Quick Danee Q&A

Well, as of yesterday at 4:30, our extra little girl has been with us for a whole week! I've done my best to keep the updates coming, and to answer questions left in the comments... But just in case you asked a question, then didn't come back to see my answer, or maybe you don't ever read the comments to begin with, so you didn't know the question had even been asked, but it was still burning in the back of your mind, leaving you hoping that I'd finally get around to answering it, here's a quick Q&A from the last week. And I'll admit up front that it's not 100% baby related... but it IS all questions from you, our friends and family!

Kicking it off, my cousin Amy, who was in the NICU with a preemie of her own a year ago.



We've got everything we need for Danee's immediate care... But seeing as how our youngest is approaching 11, there's still a lot that we need. I've set up a registry at Target, but we haven't had time to actually go register for stuff yet. We're also planning on registering at Babies R Us, but again... the time thing... ☺ Once we get her home, we'll have the sudden realization of all the things we forgot to get, and at that time I'm sure we'll be begging and pleading with friends, family and anyone else who will listen to help us out!

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I started our family's blog back in September 2006, as a way to help non-local family and friends keep up with our comings and goings. I had no idea it would re-open relationships with cousins that I hadn't really talked to or seen for close to 20 years.

I'm not proud of that lack of communications - in fact, it's one of my biggest regrets in my life. As a teenager, a moment of bad attitude combined with overhearing other people complaining about things, along with a dash of plain old stupidity, set me on a track where I never intentionally avoided my extended family, but it quickly reached a point where I'd been gone for so long that getting reconnected seemed like a scary proposition. (remember, despite my incredibly engaging public persona, I'm incredibly shy!)

In light of that backstory, it's been through this blog, and the blogs of my nephew The Donald, his wife Lisa, and his mom, my sister Susan, that I began to get to know all my Mathews (my mom's side of the family) cousins again. It's taken the scary part out of it, and the relationships are being revived in a comfortable, natural way! Last week amid all the baby news, my cousin Marilyn popped in...



Not only am I diving back into a world full of cousins, there's another music fanatic in the family! YEAH!!!

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Back to baby-related comments. At our church Christmas party last year, I was talking with my friend Jonathan, about how I love playing racketball, but didn't have a consistent partner. Jonathan said that he goes to the Y every morning to swim, but would totally play r'ball on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead. So we kicked off 2008 with a twice a week racketball schedule... Last week, his wife Nicole made a generous invitation:



Soooo... You guys realize we have 4 kids, right?? Crazy isn't really a thing that ever leaves us. Let's just pick a date at church this week and make it happen!

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Another one from Amy... I think that since she's so recently been in our shoes, she really has her finger on the pulse of good questions.



Yes, mostly. Andy isn't interested in going to the hospital, and probably won't take much of an interest in his baby sister until she's old enough that he can read to her, do puppet shows for her, make her laugh. At that point, I'm sure he will shine like the sun! But over this last weekend, Kaylee, Tyler and Ellysa got to go see her. I posted about it, but due to a memory card mixup, I left out Ellysa's picture. So before anyone claims that we're keeping our oldest daughter away from our youngest, here's photographic proof!

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Every now and then, despite my several attempts to help people not need to be anonymous, we get anonymous comments with no name attached to them. And then there are the times where comments come in that aren't anonymous, but we still aren't sure who left them... Such as this one from Bob:



We know a couple of Bobs, and they're all great guys... Whichever one of them this is, he asked a couple of great questions. First, the story of how we came to adopt our beautiful tiny girl started here. Then it unfolded here and here. We had about a 24 hour period of cold feet, then quickly came to our senses, but kept it quiet until the news just got too good to not share. Bob's other question was how the other kids feel about this. I mentioned Andy earlier, and the other three are excited, as indicated by our next question, from our own Kaylee:

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Yes, yes Kaylee. She IS so cute!!

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My niece Lisa confirms the cuteness, and wants to know...



Danee Loves Formula. She's never actually tasted it, but she loves it! On Friday of last week, they started testing her out on just 2cc's of formulaic goodness, every 4 hours. After just a couple doses, they increased it to 3cc's every 3 hours. By Sunday that had grown to 6cc's, yesterday it was 9 and today it's 12! It's so sweet, when her tummy gets full, she gets all sleepy and gets to work digesting it. Usually with lots of stretches and yawns. Remember, she is the cutest little teeny tiny baby around!

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Speaking from her experience again, my cousin Amy asks:



Yes, there are concerns for RSV, and Danee has already been slated to receive the shot. The biggest reason is that we have an in-home daycare, so no matter how much we keep her inside and cuddly, ten little germ factories invade our home every weekday, and her little immune system needs all the help it can get!

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Taking a quick break from the baby news network, I was happy and excited to announce the Mama Jack's Fudge Sale this Saturday... My friend Glen, from Melbourne, Australia, received a tub of their Key Lime fudge a couple months ago. He was very quick to put in his request for this weekend...



No worries, Glen! I forwarded your request to the fudgemakers and they assured me there will be fudge of the Key Lime variety!

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Last one from Amy - I think I mentioned, she's got GREAT questions!!



The Jaundice is mostly gone. They've turned off the big blue light from above, so she doesn't have her sunglasses (aka mask) on anymore. To keep it from coming back though, they do have her laying on the blanket light, which is for some reason, called a Wallaby light. I'm looking forward to not needing it any more, because when we do snuggle time with her, the light comes along. Makes it that much harder to get her in and out of the isolette and onto our chests, but we're more than willing to put up with that minor hassle!

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Finally, a Canadian-born preemie herself, my niece Fennifer said,



Yes.. She was born at 3 Pounds, 2.6 Ounces. We generously rounded up to 3 ounces... At 14.5 inches though, she's a long gangly thing!

Like all newborns, she lost some weight after birth, and went down to 2 pounds 12 ounces. Sunday, she was 2 pounds 15 ounces. Today she has finally broken back past the 3 pound mark, with a current weight of 3 Pounds, 1.5 Ounces. ALMOST reclaimed her birth weight! And since they upped her formula intake to 12cc's every three hours, that shouldn't take long!

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Thanks for playing, and thank you all for the incredible love and support we've received over the past month. Going from "Zero to Baby in 4 Weeks" (since she came five days earlier than expected, it's closer to 4 than the 5 we had been saying) is an amazing experience, and through the highs and the lows, it has been extremely comforting to know that we have so many people supporting us through prayer, kind words, and generosity.

Final thought: Cindy said the other night, as we bundled Danee up for a good night's sleep, that people keep saying what a lucky baby she is to get us for parents. But we feel like we're the lucky ones!