De Ja Vu All Over Again...

We went to our regularly scheduled check up Tuesday, only to have the Dr send us back to the hospital. She noticed Sloan breathing quickly and laboring rather hard to do so, so she sent us to the ER. Not really what first time parents want to hear. (and on top of it, they almost had us take an ambulance up there because the UN General Session causes crazy traffic.) We had noticed that she was not eating as much the last 18-24 hours either, so off to the hospital we went...

Our Pediatrician is affiliated with Cornell-NY Presbyterian Hospital on 68th & 1st, not NYU where she was delivered, so this was kind of a new experience for us. Cornell does have a Pediatric Emergency Room which was a huge blessing - we showed up and they saw us right away. Preemies have more sensitive respiratory systems than full term babies, so it was important that they do all sorts of tests to make sure her labored breathing wasn't indicative of a larger problem. They hooked her up to an IV, took x-rays of her lungs, drew several ml's of blood for cultures, put her on a catheter for a urinalysis, and performed a spinal tap (of which we are told she was a model patient). Our little girl was put through the ringer!

Our little patient...

Yes, they wheeled her up to her room in that big ol' bed...
hospital procedure!

Most of the test results take about 48 hours, but the good news is that the initial test from the spinal tap showed that we were negative for meningitis. That meant we could go to the regular pediatric floor as opposed to Intensive Care, but she was put on precautionary antibiotics in the event it was bronchiolitis or some other sort of virus/infection. We had our precious girl home for a full week before she was back in the hospital...

We spent the next two days by her bedside waiting for the results. The pediatric floor is so much different from PICU/NICU. This time she was not hooked up to beeping monitors, just a simple IV. She was not under constant watch either, so one of us was there the whole time. Despite her diminutive size, she was a regular ol' patient at the hospital...

Finally, after two days of waiting our test results came back negative. There was slight bacteria growth in one of the cultures but it was a contaminant and nothing to worry about. In the end, she likely had either bronchiolitis or the common cold. Either way, she is getting back to her cute little self - eating and pooping up a storm. Mom and Dad are so happy to bring her home again...let's hope it sticks this time.

Taxi ride #2

A Week of Firsts...

I promise this blog won't completely turn into the Sloan Diaries...but for now, this is all so new & exciting that I just can't help myself. So, here is a blog post full of 'Baby's First...'

Baby's First...Stroll
We took Sloan to her first Dr appointment the day after she got home. Perfect excuse to break out our exciting new stroller. Here is Dad strutting down the street with his cute little girl.

On the streets of New York City

Baby's First...Errand
We had to pick up some Poly Vi Sol (multivitamin with iron) on the way home from the Pediatrician, so her first errand was to the Walgreen's at the corner of 14th & 4th Avenue.

Hello world! 

Baby's First...Bath
We haven't braved actually putting her in the sink for a real sponge bath yet, so we are just washing her down like they showed us in the NICU. I'm sure the first real bath time won't look quite so peaceful.

I love my little ZTA crown towel from Miss Anne

Baby's First...Gameday (at home)
Technically she has been alive for 4 gamedays, but this one was special because she got to watch from home. In pure baby fashion, she spit up all over her onesie before the game started, but you can see the pre-game cuteness here. She watched every single second of the game and was very impressed with our offense. She thinks the D needs to play up to their potential.

That burp cloth only caught some of it...

Baby's First...Outing
Outside of leaving the house because of a Dr appointment, our first real outing with Sloan was to go get ice cream at our favorite local spot, The Big Gay Ice Cream shop. Dad got the Salty Pimp and mom got the bourbon butterscotch topping. The guys at the store thought she was as awesome as a sparkly unicorn.

Baby's First...Smile!
Ok, not really. She has smiled for a while now (especially when she is milk drunk). But it was too cute not to share.

Finally, just a few cute photos from her first week at home...

I like to streettttttch. 

One Week Down, 935 To Go

Today will mark the first full week we have had Sloan at home and its certainly been a game changer. All, of course, in a great way. I think Kerri and I would both be kidding ourselves if we said the week hasn't been a blur but its great to have our girl at home. 

After a few days of nervously watching Sloan in her bassinet, eyes wide open and being sure her chest moved with every breath, my parents (Tony and Vanessa) arrived to see their first grandchild. Of course Sloan passed the cute and well-behaved test with flying colors and even took to the town with parents and grandparents en tow.

First time in Washington Square Park. No, Sloan did not buy any drugs.

Tony and Vanessa are here until tomorrow (Tuesday) so there will certainly be some more time holding Sloan and getting their fill of that cute face.

Barry, Vanessa, Sloan, Kerri and Tony Loudis. The couch does hold 5 people!

So one week down and 935 to go, that's 18 years of 52 weeks. I figured if Kerri keeps crazy countdowns for the start of football season, I can have one too.

Special Delivery for the Loudis Family...

OMG! There is a baby in our apartment!! Now what?!!

There were about 12 hours Yesterday where we weren't sure if she would come home today or not. She had a brady yesterday while I was nursing her, and another quick one (3 seconds) this morning during her feed. The Dr's were not concerned since it was during a feed (the most common time because there is so much coordination involved). Her caffeine results came back at a 3...so she is now a graduate of the NYU Hospital NICU!!

Ready to go! 

We signed the discharge papers, dressed her in baby clothes and packed up all of Sloan's belongings around 12:30pm today. It was so much harder to say good bye to the nurses than we thought it would be. They have all been so wonderful to us and given our baby girl such excellent (and loving) care. They won't ever read this, but for posterity sake - a big Thank You to Dr Howell and the day nurses Kayla, Margot, Ruth who took our first family photo, Amal who has given hours of advice, and Laura & Leista who discharged us. And to the night nurses, Carolyn, Rowena who showed us how to bathe her, DeAnna who first helped mom bond with her, Ingrid the Physician's Assistant with the cat glasses, and finally Lillian who loved Sloan so much she asked if she could take a picture of her for herself. We'll forever be grateful for the loving care and countless hours of kangaroo time!

After a quick, but emotional good-bye we were off for our first cab ride...then a tour around her new New York City home! It's been quite the journey; the quickest yet tormentingly slow 33 days we've lived through. We've been so blessed throughout all of it, even more so now that our story has a happy ending (though this is really only the beginning!). Thank you to everyone for all the kind words and, most importantly, prayers. We would not have made it through this trying time without our family's & friend's support. Our perfect little angel is home!!!

In my first non-hospital clothes! 

Our last photo in the NICU

Look how little I am! 

Good-bye Tisch Hospital and your long elevator lines

Konked out in the cab

Step 1 of 2 - Car Seat Test

Step One of Sloan's release is the car seat test. This is a common test for all preemies before they can graduate from the NICU. Basically they sit in a car seat for 90 minutes and make sure the slight reclined position does not cause any breathing issues like apneas or bradys.

Big room...little baby

She had one quick brady last night, so we had to repeat the test today - and she passed!! One test down, one to go. Earlier today they drew some blood to test the caffeine level in her system. We should get the results back tomorrow morning - if they are low enough, she is free to come home with us!!

48 HOURS?!!?!

If you've read the latest update, you know that we are making steady progress in several key areas. Well, I walked into the NICU yesterday and they had a few surprises for me...First, they moved Sloan into a new home! She is now in a bassinet!

I love my new home! 

Second, the nurse said something to the effect of "now they are looking for 48 hours of good feeds". I thought, 'oh that is good, we'll see if she's really learned how to eat well'...then the nurse added "then she can go home". 

SAY WHAT?!!?!?!!! 

That's right - Sloan has to give us 48 hours of good feeds (all from the bottle or mom) and then she is free to come home! Dad was there tonight when they took out her feeding tube tonight. Here is the first shot of a tube-free Sloan Loudis!!

Let the 48 hour countdown begin...

A quiet moment...

Where does the time go?

Please excuse our lack of blog posts over the last two weeks...as you can imagine going back & forth to a hospital takes precedence over writing! The downside of this is that I haven't been able to document as many milestones as I originally wanted to. So, let's take a look at some of the bigger things that have happened over the last 10-14 days: 

Sept 1-8

Two weeks ago we had kind of a rough weekend. We went to see her on 9/1 and they had put her on a nasal cannula (the two tubes that deliver air into your nose). They did this because her respiratory rate was getting a little high, especially when she ate. This probably meant that she was using a lot of energy to digest her food, so the extra help breathing meant her body could concentrate on feeding & growing as opposed to breathing and regulating her temperature. This was a bit of a regression in Mom's eyes, but after a few days she got better at eating and they took her off of it. 

Look at all my tubes! But, I am wearing a shirt now because I am good at regulating my body temperature! 

We've been working hard at taking a bottle. It takes a lot of energy for her to suck/breathe/swallow at once. They began by trying 3-4 times/day and she was only taking about 8-15 ml of her 33ml via bottle. By the end of the week, we just weren't making much progress. Well, we had a nurse whose philosophy is to only try once during a 12 hr shift...wouldn't you know she took the whole bottle! We were now eating more volume from the bottle, just not on a consistent basis.

Mmmm a delicious bottle!  

 They took her off of caffeine Tuesday 9/4 (has it really been that long ago?!). She hasn't had any 'true' bradys since. Apparently if the heartrate stays above 70, it's less than 7 seconds & they bring themselves out of it then it isn't a 'true' brady. I actually don't recall the last time there was a 'fake' brady, so that is such great news! The machines are still very nerve wracking of course. Every beep makes you look up to see if it is your machine or someone else's...

Sloan also got some special visitors this week. Her grandparents, Mimi and Go Daddy, came into town to visit! They were pretty surprised at how small she was - it's so hard to tell in pictures - but they really enjoyed the time they had with her...and of course she melted their heart at first sight! 

Finally, Sloan wore another awesome gameday outfit. She heard the Missouri Tigers were talking smack about 'Old Man Football', so she decided to show them what Baby Dawg Football was all about.  She is now 2-0 :) 

Sept 9-14

Somewhere this week we hit 1800 grams. We've been so distracted by getting her to feed from a bottle that the weight gain has become secondary (actually tertiary to the bradys). As of today she was 2030 grams (4lbs, 8 oz)!! She really is getting so much bigger! Pretty sure there is a little bit of fat on her arms. 

There still have not been any bradys!! 

Feeding has steadily gotten better. She will take her feed from a bottle for the majority of her feeds, but sometimes she gets tired (read: stubborn) and decides it's not for her. Mom and Dad have both given her full bottles now, which was a pretty exciting milestone. Even more exciting, Mom got to try to nurse her yesterday. The first attempt went really well, but the second not so much. We tried again today and got the same result. So, I'm going to learn from last weekend's nurse, and only try once tomorrow. I think it has just been too much, too soon. But, the good news is that the other feeds have pretty much all been via bottle and not her feeding tube. 

Now a few recent photos!! 

Dad and Sloan - a good reference for how small she is. That is one of our favorite nurses, Amal, in the background. 

Mom with her Baby Dawg

Dad giving a bottle

My little thinker...

Go Daddy and Mimi with Sloan

It's Gameday!!

Goooo Dawgs! Sic 'em! Woof woof woof woof!!

Go Dawgs! Touchdown!!