When you were born you were so strong. You were stuck up in Mommy's left side and you were hard to come out, but you did just fine. Mommy actually got to kiss your sweet head and feel your warm face a few minutes after you were born. You didn't need any oxygen support in the beginning! Daddy got to see you for a second, he didn't want to leave Mommy's side during the delivery and since you and your sisters were born so quickly after one another, there wasn't much time to walk around and take photos right away.
At birth you weighed 2lbs. 13oz, the smallest of your sisters. You had dark eyes and super soft dark brown hair, just enough not to be bald, but nothing too wild. Perfect, if you ask Mommy! You were such a cute little peanut.
You did eventually go on CPAP for oxygen support for a day. You are amazing and your lungs were so strong so you didn't need much help breathing!
Mommy finally got to see you on Christmas morning, after a very, very long 48 hours of not being able to see your beautiful face. However, your Daddy was enjoying taking care of you, taking your temperature and changing your diapers. He would come back from visiting you in the NICU and say how cute you were and reassure Mommy that you were fine! Daddy was the first to hold you. Mommy is sorry that she didn't get to know a lot about you in the first few days of your life. Mommy was very sick and not conscious for most of the two days after your birth. Daddy got to hold you a lot in the first few days of your life. He said you were "his baby" and knew just what you liked right from the start. Mommy was a little jealous.
When Mommy finally saw you, you were so beautiful, it took her breath away. There were lots of tears, Mommy couldn't believe how perfect you were, especially for being so teny tiny. Mommy called you her little birdy. You have the softest skin and little fur on your back. But it's nothing to be concerned about, it's jsut so sweet and will fall off before long. Mommy loves it though, you are the sweetest thing she has ever seen. Ten toes and ten fingers; everyone commented on your and your sister's beautiful long and thin fingers. Everyone says that you girls are going to do something with your hands. Maybe an artist, or play the flute, a basketball player...who knows, you all just have the most beautiful fingers.
Your lips are perfectly pink and so sweet to kiss, but so little. A million kisses a day wouldn't be enough! You love to pucker your lips and stick your little tongue out! Your eyes are so big and beautiful. You are always starring at Mommy and Daddy and are just so beautiful. You have this peace on your face, it's hard to describe, you just are such an angel. Mommy could stare at you all day. You have the longest eye lashes of your sisters too.
Once you started eating, after a few days of life, you developed some blood in your stool. Mommy got very worried because your doctors said it could be an infection, but thankfully it was just an anal fissure, probably from a reaction from Mommy's breast milk, so they took you off of it and put you on a special formula. They think that you might be lactose-intolerant. Mommy hated to know that something was causing you pain and she wanted to take it all away from you. The blood cleared up after a week and the fissure seemed to subside but then all of the sudden the blood came back, much stronger and brighter. You didn't want to eat and the nurses said that it was probably from the taste of the special formula you were on. Then you started spitting up a lot and Mommy got worried. You didn't act like yourself and by the next morning, you were very sick. You have had a very hard last 10 days. On Wednesday, January 12th, 2011, you got very sick, very quickly. Your IV went back in to immediately give you antibiotics, protein and fat. You were taken off all food. The doctors weren't quite sure what was wrong with you and it was very scary. You became very, very pale and by Thursday evening, January 13th, you were at your sickest. You had a very bad infection in your bowel, confirmed by blood work. This disease you had is called NEC, Necrotizing Enterocolitis. It is unknown as to how you developed it and why it happened, but it did. Your bowel began to die and we did not know how bad it really was. Mommy and Daddy were very scared. You had many x-rays taken, blood work drawn and were monitored very, very closely. The pediatric surgeon was called incase you needed immediate surgery but thankfully it wasn't needed. You had one and only one "brady" where your heart rate dropped and you had to be stimulated to pick it back up. Your temperature was low, which was not a good thing either and you were put back on oxygen support and then had to have a tube put down your throat all the way to your intestines to let out the air and bile that was causing your tummy to expand. You tummy looked white and grey, and even scared many of your nurses. You were so sick, baby girl. The bile coming out of you was bright green, and very scary looking. Mommy hated to see you so sick. She cried and cried. When Mommy and Daddy had to leave on Thursday night it was one of the hardest things she ever had to do. You were so sick, many were unsure if you would survive and to be honest Mommy and Daddy weren't even sure. It was so unbelieveably hard to leave you that night. Mommy can't even explain how hard it was. She is so sorry for all the pain you have felt. She called every few hours to check on you and to know your progress. Thankfully it seemed that the doctors caught the NEC just in time.
During the time you were sick, you maintained your body weight and actually gained weight. You had a unique case of NEC, the doctors were perplexed. You never had any acid in your blood and you continued to have bowel sounds so they were pretty sure that none of your bowel was blocked. Sometimes, or a lot of the time, scar tissues forms to heal the dying bowel or the dying bowel collapses and creates a narrowing or blockage and the only way to fix it is through surgery. Thankfully you didn't need surgery. The nurses and doctors were also worried that your bowel could perforrate but thankfully it did not either. You could have died right away if that had happened. You had a picc line put in your left arm to help with all of your antibiotics and TPN. You were being stuck every day for new IV's and it was horrible. It took four different tries an four different people to finally get the picc line in your arm. Mommy was there when one of the Neonatalogists finally was able to get it right. She wanted to kiss him, she was so happy. You were so brave. Mommy was so proud of you.
You are one lucky little girl. You will always know how lucky you are. God was so good to you. He protected you, gave you strenght and comforted you when Mommy and Daddy couldn't be right there with you. Your infection slowly subsided and you were feeling much better after a few long and hard days.
You have had some wonderful and very sweet nurses in the days that you are spending in the NICU. Mommy crys every single time that she has to leave you, it breaks her heart in a million pieces, but knowing you have such knowledgeable and sweet people taking such great care of you makes it a little easier. There were also so many people who have come to visit you and your sisters in the NICU. Some of your visitors have been Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Christine, Aunt Megan and Uncle Julian, Nana, your Great-Nana, your Great-Aunt Bonnie, your Great-Grandma and Al, your Great-Aunt Tina and Great-Unlce John, Aunt Kim (she was the first to hold you other than Mommy and Daddy) and Uncle Roger, Uncle Nate, Kristin and Jeff, Lisa, Melissa, Ann and Jack, Chantelle and baby Isla. Your friend, Isla, was born on December 26th and was in the area right next to you. Mommy was so happy you (and she) had a friend in the NICU, but Isla was a full-term baby and luckily didn't need much help, so she got to go home right away with her Mommy and Daddy. You have had so many people praying for you to be strong and to grow healthy, everyone loves you so much!
You are currently still in the NICU. You currently weigh 3lbs. 15oz. and are finally back on food. You started back on food on Wednesday. You are increasing your feed by 2cc's every 12 hours until you get to 26cc's, where you were when you stopped eating. Today you are on 16cc's and are taking it all in your bottle. Way to go little girl! You were so hungry the two days before the doctors decided you could eat again, you wanted to eat everything in sight. You tried eating the nurse's fingers, your Mommy's fingers, your fingers and it looked like you thought if you stucked on your paci hard enough something would come out. Mommy hated not having you eat, but it was for the best. Everyone was so happy when you started getting better. You are so strong Natalee!!!
Your eyes were checked and are fine, just still immature, you will need to still see the eye doctor in two weeks again to make sure your eyes are fully mature. The doctor believes everything will be fine though, it's completely normal for preemies. You will get your ears checks once you come out of your isolate. You have to hit 4lbs before you can come out of your isolate, but you should be there by the end of the next week.
You are getting a bath every 2-3 days right now and you do pretty well. You love the warm water and Mommy loves giving you your baths. You and your sisters have the cutest outfits, all of the nurses think you all are so cute.
It has been very hard having your sister at home and you and Madelynn in the NICU, but Mommy and Daddy try to spend as much time as we can with you. Mommy comes every evening, she would never miss a day of your life. Never, never, never. Madelynn is watching over you, she is laying right by your side. Do you see her when you are faced that way? She doesn't want to leave you there by yourself so she is pretending not to be good at eating. She loves you so much and Claire misses you so much at home. She loves being the only child right now but she cannot wait until you come home. She misses and loves you so much! Mommy loves to know you and Madelynn are together though.
You have proven to be a fighter and the strongest person your Mommy has ever met. She has no idea where the strenght insde of you comes from. You are going to be one strong woman. You are here for a purpose, Natalee, always remember that. God chose you for our family and you are very important.
Sweet girl, you are changing daily before our eyes and time is flying by, we don't want to miss anything. We love you so much Natalee, and we are so proud of you! Continue to stay strong little girl, grow, grow, grow...our sweet love. Mommy and Daddy love you forever and ever, to the moon and back.
Here you are at one month old:
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