Trying to keep up!!

So keeping updated on the blog is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be with us getting back to real life and getting pulled in million different directions. But with life as crazy as it is things are still as good as we can ask for.
Lucie is doing GREAT! We have been able to hold her, which was just amazing. She looks so small laying in her bed, but when she is in your arms she gets even smaller! (I know that seems impossible!) She is also off the ventilators but is still in need oxygen support so she is on high-pressure nasal cannula (which is like normal oxygen support but at a faster flow). Her picc line has been removed because she has been able to handle just over half an ounce of breast milk every three hours.
We just can't believe how fast she is improving but we couldn't be any happier. It has been very clear to us that Lucie has felt all of the thoughts and prayers everyone has said in her behalf and we can't express enough how grateful for all the love and support that has been given to us.
I will try to not to go so long without updating everyone!!

One step at a time...

I can't believe that exactly a week ago our lives were turned upside down. You know the saying "Time flies when your having fun"? well guess what?!... It flies even faster when your not having fun. I have never had a week pass so quickly in my life as this last week has. It is just crazy.

All things considered it has been a pretty positive end to this week. Lucie has made it through the week! She has stayed stable! She is still on a ventilator but is on the lowest setting she can be on, which they say, if everything continues like it is, there is chance that they will pull her off the ventilator in 2-3 days. I have been told that it is a pretty young age to be off the ventilator. So, yea!

Yesterday she was able to have her umbilical lines replaced by a picc line. They wanted to wake up her G.I. track so they started giving her 2.5 ml of breast milk every six hours to see if she could handle it. Like the trooper she is she handled it just fine and they were able to increase how often they feed her so she is now getting fed every 3 hours.

We have not been up to see her yet today but we plan on going up later. They have told me to plan being able to hold her today!! I can't wait! They do this treatment called Kangaroo treatment and that is where I hold her on chest, skin to skin, for an hour. So I couldn't be more anxious to see her!

No matter how anxious I am to see Lucie it is still hard to get up to see her. Tannon (T.J) has been feeling the effects of the week and is starting to have a hard time. He is having a hard time with being away from us. Plus, to top it off he is getting his third tooth in. So it is hard to spilt our time between the two kids and to be there for the both of them. We'll be able to work things out and come up with a schedule that works for us all as things move on.

But, all in all, things are still going as well as we can ask for!

How it all started!

On Friday, February 11th. I went in for a normal doctors appt. I expressed some concerns that I was having with my doctor. He decided to check me to get a better idea of what was going on. As he was checking me I heard, "oh that's not good!" my heart just stopped. My doctor then looked at me and told me that my water was broke and we can't tell how long it has been broken, but I wasn't dialated.  My doctor continued to tell me that he was going to send me to IMC hospital for hospitalized bed rest to try get me to hold on for at least two more weeks. So with my mom's help I got myself up to IMC around 1:30 that afternoon. My contractions started on my way to IMC and continued to get stronger as I was getting checked in. By the time they were done checking me in my contractions were bad enough that I was crying for pain meds. The resident doctor barely had time to do her exam. When she checked me I was dilated to a 4 and the baby was breached so we would have to do an emergency c-section. Lucie Jewell came at 4:02 weighing 2 lbs 4oz. and 13 3/4 inches in length making her 3 months early!
      They rushed her to the NICU. She was breathing on her own but it was very shallow and hard breaths. Her red blood cell count was low, which means her oxygen levels were low also. They put her on a ventilator and gave her a blood transfusion but they said she was stable for the moment.  She stayed stable through Friday night and Saturday morning they became concerned and wanted to do an ultrasound on her brain to check for some hemorrhaging and to see if there was any "white matter" developing, which could lead to cysts. The ultrasound came back clean but they want to recheck it when she is a week old.  
      Lucie has continued to stay stable and is moving very slowly in the right direction. They have been able to slowly decrease the ventilator and she had a second blood transfusion which we knew it was coming and there will be more to come. But, all in all, things are going the way we need them to. We have been told not to plan on bringing her home till her original due date which is May 11th. So we have a long road ahead of us but with the outpouring of love and support we have been given we will be able to make it through this hard time in our lives.
      Words can not express how grateful Tannon and I are for the thoughts and prayers that have been sent our way. We could not get through this without of all the family and friends that support us. I will try to give regular updates.