Friday, July 25, 2008

Great Week!

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 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


Thursday, July 10, 2008

Stevie's Homecoming Pictures July 9, 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

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

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