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!