Olivia Jane! My Little Miracle

Olivia has came such a long way and i am so proud of her. She has recently been fitted for hearing aids and have been showing some good signs of hearing we think but its still too early to tell yet. They look so cute on her, and are tiny little pink things. She is cooing and smiling so much. Liv is kicking her legs and moving great, thank you God!! She is trying to roll over little by little, but cant quite seem to figure out how to move her arm out of the way. She looks at me and just lights up, so I take it that she is recognizing me! I love that so much! I still pray each day and am asking you guys to continue to pray for her hearing. We have accepted the fact that she will not ever hear without her hearing aids, but I pray that her hearing aids are working and that she will be able to hear successfully throughout her life!! Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray!!

New Pictures of Liv!! YAY!

Olivia Jane is almost 10 pounds!! Thank you Lord!

Liv sleeping like a BABY! Thank you God for this sweet angel! Oh, and the leg warmers are too cute Mommy!



Olivia Jane all tuckered out, how peaceful!




Hey Everyone! Look at me, I can sit up in my Bumbo!



Olivia Jane fell asleep while watching her sister and mommy in her Bumbo! Ha!

Praise God, some good news!

Thank you Lord; Olivia Jane's shunt looks great as well as her brain. Dr. Pickett saw Liv on Monday and he told Melissa that the blood from Liv's brain bleed has re-absorbed back into her brain and that her ventricles looked smaller. YAY! That is great news, and we thank God for that! Please continue to pray for Olivia and that she has no more health concerns.

We are so thankful to all of you for your sweet and thoughtful comments, and your prayers everyday! Please keep Liv, Melissa, Mason, and lil' Vannah in your prayers. I had Savannah Sunday night, and she was so excited to see her cousin, Kaylee. However, by Monday afternoon, she was telling me that she was ready to go home so that she could see her sister, Olivia. She told me that Olivia needed her and that she was probably crying for Savannah! So sweet!

Olivia Jane, stay strong sweetheart and I love you so very much! You are truly a 'Foster-fighter' and I thank God for you everyday!

~Aunt Jessie

Keep the prayers going up!

Tomorrow, Olivia Jane will go to Dr. Pickett to get an ultrasound of her shunt; please pray for a beautiful outcome! He wants to check and make sure that everything is working properly.

On February 2, my sister and I took Olivia Jane to see the audiologist for a final opinion on her hearing. Unfortunately, the audiologist confirmed what the ENT had already told Melissa; Liv is deaf. The audiologist told us that she can not hear any conversation tones at all, and the noises that she did hear were at such high volumes. Melissa is going to get her fitted for hearing aids very soon, and hopefully she will then soon hear her mommy's voice say "I love you"...

Please, please pray that the hearing aids work, and that Olivia will not need to have another surgery for the cochlear implants! Melissa is supposed to take Liv to get a MRI soon as well, and that will tell us more about her hearing loss....like whether it is her cochlea or if it is from the brain bleed. I just want the hearing aids to work and Liv be a bouncing baby girl! Please don't forget that we still have other obstacles to face down the road. There is still a chance that Liv could face cerebral palsy, so please pray that she is going to be a healthy, running, jumping, dancing baby girl.

Thank you all for your prayers! Please continue to pray, pray, pray! Pray for this little angel's strength, health, and hearing! Also, please pray too that Liv's eyesight continues to do well; it is great right now and I hope that it stays that way! I love you so much Olivia Jane and I am so proud how much you have grown! By the way, Liv weighs almost 7 pounds now!! Go Liv!!

~Aunt Jessie

Please continue to pray!

Olivia Jane went to the doctor on Thursday and she weighs 6 lbs and 5 ounces! Go Liv! It was a weight check only, and even Dr. Kinnebrew was shocked that she had gained 25 grams in 14 days. Awesome! Please keep Liv in your prayers; her hearing appt is February 2, and that will be the final say on whether or not she is most definitely just hard of hearing or is deaf. Most importantly, that it can be corrected with a cochlear implant! I tried to help my sister by cheering her up. I told her that if Olivia Jane can get the cochlear implant, it is really a blessing in disguise. I mean, I can't tell you how many times growing up, I would have loved to have been able to tune my sister out when she was annoying me. (No Sissy, that only happened once or twice ;~) With the cochlear implant, from my understanding you can take the hearing aid part off and then you will not hear anything at all. So, when Savannah is getting on Liv's nerves in about 4 or 5 years, she can literally tune her out! How many people can say that they can do that!

Ok, so I am trying to make a bad thing good, but we do what we can, right? My sister has been such a wonderful, caring, and loving momma through this whole nightmare. In good times and bad, she has done the best she can...never missing a day at the NICU to tell Olivia that she loves her. Liv is home; my sister is so thankful to be there and for her little one. Savannah, you are an amazing big sissy and Liv probably won't want to ignore you too many times growing up. ha-ha I love you and Liv SO much! To everyone else, thank you so very much for your prayers and thoughts all throughout the day. I will get pictures of Liv up very soon in her new room and crib! Melissa let her stretch out yesterday in her crib for the first time...SOOO CUTE! She is so tiny compared to the big, giant crib.

If you know my sister, she got pictures! Olivia Jane, you stay strong and keep growing lil' one! Hopefully soon, Liv will not need oxygen, but as of now she is still on the oxygen and monitor.

KEEP PRAYING~
Aunt Jessie

Olivia Jane, Melissa, and Mason need your prayers!

Friday was a bad, bad day for us. Melissa was told by the ENT doctor that, in his opinion, and by what he could or could not find that Olivia Jane has significant hearing loss. They have ran many hearing tests and have found that Olivia does not respond to any sound waves. The audiologist (hearing doctor) will see her on February 2, and after that a MRI will be performed to see if it is her cochlea or from her stage 3 brain bleeds. The cochlea is the auditory portion of the inner ear, and is the sensory organ of hearing. If it is the cochlea, Olivia Jane will be a possible candidate for the cochlear implant. The cochlear implant is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who has severely hard of hearing or deafness. Please pray that this is the outcome for Olivia Jane!

Please pray for my sister and Mason too. Melissa is so depressed and just heartbroken. Our biggest heartache out of this is that if Olivia Jane can not hear, she will never hear her mother's voice say "I love you", or Savannah sing to her. She will never hear a bird chirp or her mother running her bath water....everything that we take for granted everyday! I know that this sounds so pessimistic, but when the doctor looks at you and tells you that your daughter may never hear; you are going to think of these things.

All we have is prayer...hope...faith...and trust in God that He will bless Olivia Jane with the gift of sound. Bless her, she has been through more than what some people go through in a lifetime. Please don't give up on Olivia, please pray for her and her precious hearing. God, I praise you for your blessings that you have given my family! I love you and I pray that you will protect Olivia Jane, for only you know her destiny. Olivia Jane, I love you so much precious angel! God has His arms around you; He will protect you!

~Aunt Jessie

First pic of "wabbanubs" donated...........THANK YOU!



It is hard to see, but the picture is 50 of 120 Wabbunubs donated! I will have the other picture up by tomorrow evening! It will be a better picture to look at because they are literally all over my sister's couch; all 120 of them! It is amazing at how generous and caring people are and can be for such a lil' blessing that they didn't even meet! Thank you so much to all the people that donated! The NICU thanks you and Olivia Jane thanks you!  There were so many donations that came in, it was impossible for me to thank all of you personally on the blog!



She's home! Thank you God!

I spoke to my sister this morning and Olivia Jane is doing great! Olivia went to see her pediatrician yesterday morning and Liv weighs 4 pounds and 12 ounces! Go Liv!! The NICU doctors said that it would be best for all of us to stay away for a few months so that we do not give her any "bugs". I totally agree but it is still very hard to stay away! :~( Olivia is still on oxygen via nasal cannula and will be for a awhile as well as a monitor.

I will get pictures of Olivia in her new home as soon as I can get with my sister. They are playing "hermit crab" right now and for good reason! I didn't want anyone to think that we are done with giving all of you updates and praises for praying. I am so thankful for you guys and all of your prayers! Thank you God for my sweet Olivia Jane! Savannah is so happy to be a big sissy and for her lil' sissy to be home. She has been changing diapers and loving it!

Hopefully, I will have pictures very soon, and also have pictures of the Wabbanubs! I have not forgotten to put those up, but I have just not had a minute to do it! Again, thank you for your prayers! I love you Olivia Jane and I am so happy that you are home angel!

~Aunt Jessie

Olivia is coming home!!!!!!!!! :)

Oh My GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe the day has finally came to take my babygirl home. After 75 days in the NICU Olivia Jane will be coming home officially on Saturday, January 8, 2011. I am still shocked and excited and happy and i cannot get the smile off of my face. The doctor decided to just go ahead and send Olivia home on oxygen. She is doing so well with everything else so she will just come home on oxygen and that is that. It is so exciting! I am so ready and could not be more happy. I have been through so much with Olivia these past 2 and a half months that her coming home on oxygen is nothing. Its just crazy to think that she will really be home this weekend. I dont think it has really and truely hit me yet. I dont think i will sleep for the first couple weeks i am going to just rock her all night. Her big sissy is so excited too she has not stopped talking about how she is going to change her diaper and feed her and give her a bath. It's so cute.

I just really want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for always praying for Olivia. I am and will continue to pray each and everyday for her and i hope you will too. I could not have gotten through all of this without God and thanks to all of you God heard all of your prayers and because of that she is coming home where she belongs. I know it may seem weird but I am going to miss the NICU and all of the nurses. They have become part of my family and i love each and every one of them and have such high respect for them. It takes a special person to do what they do and i thank God everyday for them.

Thank you again to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. It truely means so much to me I can't even put it into words.

~Olivia's Mommy

Olivia after surgery........

This was Olivia after she came off of her oxygen and her feeding tube. She looks so beautiful. Please pray that she can get off the oxygen again and come home to me just like this!!

70 Days and Counting.........

Olivia has been in the NICU for 70 days now. I am very very ready for her to come home. She was moved up to an open crib yesterday because she is holding her temp so well. I was so excited to see her in her big girl bed. She is still taking all bottles and eating up a storm. She is now 4 pounds and 2 ounces. She is doing all the things she needs to to be able to come home except her breathing. Yes Olivia went back on oxygen and has not been able to pull herself off. It is so frustrating because everything else is doing so great. I have prayed so hard that she could come off the oxygen and just come home. There is a chance she may just come home with the oxygen and the monitor but i really hope she is able to get off of it all before she comes home. Please pray that God strengthens her tiny lungs so she can breathe on her own.

I love you Liv,
~Mommy