Little Vivian Kathleen Brewer was born Saturday, February 14th to our sweet friends Josh and Jennifer Brewer and they need our prayers! Vivian is currently at Baptist South in NICU being treated for some respiratory problems. She has made some incredible strides just since yesterday when I was so blessed with the opportunity to get to see her for the first time. Here are some pictures from my visit and a recent update from Josh and Jennifer. They have two small boys - Davis will be 3 in May and Tyler will be 2 in July.
Hey everybody,
Wow! Thank you all for loving us all so much! We are so blessed! Just wanted to give y'all some new info on our little girl( see below for "old info"):
1. As of this afternoon, she is off the ventilator and doing great in the breathing department. Woot!
2. So far, all cultures and blood tests are not showing the infection spreading to the bloodstream or into the meninges (spinal fluid). Woo- hoo!
3. She is no longer on blood pressure medicine. Yesssssss!
4.She has really funky looking hair 'cause they haven't given her a bath yet. Booooooo
5. She still has a little fluid in her lungs. Yuck-o!........but not as much as before
6. She has really awesome doctors and nurses who all really like their jobs AND think she's adorable!
7.......but she'll still be on antibiotics at least till the weekend....that means at the hospital...boo
Now, here's the old info for you who missed the first time around:
Vivian was born(quickly) Saturday morning at 9:10. No complications. Beautiful! Nurses noticed her breathing was a little labored, gave her a little extra oxygen in the nursery, and a few hours later, her pediatrician said he thought she had just some extra fluid left in her chest, but asked the neonatologists to check her out. They did, and wanted to help her breathing by putting her on CPAP......at Baptist South. Bummer! She got to ride in "ANGEL ONE" a really cool transport truck while she freaked out and basically said " I don't like this cpap thing!", so they put her on the ventilator instead. AND blood pressure meds, AND sedatives. The doctors also decided that based on her symptoms, she was fighting some sort of infection that was causing something looking like pneumonia. She was started on broad-spectrum antibiotics Saturday afternoon. She has steadily improved, breathing on less oxygen, more on her own, gotten off the bp meds, off the sedatives, and only is taking the antibiotics, and recently, added photo therapy to her regimen(for a little jaundice) and should be off the lights by tomorrow.
Everyone working with her is extremely impressed and encouraged by her progress, and we are really proud of her. Davis is still getting better at saying her name ( O-livian!) and Tyler has no clue and is fine with it.
We really want our baby girl to be home NOW, but realize she's got a little left to do before that. Not an easy situation. Familiar, but not easy. We all feel very loved right now. You guys are wonderful. We appreciate all the prayers.
I will try to send another one of these later.
Thanks, people
Josh and Jenn
On Tuesday we went for his 9 month checkup at Dr. Wood's office. WooHoo! We made it from 6 months to 9 months without a sick visit - and even through the Christmas holidays! I was so excited! Now I know after I put that out there we'll probably all be sick tomorrow but I'm just so excited at how far he has come. I just pray we can make it through the rest of the winter season with no major sicknesses in our house. Stay away germs! :) Dr. Wood said he was looking wonderful. Looks like we hit another growth spurt - he has gained a little over a pound in weight and an inch in length in just the past month. He is currently in the 50-75% for weight (20 lbs 10 oz) and 90-100% for height (30 1/2 inches). A quick look back at Katelyn's stats at 9 month - she was 19 lbs and 29 1/2 inches. They are both at the same percentiles at the same age. I hope they can maintain this "tall and skinny" track for life! Dr. Wood said she saw no need for additional physical therapy. He can have more soft solid foods now including eggs and orange juice and can start some whole milk around 11 months. She was surprised that he was eating the Stage 3 baby foods as well as he is. I told her so far he was not picky and I'm so thankful for that! No shots for this visit and so Owen and Mommy left very happy! :)
Whoa! Nine months, already? You gotta be kidding me right? My boy is growing up so incredibly fast. Owen turned 9 months on Monday. He has definitely come alive these days. He LOVES his big sister and watches her constantly. I have a feeling we are in for a rough time when these two get together! He has already learned how to scream to get our attention or his way (just like his sister!). He loves to EAT and has yet to turn down anything I've offered him. He can now hold his own bottle and actually prefers that you just give it to him on the floor as opposed to being held. Bath time is I think his absolute favorite. He could play for hours in the water. He is going to love the pool this summer. His latest sound/word is "UH-OH" and while he is still perfecting it you can definitely make it out. Still no "MA MA" yet but I'm not rushing it as I'm sure I'll hear plenty of that in the years to come! :) He is starting to use a sippy cup just a little and actually has taken quite an interest in it. Every now and then he will try to get up on his hands and knees to crawl but prefers the tummy combat crawl when he is after something. If you lay him down on the floor on his back he is constantly moving his arms and legs like a bug on its back. It's pretty funny (maybe I need to video that sometime!) :) He HATES to be left in a room by himself. Even if you just walk to another room and come right back he immediately goes to hollering. The second you walk back in the room he starts to laugh! He is an awesome sleeper (Thank you God!!) and definitely outsleeps his sister which I was worried about since they share a room. Owen usually goes down about 8:30 or so and will sleep most mornings until at least 7am but probably later if we didn't have to get out to be somewhere everyday. He still takes two naps but usually has to fight to get them since we are on the run so much. Luckily he sleeps very well in the car seat! :) His hair is growing like crazy and it won't be long before it is time to go see "Ms Pat". The monthly pictures are starting to get increasingly harder as it is difficult for him to be still anymore. He has started wrinkling his nose up when he smiles and it is just too cute! 
