Wednesday

Just got home from a birthday party for Meredith's new friend Sienna. They had a lot of fun and for a few hours our lives were sort of normal again. We have made some good friends since we've been in Grand Junction.

Today Delaney did good once again with her bottles, but more importantly she successfully breast fed for the first time. Jennifer had a long talk with the doctors and nurses about how important breast feeding is to her, so now the order is for two breast feeds and one bottle feed per day. We know we have to be careful and not push Delaney, so we'll be watching to see if she needs us to back off. Who knew how complicated nipple feeding would be with a preemie?

We also had a meeting today to learn about infant massage. We're learning that message is one way to help Delaney's development for the next several years. There are lots of benefits to massage both physically and emotionally so it was definitely worth looking into. We've been in Grand Junction now for 64 days.

Tuesday

Another day come and gone in Grand Junction. When will we go home Delaney Rose?

Delaney continues to work hard in the NICU. This morning Brandon went in and the high-flow oxygen system was gone (hopefully for good). We won't miss it and look forward to Delaney's lungs growing stronger and stronger. Delaney was a little sleepy but Brandon was able to feed her another bottle and she did a great job. Tonight Jennifer will work on the bottle with her, and hopefully tomorrow she can try to breastfeed. The only bad news from today is that little Delaney has a pretty good diaper rash going so she spent most of the day with her bare bottom sticking up getting some fresh air. It's a little comical.

Monday

Delaney has so far done a pretty good job with her low-flow cannula. She still has her ups and downs but is able to recover on her own (most of the time). We have definitely learned that Delaney hates her vitamin supplement; after she gets them she gags and refluxes a lot which leads to hypoxia. Overall we've had some pretty good days in the NICU lately.

The big news today was that Delaney had her first nipple evaluation. That means that one of the occupational therapists sat down and tried to give her a bottle of milk to see how she would do. Delaney did surprisingly well for her first time, which absolutely thrilled us. She almost ate her entire meal from the bottle before finishing it off through her feeding tube (Jennifer got a turn during the second half of the feeding). All this may sound like no big deal, but for a preemie, nipple feeding can be a major undertaking that requires practice (that is- sucking, swallowing, and breathing at the same time). It also sets the stage for their future feeding success. Delaney is allowed two bottles a day now, so tonight we went in and Brandon worked her through another full feeding. Bottle feeding little Delaney is a whole different can of worms compared to Meredith, but with practice hopefully we'll get better at it. Finally getting the chance to feed her like a "normal" baby was a wonderful experience.

Sunday

Today was the day--this morning one of our doctors ordered Delaney onto the low flow oxygen system. Her breathing issues these days seem to revolve around straining and squirming and holding her breath rather than central apnea. We hope Delaney can make low flow work so we can move on to greener pastures. It was beautiful day in Grand Junction.

Our thoughts go to Jennifer's brother Rick and sister-in-law Dusti who experienced a catastrophic fire last night in their garage/bonus room. We hope they are able to make it through this tough time and know that with Rick's carpentry skills they will be able to quickly rebuild from the ashes.

Saturday

We had a busy day today. Jennifer spent the morning with Delaney while Brandon and Meredith cleaned up the apartment for company. Before lunch the Japuntiches came by and finally were able to meet Delaney (and enjoy Grand Junction Chinese cuisine). Later in the day the Collins family came to visit and offered to take Meredith to watch a youth hockey game. It was definitely Meredith's lucky day and she was very excited to see several of her Gunnison & Crested Butte friends in the same day!

Delaney had a busy day as well. Before lunch she got her vaccinations (day 60), which entailed 3 separate shots-poor little girl. We also gave her a bath this afternoon so she was pretty worn out. The plan is still to try and wean her down to a low-flow nasal cannula in the near future, so hopefully that isn't too far off. She'll let us know when she's ready.

Friday

We are some tired parents. Days are flying by and surprisingly busy.

The NICU is a humbling place. It is rare that you don't have a neighbor in the pods and because you live in close quarters it's hard not to see what other families are going through. Apparently it is a small world, and our recent neighbor turned out to be one of Brandon's junior high school classmates (it wasn't exactly the ideal setting for a reunion). They didn't stay long. We send them our best and hope that things are improving for them at Children's Hospital in Denver. It's hard not to take on other families' burdens, and it is extremely taxing.

Delaney has her spells, but this morning they weaned her down to 1 liter of high flow. Hopefully she can stay strong and keep building up her lungs. On Thursday afternoon she had her third eye exam, which again indicated that her retinas are immature still. That was excellent news and we hope she can keep it up.

Today we received some gifts in the mail that are extremely meaningful to us- a bracelet and key chain with hand-braided strands of our Kym's mane. Thank you to the Japuntich's and all others that may have had a hand in it. They mean more to us than you know.

Thursday

All is well in Grand Junction. We must sleep, but will update you tomorrow...

Wednesday

Another day in Grand Junction has passed (that makes 57).

Delaney had a good day but seemed like she was tired. The biggest discussion item for us today was on the subject of immunizations for Delaney, which are now imminent. It's an important decision for us to make and it was helpful to talk at length with the NICU doctors & nurses.

Meredith is becoming a fixture in the St. Mary's NICU and we suspect she will be missed by all of her new friends whenever we get to go home. There's never a dull moment when she's around and we have to keep her reined in. Check out the sisters...can you tell which one is which?

Tuesday

Today was a busy day in our neck of the NICU. First thing this morning our neighbors packed it up and headed home with their little boy. Congratulations to them for making it through one heck of an ordeal. We can't wait to hear about Witten's progress once he's back on his home turf. Later in the morning the staff decided to rearrange, and for the first time we moved into a different room. It's okay though- we can still look down on our apartment and it's actually nice and quiet where we ended up. It also helped them consolidate the kids so that everybody wasn't so far apart.

This morning Delaney was visited by a plastic surgeon, who had been requested to examine her palate by one of our doctors. We've had several discussions about her palate with some differing opinions. To make a long story short, Delaney's palate is shaped a little unusually, but fully functional and not apparently of concern to the plastic surgeon. What would our day be like without some sort of significant issue to discuss?

Brandon drove to Montrose this evening to catch up on some work related issues and was happy to hear that things were busy as ever, but in good hands. His absence, however, reminded us of how challenging it is to occupy a 4 year old while doing our duty in the NICU. We are so grateful that we have been able to stay in Grand Junction together and focus on Delaney-it's definitely a team operation.

Monday

I made it into the five pound club!

Sunday

Our neighbors in the NICU are days away from going home with their little boy Witten. We wish them all the best but will definitely miss visiting with them; it also makes us even more eager to take Delaney home. Her time will come.

Today we had a new nurse that was an absolute joy to have around. She helped us clean up Delaney's face and we gave her a bath without all of her equipment on. Meredith held the bag up to provide blow-by oxygen while we washed Delaney up. The best part of this production was being able to look at Delaney's face almost uninhibited. She is growing into a little beauty just like her big sister. Our new nurse even broke out a little red bow that she stuck on Delaney's head after her bath- it was big doin's.

It's amazing how time flies and today was the six-week mark for Meredith's earrings. Of course she had to swap out for the red hoops that she's been staring at for a month and a half. She was pretty excited.

Saturday

Delaney had another good day today other than being gassy and bloated all the time. She rolls around grunting and grimacing trying to figure out how to decompress. For the first time since we've been here we almost had to move rooms. Fortunately for us the babies that were thought to be coming never came (which is good for the other family as well because they were 24 week twins). Delaney is going to have to get tough fast to cope with her big sister's love attacks on a daily basis. Meredith was so proud today when she held Delaney all by herself.

We had some fun today excavating dinosaur bones, and ate a most delicious lunch with our friend Steve who stopped by to visit. It's always encouraging to have people come visit that haven't been here in awhile that can attest to how much Delaney has grown. We owe Steve great thanks for watching our fat cat Ray. Ray may never want to come home again after being at Steve's Kitty Spa and fine dining establishment.

Friday

A little chilly in Grand Junction today but the snow never came.

Today we spent a lot of time in the NICU (what a suprise). Delaney continues to work hard and is maintaining her current positive trend. She finally had her second eye test today and the doctor pretty much said the same thing as last week- that her eyes were still immature. The next few tests will probably be more telling. When you're talking about your child's eyes, it's hard not to get worked up over these exams.

We have been thrilled with Delaney's care since she got to St. Mary's, but as we've mentioned before we've started meeting new staff in the NICU; many of them cross-trained nurses from different venues who "float" from time to time in our neck of the woods when it's busy. Most of them are good people, but we've started to notice that Delaney gets a different level of care when our familiar NICU nurses aren't there. Today we finally had to say something to the folks who need to know to boost our confidence that Delaney is in good hands. It's not that she's in danger, but there are lots of things that we've learned that are good for Delaney and that we've come to expect. It's also taxing to have to start over each day with a new nurse and "train" them on all of our little girl's nuances. It's hard to explain the psychology of a NICU parent, but one thing is for certain- when you show up in the morning or evening and see a face you've come to know and trust it makes the whole day more enjoyable and helps promote a postive mindset.

Thursday

Man it's late. Been working through stacks of papers trying to get our ducks in a row for our taxes. Oh boy.

Delaney had an uneventful day and we don't have much to report. We're all tired. This morning one of the nurses gave Brandon some advice about going home for awhile. Maybe the nurses are watching us go off the deep end. We don't feel that way at this point, although some of the photos we've taken lately may suggest otherwise.

The eye doctor was supposed to come and test the babies tonight but never showed up. Hopefully he'll be in tomorrow so we can find out how Delaney is doing. The nurses laugh at us because we are fully trained in the ways of the NICU. They can pretty well take a break when we're there.

Please think of Delaney tomorrow; the eye tests stress us out.

Wednesday

Today has been a nice peaceful day in the NICU with our baby girl. She's back in the zone again, which made her parent's day.

For St. Patty's day, we dug out our green and Jennifer and Meredith made the NICU staff some delicious treats. Because it was such a nice day in Grand Junction we decided to check out a new spot at Colorado National Monument- it's really quite spectacular up there. We heard that it was over 50 degrees in Gunnison recently and wish we could be there to enjoy it.

Tuesday night

Trial and error is the norm in the NICU. If they don't periodically test Delaney they won't be able to tell whether she's matured to the point where she can become more independent. Thus, they turned down her high-flow to see how well she could breathe. To make a long story short, they had to turn her back up, and they also adjusted her caffeine level. Our little girl worked hard, but she had enough issues to where we had to pull back and regroup. She'll keep working on it.

We get the impression that Delaney is tired of us taking pictures of her.

Tuesday morning

Stop the presses...it looks like we've created some confusion in blog land.

The picture from last night of our family is actually from 2005, just before Meredith went home with us. I guess she does look like Delaney! We wish that was the current state of affairs in Grand Junction, but unfortunately it's not. In fact, little Delaney is struggling with the changes from yesterday, so we're working on that. Still a lot of ground to cover.

Monday

We still wake up in the morning wondering how we ended up living in Grand Junction.

Today was the day to start weaning Delaney down on her high flow. We went from 3 liters to 1 1/2 and tomorrow will probably go to 1. We hope this time Delaney's growth spurt will help her pull through without any rough spots. One of her doctors said this morning that she has deeper lung sounds these days which was great to hear. Jennifer continues to dry breast and Delaney is showing some interest. We hope that starting her early will pay off sometime down the road. We had a good day today, and were happy to spend the day with one of our favorite nurses. A lot of the nurses have said (independently) that Delaney looks a lot like Meredith. That got us thinking back to 2005- and they do look a lot a like.

A lot of time in the NICU today; some of which we spent reminiscing about our horse Kymberly. Like the time she almost tore the door off my old Ford truck (after I foolishly tied her hard to the window), and how she used to stick her head in the window of our truck for a treat whenever we went to visit. Or galloping down the road on her, knowing she would never do a thing to hurt you. Kym had kind of a bad rap until you got to know her- she was a sweetheart. I thought about selling her several times, but never could do it. We wish she could have met Delaney.

Sunday

Maybe it was the rain last night, or maybe it's the fact that we're living on NICU time rather than regular world time. This morning Brandon ran up to Delaney's room to love her up only to find that her feeding was almost over. The clock read 9:30 instead of 8:30- who knew it was spring forward time? What a mess for Jennifer too who was expecting Gunnison friends to show up at any minute. Oh well, we're back on-line now with the rest of the free world.

Delaney had a good day with no major changes to report. We are becoming desperate to take her home now, but know we have to remain patient because she is still quite fragile. Brandon has threatened to kidnap her several times with security called once. Maybe we can swap Holly the doll out for Delaney when nobody is looking...if only she could breathe without assistance.

Sat urday

Beautiful day today in Grand Junction.

Not much new to report as far as Delaney is concerned. We seem to be meeting a lot of new nurses these days, which may be a good sign. We don't know if it's because Delaney is requiring less specialized care these days or what, but we are starting to miss some of our favorite nurses. It's not all bad though because there are a lot of great folks to meet in the NICU. Today our friend Dottie came from Gunnison and was amazed to see how small Delaney is. For comparison, Jennifer and Meredith decided to measure Delaney up against Meredith's doll Holly.

Another day or two and the doctors are going to turn down Delaney's high flow to 1 liter. Wish her luck.

Friday

Today Jennifer & Meredith worked hard to hit all of Delaney's cares because Brandon felt a little under the weather-can't take any chances around here. Delaney's still doing a pretty good job and gained some more weight today. We hope she keeps it up and are encouraged by the fact that she seems to be able to recover a little better on her own following A's and B's. We've talked a lot to everyone about Delaney's belly, and we finally made a point to take a picture of her in all her glory the other day.

Enjoy another fun picture of our stockwoman Meredith that we took while out and about in Grand Junction.

Thursday

Would you believe that tonight we were trapped in an elevator at the hospital with a woman in labor. I guess we can cross that one off the bucket list.

Delaney had a good day today but still has periodic A's & B's. Meredith spent the day with her new friends which allowed Brandon and Jennifer a chance to catch a movie and spend time in the NICU together. We gave Delaney a nice bath this afternoon and spent time visiting with the doctors and nurses. Delaney seemed to be fighting "rain out" from her high flow system today and sounded stuffed up tonight. Condensation forms in the system and ocasionally drops of water rush into her nose. Sometimes it's a lot and causes her to sneeze and gag. We hope that her sniffles aren't due to illness because she certainly doesn't need that right now. When Meredith got home we made a group trip to see Delaney and had reason to celebrate because she has surpassed 4 lbs. It is amazing how much weight she has put on over the last 7-10 days. Tomorrow she'll have more blood work done to check her electrolytes and her hematocrit levels.

We really appreciate all the phone calls, care packages, and letters that we continue to get in Grand Junction. It seems like we have a long time left up here, and hearing from you is a nice morale booster.

Wednesday

Another quiet day at the hospital- other than Meredith keeping everyone entertained with her sassiness. Delaney remains on 3 liters of flow and seems to be comfortable. In another week the doctors will reduce the flow and see if she can cope. Her first eye exam was today and the doctor didn't see anything out of the ordinary for now. As he explained to us, the important eye exams come later after her eyes have had more of a chance to develop and issues are more apparent.

Today the doctors also ordered Jennifer to try and "dry breast" Delaney to see if she'll show any interest in nursing. Delaney did a pretty good job and did some exploring. They'll just have to keep practicing during the coming weeks.

We miss home and are still mourning the loss of our Kymberly.

Tuesday

Delaney had a good day today, and she seems to be getting back on the right track. She's gained a significant amount of weight over the last week and her doctors are cutting back some of her supplements because she doesn't seem to need them anymore. Tomorrow she has her first of many eye exams scheduled which has us a little nervous. Send us your good thoughts.

Today we had more bad news. This posting is dedicated to the memory of our friend and family member Kym (the horse) who died very unexpectedly sometime during the last several days. She was young and healthy, and it's not fair that she was taken from us when we weren't even there to say goodbye. Our hearts are broken. She will be missed.

Monday

Rain and snow in GJ today.

Had a better day with Delaney, but she continues to have breathing issues. Brandon got to visit with one of the doctors first thing this morning as she was trying to determine whether Delaney's issues are true central apnea (brain forgets to breathe), or something else. Delaney's respiration is an interesting thing to watch on the monitor. She'll breathe good for awhile, then stop, then her oxygen saturation will go down-sometimes to her detriment, then she'll try to catch up by breathing really fast. Sometimes it's really shallow, sometimes she breathes deep. This type of periodic breathing is not what we're looking for with the micro preemie. After much consideration, our doctor ordered additional caffeine supplement to try and encourage Delaney to breathe more regularly (and minimize the number of spells she has). As we've said before, it's adaptive management on a daily basis.

We did give Delaney a long bath today. Finally a nurse ordered us to wrap it up before we had a problem. She still loves her bath (note we've graduated to the big kid bath-tub).

Sunday

Another rainy day in Grand Junction-

Today we started to get back on track after yesterday's setback. Some days or weeks are just puzzles, and the staff at the NICU is continuously trying to put the pieces together. We feel there were several reasons for Delaney's rough day yesterday. In the end, it was probably due primarily to her reduction of high-flow oxygen. They periodically reduce her intake and see how she responds; sometimes it's okay, sometimes she needs to be turned back up. Delaney sends the message loud and clear when she needs to- we could barely touch her yesterday without her having problems. This afternoon she was definitely feeling better and Jennifer was able to do kangaroo care for several hours. Hopefully we stay the course.

Saturday

One step forward, two steps back.

Delaney has had a rough one. Kangaroo care was impossible today with her being so hyper-sensitive. Lots of A's and B's and brainstorming with the NICU staff. There are lots of different factors that could be contributing to her troubles and they are all being explored. We just left the hospital and she was having a complete set of blood panels done to rule out (or identify) infection. It's terrible to watch her have so much blood taken, but catching a potential infection early is prudent. It's hard on us not to be able to hold her during the day. There is a chance that she'll end up back in an isolette, which will be a bummer but whatever is best for her is okay with us. We're beat down and broken today; we'll report back tomorrow.

Friday morning

Things change quickly around here. This morning we took a big step, and now Delaney has to show us what she can do! We'll see if she can keep her temperature up. This is important, because someday we'll be heading home to the Gunnison country!

Thursday

A change of plans today in the NICU. Our doctors have speculated that Delaney's respiration and heart rate may be due to her getting overheated in her isolette. She may be getting old enough and big enough to where she is self-regulating her body temperature. When she overheats, she does what we would all do- pants to cool off. So today they turned the isolette off, and are evaluating whether she can keep her body temp up and still gain weight. If Delaney can pull it off, this is the first step towards her own crib; now wouldn't that be something. We had a lot of kangaroo care time today, which was a joy.

This week we have received a bunch of great packages in Grand Junction, and it remains Christmas-like for Meredith and Delaney. Thanks again for your generosity, and for those of you with such generous, special children-please thank them for us as well!

It's also been a week of delicious home-cooked meals from our great friends. We've eaten a lot of great food since we've been here, but I have to say that tonight's chicken cacciatore may be at the top of my favorites list. It makes such a difference during our busy day to have a simple dinner all ready to go. Thank you.