Hello everyone! I finally have a moment to give you all an update on what has been going on with our Little Olivia.
First, since the last time I blogged Liv has had two ER visits. The first was when I was on my work retreat. It was a very stressful time and literally my worst case scenario playing out. Liv hadn’t been eating well that week and we thought it was her finickiness coming out. She had too many low intake days in a row and became dehydrated. Jeremy and my mom took her to the hospital and she had to get an IV. I came home early from my trip the next day. Jeremy and I did not end up having our weekend away. For the two nights I was away, I was able to get one night of good sleep. So, I’ll look forward to when we can plan another getaway for an uninterrupted night of sleep. At the ER, we found out that she actually wasn’t eating because she had tonsilitis! She recovered fairly quickly after her visit to the hospital.
The next visit was last week. Olivia got a fever and was fussy. We gave her tylenol, but it wasn’t really going down. So we decided to call the advice nurse. She asked about her heart rate and breathing. Her breathing was OK, but her heart rate was pretty high, so she said we should get her checked out just in case. So, off we went to the ER again. This time I was there, but it was midnight. She tested negative for all the usual suspects, which was comforting. They were able to get her fever controlled around 4AM. She was feeling herself by the evening. So thankful again to Sutter in both instances for taking care of our Lil’Liv!
Second, appointment updates!
Livy got assessed again for her progress from Alta Regional Services who identifies areas that preemies may need assistance to keep them progressing in their milestones and development. I have not received the official report, but I can say that Olivia is doing well in most areas. She was only slightly behind in one, maybe two areas. But that was taken a month ago and she has already improved.
We have had two appointments with speech. We have been working on Olivia drinking out of a straw and she has been doing better. So next step is to see how she does drinking formula out of it more. Hoping we can transition to that since she has her bottle aversion. Her appetite has been going up. She has been finishing most of her bottles and eating more solids. At her speech appointment this week, she got weighed and Olivia has gone from the 5th percentile to the 7th percentile! So exciting. She is moving well on her curve. We have all been working hard and it is showing.
Yesterday we got big news! Olivia passed her night oxygen test. That means she is officially out of her oxygen era! TSwift has been a constant in our house 🙂 This is such a big milestone for us! A year ago, Liv was still intubated!
Some big upcoming appointments: Next week we follow up with her pulmonologist. At the beginning of December we see outpatient pulmonology and the main focus there is nutrition now. We finally have our appointment with the opthamologist in mid December. Then Liv will see her pediatrician towards the end of the month. And we will also have our usual monthly speech appointments, as well as PT/Child Development every other week.
Some of Livy’s latest milestones:
- She is a crawling machine.
- She is surfing around furniture.
- She is getting a little more fearful around strangers, but in most cases still warms up to people.
- Looks for things we hide under a blanket.
- Drinks from a cup without a lid as we hold it.
- She can feed herself with her hands, still working on perfecting the pinching grasp.
- She can pull herself up on various surfaces.
- She can walk a short distance using her walker or holding someone’s hands.
- She has lots of different facial expressions.
- Is babbling lots and making all the different sounds.
- Is showing affection mostly to mom by licking my entire face, haha.
Here are some recent photos of Livy:
We are getting ready to send Christmas cards out and we would love to be able to send them to our new friends. If you could complete this Google form: https://forms.gle/ML6ApFE43S3asaoN9 – that will allow us to have your information so we can send one your way. And if you are family or friends that have moved this last year or for some reason did not receive one last year, please fill out the form as well. We are excited for this card. Last year Olivia’s face was covered because she was on the CPAP machine. This year she will have nothing but her beautiful face!
Lil’ Liv’s Numbers:
- Age: 13 months
- Adjusted Age: 10 months
- Weight: 15lbs and 12.6oz (7th percentile)
- BMI: 14.98 (has not been measured again)
- Height: 26.75 inches (has not been measured again)
- Head: 43.3 cm (has not been measured again)
Until next time…
The One... 