11 weeks old 37 weeks gestation

Ryelee is now 11 weeks old, 37 weeks gestation. I haven't updated in a while so I will attempt to go back and give short overview.

July 1 I held Ryelee for the first time! I was the first grandparent to hold her and it was so wonderful! 2 days later Grampy and Grandma W got to hold her. Grandpa W got to hold her a few days later.

July 12 Baby Shower. We had a scrapbooking shower where we made scrapbook pages so all Mom has to do is put the pictures on. Aunt Kristal got to hold Ryelee. The first of the aunt's to do so.

Week 9 and 10

Mom's milk supply is dropping. I advised her to drink Mother Milk tea and to pump every 2 hrs. She had been on continous feeds, which means that a little bit of milk was constantly being dripped into her tummy. Mom was able to "recreational" breastfeed after pumping only. Her stomach started distending again on Thurs night. On Sat they talked to the Dr.'s and since Ryelee's PICC line had gone bad overnight they wanted her to stay at the hospital and nurse her every 3 hours. They stayed and Mom nursed every 3 hours and Ryelee handled it really well, although her tummy did not go down much, she did digest the milk with very little residual. They were able to stay for a week. We thought they were getting close to sending her home. I love the fact that I can hold her when I go to see her now.

Week 10 and 11
We were at the county fair all week. Si and Mary showed chickens and entered their ceramics. They each got 2 red ribbons, 1 blue ribbon and Si got 2nd place in Showmanship with her chicken. The judge was really critical of the poultry in the show for being "commercial". I think he needs to realize that these are mostly kids from farms bringing what they have and not some expensive "show quality" birds. On Sat mom and dad had to leave the room they had been staying in because they needed it for a baby who was going home. On Sunday night while at the fair still I got a call that Ryelee was crashing and needed a blessing. My husband picked me up and we drove in to the hospital to help give her one. Her temperature had been low and after the blessing and her other grandma holding her she was up to normal. The nurse commented that it had worked.
On Monday I went in and held her for 2 hours and fed her a bottle, because Mom wasn't available. It was a stressful experience to feed her and watch her gulping, quit breathing, panting. I had to hold her straight up on my lap and keep taking the bottle away from her and wait until she could breath again. All for a little over an ounce of milk!
Tuesday she was down even more. They tried to put a PICC line back in to give her the nutrients and fluid she needs as she had lost a little over 3 oz over the last few days, since Mom
had not been there to nurse around the clock. They couldn't get the PICC in so they started a regular IV. She gained weight overnight. On Wed we had a conference to talk about her care. It was decided that she would remain on the TPN as long as she needed to be on it to continue to grow. She could go home on it too. She just needs to get her respitory system back on track, and not need to go up on her oxygen when she eats. Which is better when she is nursing. She also need her eyes checked again for ROP, to see if she could be on home oxygen. When her eyes were checked she did have ROP and needed surgery on Thurs afternoon. The Dr went in and lasered her eyes in front of where the vessels started to overgrow so hopefully that stimulates the vessels to grow into the non lasered portion and grow normally again. This will take 2 weeks before we know if it worked. If left untreated this will cause blindness due to retinal detachment. This disease is fairly new and very common in micro-preemie babies like her, born less than 30 weeks and less than 3 lbs. It is new because babies born that early usually didn't used to live long enough to develop eye problems.
It is so hard on Mom and Dad especially but also us grandparents who were hoping that she could go home soon.