Raising Beach Beauties

Maya

Maya hit the six month mark last Friday. She is the happiest baby I have ever met, always ready to give anyone a smile. She doesn't cry unless there is a good reason (she's hungry, her sister threw a toy at her, etc). I don't remember Marley being as laid back as Maya is. I don't think Marley was a difficult baby at all, but I don't think she was as friendly and outgoing as Maya. And speaking of differences, Maya is crawling!! Not in the traditional up on the knees type crawling, and not the army crawl...it's more of an inch worm affect. But man, can she get around! Marley was pretty stationary until she was 9 months.

I took her in for her 6 month check up on Thursday and she is doing great - you would never, ever know she was 4 weeks early. She weights 16 pounds, 4 ounces which puts her in the 75th percentile, she is 26 inches long which puts her in the 90th percentile! In comparison, Marley was 19 pounds, 10 ounces (95th percentile) and 27 inches (95th percentile) long at her six month check up. Just look how much she has grown since her first week at home:

I love how Maya is improving and the doll seems to be deteriorating! A little Curious Case of Benjamin Button going on here.

I am amazed at how different the girls are as well. Marley had (and still has) a huge noggin on her shoulders. It always made her seem older than the other kids her age, because, well, it just made her look bigger. Maya's head is more in line with her size. So when I look at pictures of Marley at six months and Maya now...it almost seems like Maya is behind. But really, it's all just differences. Marley was sitting up at six months, but not moving anywhere. Maya is not sitting up, but can get across the room within minutes. Marley was born with a head of thick dark hair which gradually changed to blonde over 18 months. Maya was born with whisps of dark hair which has already turned blonde (except for a dark tuft at the base of her neck).

Marley at 6 months:

 

Maya at 6 months:

 

 

I redid this photo shoot at the hotel since the lighting was better. I was dying to get a photo of both girls on the bed together but Marley wasn't having it. I waited until our last morning in the hotel to attempt this, which was a mistake, as we were all antsy trying to get everything packed up. Maya was having a good time though, soaking up the last of those comfy sheets!

Happy 6 month birthday Baby Maya!

Sweet Smiles

Maya has been smiling for a few weeks now but whenever she is in the smiling mood and I pull out the camera, she gets into the "what is that thing you are holding, let me look at it inquisitively instead of smile" mood. I was able to get a photo of a small smile yesterday though. Normally she has a big pumpkin grin instead of this smirk. I'll keep working on getting a better photo...

 

And yes, that is a skull with a hibiscus tucked behind it's ear on her onsie.

Growing...

I haven't figured out how to put these pictures side by side on Typepad yet - any Typepad users out there know how to do it? Please share!

Here is little Maya Love just four weeks ago...

And here she is just a few days ago...

She'll be able to kick that dolls' butt pretty soon! You might be able to see Marley's hand in the upper left corner of this photo - and Maya's look of concern as big sister is towering over her!

Get your chub on!

Maya is definitely working on getting chunky. She won't have her next check up until mid-September but I don't really need a scale to tell me she is getting bigger. Check out those belly rolls!

Marley was once again very intersted in our photo shoot. At one point I had to pick Maya up to feed her and Marley hopped up on the couch and sat in Maya's spot - ready for her close up! I was able to snap this one of the girls together. Marley loves to cuddle with Maya and give her kisses. A few times a day she will climb up on the couch, point to her lap and say, "baby, here!" to let me know she wants to hold Maya. She gets very upset when we do not honor her request in a timely manner!

And I was able to get a rare photo of Maya with her eyes open! She still sleeps non-stop and is only awake for maybe 10 minute stretches a few times a day. She does wonderful at night, only waking mommy up two or three times to be fed. But don't tell that to daddy, he's been getting up with Marley and letting us sleep in so I can catch up on my sleep!

We're HOME!!!

We made it home! Little Maya's jaundice levels did go up, but only from 12 to 12.7 so we were finally released from the hospital! I just don't know how parents do it when their little babies have to stay for weeks at a time, my heart goes out to them.

Stu and I went to pick Maya up around 2pm yesterday not realizing she had to do a one hour carseat test (see right) before she could be released. The nurses were very busy so the test didn't get started for awhile - we really weren't complaining but we were watching the clock as Marley had to be picked up by 5:30 from preschool. Our plan was to get Maya home and have Grandma go with daddy to get her. We didn't get to actually leave the hospital until about 4:45 so we went straight to preschool to get Mars. We were both very nervous to see how she was going to react to a new baby sister waiting for her in the car. Much to our delight, Marley was thrilled to see a baby! She kept waving to her and saying "Hi baby! Hi Maya!" and even started to blow her kisses! Our hearts just melted. I think it's a little soon to say that they are best of friends but so far, there hasn't been any trouble. We do have to keep an eye on Marley as she loves to point out Maya's "nose", "ear" and oh yeah, let's poke her in the "eye"!

I'm sorry the blog didn't get updated sooner but our internet connection went out last night before I had a chance. Thanks to everyone for the emails and phone calls - I'm glad to see Maya has such a strong network of loved ones!

We did a little photo shoot this morning while daddy, Grandma T and Marley went to the beach. I added a ton more to shutterfly but be warned, they are all very similar. Not much creativity flowing through me at the moment considering Maya and I were up about every 1.5 hours last night!

Day SEVEN - wish us luck!!!

Stu and I hurried down to the hospital this morning, I wanted to get there before they gave her another feeding as I didn't get a chance to nurse her yesterday. She still looks a little yellow but not any worse than yesterday - and honestly, we all look a little yellow under those horrible hospital lights. The tech was there taking blood samples from her when we were there and the results should be back by now. We're packing up the car with the carseat and are hoping that when we go back down there, we'll be able to bring her home! Dr. Lisby seemed positive that she could go home today - it will just depend on those bili levels. She told me if the levels were the same as yesterday or even just slightly worse, we could take her home. If they are significantly worse, she has to stay - BUT, everyone thought she looked pretty good so....fingers crossed! Wish us luck!!!

Day Six

I love doing the Day One, Day Two, Day Three thing...it keeps getting closer to Day Seven! We're not guaranteed to bring her home tomorrow, but at least we'll be in the "going home" range.

This is more of a Day Five update though - Stu and I were able to go together last night once we put both Grandma T and Marley to bed. It was the first time since she's been born that we have been able to see her at the same time. The nurse let us hold her and I got to nurse her again, she did great once again! She also had her eyes open a lot - we finally got to see her deep blue eyes! The whites of her eyes are still very yellow and they will continue the light therapy to help bring her jaundice down. Her bili levels are going to be checked again this morning. It is so nice to see her without the oxygen & feeding tubes on her face! The tape that was used to hold them in place has left her little cheeks a little red but that should be cleared up by time I visit her today hopefully.

Grandma T and I are taking Marley to the butterfly farm this morning and then once they go down for their naps, I'll head back to the hospital to check on Maya. I'm hoping Dr. Lisby will be there and can give me a release date! It could be wishful thinking but I'm just dying to get her home.

Day Five

What a busy day! Grandma Tillema arrived today so we spent the morning getting the house cleaned up and ready for her visit. Before going to the airport, I stopped by the hospital to visit with Maya and as I was walking in, the nurse was taking the oxygen tube off her nose! I glanced over at the oxygen machine and it was turned all the way down to 21 - which is the level of oxygen that we all breath. She is officially off the oxygen! Not only that, the little tube that runs into her tummy via her mouth has been removed. They are giving her breastmilk through a bottle but as I walked in, the nurse immediately started to wrap her up and had me sit down to breastfeed her. I was so excited and she did very well. I feel bad for my mother - I was planning to only spend about 30 minutes at the hospital before going to the airport but ended up staying over an hour. She was waiting at the curb for me when I finally got there.

I also got to talk with Dr. Lisby as well - the last two days I have been missing her - she seems to have "just left" each time I would get to the hospital. She is very happy with Maya's progress. It looks like we may be able to take her home Thursday or Friday....but it kind of depends on her jaundice now (and of course making sure she keeps doing well without the oxygen). They've added more light therapy for her. Her levels yesterday were 14.5 and today they were 14.3. They need to be at 11 or below.

We've been telling Marley that Grandma was coming but she really surprised us today when I brought Grandma with me to pick her up from preschool. As soon as we walked into her classroom, she started jumping up & down, shouting "Grandma! Grandma!". She hasn't seen Grandma T since May so I was a little surprised that she remembered her so well without having to tell her who she was. Of course, that just made Grandma's day! Little Marley is now outside with Grandma and all her toys, completely bossing her ol' tired Grandma around!

I'll try to post pictures tomorrow of Maya - with the tubes off her face, you can really see how beautiful she is - she looks SO much like her daddy. I think this kid *may* have escaped the Tillema cheek curse, but only time will tell. Once I fatten her up, she may just become a little chipmunk afterall.

Day Four

Just a quick update on Maya. She is doing really well with being on just oxygen. Last night she was at level 80 (they started her on level 100) and this morning she is already at level 50. They will continue to keep lowering it until they can remove the tube all together. They have also started to feed her! My poor baby hasn't had anything to eat as they wanted to keep her gut tiny so it did not press up onto her lungs. They started giving her some breastmilk yesterday afternoon and she has been doing really well on it - the doctor has ordered that they keep increasing her intake. They are currently giving it to her through a tube that runs down into her tummy from her mouth (you can see it in the pictures). This afternoon, they are going to try and give her some breastmilk with a bottle and see how well she latches on. They will alternate her feedings between the tube and the bottle since they don't want her to get too tired with the bottle.

The only downside is that she has developed jaundice. They started her last night with this flat light thing that she lies on. The billy (?) levels were up again today (getting worse) and so in addition to the flat light, they have the large bulbs over her. When I visited her this morning, she looked like she was working on a seriously good tan! She didn't wake up the entire time I was there, just sat and basked in the glow of the lights.

The twins that shared her room were transported to another hospital in Miami for more advanced care - and weirdly enough, I was kicked out of the NICU today as they needed to get the room ready for the addition of another set of twins. This is the 4th set of twins the hospital has delivered in the last 10 days!! I have no idea what the island women have been drinking but I'm glad I missed out on that nine months ago....

Day Two, cont.

Wanted to announce the girls new photo page on shutterfly: www.marleyandmaya.shutterfly.com

They took Maya off the vent this morning! I will be back to check on her tonight after Marley goes to bed. I'm hoping she is doing well this afternoon without the vent and hope it's not there when I get there tonight. Here is a photo from this morning. I wanted to try and show her size. She is by far the biggest baby in the NICU - there are only two other babies in there, twins, who are at least 1/2 her size. I feel so bad fretting over my baby when their father is there, it's obvious they need a lot more well wishes, vibes, prayers, etc than we do.