Into EVERYTHING!

Nora is officially walking.

Actually I am not really sure what the rest of the world counts as official walking, but she can now make it across our living room (the long way) without assitance. She is pulling herself up and letting go and walking short distances from piece of furniture to piece of furniture. It is AMAZING! She has also figured out how to climb up the stairs, so we are on a hunt for a good baby gate. It is so much fun to watch our little girl discover and explore the world. Of course the drawback to all of this is that she is into everything! Maybe chasing her around all day will help me lose the last of the "baby weight".

Other than the occasional bump on the head (for Nora) we are all doing great! Phil is finishing up the first half of his Masters Degree this week and will be starting the second half in January. We had a wonderful (but very busy) trip to the Northwest for Thanksgiving and will be heading back that direction the first of January for a quick holiday trip before Phil starts back at school. I am keeping busy chasing Nora and starting some new projects around the house.

Busy busy Ambrose's!

All of the sudden it seems we have become a jet-setting travel family! We have 2 last minute trips over the next 2 weeks and then more travel planned in December and January. It is a busy time in the Ambrose household.

Phil is still plugging away happily at school, and Nora and I are plugging away happily at home. We are still battling suspected and confirmed food allergies with Nora. It seems every other thing we give her causes some kind of reaction, so we are taking things VERY slow.

Nora is movin and grovin even more. Desperate to walk, she climbs on EVERYTHING and cruises all of the house. We have even got a few independent steps out of her before she cautiously sits down on the floor. It won't be long before she is walking on her own-it feels like just yesterday we were watching her struggle to breath in an incubator. Time really does move quickly with a little baby!

If there are any tips out there for flying with a little one-I WOULD LOVE to hear them! Hope this finds everyone well :)

Wow-time flys

I am still not sure how many of you out there keep up with this, but I appologize for my absence! Nora keeps growing and changing and Phil and I keep struggling to keep up with her. She is a delight and a challenge everyday.

The news since my last post, well, there is a lot.

Nora's firsts-
First tooth- Aug 29
First meal-Sep 2
First time pulling up-Oct 3
First crawl-Oct 17
First step- Oct 18

Those are her big milestones. She is still inching along with solid food eating-it is a slow process since I am a little hyper-worried about allergies. It will probably be a while before her "first step" turns into walking, but she is getting bolder and more confident everyday. We were so lucky to have my parents, Grandma and Grandpa Reale, here for a visit this past weekend. AND they were lucky enough to witness her crawling AND her first step. What an amazing little girl we have.

I will try to keep up better with my blog over the coming months :)

One Month down...

Believe it or not we have been her 1 whole month! It has gone by in a flash. Nora fills almost every moment of my time and putting the house together fills all the others :)...I think it will probably take us about a year (right we are set to move again) to really get completely done unpacking and setting up. However, all the essentials are complete and we are all quite comfortable.

Phil is still set to start school at the end of August and until then has very little to do. Unfortunately, rather than enjoying the mellowness, he seems to be going stir crazy. Only one more month until he is a busy bee again.

Nora has finally mastered rolling over both directions (front to back and back to front) and now takes absolute delight in rolling off her play mat. It will be no time before she is off and running! We are on the waiting list to get in and see the Pediatrician here (there is a doc shortage) so I don't have an official weight. However, she has outgrown most of the clothes she was wearing when we left Ft. Lewis, so we are confident she is growing and gaining weight just fine.

While I know the idea of coming to Misery is about as exciting as stale bread-we would welcome anyone that wanted to visit :) just let me know!

It is crazy to think we have been in Missouri for 3 weeks now...it still feels like we just got here! Of course that is probably due to the boxes that are still scattered throughout our house :) As Phil and I have found out, unpacking with a baby in the house is a much different processes than just unpacking-I am not looking forward to the day when we experience unpacking with a toddler! It will be even more of an adventure when Nora starts moving.

We lucked out and found a nice tri-level duplex to rent off post. It has 2 bedrooms and space for Phil to have an office/den downstairs. I am loving the layout of the house and the location-we have woods in our backyard and get to watch the deer and the fireflies at night.
As soon as the house is more set up and less of an embarassing mess, I will post a picture tour of it on our website.

As for the news with Phil, he was bumped out of the Career Course for July and is actually going to work on his Masters in Geological Engineering this summer/fall instead. He has about of month of "work" before he will start school. Once his masters classes are complete in December he will get ready to do the Career Course in January. As it turns out this is a wonderful turn of events for us, since our greatest hope in coming here was for Phil to get the opportunity to complete his MA. Unfortunately, it means we will be in MO longer, but the educational opportunity makes it more than worth it.

As for me, I am trying to get back into the SAHM rhythm. Nora, unpacking, and taking care of Phil consume most of my time. We were lucky enough to have some other friends come to MO for the Career Course this summer, so I already have a network here!

Missouri is turning out to be not quite as miserable as we expected!

june already?

Time flys, whether you are having fun or not! I can't believe our time at Ft. Lewis is almost over, and while I have wished for an anticipated our leaving here almost since the day we got here, I can honestly say I will miss it a little. So much of our life as a couple and a family has happened here.

Friday will be Nora and my last day at Ft. Lewis. Saturday Phil will be driving us over to Clarkston to spend a week visiting my parents before we move on to Misery (missouri). Even though we survived our dress rehersal fairly well, I am still dreading spending 5 days on the road with sweet fussy Nora.

Once we are there and settled into a new place I will post an update on how the trip went :) Until then wish us good luck!

bottles, bottles, bottles

As hot and sticky as our move to Missouri will be, I think what Phil and I are most excited about is the prospect of having a dishwasher again! When we moved to Steilacoom we didn't realize how spoiled we had become. Now with the addition of bottles and other formula feeding tools we are wishing for that dishwasher even more!

As far as Miss Nora goes, she is a completely different baby. I can see her little tummy getting better everyday. We have gotten into a rhythm with her feeding and spent some serious time and $$ figuring out what works best for her. Last weekend we bought and tried one of every bottle and nipple that claimed to help reduce colic. After 2 days of trying them all out we figured out what works best and invested in lots of those. Anything to help our little girl feel better!

This weekend is our "dress rehersal" for our move. We are driving to Clarkston to visit Grandma and Grandpa Reale-the trip is the approximate distance we plan to go each day on our way to Missouri. So, this week I am working on packing the car up as if we were moving so we have a realistic idea of what we can bring, what we need, and how much room we have for extras!

Allergy Adjustments

If you have been follow our colicky saga with miss Nora, you know that the last few months have been a real struggle for Phil and me. Nora has had a very hard time with all kinds of tummy trouble, and on Friday I finally got the doctors to listen to me.

After seeing her regular Neo doc, a Ped. doc, and a GI doc, taking more x-rays, and stool sample tests-they think they figured out the problem. Nora not only has acid reflux, but also a cow's milk protien allergy.

Unfortunatly, what that means for us is either a switch to a hypoallergenic formula, or if I want to keep nursing, an extremely restrictive diet for me. After doing a little research on just what I would have to cut out, we decided that we will switch her to formula. The diet excludes not only all dairy products but everything containing and dairy protiens or forms of dairy protiens which amounts to almost everything but fresh veggies and fruit. On top of the huge challenge of maintaining such a strict diet, one mistake on my part could have very bad consequences for Nora.

To deal with the acid reflux, the doc prescribed a liquid version of zantac, and we are already seeing results from that. She is so much happier! As for the formula change, it is an adjustment for us as well as Nora. The GI doc said it could take up to 4 weeks for the dairy protiens to completely leave her system. She doesn't like the bottle very much, but her tummy seems to feel a little better already-though both her and I miss nursing and it has only been one day!

We are hoping these changes will make her little tummy get better! I must say not having her cry in pain the last two nights has been glorious!

Happy May Day

Growing up my sisters and I participated in one of the happiest holiday traditions: May Day. Starting probably before I can remember, on April 30th we made little paper baskets and walked around the yard collecting flowers to hang on the neighbors door the next day. Even after I went to college, if I could come home for May Day, I would. What a happy holiday, share flowers and a nice note with the neighboors around you. I can't wait to pass this tradition on to Nora.

As far as family news, things seem to be on the upswing. Nora is still an incredibly fussy impatient baby, but our evenings are improving. We have found that if we are able to respond to her fussing and provide whatever it is that she wants immediately, then we can avoid the intense screaming/crying. When we delay, she is quick to punish our ignorance. However, once whatever need she has is met, the happy calm returns! It is hard to believe we have been at this adventure for almost 4 months!

Phil is super busy at work preparing for the unit to come back, and preparing for our move. We got official orders last week to move to Ft. Leonard Wood, MO so that he can complete the Captain's Career Course. While spending the summer in Missouri is not exactly my idea of a good time, it will be a nice change for the three of us.

**I uploaded new pics to the photo album, check them out!**

Is this the peak?

I know I said Nora was just a fussy/high needs baby a few posts ago; however, Phil and I (and the doctor) have revised that label. She is just plain colicky. After our visit to the ER at our follow-up appointment with the doctor, he concluded there was nothing serious to worry about and all the crying she was doing in the evening was normal.

According to the books, websites, and doctors I have consulted, colic tends to peak when a baby is around 6 weeks old-or 6 weeks after their expected due date in the case of fabulous preemies. Well Nora was 6 weeks after her due date yesterday, and let me tell you it was the most difficult day we have had to date. Poor Phil came home to both his girls crying! We are hoping and praying that we are now over this mountain of a challenge and that it is downhill from here.


***check out our family photo album for new photos from the last month***

Visit to the ER

Well, I just got home from my first visit to the ER with Nora. While I am sure this won't be the last time we ever have to go to the ER, I am hoping that it is a very long time before we ever have to go back.

This morning Nora had blood in her diaper, so after finding out that they don't give same day appointments to children at Madigan, we were told to take Nora to the ER. Two x-rays, a test of her stool, and SIX HOURS later all we know is that there probably isn't anything seriously wrong.

If you haven't picked up on my tone yet, I am VERY frustrated. After the amazing care Nora recieved in the NICU, I was a little surprised by the substandard system they have set up for kids. Both Phil and I can get same day appointments but Nora can't?!?! What the heck?!?

We have a follow up appointment tomorrow and shots on Wednesday, so expect another note this week.

Fussiness

While I wouldn't classify Nora as a "colicky" baby, we have definitely entered a new stage of her growth...a very very very fussy stage. Shortly after hitting the 2 month mark (or zero, when talking about her development), she changed from a very mellow baby that only cried when wet or hungry (and stopped as soon as the need was met), to a fussy gassy little girl that screams for what seems like hours. I am not sure how the parents with truely colicky babies survive. It is so painfully to hear her cry and not be able to do anything to fix it!

Phil and I are starting to figure out how to deal with this new behavior and what causes it, but it is trying nonetheless. Consequently, our sleep has become even more erratic and our house even more of a disaster. I suppose just another bump in the road of parenthood! We can't wait to climb over this one and take on the next, hopefully it will involve a little less crying!

Shots suck!

Today Nora had her 2 month shots including the Synagis vaccine for RSV. She did not love being stuck with 4 different needles, but Mom is glad to know she is on track with her vaccinations. No major preventable illnesses in this house!

To get the dosage right for our tiny little girl, they had to weigh her, and I am happy to report she is up to 5lbs 9oz!! That is 8 oz up from last week-she is packing on the weight!

Things here in the Ambrose household are going good- we are looking forward to a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Reale and Auntie Kathy this weekend.

Over 5 POUNDS!!!!

Yesterday Nora had her 2 month check up, and she weighed in at 5 lbs 1oz and is now 17 inches long! We are so excited that our little girl is growing to "regular baby" size and will soon be in "regular baby" clothes :) As far as everything else, we are all doing good- still working on ways to get more sleep at night. Of course that probably won't resolve for at least a couple months when we don't have to wake her to eat anymore.

In other family news, this Friday Phil will be promoted to Captain! He technically already holds the rank, but we have simply been too busy to do the ceremony. I will post pics on in our family album this weekend.

Growing, growing, gone!

I am so very proud to announce Nora has outgrown her first outfit! Now to many parents this many not seem like much of a milestone, as kids tend to outgrown things faster than we go through toilet paper, but let me assure you, to the parents of a preemie outgrowing something is a HUGE milestone! With "preemie" sized clothing practically falling off her tiny body just a couple weeks ago, getting to pack away a tiny outfit because it doesn't fit is very exciting!

We went to our first check up on Tuesday, and I am happy to report everything is good! She gained 80 grams-slightly less then the docs would hope, however we have another check up next week. Hopefully, she makes up for the lack of weight gain between now and then. Considering the amount she is eating, I will be surprised if she doesn't gain a bunch :)

Phil and I are still slowly adjusting-do you ever get used to this schedule? We, of course, struggle with the lack of sleep, but we are finally figuring out how to get all the "must do" chores done in between feeding the Hungry Monster. All in all life at home is even better than we had hoped.

and a baby makes three!

Nora is finally home! We got all packed up and out of the hospital yesterday afternoon. I can't even describe how much of a relief it was to get out of the hospital. Now we are just trying to adjust to a whole new schedule and setting.

Hugs to all! thank you so much for all your thoughts, prayer, cards, and well wishes! We made it out of the hospital, now Phil and I just have to survive the next 25+ years! :)

In the hospital again!

Yes, I am in the hospital again, but not sick this time. Last Thursday I started "boarding" at the hospital in preparation for Nora's homecoming. The doctors, at that time, expected her to be home by Sunday. Well, here it is Tuesday and both of us are still here!

Nora has gained sufficient weight (she is up to 2000 grams/4 lbs 6oz), so now we are just waiting for her to complete her 5 day incident free watch. If she is able to go incident free for 5 full days, she gets to come home!

Phil and I are holding up pretty well. We are slowly adjusting to the limited sleep that new parents get. Phil has been at home on his own since I moved into the hospital, and we are anxiously awaiting when the whole family will be together. He is incredibly busy at work, so he has plenty to keep his mind busy from worrying.

I am doing much better now that Nora and I are at least in the same building. I now have a place to rest inbetween her feedings and am able to nurse for all or almost all her feedings each day. Cutting out the commute from home has made life much less stressful. I can't imagine how much easier things will be when we get to sleep in the same room!

Up 1 pound!

As of today, Nora is 3lbs 10oz-exactly 1 pound more than when she was born. It took 3 and 1/2 weeks to gain it, but she did it! And it looks like lots more weight is on the way. The doctors are slowly weaning her off the oxygen, and she is currently maintaining her own body temp. We started breastfeeding last week and are up to 2 times a day. As she gets stronger they will increase the number of times I feed her. The rest of her feeds are still through a tube. As Nora and I become more confident and better at breastfeeding the doctors will introduce a bottle for the times that I can't be there.

Phil and I are hanging on...As we get to participate in her care more, we get less and less time to sleep, eat, and get things done around the house. However, from what I hear running on little sleep is pretty normal for new parents. Each time there is a new development with Nora, it means a schedule change for us-surprisingly we have adapted pretty well! But now matter how well we adapt, we simply can't wait for the day when feeding her means a trip to her crib, not a trip to the hospital.

Full Feeds!

Our little girl has finally graduated to FULL FEEDS! What that means is she is now being fed only breastmilk (32cc's) and will be off IV nutrition tonight. They are letting her last bag of "gatorade" run out before taking her off it. This news is especially exciting because it means we are one step closer to breastfeeding and that is one step closer to coming home.

Also, her doctors yesterday were toying with the idea of moving her to intermediate care! Another step toward coming home! They decided to keep her in the NICU for a little longer because she is still so small. Currently, she is weighing in at 3lbs 5.5oz.

We did have one minor setback. She is back on a tiny bit of oxygen. Debbie, her nurse today, said she was struggling just a little too much, and the doctors wanted to give her a little break. Phil and I are very happy with this because the past couple days it has been rough watching her breath so rapidly and have so much difficulty keeping her oxygen levels up.

All in all it is good news. We still have a long road ahead of us, but every step toward her coming home gives us a little more hope that the road is getting shorter.

More advancements in Noraville

Last night we found out our little girl figured out how to roll over! The nurses like to keep her on her belly to help her digestion and breathing, but little Nora did not want any of that! She stretched out her little legs and rolled herself over onto her back.

Also, she is up to 15cc's on her feeds (up from 9), and seems to be tolerating them well. Hopefully, that means she is learning the whole digestion process.

We do have one step backward though. She seems to be breathing pretty rapidly-still no outside help-but the doctors are worried about infection again. So, later today they will do some more tests to rule out anything scary. We should know for sure results within 72 hours.

Phil and I are hanging in there...tired, of course, but this week we have Ter here helping us. Thank goodness!!!

UP UP UP!!!

Wonderful news! Nora is up to 3lbs as of today! She is still having some digestive issues-learning slowly but surely how to proccess food for herself. She is breathing with NO assistance, and keeping her oxygen levels up.

I am recovering well and will be going to the doctor tomorrow for a check up. I can't believe it has been almost 2 weeks since she was born!

Phil went back to work today, so we are all getting back to normal!

Nora Jean Ambrose

Wow! 2008 has really got off to an eventful start! This post is basically a copy of the email I sent out and my myspace blog-so if you have read either of those, go ahead and skip this one. I will put up another update either next week or as new news comes our way.

__________________________________________________________

A lot of this will be a repeat for you, but I just wanted to take a moment and catch everyone up on what has happened the past week or so and how we are all doing.

Last Monday, after having high blood pressure readings and some disturbing results on some tests at a routine prenatal appointment, I was admitted to the hospital with "severe pre-eclampsia". After more tests, iv's, and discussion the doctors decided to try to keep me pregnant as long as the baby would tolerate it. Thankfully, my mom was able to fly in to be with us and help on Tuesday morning. Between her, Phil, and the nurses, I had amazing round the clock care. However, by Wednesday morning it was clear that they needed to start moving to getting the baby out. They tried to induce labor, and unfortunately my body didn't respond well. So, 36 hours later the doctors wheeled me in for a c-section.

Because of the drugs they had been giving me, the doctors had warned us that the baby might be very still and quiet when it came out. However, Nora Jean Ambrose entered the world kicking and screaming at 4:25pm on Thursday January 10, 2008. She weighed just 2 lbs 10 oz and was 14.5 inches long. Phil and I were so relieved to hear that first cry. Phil was able to go cut the cord and bring her swaddled over to see me. Then she was quickly wisked off to the NICU.

Once she was safe, the doctors worked to get me well again. By Sunday afternoon both iv's had been taken out and I was feeling much better. They discharged me and sent me home to recover from the c-section.

Nora, however, has a much longer hospital stay ahead of her. Since she was born at 31 weeks 6 days (almost 32!), she will likely remain in the NICU for 4-6 weeks depending on how everything goes. She had a few setbacks over the first week of her life-some lung/breathing issues and possible infection-but I am happy to report all has been resolved and she is doing wonderful. Phil and I are allowed to visit anytime day or night, and the nurses have been wonderful about letting us help as much as possible with her care. Since she is too little to breastfeed, I am pumping and they are giving her my milk through a feeding tube. She also recieves extra nutrition through a pic line (basically a "super" iv).

We are keeping a pretty intense schedule right now, trying to visit her as much as possible, so please forgive us if we are not excellent at keeping in contact. Please just keep calling and emailing and we will get back to you as soon as we can. I will try to keep our family webpage updated as things change and we get closer to Nora's homecoming. That site is: http://carmanambrose.googlepages.com/home . It has links to our family blog and photo album. I plan to have all that up to date this weekend.

All in all, we are doing good. I want to send out a thank you to everyone who prayed, wished us well, and sent encouraging emails, cards, and phone calls our way over the last couple weeks. Phil and I were amazed (and so thankful) at how much love and support we recieved.

I hope this finds everyone well! Take care,
-Carman (and Phil and Nora)

2007 Reflection

2008 is beginning and after looking through the many Christmas cards and Christmas letters, I thought it might be good to reflect a little as well.

We have had quite an eventful 2007! After Phil completed a short tour (about a month) working in Japan last winter, we had the opportunity to travel there ourselves. It was by far the most challenging and rewarding of our adventures so far. We got many great pictures and created even more wonderful memories. We feel so lucky we had the opportunity to get over there!

After returning from Japan, we just got unpacked and then started packing up again. In late April we made the decision to move off post into a little house in Steilacoom (my favorite W. WA town). The move shortened both our commutes, and gave us a great opportunity to purge our "stuff collection".

The summer was filled with changes. I started working on a graduate certificate in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), and Phil moved out of his job in Protocol to the S3 shop in the 555. We also learned, to our delight, that we would be expecting our first child in early March 2008.

The fall brought more changes for Phil- he was again moved from his job to another! Now he is working hard as the XO for the 864 Rear D. He is so happy and challenged in this job. It is wonderful to see him enjoying (for the most part) work again. We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with family in Clarkston, and had a short visit from Phil's dad for Veteran's Day weekend.

We ended 2007 quite differently than last year, choosing to stay home for Christmas time and take a short trip to Portland for New Years. After conquering the snowy pass for the holidays in 2006, we decided that it would be better for all if we hunkered down at home this year. New Years was celebrated in relaxing style with the Ortiz's (my sister and brother-in-law).

Overall, there has been so many events-too many to detail-and we have been so lucky to be home together. We are so excited to face all the new challenges that 2008 will bring and hope that this finds everyone happy and healthy.

-Carman (and Phil)