Update December 3, 2009

Autumn was moved to the Special Care Nursery this past Sunday night. Because she is stable, she has her own room, which is awesome.. Autumn is up to a whopping 3 lbs and 1 ounce, but she acts like a big girl. She still likes to wiggle around her isolette and bust out of her blanket. She has been drinking bottles at every feeding, and just guzzled her noon bottle down in 2 minutes..She is just 34 weeks and a day, so we are hoping if she keeps up this pace, we can have her home before her due date (January 13th). The doctors say she may be a little anemic, but so far it is not presenting a problem, and the Docs say there is no for a need for a blood transfusion right now.

I will bug Carl to post some new pictures..I promise.

Update November 27th

Autumn is doing well..she is gradually gaining weight. She is up t 124o grams (2 lbs and 12 ounces)..When I showed up to visit her today, one of her nurses told me she drank two full bottles When Carl was visiting yesterday, Autumn's doctor hinted that even though she is a little below the weight requirement, that if a room opens up, he may move her up to Special Care. That is where the babies who are more stable get to go.

We will continue to keep everyone posted.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We'll get an update posted later today.

Update 3 (November 19th)

Autumn is still doing well. She is slowly gaining weight. She gets weighed every night. Autumn needs to gain about 4 more ounces before she can move upstairs to the Special Care Nursery. This is where they put the babies that are more stable, and just need to grow before they can go home. This is just one of the things the doctors consider when determining which babies are ready for the move.

She also seems to be tolerating her feedings well. Even though she is still pretty little, she acts like she is ready to eat, so Carl tried to give her a bottle yesterday. She messed with it a little, but she still has a few weeks to go before she gets the coordination down. She is still doing well breathing room air.

Update #2

Carl and I got to hang out with Autumn for a while today . She always seems happy when I hold her, and I know it makes me happy. I do what is called skin to skin, every day. I hold Autumn on my chest. I was also able to do this with Carly..The benefit is that she is supposed to gain weight faster, maintain her body tempature, regulate her heart and breathing rate, and spend more time being quiet and alert and less time crying,

She was taken off of c pap on Friday, which means she is breathing room air. This is a big step, and she seems to be adjusting well. Autumn had a little tummy trouble..after several x rays and tests, it was determined to be gas..The concern was that is could have possibly been a bacterial infection called NEC, which could be very serious.

Autumn lost some weight, but all babies lose weight after they are born. We are hoping she starts packing on the pounds soon..She is a little peanut..

Update

We figured that we would keep everyone informed on how Autumn is doing by having a blog for everyone to check.. (We will post pictures soon I promise). So far, she is doing fine. As many of you know, since we have already gone through the NICU experience with Carly, it can be a rollercoaster. Progress one day, and setbacks the next. We can only hope she does as well as her big sis, and we get her home with us as soon as possible.

Autumn is currently on c-pap. These are nasal prongs that provide some extra pressure to help her breathe. It is common for small babies to need help breathing at first, but the goal is to get her on room air as soon as possible. She has not needed to go on a ventilator and we hope to keep it that way.

Autumn is currently being fed breast milk through an IV and seems to be tolerating the feedings well so far.

Autumn will receive several tests over the next few weeks, and we will keep everyone posted on how she is doing.

Things have been kind of hectic since Carl and I will be busy running back and forth to the hospital and taking care of Carly, but we appreciate everyone's thoughts, prayers, phone calls, text messages, etc.

Happy Birthday Autumn!

Autumn Marie Hummell was born Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 10:14 am. She was 2 lbs 8.5 ounces, 14.5 inches long, 30 weeks 4 days gestation. We will post updates, pictures, etc. to keep everyone updatated on her progress.