Friday Firsts

Friday night had a bit of a green theme, and not just because of St. Patrick's day.

Linden had her very first bite of food -- avocado. She was a bit uncertain at first, as you can see, but was happily gumming it down in no time. This was just an exploratory mission to see how she'd react and it seemed to go quite well.

Friday evening, the Illinois Wesleyan Titans (colors: green/white) played Calvin College in the Sweet Sixteen. I had told Head Coach Ron Rose that if his team played well enough during the regular season to be able to host some playoff games, Linden might be able to make it to a Titan game this season. He held up his end of the bargain, so we held up ours.

It was a gorgeous night, so we packed Linden up and walked over to the Shirk Center to watch the Titans beat Calvin and advance to the Elite Eight. She slept through part of the game but enjoyed meeting new people and being part of the action.

Saturday was equally busy with Linden attending her first non-family birthday party. Our friends' youngest daughter was turning one and though they had not yet met one another, Linden somehow made the invite list.

She met our friends Chip and Val Saturday evening and stayed home with Laine while me and our friends ran to Illinois Wesleyan to catch the second half of the Illinois Wesleyan v. Dickinson game. IWU pulled out the win to secure a spot in the NCAA Division III Final Four in Salem, VA. We'll have to cheer on the Titans from home next weekend. :-)

"Rawr" is "I love you" in dinosaur

Linden's oldest and wisest cousin Chapin turned 5 on Sunday. Chapin's birthday just happens to coincide with Linden's half birthday. I'm sure there's some term for that. Maybe (Half) Birthday Buddies. I don't know. But it's a convenient way to remember your daughter's half birthday and nephew's birthday for sure.

Family dino-tees.

So Chapin turned 5 and had an amazing dino-themed party and enough kids and parents that I'm pretty sure they had to enforce a 1-in1-out policy at some point. Laine and I took in the chaos that is a 5-year-old's birthday and (at least I) became nervous. But Linden missed it all. She cashed out 10 minutes after the first guests arrived and woke up 10 minutes after the last guests left.

While she missed some serious hide-and-seek and an A+ dino-earthquake-cake, she took full advantage of the well-deserved attention from all of her aunts / uncles / cousins.

Gibson saying, "Hold It! Hold It!"

It's only now that we're realizing how much we've missed sharing our Little Bean with family and friends. She's such a social gal and loves being around groups of people, so it's just been a blast to introduce her to everyone.

Her cousins Chapin and Gibson love "Baby Linden" and are both so gentle and excited to see her. We're looking forward to the days to come when she'll learn to play, race, and sing with them.

p.s. Chapin's birthday was dinosaur-themed (as you can tell by looking at the kids' shirts). What wasn't pictured was Jesse's shirt that read "Rawr is 'I love you' in dinosaur," which is clearly ridiculous and the inspiration for this post's title.

One Tough Cookie

When Linden was cleared to start meeting other people and kids outside our quarantined house, she was basically being cleared to get sick. Well, that didn't take long.

After a couple days at daycare and some fun visits to meet family and friends who had waited patiently for nearly 6 months to meet our little girl, Linden awoke Monday morning sounding raspy and congested with a low grade fever.

She is one tough cookie though. Despite looking quite uncomfortable, she can still manage the occasional smile. She certainly does not get that trait from me. I handle pain better than discomfort and am a total wuss when I'm sick. Must get her toughness from her mom.

Shout Outs

Keeping Linden healthy these past few months has been our top priority. And since we've both had to return to work, we've relied a lot on help from people around us. Though it may embarrass them all, I'm going to publicly thank them all here (in chronological order).

Aunt Alison: Though she lives a 4 hour flight away, my sister Alison was able to watch Linden for a few days in December and January when she was home during her Winter Break from Berkeley. She took the lion's share of a week with Linden when we were still trying to figure out what a "schedule" looked like for a baby. She must have had some magical power because whenever she was in the room, Linden wouldn't take her eyes off of her Aunt Alison.

Grandma Miller: An elementary school art teacher who works 60 hour weeks can only find time to slow down for one thing -- her granddaughter. Even then, she doesn't slow down as much as she just slides into neutral. Linden loves her Grandma Miller because she understands that when she (Linden) is upset, she likely wants to either look at an arched doorway, pictures on the wall, or go up and down. Grandma Miller makes sure to come and visit on weekends and when she has a day off of school (like when she braved a snowstorm and a 2.5 hour drive down to Bloomington).

Miss Erika: A 2012 graduate from the Illinois Wesleyan School of Nursing and ICU Nurse at Methodist Hospital in Peoria, Miss Erika is perhaps the most over-qualified friend Linden has who hangs out with her regularly. She watched Linden one day per week for the early part of 2014 and was often greeted with spit-up and the occasional dirty diaper.

Miss Jen: Before Linden even came home from the NICU, our neighbor Jen came by the house to let us know that she would love to watch Linden for us, if ever there were a need. It was such a heartfelt offer and we were happy to take her up on it. Linden and Jen spent most Thursdays together in January and February. Linden loved reading stories with Miss Jen and I'm sure she'll be glad to know that, once she gets outside, she can visit her friend who lives just down the street.


Miss Laura (not pictured): A senior in Illinois Wesleyan's School of Nursing, Miss Laura stepped in at just the right time. She already had an interest in neonatology when she heard Linden's story and expressed an interest in watching her if ever there was a need. In February, there was a need and we were excited to introduce her to Linden. Laura happened to have completed an internship in a NICU in Indianapolis over the summer and is currently interning at the NICU in Peoria. Though Linden was off of her monitor, caffeine, and weighed nearly 13 pounds when she met her, Laura still seemed excited to watch a baby who had a NICU stay on her resume.

Grandma Twanow: We certainly couldn't have kept Linden at home as long as we did without help from Laine's mom and Linden's Grandma. Grandma Twanow spent approximately two days per week snuggling her granddaughter and Linden spent the same amount of time catching up on sleep while wearing a specific shade of pink (said shade of pink draped on Linden in photo). We appreciated catching up on sleep as well, since Grandma Twanow often stayed up with Linden for the last bottle of the night.

Laine and I appreciate all of your help. Linden was so lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people her first few months at home.

Out and About

It has been nearly a month since my last post, so there's a lot to catch up on!
Linden's last weigh-in was over two weeks ago and she was 12.4 lbs at that time. Our best guess is that she's now about a pound heavier.

Even more important, we are now in mid-February, which is when we'd initially been told by our neonatologists in the NICU was the time when we could begin taking Linden into public. Old habits die hard and as we approached mid-February, we began to wonder if we could really begin to let down our guard.

We had a chance to check in with our favorite neonatologist and he assured us that, though Linden would likely get sick soon after meeting groups of people and littles, she was healthy and strong enough to handle it. In other words, our daughter could finally be removed from our home quarantine and treated like a full-term baby.

This was good timing because my cousin Liz was going to be in town from Portland for her wedding shower, so we were eager for Linden to meet some more Millers.

Aunt Liz and Aunt Kristin with Linden & Laine

Lucky for us, Linden loves people, so she had a great time meeting and talking to her aunts.

Even though we'd been given the green light, we decided to use the last two weeks of February to slowly introduce Linden to the world we'd been keeping at sanatized-arms length.

So, instead of sending her straight to daycare at the first chance we had (and by daycare, I mean the house across the street with a few other kids), we made arrangements to keep her at home.

The first couple days we had an Illinois Wesleyan senior nursing major (Laura) come watch her. We are lucky to live next door to a phenomenal nursing program and were glad to be able to have Laura watch Linden because she has an interest in neonatology and currently has an internship with the Peoria NICU. What a great fit for both Laura and Linden. Laura has followed this blog and knew Linden had spent time in the NICU, so I felt like we were pulling a bait and switch on her when she showed up to see such a happy, healthy, chunky, non-monitor-wearing baby. Laura didn't seem to mind and Linden loves Miss Laura.

On Thursday (2/20/14), Laine stayed home with Linden and took her to work in the afternoon. Linden then visited my office on Friday and she made a nice first-impression at both places of employment, though she fell asleep halfway through her visit at Illinois Wesleyan. But it was Friday, so I think everyone understood the need.

Part of the reason she may have been so tired was that she also spent an hour on Friday visiting her daycare. There were a few kids who were really excited to meet her. As soon as Laine walked in the door, a two-year-old girl tottled over saying "baby, baby...so cute...out...out" pleading for Laine to take her out of the carrier.

That afternoon, we hosted our first play date with my coworkers Nancy and Jason and their 9-month-old Arianna. The girls were intrigued by one another and soon found a common interest in primary colors and soft toys.

After a heavy Friday night sleep, we kept the social tour moving on Saturday with our first visit with Linden's cousins, Chapin and Gibson. The boys had just returned from an "awesome" trip to Disneyland. Though they had met through video chat, this was their first in-person meeting. But they acted like old friends.

Chapin immediately invited Linden to join him in playing a game on the iPad. After assessing her abilities, he encouraged her to maybe just watch him play instead.

Gibson was taking a nap when we arrived but he was very excited to meet "Baby Linden."  At one point, Gibson stood over Linden who was laying on a blanket on the floor and invited her to follow him over to the racetrack he'd made out of painter's tape to play cars. He was only slightly disappointed when he was told that she could not yet walk.

They'll love to playing with Linden when she's ready and she'll love watching them play in the meantime.

Our Arctic Life

This past week, our first week without Linden on a monitor, has been great. We're quite enjoying our new wireless baby.

Since all we'd ever known was a monitor-wearing-baby, we didn't know what we were missing. But now that we can walk her from the living room to the kitchen? Awesome. This past weekend, I was holding Linden and I needed a burp cloth when I remembered there was one in the dryer. You know what I did? I carried her down to the basement and grabbed that burp cloth right out of the dryer. Easy.

Now that the monitor is gone, the only reminder of Linden's need for special treatment is our hermit lifestyle. Everyone with an infant is cognizant of their exposure during flu season. But with preemies, the concern is heightened. So much so that Linden, because of her birth weight and gestational age, qualified for an RSV-preventative shot that she receives each month between November and March.

Some people will say that kids need to get sick in order to build their immunity. This is true, so long as the child is strong enough to fight off whatever illness they contract. This is the issue for preemies, many of whom haven't fully developed their respiratory system. And this is why our neonatologists and pediatricians have all told us to live as hermits during the winter months. "This baby is not to go to any parties," our pediatrician directed. "If you want to have fun, you rent a movie and watch it at home."

Lucky for us, this winter has not been one that we want to be outside enjoying. Illinois Wesleyan was closed for a snow day again this week, this time because of the extreme cold. We've been experiencing temperatures of -20 (who keeps counting after that anyway). Lucky for us, Laine's family moved to Illinois from Saskatchewan, Canada, so Grandma Twanow has been braving the cold and snow to drive an hour to Bloomington and watch her granddaughter for two days each week. After moving in her bag, some Diet Coke, Sprite, and snacks, as well as a dinner for us (thanks!), she doesn't leave the house for the entire visit. And who can blame her? Why brave -XX temps when you could be snuggling your granddaughter?

So, we've enjoyed our time inside with our little bean. Now that she's packing on the pounds, we've rekindled our inspiration to take an excessive amount of photos of her because (parents, you know) they just grow up so fast!

I imagine the primary reason you check this blog is for more pictures anyway, so since we've been holed up recently and have had a camera(phone) at the ready, I've included a record number on this post. Enjoy!

Free (at last)

This Monday (MLK day) we received the call that I had begun to believe would never come. It was the call to tell us that Linden was no longer in need of the home monitor and someone would be in contact with us shortly to pick it up from our house.

I wasn't expecting this call because I was convinced no one was paying attention anymore. I mean, our pediatrician pays very close attention to us, but the monitor is an albatross-type reminder of our stay in the Peoria NICU and we're no longer in contact with those physicians. 

LB, parents, and home monitor, ready to leave the NICU

Leaving the NICU is a strange feeling. You grow accustomed to a certain level of care after 6 weeks; a level of care that will never again be matched. Babies receive special attention. Preemie babies receive more attention than you can imagine.

For example, everything is stat. Say the doctors tell you that they're going to run some blood work on your preemie. You ask when. They tell you that it's already happening and they'll have results in an hour. Need x-rays? They bring the x-ray machine into the room and the neonatologist is reading results before shift's end. Problems eating? Speech therapy is on the way. Question about breastfeeding? Lactation will be by shortly. When rounds come through each day, there are no fewer than five medical professionals in the room and as many as eight.

Linden and her "Smart Monitor 2." Now that it's gone,
I can't believe we didn't name it.

As loyal readers of this blog know, preemies' respiratory and heart rate, oxygen saturation, and other levels are constantly monitored in the NICU and when the alarms buzz, the nurse sitting outside the door responds immediately. So it's an odd feeling when you're told that it's time to bring your baby home, especially if they come home on a monitor. Because now, if the alarms scream, you just make sure your child is still breathing and go about your business. "We'll download the monitor every two weeks, or earlier if the memory fills before then." Two weeks?! One day there's a NICU nurse responding to an alarm within the minute, the next day you're having to wait weeks until you learn whether the alarm was "clinically significant" or just "artifact."

You'll notice wires in every picture
of Linden from Oct-Jan.

But after a few weeks, you get used to it. And then the alarms fade off until you realize it's been days...weeks even, since an alarm that made you nervous. We had finally reached this point in early January and, around that time, the memory on our home monitor was full. I called Eastland Pharmacy to see if they were open (it was one of those crazy snowy days we've been having where everything (including my work) was closed). They were, so I told them I'd be bringing in a monitor for download.

"Oh...OSF Medical moved out January 1. We don't do that anymore," the person said. I asked where to go and they had no idea. They said they'd have to call me back, which they did about a half hour later to report that they still had no idea. Seems like that move wasn't entirely thought through. After a few days, our pediatrician's front desk staff helped us arrange to have the monitor downloaded by a pulmonary doc at St. Joe's. The results that we just received are from that download.

Though Linden's monitor had alarmed in that time, we were told that none of the alarms were significant. This meant that she hadn't had a clinically significant alarm since November. So, it was time to return the monitor.

Today, while Grandma Twanow was watching Linden, someone came by the house to pick up the monitor. She thought to film a quick video of the event and caught our precocious little lady saying "bye" to the monitor that she's had by her side since October 22. She doesn't seem concerned to see it go.

So now Linden is one step closer to a more traditional infant. It's been a fun day already as we've enjoyed walking our wireless daughter from room to room, just because we can.