Turn Around Jumper

We're happy to report that everyone is home in the Katz Levi house, but we're not so happy to report that Zoe was BACK in the hospital from Friday through Monday. While there was some cause for alarm on Friday and Saturday and even Sunday, it turns out that Zoe had a little stomach virus that for a tiny peanut like her is just not that little. She's doing much better--she's not 100% yet--but she's definitely on the mend.

While we wouldn't wish hospital trips on our family again, the good news is that Zoe was admitted into the infant unit, and unlike in the NICU, babies in the infant unit get private rooms where moms and dads can spend the night. So nobody had to desert anyone this weekend. Mom stayed at the hospital with Zoe while dad stayed with Sadie. But tonight, thank goodness, we're all back under one roof again!

Well, before I even hit publish on this post, we found ourselves back in the hospital. Poor little Zoe had been given some barium in the hospital for a test and it did not agree with her at all. She's back home again and hopefully that's it for a while, but boy are we tired!!

Getting Settled In

We've had some crazy/wonderful/sleepless days and nights around here lately. On Zoe's first night we actually had to call 911 and were dangerously close to taking her back to the hospital that night and again the next morning, but she really pulled through. She was having some real trouble adjusting to the dry air and the elevation, but after making a few adjustments to her oxygen* she thankfully got much, much better!

Sadie's adjusting quite well too. She wasn't sure what to expect at first.

In the short time she was home, she had grown quite used to being an only child.

And to be honest, Zoe wasn't sure what to expect either. In fact, when she left the hospital for the first time, we think she was a little bit overwhelmed!

But we think they're getting used to the idea of having someone else around,

especially when it's time to do things like go the doctor and get shots, nobody likes doing that by themselves.

So, now that the first few days are behind us, mom and dad are getting into a routine and everyone has adjusted to their new living arrangements, we are all very happy. But we think, for the moment, the happiest little girl might just might be Zoe.

*Zoe is on oxygen because she has chronic lung disease. After being on a ventilator for thirty days, she developed some lung damage and it will take a few years for her lungs to repair themselves. We hope she's not going to be on oxygen for too long, but she will have very fragile lungs for quite some time (as will Sadie, simply because she was premature), so if you come to visit, please only do so when you are feeling absolutely healthy and germ free. Thanks!

She's Here!

Zoe Alexis Levi made it home just in time to ring in the new year with her mom, dad and sis! She got home at approximately 7:00 last night, and she has been soaking in the love ever since. We can't seem to put her down, not even for a second and it is SO amazing to see the two girls together again! Happy New Year everyone.
Love,
The Levis

p.s. pictures are coming very soon, we promise!

And the waiting is the hardest part

The first week home with Sadie has been wonderful. We're working hard on getting a routine down and spending lots of (sleepless) time snuggling, but we're also all spending a lot of time thinking about and missing Zoe.

Speaking of Zoe, our little pumpkin is doing really, really well. She's over five pounds, she's taking about 1/3 of her food by mouth and she's continuing to need less and less pressure with her oxygen! While that's all great news, in order to be able to come home she needs to take all of her food by mouth and she needs to function well with a bit less pressure coming through her oxygen tube. The doctors are shooting for her to be able to do this by the end of December, but the truth is, the only person who has any say about when this will happen is Zoe.

There's really nothing the doctors can do to hurry her along and the only thing any of us can do is wait. And that's not easy. Its not easy under any circumstances, but for us, the waiting is made more difficult by the fact that we both can't be there every day like we'd like to and when we are there, we usually have to say goodbye much sooner than we want to.

On the bright side, while the doctors can't really do anything to help Zoe right now, they do know that the one thing that will help her improve is growth. The bigger she is, the stronger her lungs will be and the more food she'll be able to take by mouth. So while Rich and I can't be at the hospital as much as we want, we can at least tell ourselves that our absence is allowing her to get some much needed, growth inspiring, rest!

Hurry and come home Zoe, everybody really misses you!

We are thrilled, over the moon, couldn't be happier and can't stop looking at our little Sadie. We are so, so glad that she is finally home with us. Now, if we could just get Zoe here, all will be complete.

Sorry for the short post, but we need to resume staring at our little girl and marveling at the fact that she is actually right here in our house!!

xoxo,

the Levis

Giving Thanks

We've seen so much progress in the last few weeks, Rich and I keep taking stock of just how incredibly lucky we are. Both girls are in open cribs, both girls are nursing, and both girls are working on being able to come home.

Sadie's over five pounds these days, and Zoe's over four. The doctors think that Sadie could be home within the next two weeks and we're hoping Zoe's not too far behind her. To come home, the girls need to keep gaining weight, maintain their body temperature, keep their heart rate and oxygen levels from dropping for at least a week, and take all of their food by mouth. At this point, the only thing keeping Sadie from coming home is that she just doesn't have the energy to take all of her food by mouth yet, but she is really working on it, especially when we remind her just how much her parents cannot wait to bring her home! We're not positive, but we're almost certain that the thought of coming home sounds like a pretty good idea to Sadie too!

While we're quite certain Sadie is coming home first, we don't think it will be too long before her little sister comes following right behind her. As she's done throughout this journey, Zoe continues to surprise everyone at the hospital with all of her accomplishments. At this point though, Rich and I aren't that surprised by everything she does because we're perfectly aware of how strong and amazing she is! In fact, we often refer to her as our little tough girl, and we're pretty sure that if she were old enough to form sentences, she'd probably agree.

Seriously though, neither of us need the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday to remind us of just how lucky we are. Every second of every day that we are in the NICU, we are aware. And we are so grateful. Grateful that Zoe has made it to, and through, her surgery. Grateful that Sadie needs only to work on getting bigger. Grateful that we have such wonderful friends and family who have done so much to make this journey easier for us, donating or lending us every piece of baby gear we could imagine, making us dinners, and sending us helpful gifts that encourage us to be stronger. While these last few months have been a tremendous struggle for us, there are many days that we feel as if we have definitely hit the jackpot. We have each other, we have our two little baby girls, and we have amazing friends and family. What more could we ask for?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Rich and Debbie

Update with Photos

The days are somehow growing longer and shorter at the same time. While we are still spending hours and hours each day at the hospital, (and if that isn't exhausting enough, Rich's hours and hours at the hospital don't start until he is done working for the day) it seems that the critical, life-threatening moments are coming fewer and farther between KNOCK ON WOOD a thousand times. The days that turned into all-nighters at the hospital for some type of emergency are more frequently being replaced by all-nighters at home, usually getting in sometime after eleven and then getting up every 2.5 hours to pump and call the nurses to check in on the babies.

In fear of jinxing ourselves, I should say that the bumps in the road have not entirely vanished. For example, little Sadie spit up last week and couldn't breathe while she was doing it, so that turned into a bit of a terrifying emergency that involved an oxygen bag and a nurse on high alert . . . and that's about as far as my mind can go on that one. And just a few days before that, Zoe's IV infiltrated, which means the vein in which the IV was in had broken down and all her meds when straight into her leg. We didn't find out until I got to her bedside and saw that her leg was almost three times its normal size and she was writhing in pain. That was horrible but it didn't end there. Before she had fully recovered, the nurses put in another IV, but it went bad a few hours later (those veins are SO tiny) and then the nurses spent over an hour and a half, while Zoe had to lay perfectly still, trying to get a central line in. Notwithstanding their best efforts, they were unsuccesful and little Zoe had to spend the rest of the night getting poked repeatedly while they moved her IVs around. But all was resolved when they finally got the central line in the next morning and Zoe's pain and discomfort vanished (for the time being).

As time goes on, it does seem like days like these are spacing themselves out and the babies are starting to act more and more just like little babies. Sadie is really working hard on nursing, while Zoe is still focusing her efforts on breathing, but they are both completely and entirely adorable. While we are utterly drained, running back and forth to the hospital every day and completely without sleep, every single second is 100% worth it. We will take this kind of exhaustion any day.

Anyway, enough about us, here are some recent pics of the little babes.

Sadie's over four pounds now so she's gets to move to an open crib soon. In preparation for the move, she gets to wear clothes while they lower the temperature in her isolette. Here's a shot of mom and dad getting her dressed for the very first time--thanks Auntie Christa for being there to commemorate the moment :).

And here she is in this adorable outfit that her nana bought for her:




When she's in her isolette, she keeps warm with this beautiful hat, handmade by her Cousin Judy (thanks Cousin Judy!!):



And here's Zoe in her matching hat, being snuggled up by her nana on her dad's side:

Now that Zoe is no longer hooked up to CPAP, she gets to come out of her isolette more often. She's still a bit sensitive to the world outside her isolette, but there is nothing she loves more than being held by people who love her--while she has her binky. This little girls could not be any happier:

And finally, here's a shot of little Sadie, just because we had to: