The cavalry has arrived!

Yesterday evening, Po Po and Gung Gung arrived from Albany. Yay!

It's definitely a relief to have Dada's parents here. Lily has actually been taking it pretty easy on us, all things considered, but it's nonetheless pretty tiring, and as first-time parents it's nice to have the benefit of their experience. They've gone shopping for us, help hold and feed the baby, and generally provide emotional support. We wish they lived here. I'm seriously considering an online petition...

They're not the only visitors our Lily has had, though...we had a WHOLE bunch of Mojicas this weekend!

There was Nana, of course

And Toto Kevin

And as a special surprise, even Tita Lude from the east coast!

Both grandpas have been here too (and one still is!), but I'm realizing as I write this that they haven't held her yet! C'mon, grandpa, you won't break her!

So how is everyone adjusting? Well, pretty well, all things considered. We had what we considered to be a kind of scary night on Sunday when Lily simply REFUSED to be put down, screaming every time we laid her on her back, and sending Dada into a frenzy of Googling and amateur medical diagnosis. We also pulled up our pediatrician visit from Wednesday to Monday, because Dada was SURE there was something wrong. Of course, on our arrival Lily promptly made a liar of Dad by not only not minding one bit when she was laid on her back, but by having gained 6 ounces and 1/4" in length since her Friday checkup, and generally being the absolute picture of health. The little scamp! Anyways, things have been getting steadily better since then, with Lily tolerating increasingly longer periods in her bassinet and Mama and Dada getting into the groove of sleeping in shifts. She has been absolutely ravenous, though (as evidenced by the impressive weight gain!), so she keeps us from getting too complacent!

Mostly, though, she's our little angel, and we can't imagine how we got by without her.

Something Lily's grandma pointed out

We had noticed this in general, already, but Po Po noticed this particular coincidence:



<--Lily at 22 days old

Marcus at 3 days old -->

Poor Lily...

Finally home

See? Look, proof!

So as I write this, we've officially been home more than one full day. We're all doing pretty good, actually. I think all three of us were pretty anxious the first night, and none of us got a whole lot of sleep, but the new day finds us a little more self-assured. We had a checkup with Lily's new pediatrician, Dr. Battey, this morning, and we have it on good authority that we didn't break her overnight. In fact, Dr. Battey says she's the picture of health, and everything is just fine. Whew! So now that we all know that there's nothing intrinsically life-threatening about our house, I think we'll all breathe easier tonite.

(especially since I bought that ionizing HEPA air filter because I thought she sounded a little stuffy. Paranoid much?)

But I guess I'm getting ahead of the story...in our last post, we reported that we were due to come home yesterday morning. Well, turns out that was a bit overstated. We showed up bright and early to get ready to go (Dad, left, explains to Lily what's about to happen). But by the time the doc came by to check us out, it was like 3 in the afternoon (and THEN she needed to get one more shot, so once we were on our way it was more like four. I half-believe this may be intentional on the doc's part. Between the long delay, and a miscalibrated monitor that kept giving her false alarms, by the time they let us go we had more or less crossed from nervous trepidation to at least nervous eagerness to be gone. :-)

Anyways, like I said, the delay wasn't so bad. It gave us plenty of time to take a few more pictures, the better to remember a place that actually holds some good memories for us.

Aurora, one our our favorite nurses

all the Pinkys

dwarfed by our carseat

And, of course, Mama couldn't resist getting some souvenir footprints before leaving.

So, that was that! We buckled and wedged little Lily into her carseat and headed home. Yay! So, Dad is not taking quite as few pictures at the moment because we actually have to take CARE of our baby instead of just watching how easy the nurses make it look, but as things settle I'm sure we'll start going picture crazy again, so stay tuned!

Big News! Lily is coming HOME tomorrow!!

Hi, everybody! Today, we got the best (and most surprising!) news possible...barring any complications (knock on wood), our Lily will be graduating from the NICU tomorrow and coming home! Yaaayyyyy!!

This news was actually just the latest and biggest in a series of big happenings for little Lily. Already, for the last few days her nurses had been saying she was doing really well and would probably go home "within the next two weeks". (Lily, shown here wearing a stylish pink jacket from her Tata Cathy, looks understandably concerned).

Then, a couple days back, in response to her waking up at her scheduled feeding times with a ravenous appetite, they increased her bottle feeds...first from 30ml to 36, then 40, up to her current "as much as she'll eat", which is over 50ml at times! Then yesterday, everything happened at once. They removed her feeding tube, but then promptly fitted her with a special monitor to track her "A's and B's" (a.k.a. apnea and brachycardia). Mostly, this involves a sensor for her heart (which she didn't mind) and some sensors over her nostrils and upper lip to detect her breathing (which she didn't like at ALL). They proceeded to monitor her for 12 hours for any unusual heart rates or respiration, and she passed with flying colors.

See? No more tubes!!

So this morning, as we were hanging out with her, tubeless for the first time in weeks, the NICU pediatrician comes by and announces that everything is looking great, she's been doing terrific and that "she can go home with you today. Or tomorrow, if that's better for you. Is before noon OK?" Yikes!! As luck would have it, though, mama and dada have been working pretty hard the last few days to get the house ready, so after a few more semi-frenzied hours getting the last few things in order this afternoon, we think we're ready! (As ready as we'll every be, anyways...)

So wish us luck...this is a big step for everyone! We hope Lily likes her new house. As you can see, though, Lily seems to like anywhere that mama is, so we think she'll be just fine.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Happy Chinese New Year

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Today is the beginning of Chinese New Year, specifically the Year of the Pig. In honor of this being the Year of the Pig, Po Po and Gung Gung had sent Lily this really cool piggy bank, even though she was technically born in the Year of the Dog. She was SUPPOSED to be a Pig, but she was too impatient!

She really only got to have a couple weeks of the Year of the Dog...18 days, to be exact. But those 18 days have been prety momentous for her. It's interesting for Mama and Dada - because we see her every day, we don't necessarily realize how much she's changing, but we think this picture tells the tale:

...........................day 1................................. day 18.........................

(when she was newborn and svelte, she looked just like her mama, but as she chubs up she's looking more and more like dad. Hmmm....)

Anyways, Lily is very happy to be celebrating her first Chinese New Year in the world, and wishes you all a prosperous Year of the Pig.

Love,

Marcus, Karen, and Lily Scholz

How to know when there's something new on my blog...

It has come to my attention that some of you may not be constantly reading my blog looking for updates. Why is that? Are there other things on the internet? Huh. Weird!

Well, anyways, there are a couple ways you can know when I have an update:


1) if you go to http://www.r-mail.org/, put in your email address and
http://pinkletsplace.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default for the "feed address", you'll automatically get an email every time I get a new posting.


2) if you're into RSS newsfeeds, that same link is the link to use for me.


I got this information from dada, I don't know much about it but it sounds interesting. Apparently, these feeds don't use milk of any kind! Wow, the internet is amazing!


In other news, mama and dada gave me another bath today. This time, dada helped instead of just filming, which of course made things go much less smoothly, but I still liked it. I think he was nervous because one of the steps on the bath involves transferring me from my bed to the tub without my diaper on, and dada is still a bit gun-shy from the projectile poop incident. Tee hee! But I decided to go easy on him because baths are so fun, I don't want him to be traumatized into not giving me any.

Mama caught flirting with other babies (but I forgive her)

Some paparazzi caught mama consorting with another baby at a party. She said she'd had a lot to drink and it didn't mean anything, though, so I forgive her.

Dada says this baby weighs four times as much as me. Wow! But I'm pretty proud of myself anyways. My official weight yesterday was 3 pounds 15.8 ounces, but considering I gain at LEAST an ounce a day, I'm sure I'm WELL over four pounds by now.

-Lily

This time, she got me

Remember a week ago, when Lily missed me with the projectile poop but said she'd get me next time? Well, it took her a week but she is a woman of her word. Funny though, it really is true that parenthood changes you, because we actually found it cute.

This photo was actually taken earlier in the day, but I now realize she was proactively mocking me, because she knew what was going to happen later.

In non-poop news, we took a baby CPR class today, which we hope to never need but are glad to know! Pinky was very cute in the practice with the mannequin, she seemed to not want to disturb it. Lily is continuing to feed like a champ (up to 3 lbs 12.6 oz now), and dad even got to get in on the act by bottle feeding her TWICE. Yay! Dad likes feedings because he gets to harass his child to keep her from falling asleep halfway through. "No sleep, Pinklet!!" But once she's done she gets to sleep with mama or dada cuddling her, and that's nice for everyone. Aaaahhhhh, bliss!

Lily's FAQ: when do I get to come home?

Hi, everybody!

The most common question we get about Lily is when does she get to come home. Just to debunk the common myths, it's not a set time, and she doesn't need to be a particular weight. Here's the deal on how it works:

They say the rule of thumb is, expect to stay in until your due date, but most babies beat that so I think it's a parental placebo to keep us chilled out. What it actually comes down to is (and Lily's status regarding said items):

- off any IVs and medication (check)
- no assisance needed to breathe (check)
- can maintain own body temperature (check)
- remembers to breathe, i.e. no apnea episodes longer than I think 20 seconds at a time (check)
- can suck, swallow, and breathe in a coordinated fashion, i.e. eat (check)
- is consistently gaining weight without help (wellllll...)

Basically, Lily just needs to get stronger and bigger. She actually feeds really well for her "age", but she gets tired and can't consistently eat as much as she should for them to feel comfortable taking out her feeding tube. SO that's really her last major hurdle. When they think she's almost ready they give her essentially a 3-day "trial period" where she has to do all those things under supervision in the NICU, and if she passes, home she goes! If she backslides on any of them (which can happen, and is totally normal, nothing to get concerned about), she's bought herself an automatic 5 days more.

She's doing really good on all of this, so we think she should be home pretty soon!

Happy Valentines Day

This year, Pinky has the best Valentine's gift ever. (But Marcus will still have to take her out for sushi. Now that we're not pregnant, we have LOTS of sushi)

Plus, an added bonus video:

Mooooommmmm! When's dinner??

Hi! Lily here again. One thing dada forgot to mention in his last post is that I'm also getting a lot stronger. Since I'm not tired all the time anymore, I have enough energy to cry when I'm hungry. Which is pretty much every three hours, on the dot, so don't be late! I'm very reasonable about it, though...as soon as I get just a little food in me, I'm happy as a clam! Mama and Dada also do this think called "containment" where they put one hand on my head and the other on my feet. It's oddly soothing! They use that to buy some time when the nurses aren't ready with my food yet. Dada says he's the Baby Whisperer, I think that's some sort of pop culture reference. Don't get too comfortable Dada! You have yet to see me REALLY mad!

(In this picture, I hollered so loud it made my hat fall off)

What a difference two weeks can make!

Our little Lily is really advancing in leaps and bounds. By now, she's off her IV, they took off her blood oxygen monitor, and she's gained six ounces over her birth weight (and is packing it on at more than an ounce a day). She's become quite the champ at bottle feeding and can polish off the whole 30ml they give her if she hasn't been tuckered out by other excitements. And TODAY, she decided to get serious about breastfeeding...she did a solid 15 minutes tonite!

Although she still spends most of her time snoozing, you can see that she's very alert and curious about her surroundings, always searching for new and interesting things to look at. Or lick, if they get too close.

She has also become a very deep thinker.

Pretty in pink

Hi, everyone! This is Lily, dada is letting me borrow his computer again. Fortunately, I have such loooong fingers that typing is a snap! Sometimes I use my toes, too. Dada says I have monkey toes but I know he means that in a GOOD way.


So what's been going on with me since my last big update? Well, I'm really becoming a big girl! As of last night, I am officially over my birth weight, which mama and dada think is very exciting. Better still, I am off my IV! That makes ME excited because people don't stick me as much anymore (it makes me mad sometimes when people stick me too much), and I have one less dangly thing to deal with. Dada says I'll be wireless soon...he seems to think that's funny, but I don't really know what he's talking about. I suspect that's going to be an ongoing problem with him...


In other news, I am now eating what my nice nurses call a "full feed" of 30 ml every three hours. They seem pretty impressed that I'm so good with the nipple, apparently most babies my age don't really know how to use one. I don't know why, it's EASY! Other than that, I sleep a lot, and I hardly EVERY cry. Today, I am wearing another new outfit from my Tata Rina, this one is pink (like my nickname!). Oooh, and I almost forgot! Today, I played a trick on dada! He was changing my diaper, and I projectile pooped! He managed to catch most of it in the diaper he was about to put on me, so I didn't get him this time, but there's going to be lots of chances in the future so I'm not worried.

She shoots, she SCORES! I'll get dada for sure next time.

Later today, mama and dada are going to give me a bath. I'm not so sure about that, my first one made me kind of mad, but we'll see how this one goes.

OK, that's it! Kisses to everyone! Thanks for all the nice visits, I hope to meet the rest of you soon!

Love,
Lily Scholz

How big is Lily? THIS big!

Dada says I'm quite a handful. He thinks he's funny.

My new outfit

Hi, everyone,
Daddy is letting me use his computer so I can post for myself...I just wanted to thank my Tata Rina for my cute outfit! I'm very relieved, those white tee shirts they have in the NICU are SOOOOO last year. I can't wait to try all the other cute outfits people have been giving me!

I love my new outfit!
.

but I hate being measured

You are THIS close to a knuckle sandwich!

.

I had a super nice visit with my mommy and daddy tonite. I think I'm starting to get the hang of breastfeeding! Mommy helps me though. The only bummer thing tonite was that the nurses wanted to measure me. I didn't like that at ALL. I'm all cozy and they put me on this cold scale! But once mommy and daddy were 'tuggling me everything was all better. I think daddy dozed off a bit during his turn though. He was all pooped! He should take more naps. I especially recommend napping while swaddled, it's very soothing.

Love,
Lily Angela-Rose

P.S. don't worry about the tube in my nose. The nurses put it in just in case, but I don't need it, I can finish my bottle all by myself. But it is nice when we're trying breastfeeding, 'cause that can be tiring and this way I can be fed afterwards while I'm napping. Daddy is jealous, he wishes he could eat and sleep at the same time too.

Mwah!

For the record...

...as of this afternoon, Karen has been discharged from the hospital. No more shots! Yay! We're staying with our super awesome friends Mike & Jenn who live just five minutes away so we can visit Lily whenever we want, though.

outfits

Nothing is quite so cute as baby clothes. Aunty Char made Lily some REALLY cool hats and a sweater, and Aunty Teresa brought Lily some preemie clothes right away. Even the preemie outfits are kind of big on her! But until Lily can wear them, we find other uses. :-)

(also, props to Aunty Amy for bringing us what turned out to be Lily's first bear and constant companion in the NICU!)

Spaaaaaahhhhhh!

Lily is having her first spa day. No question about her being Pinky's daughter now!

"No, bear, this is MY tanning bed!"

And now, the rest of the stoooory...

Hey, all,

Some of you know at least parts of this already, but for the benefit of all, Pinky and I had a bit of an unexpected turn to our weekend:

Sorry to take so long to get a full message out, but as you might imagine we're a bit busy! Bottom line: Lily Angela-Rose Scholz is here and she's perfect. She's quite early (only 32 weeks), so needless to say it's a surprise! At our ultrasound last Friday the doc noted we seemed to be having contractions, so we went to get checked out on a monitor and while we were there Pinky's water broke! But we figure, if it's gonna happen you couldn't ask for more than to be at a hosptial, ON a baby monitor when it does! Pinky managed to keep her in an extra three days, and that plus a steroid shot got Lily to the point where her little lungs work just fine. She's a petite 3 pounds 4 ounces, 39 cm, born 12:22AM on January 30th after a brief labor her idiot father totally misread as a bad reaction to Ambien, culminating in a unintentional natural childbirth procedure as we rushed to deliver baby before she came out on her own anyways.

Fortunately, the nurses and docs at Mary Birch hospital are a good bit smarter than said idiot father, so baby received the best of care. Oh, and if those are the kind of yells she makes with *underdeveloped* lungs, we're in for it. :-)

Mom and baby are doing great! We're in the NICU, but she's not requiring any sort of special support except an IV until she get's the eating thing totally dialed in. Needless to say, she's got Mama and Dada wrapped around her finger. In fact, THIS finger:
(yes, Mr. Mocklar, it is an eeevil neonatal ICU...)

It'll be a while before we can take her home, but we sure are having a great time together!

Talk to you soon,
Marcus, Pinky and Lily