Birthday Girl!

Guess who turned 1 year old today? Brielle Leeann Karppinen did, that's who!

This year has been a never ending roller coaster ride. The first 90 days of Brielle's life were spent in the hospital. We weren't able to hold her right away after delivery, or bring her home a day or two later like you normally do when a baby is born. No, 90 days in that hospital. Just imagine, 1/4th of Brielle's 1st year of life was spent in that hospital. She was already 2 months old when I was finally able to hold her for the first time. Looking back, and seeing all of those pictures of how tiny she was, seeing all of those emotional posts from back when things weren't going well at all, it just makes us realize how much of a true miracle this little girl is. 1 pound, 10 ounces. Wow! When I was born, I was a small baby, weighing 5 pounds 11 ounces. that is a huge difference! And to think that that wasn't the lightest weight she was. She went down to 1 pound 5 ounces shortly after birth.

January 31st, I was able to finally do my part in taking care of her, and give her a sponge bath! I was so scared, because I felt like "How am I able to use this wash cloth to wash her up without taking her delicate skin of with it? But that day was an amazing day for me! It felt good to finally be able to help a little bit like a big sister should.

February 20th, a day that I will NEVER forget. That day that I had been waiting for since the moment she was born. Already over 2 months old, and I was finally able to hold my baby sister for the very first time. That was the best day. She was so tiny, it was like holding a toy doll. She was over 4 pounds at that time.

So, I was being artistic the other day. I made myself a sisters poster, pictures of me and Brielle. In the middle of the poster, I have written "Sisters are special, from young ones to old. God gave me a sister, more precious than Gold." This saying, really hit home for me. I am truly blessed for this sister that I have, and I truly believe that God was watching over our family when it came to Brielle. She has changed our family forever, for the better. We cherish the little things more. We appreciate everything  more than we used to. Because we know how fragile life is, and how easily it can be taken away. Being in the NICU for 3 months, you see things that you wish you hadn't seen. Not all of the babies are as lucky as Miss B. Not all of the families are as lucky as we were, to be able to bring home their child. Life is delicate, and it is hard, and hurts so bad! But life makes us stronger.

That 1 pound, 10 ounce baby turned into a 17 pound baby girl in just 1 year. And she is finally crawling! I can not wait to see her crawling towards me today!

Happy 1st birthday Miss B! I can't wait to see what this next year brings for you. Keep growing strong, you are, and always have been a fighter.

Thank you for reading! Until next time.

Hey All! It has recently just come to my attention that I haven't posted anything on my blog since 2 days before my 19th birthday which was in July!!! Ooooops! Sorry for everyone that has been waiting so patiently! Hope you are still following and are looking forward to more posts from me about Miss Brielle! I will try my hardest not to slack off so much, but no news is good news right?!

Anyways.... So much has happened since my last post! Brielle got to go in the lake for a while in her cute floaty on my birthday! We did get our family photos done the day after my birthday and they turned out great! Thank you Randee Dwire with Made For You Photography for doing an amazing job!

Brielle's helmet: She absolutely HATED it at first! But after a while she got used to it. The doctors were so surprised at how fast her head was changing for the better. She had her 3 month check up appointment on October 27th for her helmet, and her head is now perfect! She just has to wear it for 1 more month to make sure it stays perfect! :)

The last doctor appointment that she had, she weighed in at 15 pounds and 12 ounces, and 25 inches long!

She eats baby food now along with her regular formula. We have tried sippy cups of juice, but she has trouble drinking out of the sippy cups. She eats NumNum crackers too!

Brielle got to go on her first hay ride and corn maze with Mom, Dad, and Sissy! It wore her out so she passed out on the hay ride! Wore a cute outfit for the day :)

Miss B will be 11 months old on the 13th, and is 7 months old adjusted! Her first birthday is coming up so fast, it's crazy!

Brielle's first word: Dadda! First said it on October 18th, 2015 and says it so much now! Such a smiley baby girl, Sissy gets a ton of smiles out of her!!! :)

I believe that is all of the updates I have. Again, sorry for the long break! Working overnights kinda messes with my schedule! I will try to be better from now on :) Thanks for reading. More to come :)

Stats

Just one more post for today.... I haven't mentioned the stats on my blog recently so here they are!

I have had 2,350 pageviews since I first started this blog in January!!!!

I can see where around the world people are viewing my blog and I was shocked to see the results!!!

•  United States
• France
• Ukraine
• Haiti
• China
• Italy
• Bulgaria
• Brazil
• Germany
• United Kindom 

WOW! This is so amazing to see that my blog has been viewed all around the world! I am truly blessed to know that people everywhere are hearing about Brielle, and her inspiring life story!

Thank you all VERY much for reading about my miracle baby sister. I hope have and still enjoy it!

Update!

Hey everyone! This is going to be a super short update because I don't have much to tell!

Just wanted to let you know that Miss B got her helmet yesterday! She looks so stinkin cute in it!!! :) I will post a picture for those of you that read the blog on your PC so you can actually see the pictures that I post!

For as long as I can remember, my dad has always brought me and my brother camping for my birthday weekend! Well, this weekend we get to have our new family join us :) Brielle and Jean have changed our lives forever, and we are very grateful to have them in our lives! This will be a fun weekend with everyone! :)

Sunday, our family is doing family pictures, so I will post pictures when they are available to me!

I believe that is all. Thanks for reading! More updates to come. :)

Update!

Hey all, I have a new update on Little Miss! :)

Brielle now weighs 12 pounds and 3 ounces! She is 23 inches long! That is a huge difference from the 1 pound 5 ounces she was just in December! Such a growing girl :) I am one proud sister of this little miracle!

Other good news, they got the official doctors orders to discontinue the apnea machine! For those of you that don't know what that is, she has been on it since day 1 to make sure she was breathing. If she stopped breathing, or wasn't breathing enough, an alarm would sound. They sent her home with a portable one to use. So NO MORE APNEA MACHINE! WOOOO! :)

Brielle also now has to get fitted for a helmet to shape her head. She will look so darn cute no matter what! :)

So yesterday Brielle was officially 3 months old adjusted. On the 13th, she will be 7 months old! Time sure does fly!

We will be doing family pictures on July 26th, the day after my 19th birthday. So keep a look out for some pics! :) Hopefully I will have another update on Miss B before then!

Well, I believe that is all the updates I have for now. Thanks for reading! More updates to come :)

6 month check up!

Guess who just had her 6 month check up?! Little (not so little) Brielle! She is getting so big, I can't believe she is already 6 months old!!! (2 months adjusted).

So Brielle Leeann now weighs a whole whopping 11 pounds and 3.5 ounces!!! She is also 22 and 1/4 inches long! :) What a big girl! :)

She has things she needs to catch up on, but is doing really well despite her early arrival!

Well, I think that is all the updates I have for now! Thanks for reading. More updates to come (eventually!)

Well needed update!

Sorry everyone for not updating anything sooner! It's just kind of hard to keep the updates coming because as Brielle is getting older, there are less and less updates that are further apart!

So as I mentioned in the last update, Miss B, Jean, and Dad were all in the Brainerd paper for a special mothers day edition :) It told the entire amazing story of Brielle's fight. Here is the link if anyone that wanted to read it and never got the chance to wants to check it out!

http://www.brainerddispatch.com/lifestyles/3741206-mothers-day-mothers-tiny-miracle

Also, Brielle, Dalton and I all got Jean some flowers and a great card for her first mothers day. Made her cry! Glad she liked it! :)

I was finally able to babysit Miss B all by myself a while ago! Jean was able to go out and have some fun at a concert which was great because she really hasn't been able to do anything like that for a long time! Brielle and I had a great time together even though she was a little fussy. :) We watched some cartoons and ate a lot to grow nice and big! :) I really enjoyed having a whole day with my amazing baby sister :)

One last thing since everyone has probably been wondering about this for some time now! Dad stepped on the scale and weighed himself. Then, he stepped on the scale holding B and weighed them together. Brielle Leeann weighs a whole whopping 11 pounds!!!! Must have been from all those bottles I fed her when I was babysitting ;) Such a growing girl!!!

Again, sorry for taking forever to update! Thanks for reading, and I will try to do better on updates, but no promises!!! :)

Results are in!!!

Hey all! Sorry it has been a while since I updated on Miss B! The results are in!!! The doctors pretty much said it shouldn't be something to worry about. Apparently it's not what they thought it was. They are blood vessels connected to the brain, but not where they thought. The neurologist said it should collapse by itself. If it hasn't collapsed by the time she is about to start walking, then they will have to do something about it, but they said it's not very often when they have to do surgery! :)

So thank you all for the continued prayers! They truly are much appreciated! :) Brielle is doing amazing! She slept for 4 hours straight 2 times the other night, which is awesome. Dad is thinking she is probably about 9 pounds now, but the nurse doesn't have to come every week now to do a weight check, so we won't know until she comes again next.

Dad, Jean and Brielle will be in the Brainerd Dispatch paper on May 10th for mothers day! So those of you in that area, keep your eyes open for it! :)

That is all for now. I will update again as soon as I have stuff to update on! :) Thanks for reading!

Update on Miss B

Hey all, so I really don't have any new information about what they are going to be doing with Brielle's Vascular Malformation. I do know that Miss B had her MRI on Wednesday and was such a trooper!

For her MRI, she couldn't eat for 10 hours before. Given the fact that she eats every hour, I'd say this poor little girl was not a happy camper.

So, Brielle laid there for 50 minutes un-sedated and starving during her MRI and only moved one time! Also, she didn't even cry when they put the IV in her arm. She is a tough cookie! :) A pediatric neurosurgeon is looking at the MRI and we should know pretty soon where they would like to go from here.

On another note, as of Tuesday, Miss B was 7 pounds and 19.5 inches long! On the 13th, she turned 4 months old!

Like I said, I don't really have much information, just figured I would do a short update to let everyone know how Brielle did during her MRI!

Thank you all for reading, and for continuing the prayers. They are very much appreciated!!! I will update when I know more.

Prayers Needed!

Hey all! So I have some kind of scary news about Miss B. A while ago, they noticed a bump on the top of her head, and it appeared to be growing bigger. They told dad and Jean that it might just be a birth mark, and not to worry about it. Well, this bump kept growing so they finally did an ultrasound on it.

Brielle has something called Vascular Malformation, or abnormal blood vessels connected to the brain. She needs to go to a neurosurgeon to have something done about them, to make them stop growing. I guess less than 1% of people get Vascular Malformation, so again Miss B beats all odds!

On Wednesday, Brielle has to have an MRI. The day before that, she can't eat anything, so it will be a tough day!

Apparently, they have 3 different ways to get to the blood vessels. They can either go through the top of her head with something the size of a pencil lead, go up through an artery in her leg all the way up to her brain, or cut a piece of her skull then put it back and stitch it back up. Poor baby! :(

So we would like to ask everyone to keep Miss B in their thoughts and prayers. I will do more updates on Brielle when I get them! Thanks for reading!!

BIRTHday!

Hey guys! So today is the day that Brielle was originally supposed to come into the world! But she decided her April Fools Day joke was going to be coming into the world 3 and a half months early!

Miss B is doing great! She is now 6 pounds 5 ounces!!! That is heavier than I was when I was born almost 19 years ago! :) Also, she is 19 inches long!

Well, I really don't have all that much more to update on at the moment! I will update again soon. Thanks for reading! :)

Update on little miss

So Miss B had her first pediatrician visit last Tuesday. She had lost a little weight, which the doctor was concerned about because she is supposed to be gaining weight, not losing it. They had a follow up appointment this Tuesday, and she gained weight! The only thing is that they are wanting her to gain an ounce a day but she isn't quite doing that just yet. Dad said they should feed her mashed potatoes to get her to gain more weight! ;)

Brielle is now 5 pounds 8 ounces! She is also 18.5 inches long. As of yesterday, Miss B is officially 39 gestational weeks! 6 more days until B's original due date.

So I got dad and Jean on Skype! So we were Skyping with Jean and B for a little while :) It is nice to be able to see her like that when we aren't able to be right there with her. :)

Well, I think that is it for updates! Sorry for such a short update after so long of waiting. I guess we aren't as exciting as we used to be ;)

Thanks for reading! More updates to come :)

Little Miss

Sorry it has been a little while since I updated on Miss B! Brielle got home on Thursday. My cat wasn't too sure about what to think about the new addition to the household. Every time Brielle cried, Princess (my cat) would freak out trying to figure out what was going on! But after a day or two, she warmed up to Miss B, and started to take an interest in her! When Brielle was on the floor getting her diaper changed, Princess decided to check her out. She was close enough to sniff her out, but then had to get chased away so Miss B didn't breath in the cat hair!

The first night was hard. Brielle didn't sleep, dad and Jean didn't sleep, and I had a hard time sleeping also. Apparently, Brielle's monitor wasn't on correctly or wasn't tight enough or something, so when they were trying to burp her, the alarm would go off (And that alarm is LOUD)!

Friday, Brielle turned 3 months old! She still wouldn't even be born yet if she had gone full term! April 1st was her due date. So Miss B will be 3 and a half months old by the time she is "born"!

Friday night, dad decided to sleep downstairs with Miss B for a few hours to let her sleep in his arms. It worked, and she slept for the 3 hours that they were downstairs!

I'm not sure how she slept Saturday night, because I was sleeping so soundly! :) But I am thinking it probably went a little better, and will continue to get better every night, after she gets used to her new home(s).

Today, dad, Jean, and Brielle are going to her other home (Jean's house) because mommy has to work tomorrow! Tuesday, Brielle has an appointment with the pediatrician! :) So we aren't sure what the living arrangement's are going to be like yet, but it sounded like she will be bouncing back and forth a little.

Brielle is now wearing newborn diapers! I can't believe how big she is getting :)

Well, I think that is it for updates so far :)  I will add some pictures! Thanks for reading. I will post new updates when I get them! :)

The day has finally come!

I cannot believe the day has finally come! My precious 1 pound 10 ounce baby sister is coming home weighing 5 pounds 7.5 ounces! It has been a huge roller coaster ride, but every day has been worth the ride!

On December 13, 2014, Brielle Leeann Karppinen was born at only 24 weeks and 3 days. It was a very scary time for us. It was a miracle that this little girl was here, because her momma was supposed to be unable to have any children due to medical reasons. There was a 30% chance that this baby would survive. From the moment I had heard about this complicated pregnancy, I had a good feeling about it. Even though there was only a 30% chance of survival, I truly felt that everything was going to be okay. The day after Thanksgiving, Jean was rushed to the hospital after her water broke. She was in the hospital for 15 days until Brielle came into the world on 12/13/14! The day she was born, both my brother and I went to the hospital and got to see our tiny baby sister. I will never forget how fragile she looked. I put my one finger in her tiny little hand and my heart just melted. It was scary seeing how tiny she was and seeing all the equipment on her, but I still felt in my heart that she was going to make it!

Today, Brielle will be leaving the hospital for the very first time! Today, we start a new chapter in our lives! Today, will be a day we never forget!

Brielle is now 37 gestational weeks. She has spent 90 long and stressful days in the NICU. I truly look up to Jean and my dad. This was a huge emotional roller coaster, but they were right by Brielle's side every moment that they could be! Obviously, dad travels for his job so he couldn't be there as much as he wanted to, but he was always there in his heart, and every day he possibly could when he got home. And Jean: she stayed there pretty much every night. Every once in a while, she was told to go home to get a good nights sleep in her bed rather than the uncomfortable couch in Brielle's tiny room. But the next morning, she would be right there by Brielle's side again! She is going to be an amazing mom! :)

Sorry for the long update, I just felt it was appropriate to put the whole back story to show how far this little fighter has come!

I would like to thank each and every one of you that has kept Brielle and our family in your prayers. It truly means the world to us, and has brought Brielle this far! But I would also like to ask you not to stop praying for us just yet. This transition home is going to be a huge change, without having nurses or doctors right there to help whenever necessary. Brielle still isn't "born" yet, so she isn't as developed as a newborn baby is, therefore, she will need extra care. Thank you in advance for continuing to pray for my miracle baby sister Brielle!

Thank you so much for reading! Our amazing story isn't over now that she is coming home. I will continue to update on how Brielle is doing, it just might not be as often as I have been! So, as always... More updates to come! :)

TOMORROW!!!!!!!

GUESS WHO IS COMING HOME TOMORROW?!?!?! THAT'S RIGHT, MISS B!!!!!!!!! SORRY THIS IS GOING TO BE IN ALL CAPS LOCK BECAUSE THAT'S HOW EXCITED I AM!!!!

THEY WANTED TO HAVE HER PROVE THAT SHE CAN DO 8 BOTTLES, BUT I GUESS THEY DON'T NEED TO ANYMORE! TONIGHT DAD AND JEAN ARE DOING THE LIVE-IN THING WHERE THEY TAKE CARE OF HER ALL BY THEMSELVES WITHOUT THE NURSES. THEN THEY CAN TAKE HER HOME TOMORROW MORNING!

JEAN GOT THE VOICEMAIL AND STARTED FREAKING OUT!

I AM GOING TO COME HOME FROM WORK TOMORROW TO A BABY AT OUR HOUSE!!!!!!!!!! :)

TOMORROW WILL BE THE 90TH DAY IN THE NICU!

THANKS FOR READING! MORE UPDATES TO COME WHEN MISS B IS HOME :)

Exciting update!

Well, Miss B has her feeding tube out now! She took 7 bottles today and will be trying for 8 tomorrow!!! She has to prove that she can take 8 bottles by doing it for 2 days in a row. They are thinking that Friday will be the magical day!!! :)

Brielle is now 5 pounds and 3.5 ounces! Her length is 16.75 inches!

Dad and Jean took their CPR class today so now we are just waiting on Miss B to take 8 bottles :)

The car seat base is already in the truck and ready to hold a car seat with a baby in it! :)

She is also 36 gestation weeks! It is crazy to think she still should have been baking for another 4 weeks in her mommy's tummy. I guess she just wanted to brighten our lives sooner rather than later! :)

Thanks for reading! I'm sure I will have another update available tomorrow or Thursday. :)

Update!

Sorry it has been a while since I did an update last. I got home late Saturday night from Florida and have been busy ever since!

They were supposed to come and do Brielle's carseat test on Friday, but they never showed up. Also, they were talking about bumping her bottles down to 5 instead of 6 but that never happened because Jean had a conversation with them. Brielle would wake up 20 minutes before her feeding time, crying and doing the sucking motion with her mouth because she is hungry. The nurses wouldn't show up until 20 minutes after her scheduled feeding time, and by then she had already cried herself to sleep. They said "she is too exhausted to take a bottle now so they would have to use the feeding tube". So Jean had a talk with the people because it is their fault that she is "too exhausted to take a bottle". If they came on time, she would be just fine! Everything is all sorted out now though! :)

Brielle finally had her carseat test yesterday! She borderline passed it, which means she passed, but she has to have someone in the back with her to make sure she is breathing! She looked so tiny in her carseat! :)

Miss B finally got to be held by her big brother! I think it just melted Dalton's heart :) I will post pictures also!

I set up the playpen for Brielle today! It is super cute :) My cat kept jumping into it, so to try to keep her away from it, I put a blanket over the whole thing. That still didn't keep her from it. Right now she is laying on top of the blanket in the changing table station. I'm thinkin I will have to buy her her own playpen so Brielle can have her own! ;)

I think that is all the updates I have for now! Thanks for reading. More updates to come! :)

One last update on Dylan

Sorry everybody, there has been a change of plans! They were going to keep Dylan in the hospital until Friday, but this morning they decided he was ready to be discharged! So Dylan is now "home" in our rental house here on the island. We are going to look into renting some type of wheelchair or something to wheel him around so he doesn't have to sit in the house for the rest of the vacation. He can only walk about 20 feet right now with assistance. But he is doing good and is looking awesome! :) We made him a welcome home sign for him to come home to also!

 So this will probably be the last update I do on Dylan just to give him some privacy. I just wanted to do one last update on him for everyone that has been following his progress on my blog!

Thanks for reading :) More updates on Brielle will be coming soon!

Update

New update on Brielle and Dylan!

Brielle: Brielle passed her hearing test yesterday! :) They are going to do the car seat test on Friday, and she will be going home probably Friday or Saturday. They told Jean to start packing up the room, because it will go really quick! I cannot believe this is all happening so fast. I get to come home to my baby sister really soon!!!! :)

Dylan: I got to visit Dylan yesterday in the hospital. It was hard seeing him so upset and crabby, but he looks so good-like his usual self but in a hospital gown! :) It was awesome just to see and talk to him. He is really wanting to go home, but we have to keep telling him to work on his therapy so he can get out. I actually cried when I saw him with his little sister yesterday. She laid right next to him in the bed, and the way they looked just brought tears to my eyes, it was too precious.

I will keep everyone updated on the progress both Brielle and Dylan are making. Thanks for reading! :)

All good news!!!

So I have some good news about both Brielle and Dylan!

Brielle: She is 4 pounds 15 ounces. Also, she has been off the oxygen since 1pm yesterday! Jean bought Miss B her preemie car seat today and they will be testing her in it tomorrow! She also bought some more diapers, wipes, and a bunch of things for her to go home! The nurses are saying she can probably go home in a day or two!!! It kinda sucks because we won't be there to welcome her home, but she will probably be there to welcome us home! :)

Dylan: He is doing so much better! They took him out of the ICU because he is doing so well. The swelling and bleeding is way down- the bleeding might even be done, I forgot to ask. But my aunt says he is looking soooo much better today! The doctors are thinking he will be out of the hospital hopefully by Wednesday. The best part is.... we all got to talk to him tonight! He called my uncle and I ran towards him when I heard Dylan's name. He was on speaker phone so the whole family got to say hello and wish him the best. It literally brought tears to my eyes (and some of the other family members also) just to hear his voice! It was great to hear that he is okay. I think that phone call made everybody's day a lot better. Keep on healing bud, you got this! :)

Thanks for reading, and for all of the prayers that have been sent our way. It really means a lot to our whole family! More updates to come :)

Exciting and scary update

So I have some exciting news and some scary news. I will do the scary news last since it isn't about Brielle.

For the exciting news: Brielle is 4 pounds 14 ounces! They told Jean to have the car seat at the hospital tomorrow! They want her to be able to sit in the car seat for at least how long the ride home is to make sure she can make it without de-statting! So she may be able to go home in a day or two! It's not a for sure thing yet, but she is definitely ready to go home really soon! :) She has already had 3 bottles today, and they are hoping for 5 for the whole day today!

For the scary news: This morning, our cousin was rushed to the ER because he fell off of the golf cart and cracked his head open. He will be in a hospital in Fort Meyer's for at least 2 or 3 days. He has a fractured skull and his brain is bleeding. They say the first 24 hours is critical, but they have a team of surgeons right there just in case he needs to be rushed to an emergency surgery. It is alright if his brain is bleeding a little bit, but if it starts bleeding more, they need to rush him into surgery right away. It was so scary this morning, because I heard some sirens and was wondering what happened. My family came in and said the ambulance was for Dylan. I tried to get there in time, but I met the ambulance on my way there. Apparently he was standing on the back of the golf cart and let go for a brief second and at that exact time, they were turning a corner. If he would have been barefoot, he may have been able to stop himself, but he landed on his feet and his sandals slipped off and he fell back. My aunt said she new it was bad because she heard him hit his head hard. He wasn't moving at first, and when the EMT got there, he started having seizures or something. He has been puking a lot. They have him sedated right now so he doesn't move much. They are keeping him stable right now. I would just like to ask everyone to keep him and our family in your thoughts and prayers please! I will keep an update on him every once in a while.

I think this vacation is cursed or something. This happened with Dylan today, and yesterday my dad had to go to the ER to get a fish hook out of his finger. I think 2 ER visits is 2 too many, especially for a vacation! I think our family needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap for the rest of the vacation.

I will keep everyone updated!

Update

We are in Florida finally! :) It was kinda chilly today (62 degrees), but I would rather take that than the below freezing temperatures of Minnesota! The rest of the week is supposed to be in the 80's :)

Anyways... I wasn't expecting to post an update on my blog my first day here in Florida, but there is some pretty exciting news that I think is well worth sharing!!! (I will save the best for last)


Miss B is still 4 pounds 13.2 ounces and 16.02 inches long! She will be 5 pounds any day now :)

Brielle got a massage today! They took an infant massage class today, and apparently she REALLY likes getting her feet massaged... who doesn't?! :) She also took another bath today.

So Brielle is taking 3 bottles a day now! She took 2 earlier, and they were going to give her the 3rd at 9pm, but I haven't heard how that went yet.

So, I saved the best for last! This totally just made my day :) The doctor told Jean today that Brielle is finally "out of the woods" and can just focus on getting her home! They said she may possibly be able to come home in 9 DAYS!!!! That is the day after we get back from Florida. :) B just has to be able to take 8 bottles and be off oxygen and she gets to go home! :) Go baby B! :) She is just coming along so well, it is amazing!

Well, that is all the updates I have for tonight. Time for me to pass out in this comfortable hotel bed and be ready to head to Captiva Island tomorrow.

Thanks for reading! More updates will be on the way! :)

Update!

Tomorrow morning we are flying out to Florida, so I'm not sure how many updates I will be doing while I am there. I will do major updates though, like her weight and anything else super exciting when I get the chance! :)

Miss B weighed in at 4 pounds 13.2 ounces today! So close to 5 pounds!!! :) Grow baby, grow! :)

Brielle took her first bottle today! They gave her 30 minutes to drink it all, but she had it all gone in 14 minutes, which is awesome! They will be trying another bottle later today.

We got Brielle's playpen today! :) A gift from her big brother and big sister :)

We wish that Jean and Brielle could come with us for our family vacation, but we will make up for it next year when they get to come because dad and Jean will be getting married there! :)

I think that is all of the updates I have for now.

Thanks for reading! More updates will be comin your way! :)

Update

Just a real quick update to share!

Miss B was off of her oxygen for 12 hours today! After 12 hours, she got tired out and had to go back on the oxygen. They will be giving her a little break and try without the oxygen again later tonight!

Brielle went down in weight, but not too much. She is 4 pounds 8.7 ounces! She is also 16.02 inches long!

They were going to try to bottle feed today, but they decided to do one thing at a time. They want to get her breathing on her own without the oxygen and then try the bottle. They said she seems ready though so it shouldn't be too long! :)

That is the only updates I have for now. Thanks for reading! More updates to come :)

Exciting update!

I got some exciting news today! Miss B is now out of her incubator and in a big girl crib! This is wonderful news meaning she can regulate her own temperature without the help of a heated room (incubator). They took the top off of the incubator on Tuesday to make sure she could regulate her temperature and graduate to the big girl crib. She did it!!! :)

When I was there on Friday, Miss B was 4 pounds and 5.5 ounces. Today she is 4 pounds 10 ounces!!!! She is officially 3 pounds heavier than she was at birth! Every day this little girl has a growth spurt :) She will be 5 pounds before we know it! :)

On another note- My blog has now had over 1,000 page views!!!! WOOOO! :)

Thanks for reading! As always- more updates to come! :)

Today was an amazing day!

So, my time finally came! Today was the day I finally got to hold Miss Brielle Leeann! :) I got to hold her for 3 hours!!! She was awake and looking at me and everything around us for quite a while, not wanting to fall asleep. Finally, she passed out after about an hour. Let me just say one thing..... this little girl makes the cutest faces EVER! Her little tongue is so stinkin adorable, and her facial expressions make me laugh. :) Brielle is loved sooo much!

Miss B is weighing in at 4 pounds and 5.5ounces today! The nurse tried to put one of her cute little hats on her, and her head was too big for it! Also, she moved up to the 3rd size of diapers, so she is now in Preemie diapers! Growing girl! :)

There are 4 levels for babies: level 4 is the most unstable and aren't even in the hospital where Brielle is. Level 4's have to go to the cities. Level 3 is the most unstable at the hospital that Bri is in. Brielle was considered a level 3 baby, but just a few days ago, she graduated to a level 2 baby! Yay Bri!!!

Big sissy got to change a pretty stinky diaper today! And check her temperature. :) I love that I am able to be more hands on with her now!!! :)

Jean received some pretty upsetting news yesterday. She has been trying so hard to get her breast milk to come in so she can feed Miss B, but it hasn't gone as well as she had hoped. They told her that her body must think that she had a miscarriage, and stopped producing milk. So, instead of Brielle getting breastfed, she will be starting bottle feeding next week. At least she was able to get some of her momma's milk when she was able to produce it! Every little bit helps :)

I found out that there is no set weight that Brielle has to hit before she can come home! They just want her off the oxygen and to take 8 bottles a day. So it is pretty much up to Miss B on when she wants to go home. :)

One more little note: Jean told me today that she recently befriended a woman that had a baby boy premature. She read my blog and contacted Jean when she realized that her and Jean's stories were really similar. I think this is awesome, because my blog helped someone which is what I was hoping for!!! :)

Thanks for reading! More updates to come :)

Wonderful News!!!

Yesterday I got to visit Miss B for a few hours. :) When I was there, her weight was 3 pounds 14 ounces! She was pretty much sleeping the whole time, but at one point she had her eyes wide open and she was lookin at her big sister! She makes the funniest faces sometimes, I just stand there and laugh at her silliness :) She is waaaay too cute! ;)

SOOO........ Today I received some AMAZING news! :) Brielle is now 4 pounds and 2.7 ounces!!!!! She is growing so fast. :) To add to the news of 4 pounds, Brielle also now has the top off her incubator! They want to test it out to see if she can keep her temperature stable before they transfer her into the big girl crib. She is all bundled up in a blanket like a little burrito :)

Some more good news, Bri's feeding tube is now no longer down her throat, but down her nose! They will be working on getting her to bottle feed real soon! :)

Today was just full of great news :)

Thanks for reading! More updates to come :)

2 months!!!

Guess who is 2 months old today??! That's right, Miss B is! She is only 33 weeks gestation now, but she was born on December 13th. It is hard to believe that it has already been 2 months since this little girl came into the world and changed the lives of all of us. I am truly blessed with the most amazing, strong, and beautiful baby sister!

Brielle is now 3 pounds 12 ounces! Soon to be 4 pounds! :) She will be home-bound before we know it!!!

Miss B is wearing just the CUTEST little Valentines Day dress today. She looks so big now! I will add some pictures of how freakin adorable she is today (not unlike every other day)!

Also, Dad and Jean were featured in a Valentines Day post from CentraCare Health! A couple of pictures from the day dad proposed are in the picture! I will add that picture as well :)

So, Thank you all soooo much for letting me know how much you like the blog! It makes me feel good to know that I am doing a good job :)

As always: Thanks for reading!!! More updates to come!

Visiters!

So today, both Aunty Lisa and Aunty Sara got to go and visit Miss B today! They both also got to hold the little peanut! :)   (Sissy is jealous but my time will come soon!)  Dad and Jean got some super cute pictures of our aunties holding her. I stole the pictures off of Facebook... so thanks for the pictures guys! ;) I will add those pictures on here for those of you that can see them!

Brielle Leeann is still growing wonderfully! She is now 3 pounds and 7.7 ounces! She is also 15.25 inches long! Keep growin peanut :)

More awesome news... Brielle is now back on the nasal cannula so we can see her beautiful face again! No more huge CPAP stuff covering her whole face :)

Thanks for reading! More updates to come :)

Growth Spurt!

Little Miss Brielle isn't so little anymore. She had an amazing growth spurt overnight that put the nurses in disbelief, having to reweigh her 4 times! Brielle gained 100 grams overnight, so she is now 3 pounds 6 ounces! She will be 4 pounds before we know it. She looks like such a big girl wearing clothes now! I'll add some pictures of her new outfit.

So I was looking at the pictures from the day she was born, and comparing them to her now... it's crazy to think that is the same little baby! The 1 pound 10 ounce 11.881 inch long baby girl is now 3 pounds 6 ounces and 14.75 inches long! Before long, we will have a little girl crawling around and getting into everything. I can't wait for that day! I dream of the day she gets to leave the hospital and go home for the first time ever. That day will be here before we know it!

Thanks for reading! I hope you are still enjoying my blog! :)

Cutie Patootie!

Today is the first official day Miss B got to wear clothes! She is wearing the cutest little outfit that is NICU friendly so it isn't a pain in the butt to wear with her wires and stuff. I will post a couple of pictures that I stole from Jean's Facebook! ;) Sorry for those of you that are unable to see them on my blog due to reading it on your smartphones!

So... Brielle has been such a good girl lately! She hasn't had a spell (where she forgets to breathe) in 3 days! She is also now 14.75 inches long... and 3 pounds 2 ounces!

I think that is about all the updates I have for now....

Thanks for reading!!

3 pounds!!!

Guess who is 3 pounds today?!?! That's right.... Brielle Leeann! Man this little girl just keeps growing and growing. :) She is impressing her family, that's for sure!!!

She has been at 21 and 22% oxygen which is AWESOME because 21% is what we breathe! She is now getting 23ml of food every 3 hours. Little piggy ;) No wonder why she is gaining weight, I would too if I were eating every 3 hours! :)

I am just so super excited that Miss B finally hit 3 pounds! Grow baby, grow! She's getting closer and closer to coming home! <3

Also, over 700 page views now! WOOO! :)

Thanks for reading! :)

WONDERFUL DAY!

Today was just a wonderful day thanks to my soon-to-be step-mom! So many amazing things happened today I just couldn't wait to get home and blog all about it! :)

So, yesterday I made plans with Jean to go to the hospital and have a girls day. I told Jean that I think Brielle will be 2 pounds and 12.5 ounces when I get there. I got there around 11:30 this morning and guess what?? The little stinker was at 2 pounds and 12.4 ounces! She just likes teasing around with us. ;)

After a while, Jean and I went to the mall and got some yummy lunch. After lunch, we went to look at bridesmaids dresses for the wedding! I tried on 10 dresses total, and after seeing what each of them looked like on me, we narrowed it down to 6 dresses! Let me tell you.... narrowing it down even further than that was NOT EASY! We managed to finally narrow it down to 3, then 2, and then we finally came to an agreement on a bridesmaids dress! (I will post a picture of it on the blog for those of you that can see the pictures on my blog on the computer).

When the dress shopping was done, we went back to the hospital to see Miss B. She was doing so well, and only had a few spells where she forgets to breath. One of those times, it was because the little stinker likes to hold her breath when she poops! (By the way, you wouldn't think that a baby that small would be capable of being stinky, but MAN! We could smell it outside of the incubator!)

So I saved the best part for last..... Big Sissy got to give Brielle a sponge bath!!!! That's right, my first time sponge bathing her, and Jean and the nurse said I did really well! So did Brielle :) She liked being washed up by her sister. This was such an amazing moment for me, especially since I've only been able to touch her a few times. It was a nice bonding experience between us sisters. :)

Well, I think that is all for now. Thanks for reading!!

Update

Miss B is 2 pounds and 11.74 ounces! Ounce by ounce she will get there! :) Dad thinks Bri will be 3 pounds by Sunday.

So Brielle had her eye exam yesterday. It went really well and the doctor was really surprised and couldn't believe that there was nothing wrong with her eyes for how early she was born! They will do another exam in 2 weeks to make sure everything is still good. Brielle just continues to surprise everyone with how amazing she is doing for being a 24-weeker!

I get to go visit Brielle tomorrow!!!! Super excited :) This will be my first time driving to the hospital by myself, so hopefully I don't get lost. Going to have a fun day with Jean tomorrow. Visit Bri a little, get some lunch, then go to the mall and check out some DRESSES!!! :) This should be a fun girls day! :) I'll try to do an update tomorrow if there is any weight gain or if anything super exciting happens!

Thanks for reading! :)

Good news guys!!! Brielle will be able to start wearing clothes on FRIDAY!!!!! :) Jean and I have been talking about this forever: "When will Bri get to wear clothes?!". I think dad was getting sick of us constantly talking about it ;) So the answer to our question was whenever the humidity in the incubator is turned off. The humidity would just make her clothes wet and make her cold, so they don't want the humidity on when she wears clothes.

Jean texted me today saying her humidity is down to 40% and will be turned off tomorrow. Her skin is fully developed now so she can start wearing clothes on Friday!!! Jean says we are going to have a fashion show with multiple clothing changes a day! :) This little girl isn't spoiled AT ALL!

On another note: Miss B is now 2 pounds 11 ounces!!! Go Bri Go! She is now officially 1 pound and 1 ounce more than what she weighed at birth! That may not sound like that much to some people, but that is amazing for this little girl! If you look at pictures of the day she was born compared to now, it is crazy how much she has changed. She is filling out wonderfully and you can't see her ribs anymore! The other day when she was eating, I said "She's beginning to get a daddy's belly!" (Sorry dad). Anyways, she is looking so much more healthy now, and her coloring is amazing! Brielle truly is a miracle <3 :)

I have been getting many comments on how wonderful my blog is, and getting thanks for writing about Brielle, and doing all these updates. I would just like to take time and Thank You all for the wonderful comments and everything. It really means a lot to me that so many of you are reading it, and enjoying it! :) Thanks for reading!

I am just amazed right now! My blog is getting so many page views! It is now at over 400 :) Thank you all for reading my blog! I hope you are enjoying it as much as I enjoy writing it! :)

Brielle is now 2 pounds 9 ounces! She is also 13.86 inches long! This little girl is just growing like a weed.

So, some pretty exciting news came in today, following the exciting day yesterday! Apparently, there has never been a proposal in the hospital quite as exciting as the one dad did yesterday. The head of the NICU went up to Jean today and started asking her some questions. They would like to use their story for marketing! They want to promote that happy things happen there! How exciting is that?! Dad, Jean, and Brielle's story will be shared to all! :) This journey sure has it's ups and downs, but it is so worth it!

Thanks for reading! :)

Proposal Video!

Wedding Bells!!!

Guess what guys?!?! Brielle's mommy and daddy are getting MARRIED!!!! :D Today was the best day ever, filled with so much joy and love!

To start the day off, we got to the hospital and found out Miss B is now 2 pounds 8 ounces! Wooo, growing girl!!! Then we found out that dad gets to hold her for the 2nd day in a row! On top of all of that, I knew today was going to be the wonderful day my dad proposes to the sweetest woman ever (in the sweetest way ever)!

First, dad held B for an hour and a half without her destatting! She was staying at or around 100% for most of the time, even after her oxygen got turned down twice!

After he was done holding her, we went down to the cafeteria for some lunch. During this time, the amazing nurses were getting the proposal set up for dad! He had given them the ring and this adorable blanket he had made that said "Mommy will you marry Daddy?" ahead of time so they could put it in Bri's incubator while we were away.

We came back up from lunch and I video taped her reaction! She was crying and smiling the whole time. It really took her off guard! We had a nice crowd of nurses standing outside our room to see her reaction! After many tears and "Oh my God are you serious?"'s.... she said "YES!" This whole experience was so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes. :) I am so glad I got to be part of this wonderful day <3

Congratulations Dad and Jean! I am so happy for both of you :) Welcome to the family <3

Miss B is 2 pounds and 7 ounces! I realized I probably should have waited to do the last post until I knew her weight for the day. She is gaining weight like crazy now :) She went from 2 pounds 5.7 ounces yesterday to 2 pounds 7 ounces today!

I got to visit my baby girl today! :) She has been naughty and pulling out her nasal cannula for the CPAP, so they had to switch her back to the little girl CPAP that covers her whole head. Luckily, when they were doing her head check today, mommy got them to put her new hat on her for a quick picture! I will upload that picture next :)

So... Big Sissy got to touch Brielle's hands and feet today during her visit! This was the first time I got to do that since the day she was born. It made my day!!! Sunday I get to go back to see her beautiful face <3

A new update will probably be up on Sunday! Thanks for reading!!!

I was going to do a new post yesterday, but I decided to wait until today...

So as of yesterday, Brielle hit a growth spurt! She is now 2 pounds and 5.7 ounces! (Maybe momma did sneak her that Big Mac after all??) Lol. She will be all grown up before we know it! Apparently, she already outgrew her little bed that they have inside the incubator, so she has a new one! What a BIG miracle Brielle is!

So guess what everyone??! I get to see my baby girl today!!! Dad and I will be leaving to go to the hospital somewhere around noon :) I found out yesterday at school and I have been on cloud 9 since then. Also picking up my little brother after he gets done with school today. So Big Brother, Big Sister, AND Daddy are all coming to visit! Mommy will already be there so that small little room will be packed. Also found out that dad might get to hold Miss B again sometime this weekend! This weekend is going to be a great one :) 

Come back in a day or two for another update and more pictures! Thanks for reading! :)

Well, Miss B is staying steady at 2 pounds 4 ounces for now! I think momma should sneak in there and give her a Big Mac to help her gain some weight ;) Hehehe, just kidding guys, it would almost be the same size as Brielle! Just gotta get her to stop squirming around so much and burning all them calories she's getting! This little girl LOVES to move around... she's going to be a handful when she starts crawling and walking!

So our daddy is coming home tomorrow! Brielle will be excited to get a visit from him! She loves when he is with her. She recognizes the voices that she normally hears, and opens her beautiful eyes to look who is visiting! Last time dad and I went to the hospital, she was smiling at us (yea we know it was probably just gas, but who cares?! To us it was a smile). I'm hoping I get to visit again this weekend! There is nothing I love more than being in that warm room, standing over her incubator and just watching her. <3 Brielle definitely is loved by many!

Also, for people that are using smartphones to view my blog, I'm sorry for the inconvenience but if you would like to see the pictures I have been posting, you will have to view it from a computer! If you are fine without pictures, continue doing what you're doing! :) 

Thanks for reading! Come back within the next day or two to get another update! :)

Miss Brielle is 2 pounds and 4 ounces today! She is also 13.6 inches long! That growing girl :) Taking it one day at a time, and conquering the world :) Keep growing strong baby girl! You are making everyone very proud of you!!!

So the other day, I found a preemie store online (I am obsessed with looking at baby clothes for her) and it just happens to have micro-preemie clothes for under 3 pounds! So I ordered the cutest little hat EVER! It is for 0-3 pounds and says "Miracle" on it, because that is exactly what Brielle is! Well I got it in the mail today and I am super excited to show everyone it! This hat fits in the palm of my hand. I cannot wait to see her in it!!!! :) Big sister is going to spoil her like crazy! But, the bad thing is that I am a college student, and need to be saving my money NOT spending it, so this is my last purchase for Bri for the time being. I had to promise my mom that I wouldn't buy any more for a while, and I plan to keep that promise! I guess I will put this hat in the pile of things that I have for her already, and wait until I get to visit her next! :) Thanks for reading my blog!

Almost to 100 page views! This is awesome, I'm glad that people are seeing my blog! I hope that everyone is enjoying it so far :)

I really don't have a lot of new information on Miss B, but she continues to gain weight! Bri is 2 pounds and 2 ounces!!! :) Go baby Bri! She has come so far from where she was at birth and shortly after! I can't believe how big she is getting. I know it's weird to say that 2 pounds and 2 ounces is big, but it is big for this little peanut! Grow strong baby girl. :) I can't wait until I get to see her beautiful face in person again! Until then, keep up the wonderful pictures Jean! :)

Well, I think that is all the rambling I can do on a weight update for now. Sorry for not being able to say more! Maybe I'll have to not blog every day, and let a day or two go by between entries so I have more to write about. Thanks for reading!

WOOO! 65 page views now! :) I am trying to figure out how to make it so people can follow my blog if they want to. I think the button is there now but I'm not quite sure if it is working at the moment! I'm trying though, because I think it would be awesome to see who all is interested in my blog and is reading it! I wish I could see who the page views are coming from, but I can't :(

Anyways, guess who is 2 pounds and 1.2 ounces??! That's right, Baby Brielle! :) Such a growing girl :) I keep stealing the pictures of her off of Facebook from her momma (Jean) because they are freakin adorable and I'm not there to take pictures of her. So I'm going to steal the newest pictures (hehehe) and post it on here! Hope you all are enjoying my blog so far!!!

Hey guys good news! My page has gotten 42 page views already and I just started it last night!!! Almost to 50! :) I have gotten comments on it already from my family and friends saying how much they like it and it even made some of them cry! :)  (That was totally not my goal but I guess it's a good added bonus!) I love to write so I figured I'd try to blog in my spare time, plus I have an awesome subject to talk about (Brielle) so it should be pretty easy to write about! The only thing is that I don't always have a bunch of new updates on her because she likes to stay pretty stable (which is a good thing if she is doing this amazing!). Also, no news is usually good news! :) So I forgot to mention that there is a Go Fund Me Fundraiser out there to help raise money for expenses that will gather up with this million dollar baby! Brielle won't be coming home from the NICU until March, but when she does, this money will help get the items that are necessary for Brielle to transition home as comfortably as possible! It will also help with the travel expenses that gather up due to Jean having to drive back and forth to the hospital all the time to visit her beautiful baby girl. Any donation helps! If you would like to donate to this fundraiser, you can do so at the link below! It is called "Jean's Little Miracle Campaign". http://www.gofundme.com/j2s51o

Hello all! My name is Mercede (Sadie for short). I am an 18 year old college freshmen from Minnesota. I find myself very bored at times and I have been talking to a new friend and she told me it was therapeutic for her to blog so I figured I'd give it a try! This entry may be kind of long because I want to share everything right now that has happened up to this day! So here is my story... I have one little brother named Dalton. He is 15 years old and just got his LEARNERS PERMIT yesterday!!! WOOO! (kinda scared about that). I live in the twin cities in my dad's apartment (he travels for his job so he's not here too often). I moved here for college. BUT, I'm not really looking to make this post all about me and my life. This is to tell the story of my amazing miracle baby sister! In September-ish, my dad told me that his girlfriend was pregnant. This was awesome news for me because I have wanted another sibling for quite some time now! But on the other hand, this was some scary news. I'll tell you why in a little bit. This pregnancy was a miracle from the start because it was "medically impossible" for my dad's girlfriend to get pregnant due to blood clots in her uterus and for other reasons (not quite sure what they are). Due to the blood clots, it was a risky pregnancy. There was only a 30% chance that this baby would make it. Also, whether or not this baby makes it, she will not be able to get pregnant again. They found out that the blood clots disappeared during the pregnancy! This was kind of a touchy subject to talk about, but secretly I was super excited and had faith that this baby was going to make it, even with the small chance of survival. They found out it was going to be a baby girl! So now I was super excited because I already have one brother, I would like a sister!!! Well, on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday (November 28th, 2014), my dad's girlfriend had to be rushed to the hospital because her water broke at 22 weeks. I had no idea what was going to happen at this point! But we all stayed strong and prayed like crazy. She had to stay in the hospital until the baby came. She received steroid shots to help mature the lungs of the baby just in case she came early. After some tests, they found traces of Trisomy 13, which is life-threatening. They said that it didn't show up on the ultrasounds so it may have just gotten into the placenta and not affect the baby at all! They would have to wait until she was born to find out whether or not she had Trisomy 13.. After some research of baby girl names with special meanings, they came upon a name that meant "warrior of God" and thought that was very appropriate since this little miracle baby was a work of God. So, the name was chosen. Brielle (pronounced Bree-El) Leeann <3 On Friday, December 12th, my boyfriend and I stopped at the hospital to visit with my dads girlfriend and keep her company. We visited for a while and then we headed to my moms house. The next morning (12-13-14), I got a call from my dad saying that Brielle was born at 2:44am, 24 weeks and 3 days gestation, at 1 pound 10 ounces and 11.881 inches long! She was breathing on her own with a cpap over her nose for oxygen. My brother and I got to go in and see her and even got to touch her little hands! Such an amazing experience, and such a tiny little peanut! Since her birth, she has overcome many things! Trisomy 13 test came back NEGATIVE!!!! WOOOO! :) She went down to 1 pound 5 ounces. She had to have a tube down her throat to help her breath, had to be put under the blue light for a day for jaundice, had to be on the oscillator for a while, fluctuated in weight, had to get fluid out of her lungs, and had trouble with her heart flap reopening, draining blood into her lungs. Since then, she has amazed everyone in overcoming these obstacles! She is now just over a month old, opened her eyes on new years eve, doesn't have a tube breathing for her, has a feeding tube down her throat into her tummy, has been eating really well, has a big-girl cpap in her nostrils, went up a size in diapers (they were SUPER tiny!), and drum roll please...... SHE IS OVER 2 POUNDS NOW!!!! :) She sometimes has "spells" where she forgets to breath but she pulls out of those pretty quickly. She is filling out very nicely! You can no longer see her ribs like you could at birth. I haven't heard anything about the heart flap thing lately so I'm thinking it closed by itself! My dad has gotten to hold her once now last Saturday (he travels a lot so he isn't able to hold her much), and her mom has gotten to hold her more than 5 times. They call it kangaroo care because it is skin on skin, which helps her feel their body heat and heart beat! She thrives from that :) I will try to post some pictures once I figure out how to work this site more. And hopefully I can keep up on blogging :)