Settling In

I don't know how many people are still checking this blog, but I thought I'd post some updates.

Thursday night we nested with Maria in a room at Hamot. That night we discovered that Maria's grunting and sleep talking can definitely keep us awake, but we didn't care...we were so happy to be with her all night for the first time!

Maria jumped into life in the DeWitt family with no ceremony. No big party, no visitors, no unnecessary fussing...there was no time for that: Villanova was playing Duke. As you can see, Maria got bored with the game fairly quickly. Don't fret, DeWitt women, I'm sure that Maria will be screaming at the TV with you soon enough.

Maria received many visitors before we left on Friday. Two of the security guards came in, Ms. Francis (Maria's favorite housekeeping staff) came looking for her, and two of her favorite nurses came in to visit on their day off, just to say good-bye. Lisa (on right) was Maria's nurse the day we first met her and Lori (left) was always so excited to be assigned to Maria. Lori is easily embarrassed. When I asked Lori once about cradle cap, she began her answer by describing what "cradle crap" is. She's never lived it down. All the nurses were wonderful with Maria, and we are so grateful for their help. We even enjoyed getting to know them personally!

Speaking of nurses...Joe came home yesterday with literally, arms full of gift bags! The nurses and staff at Shriners threw him a surprise shower at work!! I guess they lured him into the lunch room by saying that everyone was singing happy birthday to one of the girls (and he didn't really understand why it was imperative that he be there for it), but when he walked in, he saw a cake with "Baby" on it, and everyone started to sing "Happy Baby" to him! He was very moved and touched. When he came home and told me the story, I almost cried: partially because all the outfits were so so cute, and more importantly because of their thoughtfulness and generosity. This shower was just another way that we see God's provision for us in the love and support we've received going through this. How humbling. How wonderful.

Now that we're home, we're trying to settle into a routine. Maria got her first bath at home. She also needs to have her tummy time to stregthen her core muscles. Every baby does, I know. But before we left the hospital, Dr. Gilmour showed us some muscle tightness that Maria has due to prematurity. This tightness is normal for preemies, and should go away unless it's Cerebral Palsey (CP), which we won't know for sure until she's around 2 years old. She has some type of hyper extension in her feet, legs back and neck. Dr. Gilmour showed us some exercises to do, and recommended a...wait...my dear big brother Dave, skip the rest of this sentence...the Dr. recommeded a baby massage for Maria! Maria really enjoys the messages. Dr. Gilmour also said "no johnny jumpers and exer-saucers". This instruction was like music to Joe's ears because he and I had debated whether these devices were good for babies or not. Joe said "no" because they discourage core strengthening. I can be wrong once a year, so I didn't mind taking the brief hit.


Maria also has some reflux issues. This reflux is also very typical in preemies. We're doing everything we can to help ease the reflux without medication, and I was relieved to hear Dr. Webster echo our desire to use medication as a last resort. But she does spit up so much, we're holding our breath to see if she can still gain weight despite the reflux.

Speaking of Dr. Webster...we were successful in getting into his practice!! Joe thanked him and acknowledged that we did weasel our way into his office, and Dr. Webster said that he is very happy to take her because he likes the NICU graduates with special needs. He also said that he had heard of Joe from someone at Shriners, so we weren't completely unfamiliar. He showed us how Maria does this gulping thing, holds her breath, and throws her head back, which shows that she's trying to keep some food down. Joe really likes Dr. Webster also. We are relieved to hear that he is very pleased with how Maria is transitioning into home.

We already had one home nurse visit, and she'll visit again at the end of this week. Early Intervention will also be visiting to follow Maria's physical development. Hamot is starting a Development Clinic and Maria will be one of their first clients...If that doesn't work out for some reason, Dr. Gilmour has us set up to bring Maria to Allegheny General in Pittsburgh for their development clinic. I'm so relieved that we can intervene early in her development to give her the best chances for normal growth.

Go State!