28 Weeks v. 1 Month

Well, Emma celebrates two milestones today. Today she is one month old (yahoo!) and she is a gestinational age of 28 weeks. We couldn't be prouder of her.

Emma has had a busy couple days (all good for the most part). Emma's pnemonia appears to be under control, and she is back to her normal self. She is awake and active and is very curious (today her dad showed had her pet all of her different "pet" bears to see what each one felt like... she really had a great time). Emma also continues to do well in her breathing, and the rate at which the machine instigates breaths is down to 40 per minute (note... she was down to 25 / minute a couple weeks ago, but surgery and pnemonia set her back). While she hasn't come down on ventilator pressure, she will soon. While Emma has lost a little weight over the past week, she has finished her downward trend and we expect she will start gaining again soon.

Emma has started eating again, and is currently at 2ml every 2 hours, and the plan is to increase the rate every 12 hours as long as she can handle it. So, she might be up to full feedings (8ml / 2 hours) by New Years (that would be great, because as soon as she is up to full feedings the doctors will consider removing her IV).

Emma also made another big step. As I said about a month ago, there are three things Emma must be able to do before she can leave: eat on her own, breath on her own, and maintain her body temperature. Yesterday Emma made a big step - her isolet temperature is no longer controlled based on her skin temperature (which is great... one less thing stuck to her skin). So now Emma's isolet air temperature is set at 32.7 C.... she needs to get to 27 C (considering she was at 38 or so a couple weeks ago, this is a big step). In addition, the humidity setpoint for the isolet has been dropped to 45% (a month ago it was 80%... it looked like a rainforest). So, she is making progress.

Overall, Emma is doing great. Today she is going to meet some friends (aka Mike, Derek, Donnie and Heather). Hope everyone had a great holiday!

On another note, Liz's grandmother is having a rough holiday season. Our prayers go out to her and we hope that she can recover and live well.

Note... again, I will try and post pictures ASAP...

Merry Christmas (Revision 2)

Merry Christmas everyone. Well, it has been a busy day for the Sullivan household. As I said before, Emma had surgery on Friday. After Emma had her surgery, another baby had the same surgery. Unfortunately, that baby passed away on Saturday afternoon. Our hearts go out to that family. Additionally, the baby's passing reinforced in us how fragile Emma truly is.

For the surgery, the doctors gave Emma more that enough anesthesia than she necessarily needed (studies have found that babies recover better if they are given a lot of anesthesia compared to a little). However, Emma started to stir a bit on Saturday evening when Liz and I spoke to her. She wasn't really "active" until Sunday. Emma continued to do well yesterday with her breathing and blood pressure (although she was a on blood pressure meds for a bit).

Unfortunately, Emma deteriorated a bit this morning and was diagnosed with pnemonia. The doctors put her back on antibiotics to take care of the illness. She is doing pretty well, although between the pnemonia and recovering from the surgery she is a bit uncomfortable. We know she is good hands, and we will continue to watch for Emma's recovery.

Liz and I are doing well. We realized that Christmas Eve and Christmas were the first time in months that (a) Liz was not on bed rest, (b) we didn't have any body visiting, (c) I didn't have to study for finals and (d) Emma wasn't having surgery. So, we are relaxing and recouping as best we can.

Hope everyone has a great day. I'll be editing this post later and adding some pictures.

Note... I won't be adding the pictures today. I bought some new batteries a couple days ago... and they were dead. I hate the batteries w/ the picture of the black cat (i can't remember the brand name off hand). Either way, I'm buying rechargeable batteries and a charger tomorrow.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

Hello everyone!

Emma's foot v. Chad's hand...

Hi there!

Emma likes to look around at the world...

What's up there?

Getting ready for surgery...

Well, first off, Emma's surgery went very well. It was done in about 25 minutes... The surgeon said he had no problems whatsoever with the surgery.

During (and after) the surgery, Emma did great. She kept her ventilator at the same settings, and her blood pressure didn't drop at all. Both of these things are subjects of concern when any surgery is done on a baby, and she passed with flying colors.

After the surgery she was doing well. As I mentioned before, studies have shown that if a baby is given just enough anesthesia, they will do worse off than if they get lots of it. So, Emma really didn't move at all yesterday. I've been told she might starting moving this morning. But, her lungs are doing well (the doctors keep decreasing her settings) and she looks so peaceful when she is sleeping so soundly.

And, she's out for the count...

Sleeping BeautyEmma and her Frosty blanket...

Good night everyone!

On a side note, Liz and I are enjoying the beginning of our winter vacations. While mine is a bit longer than Liz's, we both need some time to relax and take this all in...

As for now, Liz's parents and brother (and his wife and son) are up for a day or two. I think we are going to celebrate Christmas as just Liz, Emma and I. We'll be celebrating with my folks soon, but the date has not yet been set (We've been pretty busy lately... sorry mom, dad and brent!)

Quick Question

Does anyone else find it a bit interesting that BYU, a traditionally Mormon school, is playing the Las Vegas bowl?

I Made It!

Ok... my last final is done. Amazingly, it was relatively painless. However, it still is going to take me a bit to decompress from this semester. Not sure why... I mean, not much has gone on this semester.

So... I will be blogging a bit more regularly from now on. And, I will be replying to all those emails that I feel like I should reply back (Craig that means you). Oddly enough, I have a pretty busy winter break coming up... but I'll take it in stride.

Emma is doing well. Since the last post, she has taken great improvements. She is now in the "800 Club" and is looking great. Every day she looks 100% healthier. I get excited just to see what she'll look like everyday. Emma's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10:30 am (it has been scheduled and rescheduled a couple times... lots of fun).

Because Emma is having her surgery tomorrow, they have only been feeding her 2ml every 2 hours. In addition, the doctors have not been pushing her on her ventilator, etc. However, the doctors have said after Emma gets past the recovery period (which could be anywhere from 2 hours to 3+ days), they are going to ramp up her feedings and try to get her off the ventilator.

Other than that, I hope everyone has a great holiday. If you get any coal in your stocking, just remember, if you are patient and squeeze it hard enough it'll turn into a diamond.

Just Kidding

Ok... so they got everything all set up, and then the surgeon decided to postpone the surgery a couple days to let Emma's lungs get a bit better. Luckily her duct / murmur hadn't gotten any bigger in the past couple days, so we'll try again on either Thursday afternoon or Friday.

Thoughts and Prayers...

Hello everyone...

Emma is doing well today. However, at ~ 4:30pm today Emma is scheduled for cardiac surgery to close her PDA (murmur). It is a relatively simple operation, although it is cardiac surgery and Emma is really small. The doctors have told us that Emma may have a rough couple days ahead as a result of the surgery. While doing the surgery they have to deflate (?) one of her lungs. In addition, she will be on pain medication and is recovering from a bout with pnemonia. The primary issue for her recovery is how quickly Emma is able to get her lungs reinflated.

Aside from that, everything is going well. Emma has consistently been gaining weight (up to 775 grams!) and is eating well (although they have backed off her feedings due to the PDA and surgery). She looks well and is quite energetic most of the time.

Emma continues to take meds for pneumonia and some other fun issues. But, she is doing well overall, and we look forward to a quick recovery.

ok... this one is upside down (Sorry)... but, notice the feetprints on the wreath...

Emma's growth chart... the nurses all predicted that Emma would stay low on weight until after the carebear, and now she'll gain to miss the next sticker (the sticker theory seems to carry a lot of weight with the nurses)

Emma's Christmas stocking and ornament

Dad changing Emma's diaper... (boy was this a chore. While I had changed Emma's diaper before, I learned a lot about changing diapers when a baby is pooping... Let's just say that due to my impatience, she went through five diapers. Good thing insurance is footing the bill.)

Sleeping...

Emma and the nurse's arm...

Eating time for Emma... If you look in the upper right, you will see a syringe w/ a green tip. That is Emma's milk. (yummy!)

This is Emma telling her dad to stop taking so many pictures....

The 700 Club

Well, Emma has reached the 700 club. She had a big weight gain due to her tolerating her increased feedings, and she is now 700 grams. It took us a little while, but she is getting a bit bigger.

Emma continues to do well with her feedings and her breathing tube. The doctors suspect that Emma had a small bout of pnemonia, so she will continue on antibiotics for a couple more days. Other than that she is doing really well. They anticipate that when Emma is done w/ her medication they will remove her IV and she will obtain all of her nutrition from milk.

Emma's echocardiogram results came back today. She continues to have a murmur. While the doctors don't believe that it poses an immediate threat. However, they feel that it would be best to get it taken care of soon. So, it looks like Emma will be having surgery early next week.

Other than that, Emma continues to do well. As for Liz and I, we are looking forward to the weekend. Liz has done well with her week at school and she is looking forward to relaxing a bit this weekend. I finished my first final today, a monster of an antitrust exam. I feel good about how it went, and now I can relax tonight before studying for my next two finals.

What's the old saying...

... something along the lines that when you have children, your parents get to sit back and laugh at all the things your child does to make your life difficult as if it's some sort of payback for all the difficulties you put your parents through?

Well, I'm not sure if this is a sign to come... and I'm sure in 10 years Emma will be thrilled that I blogged about this... but Emma had impecable timing last night. Liz and I gave Emma her first bath ever... she had been getting a bit grimmey, so it was nice to get her clean. While she was not exactly excited to take a bath, she was doing just fine. So, just as we are finishing up, Emma gets a strange look in her eye... and she pooped. In the wash basin. She is now no longer clean. Wonderful. Perfect timing.

While I know that this isn't the first time a baby has pooped in the bath (and definitely won't be the last), I have to wonder what more she has in store for Liz and I in the future. And I wonder if the next time Emma does something silly if my mom will laugh as hard as she did when I told her about the pooping incident. I'd hate to think that my mom enjoyed the fact that I worked so hard to clean my baby girl only to have her quickly dirty herself again. But, I did do my fair share of things as a child (and adult) to make my mom shake her head in disbelief, so maybe this is just the starts of my just desserts.

On a more serious note, Emma is doing well. I didn't know that we were going to be bathing Emma last night, so I didn't bring my camera. Oops. Emma continues to eat well, and there is hope that she may lose her IV within a couple days. We'll see... There continues to be no sign of infection, so Emma may be off her antibiotics soon. Emma's lungs continue to improve after the changing of her breathing tube. She is no longer having the difficult spells that were plaguing her. However, Emma's murmur continues to be strong, so she is scheduled for an x-ray tomorrow (i believe). Based on the results of the x-ray, and her health, she could have surgery to close the duct (which is causing the murmur) before Christmas. We'll have to see I guess. If I've learned one thing over these past couple weeks, its that Emma moves at her own pace regardless of what her mother and father think and want.

Thank You

On another note, I'd like to thank everyone out there for there thoughts and prayers. It is nice to know that there are lots of people out there thinking of Emma, Liz and I. While we may not be able to respond to each comment, e-mail, letter, phone message or text message, they mean a lot to us. Thanks and have a great holiday everyone.

Busy, Busy, Busy Day

Before the Emma update, here is a Liz and Chad update... Liz started back with work this week. Her students have been good so far, although she has a lot of work to do to get caught up with where her students are, etc. She has been taking everything in stride. I continue to study for finals... I have an antitrust final this friday, and next week I have two more finals. The studying has gone well so far...

Well, it has been another 24 hours of excitement with Emma. To start with, Emma got a new home (actually, they just switched her incubator... standard procedure once a week). In addition, Emma started her infection medicine. At this point, there is no sign that an infection is still present, although they are continuing to do a blood culture to determine that for sure. However, most likely as a result of her infection Emma's heart murmur has reappeared. While it is not unheard of for the PDA to close on its own after the full drug treatment, we are not getting our hopes up. There is a good chance that Emma will have surgery when she is sufficiently healthy to address the murmur if it does not disappear w/in a couple days. Emma will continue the drug treatment until the doctors determine that there isn't an infection or that the infection has passed... which could be anywhere from 2 days to 20 days...

Emma continues to eat well... in fact, she is currently up to 5ml of milk every two hours. While Emma's weight hasn't gone up significantly yet, she is looking better and her stomach and disgestive system have become more adept at handling milk.

On another happier note, Emma does not have jaundice... one of the nurses said that the fact that it jaundice didn't reappear yesterday was the only real positive for Emma all day. However, because Emma has her mom's fair skin, sometimes the doctors get worried that she looks pale... then they look at her blood work, etc and realize that everything is fine.

Emma's lungs / breathing continued to deteriorate yesterday. After some blood work and an x-ray, the doctors decided to remove Emma's breathing tube and replace it with a bigger one. The doctor's decided on this course of action because the small tube was a likely culprit for some of Emma's current issues, and it is an easy thing to fix / eliminate from a possible source of issues. The doctors removed Emma's tube last night and installed oxygen tubes into her nose. The hope was that perhaps Emma was ok to come off the ventilator at this point. Emma remained off the ventilator for about one hour, at which point the blood work suggested that she needed to return to the ventilator. The doctors on call were all impressed w/ how Emma did sans ventilator though. So, the doctors installed a new tube last night, although this one is the next size up. Emma's lungs have rebounded nicely, and while her ventilator settings aren't back to where they were a couple days ago, her x-rays look great. In addition, I felt that she was more active and attentive this morning than she had been recently.

Finally, as a result of all the blood work that has been done the last couple days it appears an almost certainty that Emma will require an additional blood transfusion. I was told that I could donate to Emma (Liz can't... something about having just given birth eliminates her from contention). However, I was informed that there is a substantial cost associated w/ direct giving to a newborn... so, maybe I'll just run over the Red Cross this week for a general donation...

and now... pictures of emma sans breathing and feeding tube (note... her lips look a bit funny because she has had a tube stuck in her mouth for two weeks... we have been assured that infants are very pliable)...

First... Time to get my mouth and lungs suctioned...

Just my feeding tube left...

Freedom!

Nose tubes for oxygen... Emma really didn't like these at all...

I always enjoy the pictures of Emma w/ something as a frame of reference... it reminds you how small Emma truly is (on that note, Liz and I could have sworn that one of Emma's new neighbors was at least 10 pounds... the baby looked huge... turned out the baby is just under six pounds... it seems our understanding of the "average sized" baby has become a bit warped over the past few weeks...)

Plethora of News...

Well, lots of news. I'm not sure if I said that Emma is off of her phototherapy, but she is. In addition, she has ramped up her feedings (4ml every two hours) and her murmur continues to be a thing of the past. But, a couple more things of note...

First, the not as great news (to be followed by good news and pictures)...

Emma has been having some problems with her breathing tube lately. Because she was so small when she was born, she currently has the smallest tube. However, the tube has had some drawbacks because it is small... mainly, that it can easily be blocked off by a move in the tube or by some mucuous. Unfortunately, the presence of the tube induces the body to create more mucuous than normal, so it has been an issue. What has been happening (almost twice a day lately) is that the tube will become plugged w/ mucuous, and because the tube is so small, it takes a while to clear (during which Emma is deprived of oxygen). I have seen her turn grey before my eyes (which is not a pleasant experience). Luckily the quickness and efficiency of the staff at Meriter has put my mind at ease that she is in great hands.

Today the doctors are going to do some blood work to determine whether they should upgrade to the next biggest tube. It would be nice to move up because it would diminish the likelihood of future plugging. However, it is not a pleasant experience for Emma to have her tube changed, and as with anything, the doctors and nurses are hesitant to introduce anything foreign into Emma if they don't need to. So, we are waiting to see on that one.

Second, Emma is starting to come down with an infection. One of our doctors called today and mentioned that Emma's white blood cell counts were up, indicating that the body was fighting off an infection. At this time we (ok, the doctors) decided that it would be best to start antibiotics so as to minimize any potential harm to Emma. Note that this infection could be the cause of the increased mucuous that Emma has had in the past couple days which has been causing problems w/ her breathing tube. I was assured that this possibility will be explored and weighed when making treatment decisions.

On for the more interesting stuff... first, I fed Emma for the first time this morning. While this doesn't mean much (all I did was hold a syringe filled with breastmilk as it gravity fed into Emma's stomach), it was meaningful for me. On a second, and more exciting note, Liz and Emma did "kangaroo care" last night. For those of you who aren't experts in caring for premature babies, kangaroo care is where the baby lies skin-on-skin on one of the parent's chest (and then is covered w/ blankets). It is supposed to be a great way to stabilize the baby and reintroduce her to her mom and dad. Liz and Emma were together for about one hour and had a wonderful time... and without further ado...

Liz in the appropriate kangaroo care attire...

Mommy and Emma

She's tiny, but cute...

Mom and baby bonding time...

A happy mom and sleeping baby...

Close up of Emma's face w/eyes open...

No Good Title for Today...

Well, Liz, Emma and I had a pretty good weekend. Liz is healing and trying to enjoy her last couple days before she goes back to school on Monday. Emma is just eating, breathing and growing. I am studying as hard as I can... I know that some of my professors have this blog address, so I hope you are lenient when grading my exams!

Emma has been doing pretty well this weekend. She is now eating 3ml milk every two hours, which is great. If she keeps eating (and gaining weight) she will be off her IV soon. In addition, Emma should be off her UV light within a day or so. Those are the next two steps we have to look forward to over the next couple weeks.


Emma's lungs are continuing to improve little by little. We have been told by several doctors that often a premature baby's lungs will do well the first week or so, only to have a slight downturn with the lungs for a while. So, we are currently in the downturn, but she is continuing to do well.


Emma's murmur continues not to be present, which is great. In addition, while Emma was at her birth weight this morning, the doctors anticipate that Emma will start to put on weight.


On a pleasant note, our nurse tonight told us that "Emma will make it"... while I'm not reading too much into her statement, it is always nice to have a trained medical professional express optimism. Oh, and Liz helped with a diaper change!



and, back due to high demand... more foot shots!