Home (Again...)

Lorelei is home. She came home this morning (well, technically yesterdat morning, considering the current time...). Shortly after she arrived in Gouda the monitor was taken off, but she still had one IV line on her foot, including a cast to keep it in place... That last IV line came out last night, after her last dose of antibiotics. So, this morning we found just Lorelei in the bed, nothing else :-). We were home around 10:30 and after that spent the day, well, basically just like an ordinary day with the family actually, and that felt so good! We fed her whenever we wanted to, we held her whenever we wanted to and we put her to bed whenever we wanted to. In short, WE took care of our daughter, not someone else...

I know it was only two weeks, but it definitely felt like a lot more... Lorelei is over 6 weeks old now and she has been in the hospital almost 5 of those weeks! So, it feels like we hardly know who she is or how to take care of her.

Well, all that changed today and it is a wonderful feeling. I am looking forward to many more of such ordinary days!

For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn

Back in Gouda

Lorelei is back in Gouda, that is, in the Hospital in Gouda. That means she is doing a lot better. Yesterday she was taken off the respirator and that was basically what kept her on the ICU in Utrecht. She was taken off yesterday morning, and started breathing, drinking and everything right away! There wasn't really a problem. So, this afternoon she was transported back to Gouda where she will stay in the hospital until she is ready to come home. She still has a feeding tube, but that is rather useless, because she drinks so well from the bottle. She also still has an IV line which they use to administer antibiotics, but technically this could also be done orally. Well, we'll see...

It is soooooo good to see her like she is now. She is no longer drugged, so she is awake and alert. She can drink from the bottle, which is nice because we can take care of her again, feeding her the bottle anyway. And it is good to have her back in Gouda because we can just walk to the hospital, rather than drive for 35 minutes...

It has been a really hard two weeks, but she has recovered and as far as anybody can tell right now she survived this ordeal pretty much unscathed. So, now we just have to wait until she is ready to come home. We hope this will be before the new year. Then we can finally start taking care of our daughter ourselves and getting to know her! I can hardly wait...!

For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn

Signs of Improvement

Well, Lorelei has been in the hospital for a whole week now. That means she has been hooked up to the respirator and all the countless other things for a week because in that respect nothing changed. That is, she is off her sleeping medication, so she is now sleeping on her own so to speak. That is one sign of improvement that was started yesterday.

That was started to accomplish the second sign of improvement, her breathing policy. So far the machine was breathing for her, determining the pressure, the rhythm and the intake of oxygen. As of today she is determining the rythm herself. This is actually quite a big step towards being able to breathe on her own again... The pressure and amount of oxygen are still determined by the machine and the tube is still in her nose, but hey, we like to hear any sign of improvement at this point.... Anything at all!!!

The third sign of improvement is in the blood. It is the CRP value (C-reaction protein). That apparently is an indication of the amount of infectuous activity in the blood. Well, this value was 89 mg/l on friday, 44 mg/l yesterday and 22 mg/l today. 10 mg/l or less is "normal", a value above 100 usually indicates a bacterial infection, a value above 40 is indicative of a viral infection, I think. Anyway, her value is going down which is improvement. Also it reduces our worry of her catching something else before she gets better....

So, in many ways she is doing very well at fighting off the RS-virus. This picture was taken by a nurse last friday. It was the first time we got to hold her after her hospitalization. The nurse thought we looked so "in love" (which of cours we are :-)).


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn.

Very Sick...

Lorelei is very sick. She has the RS-virus, which is a virus that causes an infection of the repiratory system, in this case quite deep(er) into the lungs. More practically, a place in the lungs that cannot be reached by any kind of suction device. What happens is that the airways swell up which makes it harder, or in Lorelei's case impossible to get the mucus out. Apparently, pretty much everybody gets infected by the RS-virus. Adults (and older children) generally experience it as "just a cold", but babies, and especially premature babies, can get really sick...

It started on Saturday. Lorelei looked kind of pale and some of the time even blue-ish. She did drink her feeding, but not as enthusiastically as before. The last feeding of the day, around midnight, hardly got in at all. She was blue-ish at the time and felt cold. I checked her temperature and it was 34.9 (95.8 or something? 37.4 is normal body temp in centigrade). So, I called the HAP (which is basically a 24 hour GP office, the first people to talk to in such cases, at least, so we were told (I don't think I will ever call them again though, but I won't go into that now...)). They told us to come in, checked her out and told us not to worry. That sometimes happens with such young babies, especially when they have a cold (which she had...). Just put her in bed with a hot-pad (or jug is what we have here) and she will be fine. I have to admit she looked and felt fine at that time. The blue-ishness was replaced by an much more healty looking baby-pink that we were used to by then. Well, the next morning she would not drink again and she felt cold and looked blue-ish again. So, this time we called the pediatric ward in the hospital where she was born and had been the first 2.5 weeks of her life.... They also told us to come in with her and started working on her right when they saw her! They hooked her up to all sorts of stuff, gave her some oxygen, ran some bloodwork and everything. They monitored her for a few hours and then decided that she needed more support than they could give her so, she was transferred to the University Medical Center in Utrecht where they have a pediatric ICU and are specialized in airway infections. She is now hooked up to pretty much everything imaginable:

- Respirator

- Two IV lines

- Arterial line

- Catheter (urine)

- O2 saturation meter

- Feeding tube

- Thermometer

She is sedated for comfort so she sleeps pretty much the whole time. The sedation is also for preventing coughing, which can be very uncomfortable and also interferes with the respirator. Although it is really really really hard to see her like that, I am fairly confident that she is not suffering any pain right now and that she is in good hands.

I have written about Tobias' hospitalization that there is nothing harder than to see your child suffer. I have described the birth of Tobias as the ultimate high, and his ordeal with his leg as an ultimate low. Well, as you can imagine, Lorelei's birth was another ultimate high. As a matter of fact, being more susceptible to emotion since Tobias was born, one could argue that the high for me was even higher this time, emotionally anyway... But, to have another such low in such a short amount of time... It's tough...

Right now all we can do is wait and see. Her situation has been stable since Sunday when she was admitted. This can be interpreted as a good sign, which I am inclined to do. It is good because it may be an indication that she has been through the worst of it (apparently such an infection peaks before it gets better). Also it gives her time to recover somewhat. At the same time it might be that the worst (the peak) is yet to come. I try not to think about that, but the uncertainty of the situation is the most draining at this point.

I wasn't sure if I would want to add a piture to this post, but I decided to do so anyway... This picture gives you an idea of all the machines, wires, knobs and numbers she is hooked up to...

For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn

Cuddling with Nonny

Lorelei is doing great. Since she got home we went back to the hospital for a check-up once. This was last Thursday. She had been home four days then and in those four days had grown 160 grams (from 2625 at discharge, to 2785 last thursday). That is a pretty high average, especially if you compare it to the average during her hospital stay. We were very pleased! She seems to be doing rather well in many respects.

One explanation I have for this is that she gets lots and lots of cuddles! Cuddles from her mama, from her papa, from her big brother, and, as you can see in this picture, from her Nonny! Lovely picture, isn't it?

Today we went to the "consultatiebureau", which is kind of a pediatric GP or something like that, and had her ears checked. She passed the test, so no worries there, even though she had a little bit of a cold today... She is taking in her feedings more easily and we have been gradually increasing the amount.

Like I said, she is doing great!


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn

Home At Last!

Lorelei came home this morning! Finally....

We are all very excited about that of course. We got the news that she might be coming home this past friday morning. She was doing so well with her bottle feedings that they had taken her feeding tube out! Good news and we finally got to see her face without anything attached to it! Yesterday they reserved the family room for us. The family room is a room in the hospital where you can stay as parents of a newborn in preparation for her coming home. You can even spend the night there if you want.

This (beautiful :-)) picture was taken there last night. Lisa had been in the hospital with Lorelei all day. Tobias and I had prepared the house for her coming home. We put up the play-pen and her cradle and her toys :-). We all spent some time in the hospital family room together and had dinner there. Then Tobias and I went back home to go to sleep and Lisa spent the night with Lorelei in the family room.

This morning Tobias and I went to pick them up. Right now we are all sitting/laying together in our living room. Lorelei is in the play-pen (see picture...), Tobias is watching some TV in the couch and Lisa is resting/sleeping on the couch. I am typing this while sitting by the play-pen en looking back and forth from Lorelei to my computer screen :-)

Oh, today is going to be even more festive because we expect Nonny, Opa and Oma to arrive any minute now... Opa and Oma went to pick up Nonny from the airport because we were busy getting Lorelei home. Very nice for us of course! Nonny will be staying with us for a few weeks (until just after the new year). I am sure she will be having a great time because she has one beautiful granddaughther! This will probably easily make up for the unfortunate fact that Lorelei's prematurity made her miss the birth and seeing her daughter pregnant.... (I hope anyway...).


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn

Heaven....

What more can I say.................. HEAVEN!!!

Well, maybe one anecdote leading up to this: Yesterday I was putting Tobias to bed. He seemed to go down OK, but after about ten minutes or so I heard him come down. Lisa was still at the hospital with Lorelei, so he called me. He had a really sad face and said that he forgot to go pee... So, he went and then went back to his room. I went with him and asked what was wrong. He answered in a really sad voice: "Papa, I am angry because I didn't see Lorelei enough today". I have to say we left the hospital in a hurry because Tobias was a bit naughty due to severe fatigue.... but all the same this statement broke my heart! So, I laid down next to him in his new bed for a cuddle and suggested we'd go back to Lorelei the next day and hold her together. Well, as you can see, we did!


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn

Only One Left...

Lorelei is doing well. She has only one hook-up left: her feeding tube. She is no longer attached to anything else. This in itself is a good sign because apparently the doctor is satisfied with her development. It is also very convenient, especially when giving Lorelei a bath, taking her out of bath, cuddling with her... well, with anything actually.

Also her weight is going up. She reached her birth weight last friday and is growing at about 15-20 grams a day now. That is about as much as is required or is to be expected.

The only thing that is still frustrating at times is getting food into her. Even though she is feeding more and more by herself, from the bottle and breast, sometimes when we try she is just so tired that it does not work out. In other words, the feeding tube is still necessary. Even though she is growing and the food she takes in by herself is increasing, it is still frustrating when it doesn't work...

So, like I said before, the feeding tube will be the last thing out and I hope it will be soon, because that will most likely be the day she comes home.... (or very close to it anyway...)!


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn

Proud Papa

Well, Lorelei is doing quite alright. She lost one more hook-up, the light. She had already lost it on sunday, but they put it back for one more night on monday because she was about at the level for which to turn it off, but just to be on the safe side they left it on for one more night. By the way, the stuff that should be excreted through the urine is called "bilirubine", which I think is the Dutch name, although it looks kind of international.... So, what's left are stickers on her tummy and foot and a feeding tube.

Yesterday we had a talk with the doctor and he is satisfied about here development. So, that's kind of a relief. There is still not a more accurate prognosis as to when she will be home, but for now it is important that she keeps growing, feeding more and more by herself and keeping her temperature, and she is. (Note: we had to wait quite a while for the doctor to show up. He was like an hour late, which was really annoying.... but, there was also an upside to it: I got to give Lorelei a bottle, which is something I had to wait for over a month for with Tobias. I liked that!)

I have to say that pretty much anything she does (or we do) wears her out. Today for example, we got to give her a bath. That was really nice for us of course, and as far as I could tell it was OK for her too. I had the privilege to do it which was really nice! Also a physical therapist came by and she was also happy with what she saw. She is doing lots of different movements and is showing some muscle control as well. So, that's good too. Well, after that Lisa tried to feed her and that worked a little, but not as much as she had yesterday. Then when we saw her tonight she was so tired that she hardly fed at all.... Of course she gets everything she doesn't eat through her tube, but obviously it would be a lot better for her to drink it herself. Apparently she was still tired from all the excitement this morning...

Even though I only got to hold her for a little bit today I did quite some more yesterday. This picture was taken yesterday too. In this picture you can see:
- A really large daddy
- A really small baby
- Both

But also: A proud papa holding his beautiful daughter!


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn

One Down, Four To Go

Lisa just came home a few minutes ago. Before she came home she breastfed Lorelei and she did well. She did not get nearly enough in yet, so her feeding tube is still necessary, but hey, there is a start. I guess mother and child have to get used to each other in the breastfeeding department... We'll just take it one step at a time.

Tobias and I got to the hospital at about 7:30 pm. Lisa was already with Lorelei and had been cuddling with her for over two hours! (I envy her...). The nurses figured that since she was scheduled to go home tonight it would be good for her to spend some time with Lorelei. When Tobias and I walked in it just looked wonderful!!!

Then I got to hold her for a while. That was wonderful too. Tobias has always said that Lorelei would like me to sing Mr. Tambourine Man for her, so I did and I have to say, it did seem to soothe her... :-). Anyway, while I was holding her and cuddling she did a fairly sizeable #2... So, I got to clean that too (Lisa and Tobias were somewhere else at the time. I didn't mind at all though... I remember being the first one to change a diaper with Tobias, but with Lorelei that was definitely Lisa, because, well, she was just there all the time... But now I got to do my first on Lorelei and I don't know if this is something many fathers would say, but I loved it... I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with her these past few days because I had to be there for Tobias, put Tobias' new room together, put the furniture in Lorelei's room (all with lots of help from my parents, but still, I had to be there), go back and forth to the hospital and so on.... So, I was more than happy to be with just Lorelei for a while and enjoy a cuddle and... well.... a poopy diaper :-)

Today there was more good news because Lorelei was taken of the IV line. So, no more bad shivers of bad memories (Tobias' hospitalization at 11 weeks...) down my spine.... and... One Down, Four To Go! She still has the feeding tube (as you can see in this picture), the heart and breathing monitor, the O2 saturation probe and the UV lamp hooked up to her. The UV light is doing its work quite well, because the levels of whatever it is its for (I can't remember...) are going down, she is excreting it through her urine. My expectation is that the lamp will go next, then the monitor and probe and finally the feeding tube...

Lisa's home, but now it will be a long wait for Lorelei to come home to us...


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn

Tubes and Wires

Like I said, Lorelei was born a little bit early. So, she spent her first day and night in an incubator. She is also hooked up to a monitor, an IV line and a feeding tube. The monitor monitors her heart rate, breathing rythm and O2 saturation. The IV line administers antibiotics. She will be on antibiotics for at least three days, depending on some bloodtests. Yesterday she also got some sugar through the IV line because her blood sugar level was a bit low. The feeding tube is to.... well, that's an easy one, to feed her :-)

This morning she was moved to a "regular" bed, but she still has all the equipment attached. The sugar is no longer administered, but the IV line is still there for the antibiotics.

Today Lisa breastfed her for the first time and it worked! She drank some. Lisa can only do that once a day at the moment. The rest of the day she pumps into sterile bottles and those are fed to her, or she is fed through the feeding tube (and I am actually not sure what they feed her through that...). Her drinking from the breast is a sign that she is doing really well for her term at birth (33 weeks + 6 days).

Despite all the tubes and wires she is a beautiful girl, isn't she (or is that only my opinion just because I'm her father?).


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn

It's a........... GIRL!!!!!

Who would have thought... a girl in the de Pee family. Well, definitely not Lisa. I kind of knew because I did not see anything in "the area" on the ultrasound. They say that an ultrasound is not 100% accurate, especially not when interpreted by an untrained eye... but I just knew! Tobias thought it would be a boy because Lisa thought it would be a boy and had bought him a boy baby doll. But, he loves Lorelai too!

Her name is Lorelei Michelle, but hey, you already could have guessed from the name of this blog. Lisa and I feel so unbelievably happy and relieved because Lorelei is doing so well, even though she was born a little over 6 weeks early. She will have to stay in the hospital for a few weeks, which will be hard, but she is doing so well, even on the second day of her life... And hey, we made it this far so we'll make it through a few weeks back and forth to the hospital as well! Actually we can go see her whenever we want, night or day, so that's good. I just had a good long cuddle with her a few hours ago and it is sooooo worth it! I could just go in and sit there for hours! So, like I said, I hope to have her home real soon!

Well, here's the start to Lorelei's very own blog! This is her first picture and was taken right after she was born. She is sooooo little. She weighed 2390 grams. She was born November 12th 2008 at 12:22 PM (Dutch time).


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn