Glasses!

Elsie's glasses arrived on Monday. I haven't posted any pictures of her yet because we are still getting used to them and had to work out a few little kinks. But I think we're finally ready . . . here's some quick info first:

The brand of glasses we got are called Miraflex . Basically, they're the coolest thing ever for babies/small children who need to wear glasses. Before we found out about Miraflex, we naively and optimistically stopped by our local Standard Optical to see what our options were. Basically, they had one pair of metal frames that almost fit her little face, and with insurance, they would cost $300. Not counting the lenses, of course, that would be an additional charge. Also, we didn't love how the metal frames looked, not that looks are the most important thing ever, but like my niece Riley said when she saw the picture, Elsie looked like an old lady. I hated it. We were also hit with a reality check: how on earth were we going to keep the glasses on this wiggly baby? She managed to rip off all of the pairs that we tried on at Standard Optical. I started to feel quite discouraged again.

I did some research and asked around (I have the best resources--thanks to Diana, Chantel, and Mona for helping me out and encouraging me!), and found a few places in Salt Lake City that carried the Miraflex frames. Then, even better, I found out that there is one single optometrist office in my little town that carries them! Hooray, one less reason to have to drive to the big city!

Let me tell you about the Miraflex frames. They were designed specifically for children and babies. The frames are made completely out of a soft plastic; no metal pieces or hinges to get broken whatsoever. There is a soft elastic strap that goes around the back of the head to secure the glasses, no yanking them off and throwing them on the floor. They come in a wide variety of colors; we chose a light pink for Elsie's first pair. When you first see them, they kinda look like pretend glasses or play glasses or even swimming goggles (we've already had someone ask if they were real glasses--no, we just thought it would be super fun for our small baby to wear pretend glasses, ha ha), but even though the appearance might be deceiving, there are real lenses in those little frames. They are just extremely child-friendly, and much less expensive than the wire frames we looked at previously.

Nope, this isn't a paid advertisement for Miraflex, but I'd highly recommend them or something similar if your baby or small child ever needs glasses :) Elsie doesn't seem to mind them too much, especially now that we've adjusted the strap to keep them on her face better. The ear pieces extend farther than they should on her little head, but they were the smallest size available, and with the elastic strap to hold them in place, we should be just fine. She gets annoyed with them when she gets tired, so we take them off when she naps, which is probably more comfortable for her anyway.

It's kind of picture-overload, I know, but I'm sure you can handle it :)

What you lookin' at?

Ups and downs

I can't believe it's been over a month since Elsie has been home. She's such a good-natured baby, and now that we've all settled into a routine at home, taking care of her is a piece of cake. We've started venturing out of our protective bubble just a little, making a few trips to Grandpa Joel's house and Auntie Mona's house, in additional to our various doctor appointments.

Speaking of doctor appointments . . . we had an eye check-up last week at Primary's. Turns out that little missie needs glasses. Like now. I mean, I knew she'd need glasses eventually, but I was thinking more along the lines of several years from now. Elsie has "Anisometropia", or unequal focus of the eyes. One of her eyes is not as focused as the other, and if left untreated, would develop into a lazy eye. Basically, her brain would stop seeing out of the weaker eye. So we got to order some little tiny glasses. I have to admit, I was less than thrilled that she needs glasses so soon, but I'm glad that the problem was caught so early, and hopefully the glasses will prevent any further problems. She's going to be adorable with glasses, I'm pretty excited for them to come in the next 5-10 business days.

We had a follow-up with the gastroenterologist, just to check on her G tube. It was pretty quick and easy; he said the site looks great and to keep doing what we're doing. She'll have another follow-up appointment in August.

Elsie is doing great with no oxygen while she's awake, but she still needs it on while she's sleeping. Hopefully in a few more weeks she'll be able to be completely off the 02. That would be heavenly for me; one less cord that she's attached to, and one less bulky item for us to take with us wherever she goes.

Feedings . . . well, feedings have pretty much gone down the tube, no pun intended, ha ha ha. Elsie has not taken any feedings by mouth for a few weeks. Her gag reflex has become so sensitive that she gags severely on anything that is placed in her mouth, be it bottle, breast, or binky. The vomiting that the pediatrician thought might be a stomach bug? Turns out that she just has really bad spit up now. She spits up with regularity multiple times a day. Elsie didn't have these problems before the G tube was placed, and I'm almost regretting that we decided to get it in the first place. I know, I know, I was whining every day because she'd been in the hospital for so long, and we thought that the G tube would be a temporary thing to help her along with her nutrition so that she could leave the hospital more quickly. In hindsight, I almost wish that we would have given her another week or two to try to get up to full oral feedings on her own, and not done the G tube. Too late now! Now, instead of me whining about my baby being in the hospital, you get to hear me whine about this. Never satisfied, am I?

Sorry that you have to listen to my rants. We are seeing a feeding therapist this week, and hopefully we can get back on track soon.

In order to end on a positive note, I have some super cute pictures.

Bath time!

Love those baby blues!

Elsie and her cute cousin Annabeth

They have no choice, their parents are forcing them to be best friends

Sisters and dolly snuggling in bed :)

6/2 months

Little Miss Elsie is six months old! (6 months actual age, 2 months corrected age) Kinda hard to believe, right? Here's some stats and interesting trivia about our special little girl:

• Elsie weighs in today at 11 pounds, 2 ounces. She was 10 pounds 1 ounce when she left the hospital 3 & 1/2 weeks ago. I think her height is something like 22 & 1/2 inches, but I'll be honest, I've never paid much attention to either of my kids' height; the weight was always the more concerning issue so I always forget their height. 
• She is only on oxygen when she's sleeping, and we got the go-ahead today to do a trial of no oxygen tonight while she is sleeping, so I'll let you know how that goes. It amazes me how well she is doing with her oxygen needs; I always imagined that it would be a long time before she got off the oxygen. She is progressing well and her lungs are healing.
• Elsie has had a sudden increase in vomiting; since last Wednesday or maybe Thursday she has been vomiting during or after almost every meal. Not little baby spit-ups, but more like entire body heaving, vomit spewing. We were thinking that maybe she was having reflux, which is common in lots of babies and especially preemies. But after talking to her pediatrician today, he thinks that it is maybe a slight stomach bug. He said that reflux doesn't come on suddenly like that and doesn't really fit what's going on. So we're giving her a few days to see if she improves or not, and will go from there.
• As a result of her puking, Elsie has had zero desire the last few days to eat by mouth, so that's not progressing at all, but hopefully she will improve when her stomach is feeling better.
• Elsie loves to suck on her fist, and has not been super interested in her binky lately, so we think we might have another thumb sucker in the family soon.
• She's been doing pretty good at holding her head up and is getting stronger and stronger. She kicks her legs and waves her arms like crazy when she is awake and happy. 
• Sometimes I think this is just a fluke, but Elsie can totally stick her tongue out on command. When someone is holding her or she is looking at you and you stick your tongue out at her, she grins and sticks her tongue out too! It's so funny.
• She's a smiler! It's so fun to get her to smile and we love to see our happy girl. 
• Sleeps through the night! She goes to sleep around 8 or 9pm and sleeps really well until 5am-ish, I change her diaper and she sleeps until about 6:30 or so. Of course, it's really helpful that she gets continuous feeding through her tube all night long, but even so, I love that she sleeps all night!
• We have a follow-up appointment tomorrow with the GI doctor to see how she's doing with her G tube, and then we have an appointment next week with the eye doctor to check on her eyes.

We love having Elsie home. Big sister Evje is much more adjusted and is doing lots better at sharing Mommy & Daddy's attention. We love our little girls, even when they are a lot of work or when they are both screaming at the same time.