Ch- Ch- Changes!

We are doing a lot of changing here in the Hallinan Household!  Let me list them for you....

Change #1
The BIGGEST change is that we are MOVING!  We bought a house in Washington Township and close on November 30th!  So we will be moving out of this house into the new house the first weekend in December.  Then hopefully selling this house quickly soon after.

We are moving because....

a) We need a bigger house...as small as Annelise is, we are overrun with baby stuff.  The swing, the pack-n-play, the bouncy seat, the bassinet, the crib, the changing table, it takes up so much room.  And she playing in the living room on the floor in the middle of where people need to walk. 

b) It's an awesome time to buy and we found a house that we love at a great price. 

c) We'll be closer to Gramma AND Mom Mom!  So lucky them, I can now drop little A off in a moments notice.  Hehe!


Change #2
Annelise is now in 3 month old clothes!  We had 2 doctor's appointments this week.  She weighed in a 9 lbs 6 oz at each!  Wow, what a big girl!  The doctors are all pleased with her weight gain.  So despite her reflux and spitting up, she's gaining well.

Change #3
We are trying a new formula to supplement with.  Annelise has a lot of gas and is fussy from it.  The nutritionist (and her parents!) think there's no reason for her to be so fussy.  It's usually only once a day, but you can tell she's in pain!  We just switched as of today to Similac Alimentum.  We're going to give it about 2 weeks.  If it doesn't resolve her issues, then we're going to try Enfamil Nutramigen.  All a little more expensive then the common formulas, but we may be able to get insurance to cover part of the cost.  If not, I don't care.  I'll pay whatever to make this little girl happy ALL the time!

As always, here are some cute pictures of little A!

This is Mom Mom and Annelise both asleep at Mom Mom's house.  Our heater broke during the recent snow storm!  Of course.  So we camped out at Mom Mom's house for the weekend.

Here's little A bundled up before we headed over to Mom Mom's. 

Little Hokie Girl!

Annelise's Halloween outfit.  She loved helping Mommy hand out candy to trick-or-treaters!

Then it got warm, and Mommy used the opportunity to dress Annelise in a cute dress for her appointment with her surgeon, Dr. Flake.

Settling into a routine

Annelise and I are getting settled into a routine now that she's been home almost a month.  The first few weeks were difficult.  She is medically complex, and her reflux is pretty severe.  She was doing well at first, and then the surgeon tried to wean her off of one of her medications.  That made her reflux A LOT worse.  We were having alarms on her heart rate monitor, and she was spitting up several meals a day.  We went back up on her medication, and she's doing a lot better.  Only a little bit of spit up each day, and our happy baby is back!

She's gained a lot of weight already!  At last doctor's visit, she was up to 8 lbs. 9 oz!  I think she's gained more since then, but we don't have an official weight check until next week.  I'll let you know!  I have to change out her clothes though.  All of her newborn clothes are getting small on her.  3 month outfits here we come!  :-)

We're being evaluated by Early Intervention Services.  Because Annelise spent so much time in the NICU, and was premature, she's a little behind on her milestones.  She's almost 4 months old, but should be hitting the milestones of a 2 month old due to her prematurity.  However, she spent almost 3 months laying in a hospital bed.  So we have some time to make up!  Early Intervention will be sending an Occupational Therapist to our house to work with Annelise and teach me how to play with her so she develops and hits those milestones (rolling over, lifting up her head, grabbing for stuff, etc.)  They say that she's going to do very well with therapy because she's trying to do things now, just doesn't have the strength.  We meet with everyone on November 7th to decide our ultimate goals and small goals along the way.  They will also tell me how many times per month they're coming to work with her.

As always, here are some recent pictures of our cutie pie!  She's getting so big so fast!

 I know, I know....babies shouldn't watch TV. 

BUT, Annelise loves watching NFL RedZone on Sundays with Daddy.  She really likes football!

Aunt Adrienne made a surprise visit home last weekend.  Annelise loved hanging out with her!

Just the other day, Annelise fell asleep while looking at herself in the mirror!  Haha!

Times flies when you're....

......Home with an infant!

......Feeding, pumping, changing diapers, sleeping, feeding, pumping, changing diapers, sleeping!


Insert either of the above phrases and you may understand why this blog hasn't been updated in a bit.  Being home with Annelise is a full-time job!  My schedule revolves around her schedule.

We had a follow-up visit with her surgeon, Dr. Flake on Thursday.  She's gained some weight!  Yay!  8 lbs even now - so she's doubled her birth weight finally. 

Aunt Denise came over last weekend and took really nice pictures of Annelise.  She is an excellent photographer.  I'll share my favorites....

Cold Season Rules at the Hallinan House

The doctor's office is working on getting Annelise approved (insurance) for the shots to prevent RSV.  She is too young to get the flu shot, as it's only effective from 6 months and older.

Some information on RSV and why we're being vigilant to protect little A from it:

Nearly every child has had the RSV virus at least once by age two. For babies born full-term and without complications, it is typically a bad cold. But, the highest risk factors for contracting RSV and developing complications like pneumonia, bronchiolitis, and other sometimes fatal complications are: being born premature, being born with a lung condition, or being born with a heart condition.  Annelise is at a high risk!  Preventing the spread of RSV is very difficult. Thus, we must be vigilant about keeping Annelise safe during RSV season (October through April). The virus is spread through physical contact, in the air via a cough or sneeze, or by touching an infected object. The virus can live as long as six hours on hands, and up to twelve hours on objects. If Annelise contracts RSV she will likely be hospitalized since she does not have the necessary immunities to fight off infection like the rest of us. Last year alone, over 125,000 infants in the US were hospitalized due to complications from contracting RSV.

At our house, please be prepared to take off your shoes and wash your hands upon entering our home.  Use the antibacterial hand gel frequently also.  Please refrain from coming over if you are currently experiencing any illness symptoms, or have been in close contact with anyone showing symptoms.  If you haven't had a flu shot, please refrain from visiting. (I mean, it just makes sense to get a flu shot.  Who wants to be sick?!?!)

Please do not let these precautions frighten you or stop you from making contact with our family. They are simple precautions that every loving parent with a fighter like ours must take during this season. 

THANKS!

First week home

Well, it's been a little over a week at home.  Things have been going well.  Annelise is very happy and adjusting well to life at 8 Ray Smith!

I just got back from a visit to Annelise's pediatrician.  While she's home and  happy, she is not gaining weight like they would like her to.  She has only gained 1 ounce in her first week at home.  They'd like to see her gaining 1 oz per day!  Only time in her life she'll be advised to eat more!  haha!  She's currently 7 lb. 10 oz.  Little peanut!

 

The doctor advised us to keep her away from big groups until the Spring.  No Target, church, etc.  Doctor's visits only.  Boo.  Good thing I took the year off to be home with her!  We're allowed to do walks out in the fresh air, so you can bet that stroller is going to get some use.  We do not want to end up back in the NICU at CHOP!

Here are some recent pictures of our happy girl!

 

Family pic!

Taken at Mom Mom's house on our way home from CHOP

You wouldn't believe how happy she gets at her activity mat!

She coo's and smiles at the turtle who lights up and plays music!

I've got to try to catch a video of her.  It's just too cute.

Watching the Phillies win the first game of the NLDS.  The bib is the size of her body!

Watching the Eagles with Daddy this past Sunday

Photos from our first days home

Hi guys!  So the past few days have been challenging, as it is when most people bring a new baby home!  We're adjusting to being with Annelise 24/7.....and she's adjusting to us!  It's wonderful to be able to roll over and see our angel sleeping in her bassinet.  I do not take that for granted at all!

Here are some pictures from Annelise's first few days home!

First bath at home

The promised car seat picture from our ride home

How adorable!

Just chilling in her playard

She's HOME!!!

Okay, so first of all, I have been posting via the Blogger app on my iPhone....yet somehow the posts haven't made it to the blog.  :-(  Sorry to keep y'all in the dark!

Anyway, we did our day of testing last Monday, came back that she did NOT need another surgery!  Thank God!  So the team decided to put Annelise back on the Erithromycin since she did so well on it before with her reflux.  Then she stopped having Bradycardias once she was put on it.  So they said we could bring her home...on erithromycin, prilosec and a heart monitor.  The heart monitor just alerts us when her heart rate is too high or too low or if she stops breathing.  At first, I thought it's going to be annoying and I didn't want it.  After our first night home, I definitely like having it.

This is Annelise waiting to get her discharge papers to leave the NICU. 

Daddy has the car seat pictures on his phone, so I'll have to post them later.

When we got home last night, this was waiting for us:

I took the picture today since it was dark by the time we made the rounds visitng the grandparents after leaving CHOP.  I LOVE this, and didn't think we would get one since this wasn't the traditional homecoming of a newborn.  Thanks Mom Mom!

By the way.....her length is wrong.  Totally my fault! Things got very confusing those first few weeks in the NICU and we didn't have her correct length and weight until discharge yesterday.  She was actually born at 17.75 inches and 4 pounds.  Oops!

After we got home, it was crazy to try to get on schedule with her feedings and medications.  Annelise was super tired because she didn't sleep well all day in the NICU.  I think she could sense the excitement!  Here she is sleeping in Mommy & Daddy's bed after her 9pm feeding.

Last night was rough, but we made it through.  Evidently Annelise likes the 3am hour.  She woke up at 2:45am and stayed awake through her 3am feeding until her 6am feeding!  What a night owl!  I'm glad that we have the heart rate monitor.  It beeps (quite loud!) to alert us if something's wrong.  The only reason I slept at all last night was the monitor.  I kept thinking that she would stop breathing if I set her down, or the cat would smother her, or she'd have another Brady when I fell asleep.  But the monitor will wake me up if that happens, so I can rest easy for now.  I'm sure we'll be off of the monitor in a few weeks, but it's a good transition for me from the NICU to home.  At least I can sleep the 2 hours between feedings without worry!

Today has been calmer.  The Home Health Nurse came out to see us and check up on medications, feeding, etc.  It was great to have someone come over and make sure we were doing okay.  CHOP has been great!  She'll be back in a week to check on us again.  In the meantime, they have a nurse on-call 24/7 to answer questions and walk us through anything that we're not sure about.  I hope to not use them, but am glad they're there. 

Tomorrow, Annelise and I are going to her pediatrician for her first visit!

And then October 13th, we have a follow up with the surgeon. 

No one said having a newborn was dull!  We're on the go! :-)

Annelise in her Froggy bouncer in our living room!  Look how happy she is to be home!