Sunday June 27

Another week come and gone for us and it's hard to believe it's almost July. It was a week of anxiety and worry with regard to Delaney's eating issues. We feel like we're a little behind the curve, but at least now we have a game plan in place. For those of you we haven't talked to, Delaney has recently started to get extremely upset at feeding time. It's so sad to see her cry and fight us when we know she's hungry. She's also had a really hard time keeping her food down, and was spitting up large amounts several times a day. There are other things going on as well, but all signs point to reflux.

The good news is that we've started her on some medicine to help control the pain associated with reflux. It's a little early to tell if it's working, but they say we need to give it a week or so before we start seeing results. The bad news is that we have confirmed that she does have some issues, and that it's significant enough to warrant a trip to Denver to see a GI specialist. We made a trip to Grand Junction on Friday to see one of the great occupational therapists that worked with Delaney in the NICU. She seemed to know exactly what we were dealing with and has set the wheels in motion for the Denver consultation. Hopefully we can get an appointment soon so that we can get to the bottom of things. Reflux has a variety of different origins and we'd like help Delaney out as soon as possible. The last thing you want is for an infant to associate feeding with pain.

Despite our busy week, we did get out and about this weekend. Meredith got to go to her first wedding on Saturday, and today we went to Crested Butte to have a short reunion visit with one of Delaney's neonatologists from Grand Junction. It's always nice to show Delaney off to folks that knew her from the beginning. We also got to feel rain for the first time in forever, which was an added bonus of our CB trip.

We'll keep you posted...

First Day of Summer 2010

What do all these pictures of Ms. Delaney have in common? Today is a big milestone for her, in that she finally got the green light from her doctor to quit her oxygen! We are quite certain that everyone can live a happier life now, and hope that Delaney won't miss a beat without the supplement. She can finally sleep without a plastic tube stuck on her cheek and the cannula jammed in her nostrils. It's hard to believe but she has been on oxygen for the entire two months that we've been home (not to mention her entire stint at the NICU).

We were pleased that she's gained more weight-8 lbs 12 oz, but she continues to have some feeding challenges. We hope to get with an occupational therapist this week to start working on it and hope we can nip it in the bud before it becomes a bigger issue.

Last Wednesday, Meredith went to her first day of school and had a great time playing with all her friends. It's a nice time of year to play outside, and Meredith definitely needs to blow off some steam with her buddies from time to time.

We'll see what sort of adventures we can have this week...

Sunday June 20

We wanted to post at least one picture and let you know that we will report again tomorrow. Jennifer will be taking Delaney to a doctors appointment first thing in the morning so we'll have more to tell you tomorrow night.... Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there!

Sunday June 13

In addition to our family pictures, this week we also included a picture of sweet baby girl Sephira, who was born this week in Virginia. She was born with a rare condition that required emergency surgery and will spend the next several weeks recovering in a NICU. She is the newest niece of Jennifer's sister-in-law in Pennsylvania. We wish Sephira and her family the best and think of them everyday. Be brave Sephira.

Delaney remains our little punkin' and weighed in at 8 lbs, 4 oz on Friday. Statistically, she is just a touch below the average growth curve for an eight week old baby. We forgot to mention last week that she's 20 inches long, which means she's grown 2 inches since we got back to Gunnison.

Her new issue is that she is having some feeding frustrations when it comes to the bottle. It's a bad new habit that we're concerned about and are working on schedulling a meeting with a local occupation therapist to see if we can get it worked out. From what we understand, you don't want to mess around with feeding issues with preemies because it can lead to problems later in life. Otherwise, things are pretty much the same as last week which is just fine with us.

Sunday June 6

We've had another busy week around here. Don't let the pictures deceive you, there's not much time for sleep...

Last week Meredith went to Crested Butte for her graduation ceremony. She's about to embark on her final year at Stepping Stones and will be in the Coyote class starting in the fall. It's a bummer that she missed the greater portion of her Marmot year, but at least she got to visit with her friends and teachers at graduation.

Friday night we all participated in the Relay for Life in Gunnison. Most of our team were walking in the memory of our good friend Sandy Hayes who was a wonderful person that cancer took at a young age. It's a powerful experience which we hope to be involved with for many years to come. Jennifer has walked in the relay for several years in honor of her late Uncle Willard, and her Aunt Barbara who survived breast cancer- Take care of yourselves.

More work to do on Saturday, with Brandon helping out at the kid's fishing clinic in Gunnison. It's a lot of fun visiting with all the kids and their families, and helping to run the laser shot virtual hunting booth. Jennifer has a different method of transportation now that the weather is nice and with help from Meredith it appears that Delaney has the best ride in town. The wind won't seem to go away so far this summer, but man has it been hot lately!

Delaney is doing well but has been a little off lately. She's had a sour belly and we're hoping she'll work it out soon. We weaned her down to 1/32 of a liter on her oxygen, but she seemed lethargic so we turned it back up. It sure would be nice to be rid of the oxygen and all the equipment but she's going to have to let us know when she's ready.