Another two days has flown by. Raylee has been doing good, she is still on her antibiotics for an infection in her throat. She is still on full feeds they have put her on a sodium supplement because it is a little low. They say that is common in Preemies ( they seem to say that a lot!). They are not going to make any changes on her ventilator until they get the infection in her throat cleared up. That means it will be a little longer until we get to hold her:( That is a bummer.

We miss everyone!

Well as the roller coaster ride goes we are back up again. Raylee has been good the last two days she seems to be feeling better. She is up to 2 lbs 8.5 ounces and 14 3/8 inches long. She is also up to full feeding at 20 cc's (yeah!!). They have moved her to the next size in diapers. They are huge on her but she seems to be filling them fine. Another milestone is that she pooped on me yesterday when I was changing her diaper. I know this is weird, but I loved it!! She is so cute!

The last two days haven't been the best. Raylee has been dropping in her oxygen. They ran some tests for infections and we are waiting for most of the results. They let the cultures set and grow for 3 to 5 days. They did find a slight bacteria infection in her throat from her breathing tube so they started her on antibiotics already. They have also switched her breathing tube out for a bigger one, she had quite the air leak. Her oxygen levels have already gotten better. She received another blood transfusion last night. Although this sounds like a lot the doctor said these are just minor problems.
Her feedings have been going extremely well. She is up to 18cc just 2cc shy of a full feeding!
Sorry we don't have recent pictures. The lights have been bothering her eyes so we try and leave them off. We will try for some new ones tonight.
Thank you for all of your prayers.

Happy one month old Raylee Kay!! Our little girl has already been with us for a month it is hard to believe it has been that long. She is now up to 12 cc's on her feeding and doing well. They are still slowly weaning her on her ventilator and she is doing good on that too! She is looking more and more like her daddy. Lets hope she gets her moms personality!!!!! She wanted to say hello to everyone so she is giving you all a wave... Hope all is well with everyone.

Our little angel is a fighter. She is doing good. We are up to 8cc's on her feeding. She was at 3 yesterday. She has been tolerating the feedings well so we are all excited about that! They have been weaning her off of the oscillator vent so hopefully soon we can try the conventional vent which means we might be able to hold her soon!! When they re taped her vent tube today they pulled a little skin off her cheek. They told us a while ago that preemies skin is very sensitive and that this could happen, but this is the first time. poor baby..

Raylee is growing she is now 14 inches long. I am holding her foot in the picture above to show that it is getting bigger, but looking at it on here I am not so sure you can tell... You can see her little belly is full too. She hasn't had a good stool since her surgery Monday. It is amazing the things we look forward to as parents! Her dad took the other picture trying to get her face she makes when her nurses suction her, but he just missed it so you can't quite see but she has her daddy's frown. I don't like to see her upset but it is pretty cute! We will try again for that pic.

Overall we have had a some good days! My mom has been here for 10 days, Kyles parents were here for a few days, and my sister and her family are here now. We are so blessed to have our family and friends support through this. We love you all.

Things are looking up!

We had a good day today. They showed us the new xray of her lungs this morning and it looks better than it has, so Raylee was able to get a few more of her settings on the vent turned down (yeah)! Since her surgery Monday she has been a little more active which we love to watch but the nurses would prefer she just rests so she can grow, so of course that is what we want her to do too. She is starting to comfort herself by putting her hands by her face. It is the cutest!

Raylee is recovering well from surgery. You can see in the photo that they made a small incision on her side/back and went right in-it is amazing what they are able to do! They used glue to put her back together. Amazingly she is doing very well today. They were able to take her off some of her medicines and cut back on others, as well as turn down some settings on her ventilator. That is exciting news for us. She is growing everyday, she is at 2 lbs and 13 3/4 inches. I know that doesn't sound like much but she looks so much bigger to us. While we were in seeing her tonight she was holding her daddy's fingers, it was the cutest. They were able to close her bed when they changed her vent so that has put a damper on the photos. That is ok because they are able to regulate her temperature and humidity so that is better for her!

Hope everyone is well.

Well today didn't go as expected. Her lungs haven't developed like they should. They took her off of her jet ventilator and tried a conventional style ventilator and that worked for about three hours, and then they tried the oscillator style and they still weren't happy. They took an xray of her lungs and a ultrasound of her heart and discovered that her PDA opened back up. They did surgery at 5pm to close the PDA and she is recovering now. This already has lowered her oxygen requirements and she is doing better.

Another good day in the books!! We got her second brain scan back yesterday and it looked perfect. They were able to wean her off some more oxygen. Hopefully in a week they will have her off the high frequency vent and on to a conventional style. Then we can actually hold her! We took a few more pictures for you guys. Thanks again for all the support.

Well today went a lot better. She really came back around. They were able to turn her oxygen back down into the 30,s and she had gone into the 90,s yesterday so that is great. Her second brain scan is tomorrow so we are anxiously awaiting the news. Her first one came back perfect so we are praying for the same results. Like they say ROLLER COASTER RIDE!!!

We hope all is well with everyone. Thank you for all your support and prayers.

Kyle & Jane

Our first rough patch

Today Raylee is having some lung problems. They have had to turn her oxygen up quite a bit and they say it is normal for this age, but it is sure hard to watch her go through it. Yesterday was actually her first bad day since we have been here and I think we might be fifty by the time we get her home.

To put things into perspective...

Raylee is TINY. There's really no better way for me to explain and even then it is probably difficult for you to imagine how very small she is, so here's some pictures for perspective.

Mom's hand

Imagine the smallest newborn shoes

Kyle's hand

So, you see that she is very tiny but the nurses tell us that she's also very feisty! She will need every bit of that over the next several weeks. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers for our little girl. More to come.

Introducing....

Raylee Kay Materi

June 26th, 2009

12:57 pm

1.6 pounds

12 inches

Sleeping Beauty