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CAITLIN'S LIFE

Neely1206

September 2010

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EYE EXAM

Jul 27, 2010 02:14pm (EST)

Caitlin just had her annual eye exam and the doctor said that she has no signs of prematurity in her eyes. She told us that she would probably not have any eye problems, but they will check her again next year. What a relief, because last year her eyes still had signs of being premature.
I feel very lucky that she hasn't ever really had any of the "premie" problems that we were told to expect. And my heart breaks when I hear of someone having lots of problems. Caitlin has exceeded all of her doctors and nurses expectations. She is still behind in her speach, but she is getting where she talks more all the time. Still waiting for the speach therapist to come out cause I'm not sure if there is anything more that I can do to help her along.
Words she is using/saying...
Daddy
sisy
mamma (when she is upset)
Candy
Thank You (this is the cutest, cause she even uses it correctly)
Outside
doggie
kitty
yumm

Posted by Neely1206 | Comments: (2) | Permalink

CHANGES

Jun 22, 2010 08:49am (EST)

Since last time I was on Share Caitlin has taken off. She is now walking all on her own and even trying to run. We get stoped often in parking lots becasue she is so short and it's such a cute site to see this little bitty girl walking. Now that she is walking she has become even more independent. I know this was the goal for her and I would never want anything less, but it's so hard to see and realize that my little fragile girl is growing up.
At her 18 (15) month check up the doctor said that developmentaly she seems to be fully caught up to her adjusted age and is only a little behind in her speach for being caught up to her birth age. We are still doing therapy everyother week, and we keep wondering when are they going to stop this. Yesterday her physical therapist said they would like to send out a speach therapist just to see where she's at. I kind of feel torn, because most days I feel that therapy is now over kill. But then what do I really know???
She is always trying to copy her older sister (shes 3) which I think in many ways has been very helplful to her development of motor skills. But this also makes her a super daredevil and most of the time scares me to death.

First 2 pictures are from the Circus. We took the girls and I didn't think that Caitlin would be very intrested in it, but she was as excited as Hannah was. And I had never seen her eyes sparkle some much.
Second picture is from a picnic that we took. She spilled her drink all down the front of her shirt and was a sticky mess, so I took her shirt off. Which she thought was great to be shirtless in the park!

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Posted by Neely1206 | Comments: (2) | Permalink

GROWING UP

May 01, 2010 09:22am (EST)

The last few days she has really taken off. She's still not walking on her own yet but she is trying so hard. It won't be long now. But the cutest things is she is trying to copy everything that her big sister does. And at time it is so funny and then at other times it's nerve racking. They other day Hannah (my oldest daughter) was jumping back and fourth from the chair and ottoman, next thing we know Caitlin is in between the chair and ottoman and trying to jump. Super Cute!! Then yesterday I went to pick her up in the gym child care and they told me that they couldn't keep her from trying to climb on the play house/fort. I guess she was actually trying to climb up the slide instead of the steps. I'm having a hard time realizing that she is growing up. I still think of her as my little baby instead of my toddler.
It's so good to see her doing big girl things, but at the same time it's bitter sweet. I can't believe that she is growing up and catching up so fast.

Posted by Neely1206 | Comments: (2) | Permalink

LOTS TO CATCH UP ON!

Apr 27, 2010 12:14pm (EST)

Oh my, so much has changed since I last wrote....
Caitlin is not only crawling, but she is starting to walk. It amazes me to see her getting around. Hard to believe that a little over 4 months ago she wasn't even trying to creep.
She also now has a mouth full of top teeth, and is eating table foods. She really is becoming a toddler instead of just being a "baby."

We also just participated in our first March for Babies and it was great! We couldn't have asked for better weather. My family team raised $423.00. Not too bad for this being our first year and getting started late. I have much bigger plans for next years fundraising.

Another exciting thing is they are starting a NICU support group here, and I signed up to mentor. I'm beginning to feel like I could do a lot of good helping parents who are just going through the NICU experience. I can't wait for that to get started.

Things are starting to feel like a normal life. We do still have therapy every 2 weeks. But as soon as she really gets walking that will lessen. It's hard to believe that things are going as well as they are.

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Posted by Neely1206 | Comments: (2) | Permalink

1ST BIRTHDAY!

Dec 06, 2009 11:46pm (EST)

I can't believe it, but today my little miracle turned 1. She's still a little behind her adjusted age, but they are going to start doing therapy twice a month. She doesn't like to put weight on her arms, hopefully we can help her.

My heart is just singing tonight. Eventhough the memories are hard, it's great to see how far she has come! I feel like I've relived that whole day all over again.

I'm also so thankful to the share community. There were days and I'm sure more to come that I didn't know if I could go on. But I always knew that I had a place the others understood what I was going through. Thanks!!!

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Posted by Neely1206 | Comments: (2) | Permalink

THIS IS THE START OF 1 YEAR AGO.

Nov 10, 2009 07:37pm (EST)

1 year ago today was when I went into the hospital with reputured membraines. This was one of the scariest days of my whole life. Only second to the day that Caitlin was actually born.
Last year I spent the whole day in Labor and delivery on the most uncomfortable bed ever while waiting for a room to become available on the Ward. Sometimes it seems like it was all just yesterday and then others it seems like it was forever ago.

It's great to see that Caitlin has so far exceeded the expectations of most doctors. She is an amazing healthy and happy little girl.

I couldn't be happier!

Posted by Neely1206 | Comments: (2) | Permalink

MY LITTLE FIGHTER

Oct 20, 2009 10:51pm (EST)

So Caitlin had what I thought was her first cold. But on saturday I noticed that she was wheezing and then she began to retract really badly. I called her doctors office that night which has Docs on call and they told me to bring her in imediately. The doctor that examined her was not a pedatrician but she thought she might have RSV. So they checked her O2 Stats and then gave her a nebulizer treatment, and then rechecked her O2 stats. The She didn't seem to have a very good saturation and they were preparing to send us to the Peds unit at the hospital, when the doctor noticed that the pulse ox just wasn't reading properly. So they went and got a new one and her O2 stats had improved with the treatment. So they sent us home with a Nebulizer and a perscription for Albuterol. They told us that she was probably going to get worse before she got better, and that if she did we needed to come back in the next day, if she did ok we needed to call her Peds office monday morning and make a follow up for that day. We went home with the worrie that she was going to end up in the hospital. Well sunday was kind of rough, but we made it through it. Took her to see her doctor monday morning and she comfirmed that she thought it was also RSV (she is thinking about having us get Caitlin tested.) But the Doc said that Caitlin seemed to be handling it very will with just Neb treatments. She said it was very rare for babies like Caitlin to do so well with any sickness let a lone RSV. She is my little fighter!! She amazes me more and more everyday.
So scary to think that she could have ended up back in the hospital. She seems to be doing much better now. And if it wasn't for the cough and mild wheezing you would never know she was so sick...

Posted by Neely1206 | Comments: (3) | Permalink

FIRST ILLNESS

Oct 15, 2009 02:16pm (EST)

Caitlin got her first illness. She eneded up having Roseola. She ran a fever all weekend and I just thought it was from teething. But then we got up monday morning and she was covered in a rash. I took her into the doctors office and they said it was one of the worst cases of Roseola they had seen in a while. But that it would run its course. That night her sister acted like she was coming down with something and sure enough the next morning she was stuffed up. Well now Caitlin has her first cold. But she seems to be managing it fairly well.
I hope that she gets over this without any problems. I feel like it's my fault. I can't justify locking Hannah away, she really needs to socalize. But is it fair to Caitlin to posbibly expose her to something? I have never felt so torn before...

Posted by Neely1206 | Comments: (2) | Permalink

FIRST TOOTH!

Sep 30, 2009 12:07pm (EST)

Caitlin is doing amazing. She eats fruits and veggies like a champ, not a fan of baby meat products but can you really blame her? Her first tooth finally broke through her gums today. Very exciting, but at the same time it really shows that she is growing up... On Friday she has an EIP evaluation, which I'm a little nervous for. She can push up on her arms, but she usually chooses not to. Now that she can roll keeping her on her tummy doesn't happen. I worried that they are going to what her in physical therapy..

She amazes me everyday!!! I can't believe that we are only a few months away for the day that she was born. What a long way she has come in the last few months.

In the picture she is eating her first bitter bisket. She loves them now!

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Posted by Neely1206 | Comments: (3) | Permalink

APPOINTMENTS...

Aug 20, 2009 10:01pm (EST)

Since the last time I wrote Caitlin has had an Eye Exam. Which went very well. Her Eye Doctor said that her eyes looked normal and that any signs of ROP are all gone!
She also had a Doctors appointment on Tuesday 8/18/09. Which also went very well. Her doctor is very impressed, she feels that she is pretty close to where she should be developmentally for a five month old. The only thing that is behind is her size. She is still such a peanut. But everyone tells me that she looks like my Grandma and well she wasn't a big woman so maybe she does take after her.
She weighs 12lbs 8oz
her legnth was 24 inches
I felt an amazing amount of relief after this last appointment.
As far as her lungs go everything seems to be doing fine. We took her on a road trip that took us well above 10,000 feet and it didn't seem to phase her at all.
I'm just so happy over how things have turned out. After so much worry it's nice to feel normal.

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