Friday, April 30, 2010

Harper Passed Her First Test

Today Harper passed her car seat study.  In order to make sure that she is ready to leave the hospital the doctors must analyze her oxygen saturation while she sits in the car seat to ensure her neck muscles are strong enough to keep her air passage open.  It's an hour and a half long and Harper sailed right through it.

She continues to feed well and is almost ready to go home.  The nurses say she's an over achiever....I wonder where she gets that from?  I'm such a proud parent already.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Daddy's In Love

Yesterday was another eventful day at the hospital.  We got word from Dr. Scott that Harper is making great progress and may be able to come home as early as next week!  She is doing great with her feedings, is up to six pounds, and still loves her bath!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Harper's 1 Month Birthday

Today is Harper's 1 month birthday.  It is hard to believe that a month has passed since we welcomed her into the world.  She's growing so fast and doing so well, we are hopeful her stay in the ICN is nearing the end.

This morning mom and dad went to see her so that we could wish her a happy birthday and sing to her.  We brought her a birthday outfit with a cupcake on it for her to wear for the big celebration.

Today she weighs 5lb. 10oz. and continues to gain weight everyday.  She's breast feeding now on a regular basis which is quite an accomplishment for a 37 week old preemie.  Even the nurses are impressed!

While mom and dad are biased and think Harper is the most beautiful baby in the entire ICN, it's become clear that Harper has acquired a pretty strong fan base at the hospital all on her own.  Just yesterday dad caught one of the nurses, in the middle of her assessment of Harper, saying how cute she was and that she just wanted to "scoop her up and snuggle her."  The day before that, one of the nurses commented on how they wish they could choose their assignments because she would pick Harper everyday!  Harper's rumored to be the favorite among the babies, and we're not the least bit surprised!

Happy Birthday Harper!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Harper's Bath at 4 weeks old

Harper's first bath video received such great reviews that we decided to make a sequel.  Back by popular demand.....here's Harper!!!

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/19c2e4ca08bcafd89e2194de5de3d541/video/13007449

Harper is 4 weeks old!

Today Harper is 4 weeks old!  It's hard to believe that it's almost been a month since she was born.  While the doctors haven't given us a date for when she will be ready to come home, she is getting stronger everyday.  Harper continues to gain weight and is now up to 5lb. 9oz.

She has also made a lot of progress with her feedings and has built up the endurance to complete half of them on her own!  When mom isn't monopolizing all of her time, Ryan loves to hold her too.

Click on the link below to view a special video of dad and Harper.

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/e6cabf7ac301eb61782dd3c5c6833891/video/13007778

Friday, April 16, 2010

Our Little Girl Scout is Getting So Big!




Even though the pregnancy is over, the cravings aren't! I managed to wolf down 2 boxes of girl scout cookies in the past couple of days. Who says I'm not eating for two? I am feeding Harper my milk everyday!



I'm chalking up my sweet obsession to motherly instincts. Surely my body knew what was best for my baby...FAT! Well, the cravings paid off because our little girl is up to 5lb. 4oz! That's a 6 oz. gain in the last 48 hours! Woohoo!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Mimi is now a Great Grandmother!


Mimi got to hold little Harper this week! It's pretty crazy that Harper has a great grandmother....but anyone that knows Mimi knows she's always been a GREAT grandmother!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Got Milk?

Today was a fantastic day! Ryan and I visited Harper in the hospital in the morning and Ryan practiced his "football sideline" bottle feeding with Harper. She did pretty well and guzzled down 3/4 of the milk on her own.

Later in the afternoon Harper was spoiled beyond belief at a gorgeous shower hosted by "Glama", "adopted grandma" Deb Deb, and the beautiful Linda Reuter. Harper is going to be the most stylish baby in the East Bay.

But the best part of today had to be Harper's first full breast feeding! Ryan and I returned to the hospital for her 8PM feeding and she breast fed for the entire 30 minutes on her own! We're making huge progress and I think I'm going to be living at the hospital the next few weeks until they let us take her home.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

"Glama" gets to hold Harper!

Grandma Kathy, A.K.A "Glama" because she's SO glamorous, got to hold little Harper on Monday this week! Harper even smiled for her!



Afterwards we all took an infant CPR class which was very informative and somewhat comical. We learned that you should sing "Stayin' Alive" to help keep the tempo and time frame at which to administer heart compressions. We'll never hear the Bee Gee's the same way!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Harper's first Easter

Harper gained 2 oz. today! She's up to 4lb. 6 oz. which is just an oz. shy of her birth weight!












Grandma and Grandpa both took turns holding her and Grandpa was lucky enough to get a high 5...Harper's first of course!



The Easter Bunny paid her a visit in the NICU but she seemed to enjoy her nap time more.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Harper gets her first bath!


Today was a great day! Harper is off her IV and has gained 2 oz. since Friday! She also got her first big girl bath in a tiny tub.

To watch Harper's first bath click on the link below

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/841ba095c37f97e134cddad64c106a37/video/12376352