Almost October

I broke the rules and let Ella wear one of her Halloween outfits to daycare. She looked too cute.

This week she has really had some jumps developmentally too. She has started truley enjoy looking at toys rather than kind of staring in their direction. I can also say that I am certain she is socially smiling which is a big relief for me. She also is hearing more. I am unsure why but I know that she is. She has another hearing appointment Tuesday, so we'll see.

I love this kid!

Tubbie time

How cute is this little bathing beauty? I could just eat her up! She loves being in the tub, and she prefers sitting up so it is nearly impossible to get pictures since I have to hold onto her.

clean baby!

Wheeler farm

I can't exactly say we had a great time... but at least was interesting. Some of the kiddos we were with played pinata with a wasp nest and let's just say it didn't end well! There was also several other mishaps that night, but luckily little Missy was unscathed.

Leanne with Ella

4 months

I am  little bit late getting this posted, but here are Ella's month 4 pictures. She wanted NOTHING to do with laying on her back AT ALL. Belly-fine, just not her back...

4 month appointment

Today has not been super fun. Ella had her 4 month visit and is also snotty-icky sick. We decided to vaccinate her even though she may have had a reaction to the previous set. So we'll see how that goes. She needs to see a new ENT because she is too high risk to be operated on anywhere but Primary Childrens Hospital and the ENT we went to doesn't go there. We will also be starting Ella on estrogen (that's what this house needs!) for some girly problem.
She has fallen off the chart on her height which is 18 inches so it is <1%. Her head has stayed right around the 50% mark and her wight has jumped into the 15% at 8 pounds 3 ounces.
I am still hoping to get rid of her oxygen, but because she is sick we cannot do her sleep study for at least 1 week.

Maybe?

Every time I let Ella trial off her oxygen she does fine for a while and then after 1-2 hours needs it turned back on. We are surprised that she is still needing it. She has her 4 month check-up on Monday and I was going to talk to him about what to do.
THEN....
Last night at 7pm I turned it off and it hasn't been back on. Maybe it's time for a study? If she can pass on overnight monitoring study we can likely just get rid of it all together! My doctor has told me just to let him know when we are ready, and until now I have never thought she could pass it. I guess that's what we'll be talking about on Monday!
I can tell you I am more than ready to not have to carry this...

in order to carry this...

Not what we wanted

I know some of you have been waiting to hear about the hearing test. It didn't go as well as we had hoped. Basically her tympanic membranes don't vibrate. This is likely caused by fluid in the Eustachian tubes. This should be a fairly easy fix with tubes, but in a baby like Ella nothing is quite that simple. Anesthesia is very risky for her and they said they will need to wait until she is at least 3 months old (adjusted) which will make her 6 months old. This breaks my heart. Not having her hearing for 6 months really isn't okay with me. I will be getting another opinion, but I may have no choice but to wait. I don't want to push them into doing it earlier and end up with other complications. She may also end up with some hearing loss from the the barrage of antibiotics they gave her at PCMC. I was under the impression that if they were going to cause a loss they already would have and apparently that isn't true, so her hearing will have to be really closely followed. I do have to say I find it ironic that out of all of the problems that are typical of preemies we have dodged most all of the bullets, but then we end up with this that may or may not have even been caused by her prematurity. Go figure.

T-1week

This week will (hopefully) be very boring around the Olson house. We don't have much planned. It will be my last week working part-time. But once this week ends we will have a week packed every second of each day with something. My mind is however focused on Monday 2pm. Ella has a 3 hour appointment with an audiologist. As most of you know she has never passed a hearing test. It is very obvious she can hear, but why all of the failing? The last doctor I spoke with felt this was likely due to fluid behind the ear drums reducing the vibration and causing the test to fail. That could mean tubes. The funny thing is although I am concerned about them telling me my tiny baby needs surgery I am almost more afraid of them yelling at me for not prepping her correctly for the test. I got very detailed and specific instructions about her sleep the day of the test. It states she can have no more than 5 hours sleep the night before and NO naps. Including in the car on the way to the test. It says if you bring your child in sleeping they will cancel your exam. YIKES. How in the world would that even be possible. To be honest I don't even plan on trying it. My best thought is to try to deprive her after 10 a.m. and maybe let her stay a little hungry at the time of the test so she'll be awake when we go in. Oy. We also have social worker visit #2 right before the hearing appointment. Do I admit that I am purposefully withholding food and sleep from my child?

Oh... and by the way just because I get asked all of the time. I don't know when she will get off of her oxygen. We thought she already would be by now. When I test her without it she isn't even close.

My big kid!

Sorry, no new pictures. But I had to update my little one who is really getting not so little is now 7 pounds! She has reached the 15% for her weight instead of being in the 10%. Of course this is on the micropreemie chart. She has been less fussy lately. I went back to work this week so I appreciate it!