would like copies of the pictures posted, just leave me a comment and let me know. I'd be happy to email them to you!

Romy the Pirate....Arghhhhh!!

Because the hemangioma makes her eyes do this:


She is now a pirate for 2 hours a day until her eyes resolve:


And she most definitely has her Daddy's eyebrows:



Her eyesight has improved in her Hemangioma eye, and it's actually shrunken a tad bit, so that means the steroids are working. So that's really great news! She's doing really well overall. Her ECI nurse came by and said she looks awesome and isn't too concerned about the stiffness in her leg muscles becasue she's such a good "kicker". She's still going to see a physical therapist anyway though. So it's all good news to report!