Emma's Many Faces

Here are some of the updates from today:

• Emma's head circumference is still the same - not swelling!!!
• She is still breathing really fast so they'll give the medicine until tomorrow to see if it starts working before they increase her dose. Meanwhile, she is still being fed through the tube.
• She still has borderline jaundice so she is on and off the lights.
• They upped her food to 54ml. and took her "nutrition" out of her IV. So she is pretty much done with the IV and they will be able to take it out soon. Yay!

This is my adorable awake face

This is my angry face

This is my sleepy face

This is my "I'm gonna sneeze" face

Squeaky Clean

This isn't Emma's first bath, but it is my first time bathing her.

She loved to be all clean.

Because of the hole in Emma's heart, their is too much blood flowing through it and into her lungs which is now causing her breathing to speed up, especially when she eats by mouth. This is just what they expected to happen. Luckily there is a medicine they can give her that will help. There is still a chance the hole could close on its own, but if it doesn't they would wait until she is at least 6 months old to surgically fix it. She could even go as long as 2 years on the medicine before surgery. The downside is that we had to go back to tube feeding today while all the respiratory stuff is figured out. Hopefully we will be able to get back on track with the mouth feedings soon to get her home. She had a pretty good night last night with bottles, but her breathing rate increased so much each time that they wanted her to take a break and recover today.

Also, before we can take Emma home, there is a list of things Shawn and I must learn from the nurses. We have to be able to catheterize her once a day, change her bandages, clean and monitor the wound and pass an infant CPR course. There are probably lots of other things we have to pass off, but I haven't got a list in front of me.

We want to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers. Thank you to all those at Provo Craft for the food and support. It has been so nice that Shawn can get away from work in the afternoons and spend time with Emma and me. We can't wait for more of you to meet her and feel of her special spirit!

It's All About Food!

Emma is getting even better at nursing which is good because her main requirement for coming home now is that she gets all her food by mouth rather than feeding tubes and gains weight. Otherwise her doctors have given us the OK to take her home. the cardiologist and spina bifida specialists will be following up with her in the coming weeks by appointment.

Who is holding me?

Emma getting her bottle feeding assessment

My first bottle - Thanks Daddy!

Daddy's little girl

Holding Emma 3-27 to 3-28

We got to hold our Emma!!

Emma had to be treated w/ lights for jaundice on Sunday, but she was able come off the lights on Saturday morning. She looks like a tiny Ninja Turtle with those cool "goggles" on!

Sunday I was also able to check out of the hospital. I'm actually going to miss the bed that sits me up and having the nurses bring me everything I need.

Monday

Emma is starting to get the hang of nursing - such a good girl!

Thank goodness my sweet sister and her family are letting me stay at their house while Emma is still at Primary Children's because I found out today that it takes a LOT of time and energy to go back and forth to feed her. I have completely worn myself out!!

The cardiologist says that there are 2 holes in her heart, one of which concerns them to the point of possible open heart surgery if it causes her to breathe so rapidly that it affects her eating. She's doing well, though, and there's a chance it could close on its own.

Emma Kaysia Yates 3-26-11 Update

We had a really good day today. Emma was able to get her ventilator tube removed and was able to start receiving milk through a very small feeding tube through her nose. Both sets of grandparents came to visit her as well as uncle Levi and uncle Steve. They all agree that she's a keeper. :) She started using a binky and had her eyes open quite a bit. It was fun to hear her squeaks and sneezes now that her ventilator is out. I was able to brush her hair, too, which put her right to sleep. It sounds like we may get to hold her on Monday if the Spina Bifida specialist gives us the OK. We can't wait! After finally seeing her face a little clearer we were able to decide on a middle name of Kaysia... like Asia with a "K."

Striking a pose. We love to be able see those cute lips!

I think she likes to pose for the camera... it's a good thing, too, since she'll be overly photographed in her lifetime I'm sure! Didn't her daddy do a good job choosing a hair bow all by himself?! She has him wrapped around her tiny little finger already and it's SO cute.

Emma 3-25-11 Update

Today was a lazy relaxing day for everyone. No new news for Emma. They want to wait to do the next tests when she is off the ventilator. Hopefully that will happen in the morning. Since we don't have lots of news we will just post lots of pictures :)

Emma's very first hair bow. Aww... fer cute!!!

Sweet daddy kisses

Cute little piggies

Look at those lovely locks of hair

Precious

She's got mommy's nails

Surgery went well last night. The neurosurgeon and plastic surgeon said that both of their surgeries went as expected without any surprises or issues. At 10:30 pm last night I was able to hop in a wheelchair and go visit my girl. It was just what I needed. If only I wasn't so tired from the Benadryl I could have stayed longer than 10 minutes. It was wonderful though!

This morning we woke up having had a wonderful nights sleep and were able to go see Emma again at about 11am. The video I have posted is of that visit. It was fun to connect with her as she opened her eyes and got to see us for the first time. The nurses said that they may have her stay on the ventilator for another day or two to play it safe. No further news on the possible shunt or situation with her heart, but we will let you know when we find out. Shawn has been able to be with her for a good part of the day and plans to take me down to see her again tonight.

I just have to try not to over do it so that I can be ready when Emma is ready to go home. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers. We have enjoyed all your comments, posts and emails! I will try to have more pictures and info tomorrow.

Our New Arrival!!

Our little Emma was born this morning at 9:23 and weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 18 inches long. She's an adorable little chunk with straight light brown hair that's about an inch long. They've done test after test on the poor thing but it's what needs to happen so that we can get some answers and know what she needs done. I'm doing well after the c-section (now that they finally got my pain medicine working). I got to see her and hold her tiny hand for about 5 minutes this morning before they took her over to Primary Children's... it's been SO hard to be away from her while I recover at the U!! Thank goodness for Shawn, he has been so wonderful today looking out for 'his girls'. They took her into surgery to fix up her back at 6:15 this evening and she has two teams of doctors, the neurosurgeon's team has just finished their part and said that everything went well, hooray! The plastic surgeon's team is next and they will close her up the rest of the way which should take another hour. Then I get to hop in a wheel chair and go see her!!! They have also discovered a medium sized hole in her heart between two of the main chambers that they are going to address later... poor little tyke! She is being such a trooper and we just know she'll pull through all of this! Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers, we have definitely felt the peace and hope they have brought.

Meeting my baby girl!!

Sweet Little Thing

With G-ma Jo, look at that fabulous hair!

Nursery!!

I guess it's time to post something since it's been over a year.... :)

Here are the pictures of Emma's nursery, just need a crib mattress and a couple little details and it'll be done! (Good thing I suppose, since she'll be here next Wednesday... we're SO excited!!)

BEFORE ...hey, it's called a creative mess.

AFTER ...fit for a princess!

This is a hand-me-down dresser (thanks Stacy and Mike!!) that was in need of a little TLC:

BEFORE

AFTER
I actually painted it white (it was cream) but it's hard to tell because of the lighting.