It was a great week - thank you Lord!
Stevie was weighed today at Dr. Mobley's - she gained a little over 1 lb in 2 weeks - that was a relief!
Stevie's current weight - 7 lbs 14 oz (she's HUGE!)
Camp Christopher total contributions to date - $1375 (only $23,625 to go) We can do it!
In addition to having her weight checked this week we also took her back to the pediatric eye specialist on Tuesday morning. She still has stage 1 retinopathy, BUT her eyes are okay, and developing normally. Thank you LORD! We will go back early Sept for her follow up and if all looks okay we will see hime next year!
It's so awesome to hear your child is okay and progressing - my single prayer is that Stevie will have a very long, happy, joy-filled life. I know that is what every parent wants for their child.
We're sharing a new video this week. We think it's funny when Stevie sucks on her pacifier or what we call her Nu-Nu (pr: noo-noo). She makes the craziest noises. I've heard people say that preemie babies have some crazy languages.
Enjoy and happy Friday!
Love, Erin
Friday, July 25, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Friday July 18 - Camp Christopher Total to date
Stevie's new shades from Aunt Daisy. If Stevie is like me she'll have a thing for sunglasses, shoes, and handbags.
Stevie Stats - she's getting bigger and longer
Camp Christopher donations to date (as of Thurs afternoon) - $575.
Thank you thank you! We'll reach our $25,000 goal soon enough - some good things take a little longer to achieve! If you send a check, or call with credit card PLEASE tell them it is for: The Christopher & Stevie Hickman Fund so your donation will be appropriated correctly.
Donations can be mailed to:
Presbyterian Hospital of Plano
Attn: Doug Anderson
6200 West Parker
Plano, TX 75093-9977
indicate on memo line of check "The Christopher & Stevie Hickman Fund"
Now the update on Miss Stevie:
This week has flown by. Thank you to my mom who came over for 3.5 days to take the night shift feedings and to help around our house. It was nice to get a full night of sleep. Steve's mom is coming to watch her Saturday night so we can have a date! We're so thankful and blessed to have our families close by.
Stevie is starting to get her nights and days on track. She is more awake now during the day, and is quiet from 11pm through 9am (she still has her bottle every 3 hrs).
Lastly - I swear this child toots more than any man I've known. I hear this is a good thing though. Keep on tootin Stevie.
Have a great Friday. TGIF!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Happy Birthday Steve - watch the chest fur!
Stevie Stats will not be updated for a few more weeks. We won't know her weight until her next pedi appt.
Stevie has been doing well at home. We think she likes it here so far. Last night we decided (in effort to get more sleep) to keep Stevie's little crib int he living room outside of our bedroom. She did great, and we got better sleep in between her feedings. Yes!
Today is Steve's 34th birthday. His parents brought a great dinner over last night to celebrate.
Today's video feature is of Stevie ripping Steve's chest hair out while he is trying to feed her - I thought it was hilarious so I reached for the camera. I hope you enjoy as much as I do.
Much Love, Erin
Stevie has been doing well at home. We think she likes it here so far. Last night we decided (in effort to get more sleep) to keep Stevie's little crib int he living room outside of our bedroom. She did great, and we got better sleep in between her feedings. Yes!
Today is Steve's 34th birthday. His parents brought a great dinner over last night to celebrate.
Today's video feature is of Stevie ripping Steve's chest hair out while he is trying to feed her - I thought it was hilarious so I reached for the camera. I hope you enjoy as much as I do.
Much Love, Erin
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Stevie's Home
Stevie Stats:
6 lbs 12 oz
Stevie was discharged from the hospital yesterday at 11am. She is doing great so far. She thinks night is day, and day is night. Steve and I aren't getting much sleep.
Today she had her first pediatrician appointment with Dr. Mobley. He said she looks great for being a preemie. We'll go back in 2 weeks for a weight check, and then take her back 2 months later for her 4 month shots.
I am going to load a slide show hopefully of pictures from our departure yesterday.
Love to all.
Erin & Steve
6 lbs 12 oz
Stevie was discharged from the hospital yesterday at 11am. She is doing great so far. She thinks night is day, and day is night. Steve and I aren't getting much sleep.
Today she had her first pediatrician appointment with Dr. Mobley. He said she looks great for being a preemie. We'll go back in 2 weeks for a weight check, and then take her back 2 months later for her 4 month shots.
I am going to load a slide show hopefully of pictures from our departure yesterday.
Love to all.
Erin & Steve
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
She Did It!
Stevie Stats: 6 lbs 11.5 oz
Stevie passed her car seat test! What a relief!! Steve and I are scheduled to stay at the hospital tonight in one of the parent rooms. We'll take care of Stevie all by ourselves from 8pm on. The nurses will check in with us periodically to see how we're doing. It's the first time we'll have our baby girl all to ourselves! This is the plan as of now as long as things continue to go well today. We expect they will.
We're so excited, overjoyed, happy, and a little nervous too - we're comfortable with nurses and doctors around at all times, and now it will just be the three of us. We can do it. We've been praying for this day for a long time. So hopefully tomorrow by 11am we can say our goodbyes to Presbyterian Plano. We've been to that hospital everyday (except 1) since March 24.
We will be happy to leave, but we will miss all the great nurses and doctors that have taken such wonderful care of all us. It will be nice to continue working with the hospital for "Camp Christopher" and future projects enabled by The Christopher & Stevie Hickman Fund. Say lots of prayers for us. Our stomachs are full of butterflies and knots all at the same time.
Also please pray for Kory Klein (one of our good friends and Steve's co-worker). He is in Phoenix, AZ at the Mayo Clinic - he is donating one of his kidney's to a family member. What a selfless act of love and I pray God will bless him with a speedy recovery, and bless the family member with a better life due to Kory's kindness.
A video of Stevie from July 2. There was an excited group next door to us and I think Stevie was trying to figure out who it was. Her eyes were just going back and forth.
Love,
Steve & Erin
Stevie passed her car seat test! What a relief!! Steve and I are scheduled to stay at the hospital tonight in one of the parent rooms. We'll take care of Stevie all by ourselves from 8pm on. The nurses will check in with us periodically to see how we're doing. It's the first time we'll have our baby girl all to ourselves! This is the plan as of now as long as things continue to go well today. We expect they will.
We're so excited, overjoyed, happy, and a little nervous too - we're comfortable with nurses and doctors around at all times, and now it will just be the three of us. We can do it. We've been praying for this day for a long time. So hopefully tomorrow by 11am we can say our goodbyes to Presbyterian Plano. We've been to that hospital everyday (except 1) since March 24.
We will be happy to leave, but we will miss all the great nurses and doctors that have taken such wonderful care of all us. It will be nice to continue working with the hospital for "Camp Christopher" and future projects enabled by The Christopher & Stevie Hickman Fund. Say lots of prayers for us. Our stomachs are full of butterflies and knots all at the same time.
Also please pray for Kory Klein (one of our good friends and Steve's co-worker). He is in Phoenix, AZ at the Mayo Clinic - he is donating one of his kidney's to a family member. What a selfless act of love and I pray God will bless him with a speedy recovery, and bless the family member with a better life due to Kory's kindness.
A video of Stevie from July 2. There was an excited group next door to us and I think Stevie was trying to figure out who it was. Her eyes were just going back and forth.
Love,
Steve & Erin
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Bottles Up!
The first time Steve gave Stevie a bath all by himself!
Stevie Stats:
6 lbs 9.5 oz
Stevie is doing great today. We have been on the bottle roller-coaster since Friday. Friday I had reported Stevie was taking 7 of 8 bottles. I updated the blog in the morning before going to the hospital where they told me later that they were keeping her at 6 of 8 bottles. (see how quickly things change).
So, Friday we stayed at 6 of 8 bottles, Saturday it was 6 of 8 bottles, and today they are trying to get her to take all 8 of 8 bottles. They are keeping her feeding tube in because if she is too tired they'll give her feed through this.
SO we wait for Stevie now to be alert enough to feed 8 times a day by bottle. Also the last thing she needs to pass is the car seat test. When Steve and I walked into see her today another tiny patient was in the middle of their car-seat test. The baby passed. I told Stevie that she had a little competition! They won't do the car seat test until tomorrow night we hope. Pray she passes.
Today they also ran a CBC blood test on Stevie. They wanted to check her red blood cell count, and make sure she had no signs of infections, etc. All looked good. They said it appears Stevie is now making her own red blood cells, which is great.
They also said they heard a little murmur again. They said it was nothing to worry about, and probably indicates a directional change in blood flow now that she is getting older. They told us to have the pediatrician follow it, and not to be concerned. The nurse practitioner said the majority of babies she sends home have murmurs. Big Steve has a murmur and he's okay. Pray that continues to be nothing for Stevie.
We hope you had a great weekend. I am going to call and check the progress of contributions this week to The Christopher and Stevie Hickman Fund for "CAMP CHRISTOPHER". I'll keep you all posted on the progress. What a great project!
Love,
Erin & Steve
Friday, July 4, 2008
Friday July 4th
Happy 4th of July Everyone!
Stevie Stats:
6 lbs 7.9 oz - we're getting closer to a 7lb baby!
Stevie is doing great. She hasn't had any more apnea spells since June 30. Today they bumped her back up to 7 bottle feeds out of 8 total feeds. So she'll only be getting 1 feed through her feeding tube today. Yesterday she did great with all 6 bottle feeds, but she was a little sleepy during the ones I gave her.
On Monday Stevie had her 2nd eye exam. Her eyes are still normally abnormal (if that makes sense). Because she is a preemie they watch their vision development closely. They are watching her vessels develop still. We'll take her back in 3 weeks.
On Tuesday she had a Neuro-scan. This is where they sonogram Stevie's head to check her brain for bleeding, etc (sometimes common in preemies). Stevie's brain is a-okay. That was a HUGE relief. She had a scan when she first arrived as well. So the 2nd scan she had is just a follow-up before they let her go home.
They also decided not to do another echo-cardiogram. They were going to do a follow up since at one time Stevie had the PDA valve that was open and they could hear the murmur. However (Thanks to GOD above), the valve has either closed on it's own or is so small it is not causing issues. We may have to follow up with her cardiologist after we are discharged, if they feel she needs too.
Stevie still hasn't had her 2nd shot at the car seat test. They are waiting to do that until right before they KNOW we'll be able to take her home. Please keep praying she does well in a car seat and can breathe okay (most important). I did have a dream last night that she passed. I was SO HAPPY, then I woke up and realized I was dreaming, but maybe she is going to pass!
Please continue to pray for our girl. We want a very healthy happy life for Stevie and our family.
Love,
Erin
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
5 More Days.....
Stevie Stats
6 lbs 4.3 oz
Yeah Stevie for getting bigger!
A dear friends sent this "you tube" link - it's awesome. What would your cardboard testimony be? Copy and paste link into your web address bar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ
Updates:
Due to 2 apnea spells Stevie is now in the NICU for 5 more days. We're glad she decided to do this while in the NICU and not home with us. One of her apnea spells happened while I was bottle feeding her at 11am yesterday. She was taking her vitamins (poly-visol) - they mixed in the vitamins with 20ml of milk and once Stevie figured out what it was gag, gag, apnea. Poor girl.
Stevie failed her car seat test they did on Sunday morning at 3:30am. The hook the babies back up to the pulse oximeter (measures blood oxygen level - which shows any desaturations "desats"). Stevie had some desats in her car seat and failed. The dr wasn't overly concerned. If Stevie fails again she'll have to come home in a car seat bed.
Stevie PASSED her hearing screen!
If you could specifically pray for the following things for Steveie we would appreciate it so much!!
- no more apnea spells - EVER
- she'll pass her car seat test
- she'll have the strength and energy to complete her bottle feedings
- protection from any infections
Thank you so much for your continued support. We look forward to bringing her home soon!! She is so awesome.
6 lbs 4.3 oz
Yeah Stevie for getting bigger!
A dear friends sent this "you tube" link - it's awesome. What would your cardboard testimony be? Copy and paste link into your web address bar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ
Updates:
Due to 2 apnea spells Stevie is now in the NICU for 5 more days. We're glad she decided to do this while in the NICU and not home with us. One of her apnea spells happened while I was bottle feeding her at 11am yesterday. She was taking her vitamins (poly-visol) - they mixed in the vitamins with 20ml of milk and once Stevie figured out what it was gag, gag, apnea. Poor girl.
Stevie failed her car seat test they did on Sunday morning at 3:30am. The hook the babies back up to the pulse oximeter (measures blood oxygen level - which shows any desaturations "desats"). Stevie had some desats in her car seat and failed. The dr wasn't overly concerned. If Stevie fails again she'll have to come home in a car seat bed.
Stevie PASSED her hearing screen!
If you could specifically pray for the following things for Steveie we would appreciate it so much!!
- no more apnea spells - EVER
- she'll pass her car seat test
- she'll have the strength and energy to complete her bottle feedings
- protection from any infections
Thank you so much for your continued support. We look forward to bringing her home soon!! She is so awesome.
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