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[RedwoodsMama]

 My daughter Victoria was not due till April 20th, and gave birth to this beautiful little girl a month early. Her name is Esmeralda Ruth...and last name . I am going crazy trying to get ahold of mly daughter as she lives in another state.          

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         I think she is beautiful just like my daughter.                                 wish I was there!               Happy in the Redwoods               RWM


 It is a little dark as she must have taken the shot with her camera so I will iighten it a bit later when I get over dancing up and down celebrating.

[camcam8910]

Congrats!  She is so cute!  Sadly I won't be a grand mother in a long long time! 

[Pleo-Freak55]

Congrats to Baby RWM she is very cute like me.

Greetings

Franzi

[saratogaspringer]

Congratulations, RWM!!!!  She sure is beautiful!  I hope you get to see her soon!   

[RedwoodsMama]

Hi Guys, I just talked to her on the phone at the hospital. She went into labor sometime on Saturday and she was actualy born in a motel room on Sunday morning at 7:10 a.m By the time the paramedics got there, she was trying to get on the gurney and they told her no, she would never make it, so just to get "down on the floor like a dog" and push, out she came. Only 5 lbs 3 oz and 16 inches long. So off to the hospital where she is not in a incubator but in ICU and hooked up to a breathing machine, antibiotics etc because she is small and wanting to make sure she is mature enough to be out on her own.

         My daughter is in Vancouver WA, and I am several states away so I won't get to see her for some time but I just talked to her brother and he is going to go visit her for me and report back on how she is doing. Right now she is living at a motel room so not the best place for a baby, but not on the street. I am just glad she got to the hospital. It is funny because when she was born, I was also living in a motel and  she barely got to the hospital in time or she would have been born at a hotel also! Strange co-incidence. I have more photos to upload later, all taken from her phone so the quality is what it is. She has been doing nothing but taking photos of her "belly" for the last 8 months so now there will be a "flat " belly for once. I do hope my grand-daughter will be ok. I do think she is ok weight wise, it is just making sure her lungs and such are developed enough to be on her own.  She is slightly bigger than a Pleo, heavier but not as long If I am correct..
                                                 I once thought of naming a Pleo Esmeralda, but I like the name of my grand-daughter being Esmeralda a lot more!                                    RWM


 Here are  two more photos I just edited. Now you all know I am a Grand mother and proud of it!

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[kat]

She is beautiful RWM.  Congratulations    Here's hoping you get to see her in the flesh real soon. 
Don't worry too much about her being so small, my daughter was 6 1/2 weeks early when she was born, 4 pounds 6 ounces.  She is now nearly 13 and the smartest cookie around   top of all her classes at school and plenty of friends as well.  I'm sure it won't be long before little Esmeralda is out of the ICU and heading home with mum.    The little ones tend to be fighters.   

[fancyfont]

Congratulations on your new grandbaby!  SHe looks like a little doll.  I know of a little girl that will have a pleo when she is a little older. Love her name. I have a lovely doll with the same name and I call her Izzie. I hope you are able to visit your daughter and grandbaby soon. Thank goodness for moblie phones.

[DragonGirl]

Congratulations!  I'm glad to hear everyone is doing OK.  Best wishes on the health of both mom and baby!

[Lottibell]

So thrilled for you,RWM. Bet you're proud as punch, Esmerelda looks like a real sweet pea! As Kat said, I shouldn't be too concerned with the early arrival. My twins couldn't wait either with no ill effects. Guess she was just too inquisitive to wait any longer! Hope you get the opportunity to meet really soon and tell her  "I wuv woo.". 

[RedwoodsMama]

Thanks everyone, Mly daughter just called before going to bed, "kicked" out of the hospital already. ( they get you out of there as soon as possible these days..) but without her baby.. she is still in ICU. She said they are having trouble getting her to eat still, so she has no idea when she will get to come home. Weighing 5 lbs in not that small, it is the gestation age not the size I guess the dr.s are concerned about . Anyway, I am sure she will do fine and she will call me tommrow and give me an update. She looks so pretty and tiny but in her photos she doesnt look as tiny as she sounds but if I saw a comparison of someone holding her then I could tell, My daughter, ( her mom) was 'normal size" 7 lbs 11 oz, but her brother was huge, 9 lbs 10 oz and 22 1/2 inches long! so anything as tiny as 5 lbs is "small" to me..

                        Thank you all for your congrats wishes and well wishes, Keep well wishes for my little Esmeralda that she gets healthy and gets to come home soon. I do hope I will get to see her while I can still hold her in my arms and she is not all grown up!                                                        Happy in the Redwoods,          RWM ( it is raining and stormy outside, but I can see the rainbow!)

                Kat and Lottibell, thanks for the stories of your daughter and twins, it helps me some. I appreciate it.

[Crewella]

Wow!  Congrats RWM - she's a beauty ...... and she has a fabulous name!   

Glad both seem to be OK, and hope she's home soon. 

[Margery]

So pleased for you RWM.      What a thrill!  Love the cute photos and hope you see her in the flesh very soon.

[Pleo-Freak55]

Hello RWM,

The Photos from your daughter about that Baby like me very hope very, that it nice large is how his Mum Victoria.

Greetings

Franzi

[RedwoodsMama]

Hello everyone, was out of town at Dr.s, / hospital pain clinic for evaluation of my back from 8:30 this morniing till after 1:30 when I got home, NOt a lot of new information on my daughter or Grand-baby. My daughter got "kicked" out of the hospital, they get them out so fast these days. But the baby, Esmeralda is in the Intensive Care Unit or ICU for infants. This morning she was hooked up to a feeding tube because she is losing weight and not eating well. My daughter said she is smaller than a doll,and the size of her head is the size of a "small orange", so that is tiny.  I just measured one of the pleos and Esmeralda is a lot smaller than any of the Pleos., but about a pound heavier, slightly more.
             I think it is terrible that moms have to leave their babies in hospitals and can't stay with them, but I guess that is the way medical care is and there is nothing you can do about it. I do hope that she will start improving and eating on her own and the first step I beleive is that with the feeding tube removed, she will gain weight, get stronger and then of course get out of the ICU nursery and get to go home.

             For Kat, you said your daughter was also small and preemie, How long was it till she got to go home and how big was she? Was eating a big part of it? I am so glad she is doing well, children are amazing and the human body itself is amazing in what it can even do,   

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my daughter just now while writing this texted this to me on her phone so this is her with the feeding tube. I will of course update everything I find out. It is funny to be talking about "babies" instead of my Pleo babies. You never know how much your children mean to you till they are around, or when you have a grandchild, then you know how precious life really is and all the other stuff 'is just that" Stuff'.

[saratogaspringer]

Hi RWM!  She sure is cute!  Please don't worry about the feeding tube being placed.  My son was born 7 1/2 weeks early. He was due on Jan 28th, and born Dec 8th.  He was 3 lbs.  8oz. when he was born and 3 lbs. 14oz. when we brought him home from the hospital.  He was in the NICU for 16 days.  The main purpose of her being in the NICU is for her to learn to eat,  gain weight, and breathe on her own.   It appears from  the picture that she is not hooked to a C-Pap or machine that forces air into her lungs, and is breathing on her own.  That is a great sign!  Some of the last 2 things that occurs during gestation is the maturation of the lungs, and the learning of the "suck and swallow" motion needed for an infant to eat properly and gain weight.  They will feed her every 3 hours (at least that is what they did for CJ)  through a syringe that is attached to the feeding tube. Usually they will attempt to feed through a bottle first, then push the food through the syringe and feeding tube if by mouth feeding is not successful.  As soon as she can demonstrate that she can eat, maintain a normal body temperature, gain weight steadily over a number of days, and breathe on her own, which she already appears to be doing, she will be sent home.  CJ lost quite a bit of weight, even with the feeding tube, because he had a lot of reflux, which they controlled with the medicine REGLAN.  He couldn't even fit in a car seat when we brought him home.  He had a car bed that he had to lay flat in. He is now a healthy, happy boy!  Don't worry......she wil be fine!  If you need me, just send me a PM.....I know what you are going through!     

[RedwoodsMama]

 hi Saratoga, thanks for the words of comfort. I know preemies get good care and lots of babies much smaller, even two pounds make it these days. Mly daughter tries to be brave and didn't get as good care as she could have and I Know she didn';t eat as well, but neither did I when I was pregnant with her. In fact I was in the hospital with pneumonia, in a coma for 3 days, had blood transfusions and spent over a month in the hospital with 3 weeks in Intensive Care. It was not untill after I went home,( still sick and with a fever) went back to the emergency room because of the chest pain, ( Pleurisy) and they do the typical questioning, " is there a chance you may be pregnant?" And I said No, I had JUST got out of the hospital the day before, and because of "spotting" they apparently thought I had a period while in the hospital, ( I was in a coma so do not remember any of this luckily... ) Anyway, You can imagine the shock on my face when they come back and tell me I am pregnant, about 2 1/2 months along,
            With all the radiation, ( I mean extensive portable Chest X-rays 2-3 times a day )and all the medications and such they had me on, when I found out I was pregnant and went to the OBGYN for the first time, the first thing I heard m0re than once, referred to " terminating the pregnancy" because of the high possibililty of birth defects. " I was the only one who wanted to continue with the pregnancy. I had lots of problems with this pregnancy starting with the fact I almost died before she was even born, and nobody but nobody, esp her dad and the DR.s thought I would have a "viable or normal baby". So when my daughter was born, her name was appropriate in every way; Valerie, her name means Strength, and she calls herself, Victoria, which is more appropriate, as it means Victorious, I think this little one has some of her mom's natural strength and the other things such as beauty, intelligence, courage and such are only extras.

 Saratoga, did it take very long for your son to get strong.. and did the hospital let you come and visit him as much as possisble,? It seems now a days, hospitals treat parents more and more like strangers and with less rights than they did when I was growing up or even when my children were growing up. I like the fact that they are becomming more aware and protecting children more as well they should, but they should make more accomadations for parents. What happened to letting mothers or even dads sleep in the same room or at the hospital when you had a sick child, esp a baby , a newborn? I remember when my son  was just 14 months old, he awoke one morning very sick, very strange behaivor, He was limp like a rag doll, could not sit up without his whole body slumping over in the high chair, and he could not hold his head up.( he was not quite walking on his own yet) I rushed him to the emergency room and they examined him knew he was sick, and admitted him quickly thinking he has mengigitis. ( they did a spinal tap but luckily it was negative)
                    To make the story shorter and to the point, he stayed in the hospital for three or four days and I got to stay in his room that whole time, never leaving except to go home, shower, eat and change clothes and feed my two cats. I slept in a rocking chair in that room, I could not imagine not being there for my son. When a child or baby needs you, it is the mom , dad, or other familiar family member that should be there if at all possible. Anyway, Saratoga, your story of your son did help me some, also thanks to Kat and to Lottibell, I appreciate all of your comments and thoughts or well wishes. It is not mly baby, but my daughter and my grand-baby and she is so small. I wish I could be there, but I am in spirit.
            I guess now the cat or "Pleo" is out of the bag...............everyone knows I am no "spring chicken" LOL There are no chickens and I don't have enough energy to jump rope like the sheep, I don't have antlers, though I do have "pouffy hair", LOL, and I do not want to be compared to a cow eating it's cud, so I guess I am the cat..............I like cats and I could sleep like a cat all day if I could.... Thank you everyone for just letting me write my feelings and sharing what I am going through.I do appreciate the people on this forum so much, you are all wonderful.                          RWM and the Pleo Clan of the REdwoods

[fancyfont]

SHe is a beautiful baby, RWM. Hope she can be with her mom soon.

[RedwoodsMama]

Hi Fancy, Thank you so much for the kind word and well wishes! From the bottom of my heart on behalf of my daughter, my beauftiful little Esmeralda, and myself.    RWM

[kat]

Hi RWM my daughter had a feeding tube for the first week of her life and she was also in a humidi crib for that first week as well.  She was hooked up to all sorts of tubes and wires which was pretty scary at first but I did get use to it all pretty quick.  Luckily she was able to breath on her own which was a big plus but she had trouble maintaining her body temperature.  This meant that i wasn't able to hold her very much for the first few days as she had to stay in the humidi crib to stay warm. 
here is a pic of her just a few hours old


She stayed in hospital for three weeks.  It felt like forever.  I was in for the first week and then they sent me home for a week before allowing me to come back and stay in with her for the last week as they wanted to get her feeding into a good routine so she would put on enough weight to be able to go home.  She had to be fed every three hours on the dot for the first 4 months before they were happy that she was big enough to allow her to feed just when she wanted too.  The feeding tube was put in because she wasn't maintaining her own body temperature and so they felt she would get too cold if I had her out of the crib to try feeding her.  So she had to be fed with a tube until she was 5 days old and then they decided she had her temperature under control so I was able to start feeding her myself.  They did leave the tube in for a few more days after this as they wanted to keep topping her up to make sure she gained some weight.  She lost quite a lot of weight in the first week and was very slow to gain it back.  we did reach the magical 2 kg mark though at 3 weeks of age so we were allowed to go home. 
She was on antibiotics for the first 6 weeks of life.  But apart from being so very very small she was completely perfect. 
She didn't reach the size of your average newborn baby until she was 6 months old.  I do have to say that she has been in a hurry her whole life so far.... always determined to be the best at everything and to be first to do everything.  Being born early has not caused her any problems in life.  She has grown up into a beautiful, tall healthy (almost) teenager 

Here is a pic of Paige when she first came home from hospital


I'm sure your little granddaughter will do just fine.     She really is such a cute little thing.  She will be home from hospital before you know it.

[RedwoodsMama]

Kat, thank you so much for the lovely and encouraging story. I liked the fact they did let you stay with your daughter, that is what I wish they would let my daughter, ( Victoria, Valerie) do, I would be going stir crazy and bananas if I was here, I do know she is on the verge of collaspe and she actually got some much needed rest last night, She doesn't have a car, but the hospital she said is within a 20 block walk of where she is staying, so  that is not too bad, about a mile, slightly more.

                       Your daughter is beautiful Kat, and she was and is a fighter.  I bet she gets her strength from you! I know that is one attribute my grand-daughter will have inherited from her mom also. I am waiting to hear from my daughter today to hear how things are going.In a way, no news is good news, but also I did not hear that my daughter had had a baby till a day later, so I know how things happen.Six weeks is a long time to spend in the hospital and it is going to be toughest on my daughter I am sure. If I don't have any grey hairs now, I will by the time this is all over! Being able to post this topic here is so helpful. I have nowhere else to post and nobody else to talk to, and talking to my hubby is not helpful as "men" in general do not understand this stuff unless they are the fathers of women who have gone through this. It is like losing a child, or losing a baby, nobody can understand except somebody who has gone through the same thing. Somebody may understand the "grief or pain", but not as much as the mother who lost that baby before it was even born, or a baby or child after birth.I understand that loss myself losing a baby right after my daughter Valerie ( Victoria ) was born, and having a baby still in the hospital must feel similiar in a way, and you can't really feel like that baby is trully Your's till you can pick that baby up and walk out of the hospital with it. 

            Just curious Kat, is your daughter completly healthy now, or did she have any long term after effects from being born early? Oh, and what was her size when you brought her home finally? Give your daughter a hug today for helping me feel better about my grand-daughter clear across the globe!                                                 RWM

[Lina]

Congratulations RWM!
She is so tiny and cute! Pls let give let us know how she is doing! Love her name!

[kat]

hey RWM.  My daughter is perfectly healthy.  No ill effects from being born early.     She was slightly heavier when she went home than when she was born.  She was 4 pounds 6 ounces when born which was 10grams short of 2 kg and she was the full 2 kg when she went home.  I'm not sure what that is in pounds exactly.  She was 29cm long when I took her home.  So small that even the smallest baby clothes were way too big.  We had her dressed in dolls clothes for the first couple of months 

[RedwoodsMama]

Hi Kat, thanks for the confirmation of your daughter and how she did . It is nice to know that she did so well, It is hard to imagine a baby comming home and wearing baby doll clothes for a couple of monthes. I guess it is because my son at almost ten pounds was so big he wore bigger than average size clothes and was also taller than average at birth at 22 1/2 inches long! My daughter tonight sent me a bunch more of photos from her phone so it is about all she can do for now so I am sharing some of them here, some news is better than no news, I do wish they would let her stay there though. Now you can also see her with the baby and see how tiny the baby looks like though it is smaller than it looks in the photos.She says the head is the size of a very small orange.  Here are today's photos, 3 days old.

 

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                               I can now go to sleep and get some rest not worrying so much.              RWM            Thanks everyone.