Giving Thanks Challenge ~ {Day #30}

Thanksgiving Challenge ~ Day #30

Topic: Noelle
Title: You

{If you are new to this challenge, you can catch up on the details here }

On the final day of this Thanksgiving challenge, I cannot help but be thankful for you.  Yes, you, the one reading this post.   This experience has opened up a completely new world to me ~ a world I thought I did not need.  The process into blogging this journey has not been without great thought, but it has been so much more rewarding than I ever dreamed possible.  So many of you have cried with us, prayed earnestly for us, laughed with us, and shared in as much of our experience as you possibly could do.  You have written kind notes and comments, sent thoughtful gifts for our baby girl, provided gift cards and funds to supply food and gas needs while in the hospital, and you have encouraged us most by your unending, faithful prayers.  I never would have imagined how one, tiny baby could touch so many lives; and we are humbled to watch God using her journey to draw others to Himself.  As we close this Thanksgiving challenge {although not in our hearts}, the overflow of this month seems to be spilling over and culminating as we turn to celebrate Noelle's first birthday in just over one week.  My heart is so full as I work on some special projects for this momentous occasion; and as I look at my precious daughter these days, tears often fill my eyes as my lips whisper, "thank you, God."  I am grateful that He knows my heart, and my simple words are enough.  The postings this week will be rare {if any} as we prepare a special project to launch on the blog on her birthday, December 8th.  As a prelude to that surprise, I am sharing a look back at the early days, the very beginning of this journey.  Thank you for walking this journey with us.

Noelle ~ A Look Back from Jill Aguiar on Vimeo.

A look back at Noelle's introduction to life and her first four months in the NICU.

Music credit is "Wonderfully Made" from the "Hidden in My Heart" collection by Breakaway Music.

Giving Thanks Challenge ~ {Day #13}

Thanksgiving Challenge ~ Day #13

Topic: Noelle
Title: This Baby's Laugh

{If you are new to this challenge~which is not your typical Thanksgiving challenge, you can catch up on the details here, and please feel free to join along at any time...}

Tonight, the video says it all {I apologize for the poor quality, but I was capturing this moment on my own while making her laugh at the same time}.  Enjoy!!!

***There are only 3 days left to submit your entry for the book project for Noelle's birthday.  You can read about the project and the deadline by clicking here .  We are putting the book together and enjoying the submissions we have already received but would love to hear from you, if you are willing to participate.  Thank you so much for helping us make Noelle's first birthday a special time of remembrance!!***

Giving Thanks Challenge ~ {Day #3}

Thanksgiving Challenge ~ Day #3
Topic: Noelle
Title: Spitting

{If you are new to this challenge, you can catch up on the details here, and please feel free to join along at any time...}

Yes, you read the title correctly.  I have actually shocked myself in being thankful for something I never thought possible as Noelle has added a new trick to her bag {you can see her others here and here}.  Of course, once we started videoing, she first acted as if she had no idea what we were referencing and just did one of her old tricks; but she finally cooperated and showed off what she now does all.the.time.  It is often non-stop from the moment she wakes up, and I hear her in the cradle doing that more often than any other kind of noise!  While I know we will soon need to train her not to spit {especially when it turns into spitting food!}, for now I am enjoying this as yet another sign of her development, while she explores new sounds and attempts to copy what we do with our own mouths.  She is doing so well, and I am constantly amazed at the changes I see with her, almost daily sometimes.  So as strange as it is, today I thank God for Noelle's spitting and wonder if perhaps it puts a smile on His face too.

***Do not forget there are less than two weeks left to submit your entry for the book project for Noelle's birthday.  You can read about the project and the deadline by clicking here .  We are enjoying the submissions we have already received but would love to hear from you, if you are willing to participate.  Thank you so much for helping us make Noelle's first birthday a special time of remembrance!!***

Noelle's Latest Trick

Noelle has taken up "silent talking" and is consequently generating much laughter in this household.  Aunt Barbie caught her on camera last week during her visit, so we thought we would share this little video to hopefully brighten your Monday afternoon.  We appreciate your continued prayers as we have the sleep study on Wednesday night and hope to have final results by early next week.  Also, do not forget The Book project as we moved up the entry deadline to allow compilation time before her birthday arrives.  Thank you to those who have begun to contribute and to you who are still planning to write ~ we truly appreciate it!!  Have a wonderful Monday and a great week!!

The Bear in the Bathtub

~The Happy Bear Cub After a Nap~

A little she-bear cub has come to reside at the Aguiar residence lately.  I think she ate the little bird that used to coo so sweetly and softly, although I still hear that bird faintly every once in a great while.  This little cub growls all.the.time, but only when happy or extremely excited about something or just carrying on a simple conversation.  Unhappiness or urgent opinions are still expressed with fussing noises.  The cub is cute, so we have decided to keep her...as long as she lets the little bird come out and sing once in a while.  She made quite the mess this morning and needed a bath, so this is our happy little cub enjoying one of her favorite moments of the day.  Enjoy!!

PICU Day 17 ~ (July 11, 2012)

Today was another full day, although not nearly as crazy as yesterday; but the short, interrupted nights of the past couple weeks are catching up with us, so I will again post a more complete update tomorrow.  Noelle continues to do well and there is possible talk of her going home tomorrow, but we still have some pending tests that need to first be cleared.  Thank you for your continued prayers, and please enjoy these sweet videos of Noelle from today.  Now that she is feeling better, it seems her personality is being demonstrated more and more all the time!! The first video is more of her expressing her opinion on her hospital stay, and the second one is greeting her Daddy when he arrived at the hospital after working today.  I hope you enjoy these almost as much as we do!!

PICU Day 12 ~ {July 6, 2012}

Today was a fairly uneventful day, and progress was made through weaning of the nitric oxide and the high flow nasal cannula.  Noelle should be completely off the nitric oxide by tomorrow morning, and she is currently on 2 liters through the regular nasal cannula, and we hope to continue to wean that before going home {we do not expect to wean completely off the oxygen but hope she is able to do well with less support than she is currently receiving}.  If she tolerates the absence of the nitric oxide, then the milrinone will be weaned through the weekend, and she can move out of the PICU.  She will then be monitored to be certain she is tolerating all of her medications well, and she will start taking her feeds by bottle again.  We will still be here for several days, but I think discharge may come sooner than everyone thought possible.  However, one day at a time; and for now, we are enjoying the little things we are able to do again to mimic her schedule at home when we have opportunity.  She enjoyed a partial bath tonight {we cannot submerge her since her heart catheter sites are still bandaged}, and we were even able to maneuver her various cords so that she could slip her arms through her little sleeper, partially wearing it and making her more comfortable for bed tonight.  I will post the rest of the day in a video and pictures.  Her poor little voice is so hoarse from the ventilator tube, but it makes her cry that much cuter to us!!  As always, thank you for your persistent prayers; and we hope to report more great progress tomorrow.

~Getting all the tubes & cords situated after the bath~

~Precious Smile actually caught on camera!!~

~Silly Face~

 ~Noelle telling us about her hospital stay~

NICU Day 101 ~ (March 17th)

Noelle celebrated being 100 days old today and wishes everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day with a special video surprise (and yes, she is just a little bit Irish from her mommy~maiden name: McDowell).  Enjoy!!

A Flashback to the Early Days

This is a video Tom put together during our first several weeks in the NICU to give an idea of what a typical day might look like.  We have come a long way since those days and will have more videos in the future; but I'm proud of the work he put into this to show a timeline of how far we have come in the NICU.  Enjoy!!  (This includes my mom and sister as some of this was filmed during their visit at Christmas).

NICU Day 97 ~ (March 13th)

Today was similar to yesterday in enjoying time with Noelle.  The one thing that is bothering her right now is her acid reflux.  It seemed to get better for a couple of weeks but has returned this past week, although it still doesn't seem to bother her quite as often as it did previously.  Other than that, she continues to grow and do well, weighing in at 1,150 grams / 2 lbs. 8.6 oz.  It's so enjoyable to physically see the changes in her and hold and rock her like a term baby.  We took a lot of pictures tonight...

...as well as another video of her smiling at her daddy (I'm sorry for the angle--I did not realize the camera was in the wrong direction for filming).

We thank God for another "boring" day and another day closer to coming home.

NICU Day 96 ~ (March 12th)

Today was all about cuddle time with our sweet little girl as she has turned into quite the snuggle bunny!!  She still sleeps very well on her own, but she definitely enjoys being held close and rocked (although I think we might still enjoy it even more!).  It was one thing about which I often wondered since we were not able to hold her for such a long period of time after she was born, and even when we were able to begin holding her, it was not very often or for long periods of time.  Now we get to hold her every day, multiple times a day, and we are loving this change and certainly making up for all the weeks we did not get to hold her as well as the many moments even through the night that we do not get to be there and take care of her.  I am so thankful for the perspective on early motherhood which God is shaping in my life right now.  Early in the pregnancy as we began to anticipate the change in our lives that a baby would bring, I remember hoping that our baby would take to a schedule and sleep through the night quickly.  Now, I look forward to the day when she will be home with us and I have the privilege to be the one to hold and feed her and take care of her during the night as well as during the day.  Because she is so small, she will not be allowed to sleep through the night for quite some time, so this schedule of getting up through the night will continue for many weeks to come; but I am looking forward to that day when my baby is in my arms in those wee morning hours!!  She is continuing to grow well, and her doctor even said today that she is on the upper end of growth (as far as a daily average).  Was that ever nice to hear for our baby who is too small to even fall on the range of any "normal" chart!! We measured her tonight, and she is 14" long; so she has increased in length by almost 50% since she was born.  She is smiling all the time now, and we caught part of it on video tonight (of course she did not do it nearly as much once the camera started rolling, but we captured one or two).

Thank you for sharing in our joy and continuing to pray for us.  It continues to bless and encourage our hearts as we take another day, another week at a time.

NICU Day 78 ~ (February 23rd)

Well, flu season was officially declared this afternoon in the NICU which means no visitors except for parents until they declare flu season to be over.  We are just thankful that it has taken so long for cases to pop up around here.  It has been so incredibly warm that people have not been inside as much passing along their germs, and so the flu season around here this year should be much shorter than in the past.  This is the latest they can ever remember having shut everything down!!  Noelle had a great day though and just seems to be cruising along.  She is taking her bottles like a champ, and they condensed her feeds again today, so she is almost to the point of getting them just like a term baby (every 3 hours over approximately 30 minutes).  Then once she is taking all of those by bottle and not just by feeding tube, she will have completed one of the requirements for going home!!  It's amazing how far she has come in just the past two days!!  She is finally back to weighing 2 lbs. again.  She had dropped weight while she was gone, so it is good to see her getting back on track and starting to take off again with her weight.  She is starting to be awake for longer periods of time, and today we noticed that she can definitely see bold pictures in black and white.  Her nurse taped a picture with bold black lines to the top of her isolette, and she spent about 40 minutes on her back, completely content, just looking around and especially at that picture.  Most babies need tummy time....Noelle needs back time!!  I'm posting a couple of videos of her from today.  In one of them, you can hear her sweet little cry...I love it!!  Thank you for sharing in these fun moments we are now having with her and for continuing in prayer for our precious little girl.