New Pics

Allie had a great day! She is still hovering around 3lb 12oz. She enjoyed a cuddle with Mom today and had a visit from Nana and Papa Shepard. As you can see, she is now fitting into her preemie outfits.

Allison is doing really good on CPAP and is weaning down her PEEP (the amount of air pressure being pushed through her nose) and will hopefully transition to a nasal canula over the next couple of weeks. She loves to be held and smiles quite often......it just melts our hearts!

3 lbs. 12 oz. and growing!

Allison is doing real well, she is up to 3lbs, 12 oz and continues to improve daily.

Allison is doing well, she is still on the CPAP and we will begin weening her off of it on Monday, hopefully it won't take too long!!! She is around 3lbs 7 1/2 ounces, and growing. She now wears little footies, but she keeps kicking them off!

Officially off the respirator!!!

On Monday at 8:30 A.M. Allison went off the respirator and is now on CPAP. She has been doing well and we hope that she continues, we can now see her mouth and can hold her in our arms. She is up to 3 lbs., 3 oz. and continues to handle her feedings well.

Thanks to the NICU staff for all their support. Allison had the whole 5th floor rooting for her CPAP success!

Her next step will be to ween off the CPAP and go to the nasal canula. GO ALLISON!!!

Well, we hit the big 3 lbs mark this weekend! She is doing good and we are getting ready to try CPAP again on Monday. A lot of people have been asking about her room, thus the pictures.

All dressed up

Another good day. Today Allison is wearing clothes for the first time! She loves her pacifier and now likes to hold fingers. She is doing great and is only 2 oz away from 3 lbs. She keeps her eyes open for longer periods of time (an hour or so) and she loves to look around. She has this expression on her face like, "What is going on?"

Today I tried to take the pacifier out of her mouth, thinking that she was getting tired and she gave me the "I'm going to cry" face. Needless to say the pacifier went right back in. She definitely has me wrapped around her little finger. Oh well, that's what dads are for.

The pictures are taken with a cam phone, sorry but the batteries ran out on the regular camera, tomorrow's pictures will be much better, and yes, I promise to update tomorrow.

A note from Allison

So, mom and dad haven't updated the blog in a couple of days so I snuck out again to update it for them. First, to all those that were at the shower this last Sunday, thank you so much. All the gifts and well wishes were a wonderful and generous surprise. I can't wait to get out of here to try on all those clothes! Right now I just hang out in a diaper, I can't wait to be dressed up!

I have been gaining weight steadily, today I am 2 lbs., 14 oz. only 2 oz. away from the big 3. My PDA is so small that the doctors tell me that it really isn't a concern right now. I know that I still have a way to go but I'm ready to hang out at my real home.

Mom still visits me all day, every day. I really like hanging out with her. Dad comes after work and hangs out until the nurses kick them out for shift change. The nurses here are real nice and the doctors are real good with me. I'm going to try CPAP again later this week or early next week, they will tell me when they think I'm ready.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, they really have helped me. Sorry I don't have any pictures to post - I'm too small to use a camera!

2 lbs, 10 oz. - She is doing real well and we are very fortunate. She keeps growing and growing each and every day.
The CPAP didn't work out. Allison didn't have a problem with getting air, it was her temper! She became really upset with the tubes in her nose and she tensed up and fought for an hour, she won the fight and the nurses went back to the respirator. We'll try again next week, but her temperament is apparent.
Allison now likes to suck her thumb and she is starting to smile.

Allison had a good weekend, she is now 2lbs. 6 oz. and is up to 15 cc's every 2 hours - she's got a great appetite. The nurse introduced her to a pacifier to use when she's being being fed through the gavage - she loved it!

They have also started Allison on a daily dose of caffeine to help stimulate her lungs as she is scheduled to move off the ventilator and onto CPAP (a breathing machine that sends pressurized air to assist with breathing) on Monday - a HUGE step for her! They tell us not to get discouraged if she doesn't take to it right away.

Allison's personality and characteristics are really starting to show - she loves to be held, dislikes laying on her back and having her face wiped. She looks more and more like Matt everyday - she's got blonde hair, cute cheeks and blue eyes, and she got Nicole's toes!