Crawling?

The other day, Quinn was playing on her mat in the front room on her back, while I was doing some quick things in the kitchen. When I went to check on her, she had flipped onto her belly (which she usually hates) and looked like she was ready to take off crawling. It blew my mind a little. She did eventually tire of being on her belly, but never did crawl. That would have been crazy, awesome!

"If my calculations are correct....

when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious shit!"
-Dr. Emmett Brown, Back to the Future

Talked to Doctor Ferrari (what I call my pediatrician behind his back, because he may or may not be hot (he is), like a Ferrari) on the advice of some other NICU graduates' moms, and he changed Quinn's oxygen perimeters from 85 to 95, to 88 to 100. This means no more beeping when she is breathing "too well." She will only alarm if her levels are too low! Oh the joy that brings me. Hopefully, our home health care company will deliver the new machine tomorrow, and that means tonight will be my last (in theory) sleepless night. I will be able to function again, and not be a zombie. I will be able to sleep in my own bed again, instead of on that love seat in Quinn's room. I wish I would have known to call earlier, but I thought her limits were her limits until she was off of oxygen.

Anyway, the number 88 made me think of one of my favorite movie quotes. Sorry for the swear. I try to keep the blog clean.

That is three Back to the Future references in one week for those of you who are keeping track.

Little Miss Expressive

Quinn has been making the cutest and funniest happy faces. She now knows to smile for my phone. Or she loves to see Mayor Goldie Wilson (the name of my phone), because it is so shiny and gold. Either way, it equals big, goofy, adorable expressions!

(She makes this face all the time now. It is adorable and sweet, and so happy!)

(The tubes aren't gone for good.
Getting close on the oxygen.
And Quinn is just very skilled at removing her feeding tube.)

(Cute, happy babe!)

(Not a yawn...just a big, open, happy mouth.)

(Blowing happy spit bubbles!)

(Talking up a storm!)

Some people

People love to remind me Quinn almost/could have died. Weird, right? At least half of the conversations I have with casual acquaintances/co-workers about Quinn lead to this subject. I would think it would poor manners to remind a mother that her baby was so sick, but people love to bring it up. I get it- she has an amazing story. She is amazing, but do I really need to be reminded daily that my baby could have died, and that I am so lucky she didn't? I was there after all, in the trenches, dealing with a failing pregnancy and then a super tiny, micro-preemie.

Most conversations with these type of people go one of three ways.

Scenario 1:

Person: How is your baby doing?
Me: Really well.
Person: That is amazing. You are so lucky/blessed.
Me: Yes, we are very lucky.
Person (whispering): You know a lot of babies her size don't make it/ You are lucky she is even here.


Scenario 2:

Person: How is your baby doing?
Me: Ok, she is still struggling to eat.
Person: Well, you should feel blessed that you even have her/It is amazing she is even alive.
Me: Yes, I know.


Scenario 3:

Person: How is your baby doing?
Me: Really well.
Person: (stares at me)
Me: She is hitting all her developmental milestones.
Person: (just continues to stare at me until I say something like....)
Me: We are very lucky that things turned out so well.



*This is not meant to offend. I really do love everyone's support! It is just a weird conversation to have with people I barely/casually know over and over again. Most of the time, I have this same conversation with the same person multiple times.

Plus, I am exhausted. Quinn's alarm is killing me, as is being back at work after a nice, long winter's break. Hopefully, happy and optimistic Jessi will be back before we know it.

Doc. Brown

Quinn had some crazy hair yesterday. It just stuck up all over the place after her bath. It is getting thicker and longer on top, and is starting to come in on the sides and the back. Although, we are still not sure what color it will be, it is for sure WILD!

(Dalan thinks Quinn looks terrified in this picture. )
(It was funny, because after each picture with Dalan, she would smile, so I would take another one, only to have her smile after the picture was taken!)

Solids and other updates

Quinn has been doing fairly well with solids. She likes yams, squash, and apples the best. We just introduced pears, and she loved them. She thinks sweet potatoes (yams are orange, sweet potatoes are white) and avocados are ok. She does not like carrots. She is eating every three hours right now, so she takes less volume, and hopefully spits up less. The good news is that the new eating plan is helping with the spitting, but it makes getting to her solids difficult, and sometimes impossible. That is too bad, because she likes her solids! However, between taking a bottle/getting the rest in her tube, naps, visitors, play time, etc, sometimes solids just don't fit into the agenda.

These photos are a couple of weeks old, but I just got them off Dalan's phone, and I think she looks so cute sitting in her high chair, like a big girl....


Quinn's bottle feeding is still going poorly. She has good and bad days. She has been congested (Maybe a cold, but I think it is because she has been on room air during the day, and oxygen during the night, and the switching back and forth is drying her sinuses out.) and that has negatively impacted her eating. So, positive eating vibes are much appreciated.

Speaking of her oxygen needs, she is in the weird in between stage. If we don't have her on oxygen during the night her levels go too low. If we have her on oxygen her levels go too high. Since her eyes are mature, amongst other reasons, it is better to be too high than too low, but being too high mean her machine "alarms" all night long. I slept on the couch in her room last night for several hours, silencing her machine every couple minutes. It was miserable.

Quinn hearts Piper

Quinn has become super aware of Piper. If Piper is walking around, you can almost guarantee Quinn is watching her. She loves Piper to lick her hands and feet. She smiles and giggles...and opens her mouth and sticks out her tongue. She absolutely loves Piper to lick her face, and is very eager to full on make out with the dog. We try to keep this part to a minimum. It is really quite sweet how much joy Piper brings to Quinn. I hope they become best of friends, even after Quinn is mobile!

(Quinn staring very intently at Piper...
and some signs of new hair growth on the back of her head!)