Day 100: She's Home!

After 100 days in the NICU, Caitlyn is finally home! Aidan just told me "I love my Caitlyn", and can hardly keep his hands off of her. We are all so happy to have her home. Now we have 3 kids ages 4 and under, and it is crazy!

Caitlyn came home on oxygen, and we have to take it along with us wherever we go. Here are the oxygen tanks we have in our house. They gave us smaller, more portable ones for travel.

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers. We are so blessed with great family and friends!

Lots of Pics & The Big Game

I had a fun morning with Caitlyn today. She looked so cute, so I just kept taking pictures. She is back to 7 pounds, even. I think the extra weight last week must have been IV fluids and swelling.

This is Caitlyn getting her hearing exam. She passed in both ears!

Two of Caitlyn's favorite nurses!

Caitlyn's view of the Iowa vs. Iowa State game:

Caitlyn geared up in her Hawkeye jersey:

Fussy Day

Caitlyn back on CPAP...

Caitlyn had a very fussy day Thursday. She was very angry, and wouldn't stop crying. Here she is getting an x-ray to make sure nothing is wrong. Fortunately, they discovered it was just a lot of gas that needed to be worked out.

3 Months Old

Caitlyn turned 3 months old yesterday and she is up to 7 pounds, 6 ounces! It was a crazy day. She was finally extubated after 3 days, and put back on .5L nasal cannula. After they did that, it was discovered that Caitlyn's breathing was effected by the intibation tube. Her voice was extremely raspy and her breathing looked painful. She was also wheezing and gasping for air. They took an xray and determined that she is not using her lungs to full capacity, so they put her back on CPAP.

Here she is getting "bagged" after they removed the tube:

Here she is on the .5L nasal cannula before the wheezing started:

7 Pounds!

Caitlyn hit seven pounds today! It was quite a big day for her, as she had surgery as well. Everything went well, and they were able to repair the hernia. The damage inside was bad, so it was a good thing we did the surgery right away. They say now, that if everything goes as planned, she will be coming home in 7-10 days.

We weren't allowed in the operating room, so this was as far as we could get...

The doctors and nurses in Caitlyn's room after the surgery...

Caitlyn during recovery...look how big she is! Some of this weight could be from the IV fluids they've been pushing. She's back on the ventilator, but should be coming off tomorrow.

Go Hawks!

We went tailgating this Saturday, which was really convenient, since the stadium is right next to the hospital. Even Caitlyn wore her Hawkeye gear. She is twelve weeks old now, and weighs 6 pounds, 10.5 ounces! She has been taking almost all of her feedings, without supplementation from the feeding tube. We found out today that she will need hernia surgery, which will delay her trip home by a day or two.