Squish is on a roll!!

WARNING!!! There is a naked picture of the cutest baby boy in the world in this post.

Micah is doing great. We seem to have gotten his seizure under control and taken him off of his seizure medicine. They are weening down his oxygen and moving him into an open bed just like his baby sister. He weighed in at 4 lbs 8 oz yesteday. He has been more awake this week. Almost everytime I go to see him I pull up the blanket to see him and he's staring back at me. We get to hold him again. It feels so good to feel my baby in my arms. Sterling was chomping at the bit to hold his son again. When we do hold him we just stare at him and think how perfect he is. We're so grateful for all the prayers and blessing for our babies, especially Micah. Micah has some cysts in his brain that are consistent with cerebral palsey. So, it's likely he may have some development problems later in his life. We've got a great team on his side to help him learn how to deal with this. We know that Micah came to this earth knowing he would have some challenges and that he is a strong enough spirit to overcome and deal with these trials... it's just his Mommy and Daddy that are having a hard time with it. We've got some really uplifting pictures to share with you all. (Cousin Kambrie... if your reading this Micah and Mattea can't wait to meet you and have you hold them. Their working hard so they can get out and you can see them!!)

Loving my Micah time!

Squish wearing clothes! he still have a PICC line in his left arm so he only have one sleave one. He's also wearig the hat Grandma Beam knit for him.

Here is the naked picture! obviously! Sterling didn't like that I took a naked picture of him but I think it's my right as a mommy.


You can see the incision spot where they put the resevior. The little bump just above it is where the little bubble that they put a needle into to pull our fluid.

This is what we see on a regular basis when we go in to see him.

Nice and comfy! Checking out the world.

This is Micah's 3rd EEG. They were checking his seizure to see if they could get more info on what was causing them. They still dont' know. He doesn't perform when they put him on an EEG.

Lots of changes!!

Our little Squirt (our nick name for her) Mattea Hope is getting so big. She was 4 lbs 6 oz yesterday. She has a little bit of fat and a few rolls in her little bum and legs. The bracelet my friend Lili gave her is getting small on her. We'll have to take it off soon and get her a new one. She is taking 3/4 of her feedings by mouth now. I also get to try and breast feed her once a day. She gets really tired when we try to breast feed her. She should still be inside me not trying to breast feed so I don't blame her too much. She tries hard. She has also made a huge step of being moved from her isolette into an open bed. So EXCITING!! We don't have to look at her in her little plastic bubble anymore. I've also been able to see my baby girl in clothes for the very first time. Since she was moved into an open crib she gets to wear jammies and stuff. Here are som pictures...

Our little squirt. What a chub-a-dub!

Sterling loves to just stare at his babies and loves to watch Mattea eat. She smacks her lips when we pull the bottle out.

You can see her bracelet is getting pretty small. She is also wearing the hat Grandma Beam made for her.

Her new house! The old isolette she used to be in is in the back ground. Yay! she can hold her own temperature.



Squirt in clothes!

She has a little onsie underneath her jammies to help keep her warm.

Bottle, Bracelet, and Grandma's

Mattea is doing really well. She took her first bottle on her Mommy's birthday(Jan 15th) and has been taking some of her feedings through her bottle that way ever since. She loves her bottle but doesn't know how to suck, swallow, and breath at the same time so we have to let her suck for a min and then pull the bottle out so she'll breathe. She also got her first piece of jewelry. My good friend Lili had a bracelet specially made for her tiny little wrist. It was a little smaller then a quarter and it fit her. She can grow into it a little bit too. Mattea also let both her Grandma's hold her for the first time.

Wakey, Wakey!

Well hello Grandma Cluff, I'm a little tiny thing!

And hello to you too Grandma Beam. Don't you think I'm cute!

See my bling?!?! Does it make me look fat?

Yummy! You sure can make a good bottle of milk Mom.

I have a bubble in my tummy could you please get it out?

Peek-a-boo

This was my birthday and the day Mattea took her first bottle. What a cute little girl.

Our Angel Boy

Micah had surgery last week to put the reservoir in his head. He has built up fluid on his brain and needed help getting it drained. Now that it's in they can go and "tap" or pull of fluid with a syringe to relieve some of the pressure. We were really nervous but the surgery went great. It was the before the surgery that was the problem. He stopped breathing twice when they put him on the table. They put him on the ventilator and then he was fine. Obviously, it easier when you don't have to breathe on your own. We think he had just had enough that his little brain just couldn't handle it anymore.

Our little boy a couple days before surgery

Mommy and Daddy with our lil' squish before surgery

Squish after surgery. I know. He looks like a little baby corpse. He looks lots better now.

Micah

Micah was just transfered to Primary Childrens hospital from St Marks. He has some ventricles in his head that are swelling so he needed to be seen by a neurologist to see about putting in a temporary shunt to relieve the pressure. This is actually a common problem for preemie babies. When he got up there they also found that he had an infection that had started to show it's nasty head right before he left St Marks. It's pretty bad and is apparently in his digestive system so he's not being fed my breast milk anymore to give his little tummy a break. The ultrasound today showed that his little tummy is looking better but his white blood count is abnormal which is to be expected with and infection. He's on antibiotics and pain meds because they say it's pretty painful. If he has to have to surgery for the shunt they won't do it until the infection clears up. Micah is a lot more laid back than Mattea so he's not as grumpy or vocal about everything going on with him.

Micah boy LOVES his tummy time. He breaths on his own better and is a good boy.

I love to kiss my little guy as often as I can. He's usually in his little bubble so I get excited when I don't have to look at him through plastic.

Seeing us holding him just helps put into perspective how small he is.

He likes to stretch out and relax. He stretched his legs out really long and doesn't like to have his feet tucked in next to his body.

He likes to wink. It's not very often we see him with both eyes open.

Mattie

Mattea is doing pretty well. She has a PDA, which is a vessel in her heart that usually closes at the end of pregnancy but because she didn't make it that long it was still open. It causes a heart murmur. It look as though it is starting to clear up and close on it's own. If it wouldnt'have close we would have had to send her into surgery to get it closed. She also had an infection but she just finished her antibiotics and look to be doing really well. The Dr has increased the number of times we can hold her a week to twice. She was taken off of the ventilator a while ago. She is really strong will and has a mind of her own. We can definatly see her personality and it's starting to make us nervous (just kidding). She really is fiesty and the nurses tell us she has a little attitude. That's good cause she needs to be a righter right now.

She's really wiggly and has an attitude and she likes to work her way out of her bed. She often sleeps with her hand on her face like this too.

Wide eyed lil' wee.

Our precious girl. She's getting lots of hair.

She's so tiny. We can hold her in one hand. She's wearing one of the hats my Mom knit.

Daddy's little girl. She has him in the palm of her tiny little hand already.