Baby showers-a little late

I didn't get a chance to post after our baby showers, so I wanted to share some pictures.

Kourtny, Emily, Kristin and Heather threw a shower for us at Heather's house on May 1st. It was a punk rocker theme and was really cute. No detail was left untouched from the centerpiece to the cupcakes to the onesies...it was amazing. Here are some pictures from that shower.

Opening LOTS of presents!

The Wimberly gals

(Whitney, Michelle, Kristin, Jules, Kristi, Janice, Debi, Gayle)

The Brunettes

Nenna and Jules

Guarding the cupcakes!

Whitney

(Michelle's daughter)

Marie and Gayle

(Heather's mom and Chance's aunt)

Ryan

(Jessi's daughter)

The clothesline of onesies

(Janice and Kristin made them!)

The gifts

The centerpiece and food table

The cupcakes

(Kourtny's creation)

The centerpiece

Kristi and Caroline

The UTSW crew!

Abby and Emily

Gigi with Emme and Jules (her granddaughters)

We had a shower planned on May 16th in Emory with my sister Teresa and my girlfriends from high school. We had to postpone it because it was a little too much too soon. Hopefully we can all get together soon and everyone can meet Miss Mae.

We had a third shower planned for the 22nd of May that went along with the annual fish fry at my dad's house. We were able to sneak away from the hospital for a couple hours to go to it. Karen, Sarah and Rachel did an awesome job! The diaper cake was amazing and the cupcakes were homemade! There was a picture for everyone to sign and diapers to leave a message on for Ashlyn. Sarah handmade the tiles that have Ashlyn's name on them. They are so cute! They did a great job decorating for the shower. Here are a few pictures from that shower. I wasn't very good with the camera and forgot to designate a photographer!

Kristi, Sarah and Rachel (Sarah's roommate from Tech)

Opening presents

The diaper cake, cupcakes and hand painted tiles

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful showers and all of the gifts! We are truly blessed and Ashlyn has been enjoying ALL of her new stuff!

Plagiocephaly and lots of visitors!

I promise one time you read this blog it will NOT be about another trip to the doctor's office! But not this time. We had our follow-up appointment with the plastic surgeon about the birthmark.

Waiting to see the nurse

They were very pleased with the progress thus far and decided to cut back on her medicine a little since she is so small and it has been so effective. While we were there, the nurse practitioner who works with the craniofacial doctors came in to look at Ashlyn's head because we were a little concerned about her skull protruding on the right side of her forehead. Sure enough, she has positional plagiocephaly most likely from being positioned on her right side so often in the NICU. The back of the right side of her skull is flat and the front of the right side sticks out a little. The nurse said the deformation is moderate but felt very confident with conservative treatment it would realign itself. If it doesn't get back in shape within a couple of months, we may have to consider a helmet to help it along. Conservative treatment is mostly stretching, positioning and tummy time! Just another thing to add to her daily to do list! This chick is high maintenance! But she is worth every second of it!

We had lots of visitors over the weekend and this week. We celebrated father's day with Mimi and PaJ and Grandma Sally on Saturday and with Gpa and Gma and Auntie Sarah on Sunday.We would love to see Nenna and Papa, but don't think we are quite ready for the 3 hour car ride. Ashlyn didn't do too well shopping for her dad for father's day. The shirt she picked out didn't fit and the DVD she got was the wrong one. We will have to work on her shopping skills ;) Sarah surprised us on Monday when she stopped by after an interview in the neighborhood. Ashlyn briefly got to meet her cousin Crew and uncle Scott when they dropped a few things off at our house. On Tuesday, Abby and Walker stopped by to say hi. Give them a few months and Ashlyn and Walker will have a ball! We were supposed to see Emily on Wednsday morning, but we had to reschedule due to a ROUGH night! We hope to get to see her this coming week. John and Kourtny came by Wednesday night and brought dinner over. It was nice to see them and the food was delish! Jessi and Chris brought lunch over on Thursday after her doctor's appointment. Ashlyn will have a new friend in February. We are very excited for the Ivie's. On Friday, her aunt Kristin and her cousin Jules kept us company. It was fun to see them and Kristin and I both noticed that Ashlyn and Jules look a little bit a like! How fun! They are going to have a blast when they both get a little older. Kally stopped by on Saturday after work to say hi, but Ashlyn was napping the whole time. He and his wife are expecting a son in December and I am certain he will be Ashlyn's first boyfriend. Cash and Ash...isn't that cute :)

Walker (4 mos) and Ashlyn (6 wks)

Ashlyn with Jessi and Chris Ivie

Ashlyn with her Great Grandma Sally

Ashlyn and Gpa

Chance and Jules

Ashlyn, Sarah and Gma

We have been having a little trouble with regurgitation! And by a little trouble I mean, EVERY MEAL! It is a little stressful to me, because I am not sure what is causing it. The nurse at the pediatrician's office thinks I am over feeding her and I think she may be right. I was told by several doctor's that "babies won't overeat" so I have been letting her eat until she stops. I think she hasn't learned when her tummy is full, because I see most of that milk again...and it is usually all over both of us by the time she is finished! It is hard to get her on a schedule because she spits up/throws up so much of her meal, she gets hungry sooner than she should. I am not sure if she is having reflux or not, but she doesn't seem to be bothered by the spitting up so it probably is not too acidic.

It is hard to know what she should be doing for her age. I wonder if she should be acting like a 7 week old baby or a 7 day old baby due to her prematurity. It is a little frustrating so I have decided to split the difference! Another thing on my list of questions for the pediatrician.

The other problem I am having is that I am still waking her up at night to eat every 3 hours, when she actually would probably sleep longer. One of the side effects of the medication she is on for her birthmark is potential low blood sugar, so I am afraid to let her go longer than 3 hours between meals. I would LOVE to sleep a little more between feedings so I am going to talk to our doctor at our next appointment.

Her nursery is almost finished! These awesome pictures are antique Christening gowns that her Nenna and Aunt Kristin got for her. We love them and think they add the perfect touch to her vintage nursery. Chance found her changing table on Craig's List the day before I went into labor. It is an antique dresser that we are using as a changing table. This picture doesn't really do it justice...the changing table is kind of hard to see.

Other than our couple of little issues, everything is going very well! She is the sweetest little angel and she is growing up so fast. It is amazing how much she has changed already. I can't believe she will be seven weeks old tomorrow. Here are a few more pictures from this week!

Growing into her car seat...and her bow!

Snoozing

Chance playing guitar for Ash in her swing...she LOVED it!

I love my swing! Thanks Ryan for letting me borrow it!

Does tummy time count if you sleep through it?

Pip doing tummy time

Wide awake!

Hemangioma Update

A lot of people have asked how Ashlyn's birthmark is doing now that we have started this new medicine. We are very, very pleased with the progress we have seen so far! We go back to the doctor tomorrow for our first follow-up. We are anxious to hear what they have to say! Here is a progression of her birthmark in photos .

At the hospital

Getting worse at home

At it's worst

Day before beginning treatment

After 2 doses of Propranolol

Day 6 of treatment

We were very hesitant to start a medication that is primarily used to treat heart conditions. But after much discussion with multiple specialists, we decided that the minimal side effects (low blood sugar and low blood pressure have been the only reported potential adverse effects) were worth the possible benefits. We are very pleased with our decision so far and feel very optimistic that it will continue to improve!

A week of doctors appointments

This week flew by with 3 doctors appointments. We had a check-up with our Pediatrician on Tuesday and got a very good report. Ashlyn weighed 6 lbs 13 ounces and he was very pleased with her growth and progress. We don't go back to see him until her 2 month shots :(

We saw a Plastic Surgeon on Wednesday who specializes in hemangiomas. This picture was waiting to see the doctor.

He recommended that we start a medication that will stop the growth of the tumor and hopefully start the involution process sooner. He was very optimistic that with early treatment, the birthmark would be undetectable by the time she starts kindergarten. If we did not do the medication, there is risk of scarring, ulceration (which is very painful) and no telling how big it would grow during the next 6-9 months. We were hesitant to start the medicine, but he reassured us, this is the best route to go for Little Miss Mae! They did a full on photo shoot of her to monitor the progression/regression of the birthmark.

When we called our Pediatrician to tell him about the medicine, he recommended that we follow-up with a Cardiologist in regards to the heart murmur they heard in the NICU, before starting the medicine. The medication is used to treat heart rhythm problems, but also has proven to have great success with hemangiomas.

So Thursday we saw a Pediatric Cardiologist for an EKG and an echocardiogram. Our insurance company is loving us, I am sure!! Waiting to see the doctor.

Echocardiogram

EKG

Ashlyn measured 20 inches long and weighed 6.15! She is growing like a weed! We found out that she has two small holes between the left and right atrium in her heart. It is called an atrial septal defect and is very common in children especially preemies. The doctor felt very confident that the holes would close on their own within the next 2 years. She will have no problem what so ever from this small defect. We wouldn't have even known it was there if we hadn't done the echocardiogram. The doctor told us that she is not worried about it and weren't allowed to either. A little easier said than done, but she was very very sure that it would be closed by our next appointment! She was also very reassuring that the medicine the plastic surgeon was recommending was safe for Ashlyn and she has seen really good results when it is used to treat hemangiomas. So we felt pretty good about starting the medicine. Getting her to take the medicine is a different story! It isn't easy getting a 6 week old baby to swallow something that doesn't taste very good! The nurse told us not to mix it with milk, but that is the only way we can get it down her...3 times a day! I noticed an obvious difference in her birthmark the next day, but I am not sure if it is due to medication or just fluctuation in the color. Anyway, we are very optimistic.

On a sad note, Grandpa B, Karen's dad, passed away this morning. My dad, Karen and Sarah we able to be with him yesterday. He didn't get to meet Ashlyn. We are happy that he is with Grandma B now and he can eat all the apple pie he wants, as Sarah said!

Ashlyn got to officially meet her Aunt Teresa and was showered with love and kisses! I can tell we aren't going to have a shortage of baby sitters!
Here are a couple more pictures from this week.
Hanging out in my stroller (in the house because it is too hot to go for a walk)

Waiting on my Gpa to come see me

39 days old


We have a relaxing weekend planned with some visits from family and friends and celebrating Chance's first Father's Day! How exciting!