Request from Meghan and Ray

Thanks to Ray's mother, Ash, Ray and I will have a print out of this blog and want Farrah to be able to look at it in the future. A lot of people have said that they have had problems trying to post comments on the blog. If you have been touched by Farrah's journey, included her in your prayers or prayer chains at church,  or just want to share a thought or quote, please send me an email at m_masterson310@yahoo.com (please note: there is an underscore _ in between the two m's). If you have already sent a message or card to that effect, don't worry about re-sending... we are saving everything we've received for Farrah.

We would love to know who has been following along with us and want to be able to share that with Farrah down the road. In the past four months, we have received so many encouraging emails and texts that have really helped to carry us through from one day to the next.

I will be sending out a birth/coming home announcement with a bunch of very belated thank you cards. If you would like to receive one, please email me your address.

Now that Farrah is home and doing so well, I plan on continuing to update this blog but it probably won't be as often as before. As you can imagine, Farrah keeps us very busy from sun up to sun down and everywhere in between. I like to say that Farrah is so happy to be home that she wakes us up all the time to tell us so.

As of yesterday, Farrah is up to 5 pounds, 5 ounces. She has outgrown almost all of her preemie clothes. As I was folding up her preemie clothes and reorganizing her newborn clothes in her dresser drawer, I couldn't believe that she has already gotten so much bigger since coming home only two weeks ago. Farrah takes a 2 ounce bottle every 2-3 hours. If she is up for drinking more, we give her whatever she'll drink. With all the bottle feeds, our bottle warmer is a life saver - a big thank you to Joe and Kim for that thoughtful gift!!! Farrah has also been breastfeeding once per day. Hopefully we can increase that as Farrah gets bigger and stronger. Farrah had some tummy problems her first week home, so we've been giving her plain breast milk as her tummy calms down. Hopefully as we add the fortifier and extra vitamins back, she will be able to tolerate it ok. It is pretty funny to be talking about a little one's bowel movements so much, but my mother tells me that it comes with the territory of being a parent.

We are loving on Farrah every chance we get. Farrah is very good about telling us when something is amiss and then we play a quick guessing game to figure out what she needs. Once we've changed her diaper and given her a bottle, cuddling seems to always do the trick. Early Intervention will be working with us in the near future to evaluate any areas where Farrah might be struggling. This is a benefit provided to preemie parents to help their children stay up to speed with developmental milestones and with addressing any challenges they may have down the road. We are looking forward to working with them to see what will help Farrah the most. We will do whatever we can to help give her the best start possible.

Now...some long overdue photos...

Lots of Mommy and Farrah cuddle time after she received her next set of vaccines on 10/10.

Farrah in a milk coma on Mommy's lap.

 

Farrah has been smiling a lot, but this is the first one that I caught on camera.

 

Farrah fast asleep on daddy's chest.

 

 

Update From Home

It is so wonderful to have Farrah home! As you can imagine, our sleep schedules have been drastically changed, but we are so thankful for the changes and recognize how far Farrah has already come. Farrah has been thriving at home with us. She acts more and more like a newborn each day and is growing like crazy. As of today, Farrah weighs 5 pounds! Some of the preemie outfits that were too big for Farrah only a few weeks ago don't even fit in her any more length-wise. Farrah has been seen by her pediatrician twice this week for weight checks and in order to keep a close eye on Farrah. I took Farrah to a follow up appointment with the eye doctor and he did not see any signs of  ROP (retinopathy of prematurity), which is great news. We don't need to check back with him for another 6 months. Farrah will be seeing a pulmonologist later this month to have a baseline check up regarding her lungs. She will need to be followed for a while as we keep an eye on Farrah's lungs and see if there will be any long term issues from when she was on the vent. Early Intervention will be doing an evalution of Farrah to see if she shows any early signs

Our time to update the blog is even more limited these days, but please know that we are all doing well, especially Farrah. I plan on updating at least once a week. now that Farrah is home. Thankfully, our cats did not have any issues adjusting to a baby being in the house. They want to be around Farrah and come looking for her when they hear her crying. We still put them in the laundry room at night and watch them all the time when they are around Farrah - just because you can't be too safe around animals.

I hope to get some more photos posted online soon. Thank you for all your communication about how happy you all are that Farrah is finally home!