April 1, 2009

Laurie enjoying her cereal!

Cole loved his present Brayden!

Hello everyone! Laurie celebrated her nine month birthday on March 28th and Cole turned six yesterday! Needless to say, we have been “birthdaying” for several days!! We have also been in somewhat of a holding pattern for the month of March with ear infections slowing Laurie down a bit:

A week after finishing the antibiotics for ear infections and starting to wean off the oxygen again, Laurie had yet another ear infection. Unfortunately, this meant that we had to start another round of antibiotics and had to stop the weaning process. Last week we finished the second antibiotic and began aggressively weaning her oxygen again. On Monday, Laurie had her 9 month check-up and her ears and lungs were clear!!! She continues to grow and weighed in at 13 lbs. 4oz. We have now worked up to being off the oxygen for 6-8 hours a day, which is a good thing because Laurie constantly pulls the nasal canula out! We also saw Dr. Thompson, the retinologist, earlier in March and got a great report! We were able to hold Laurie for him to get a good look at her left eye and the blood vessels are beginning to grow in normally!!! We do not have to see him again until November!!! However, Dr. Thompson does want Laurie to have a pediatric ophthalmologist to follow her vision. We will see Dr. Suggs in July.

Next Monday we will go back to Birmingham for a follow-up ABR (hopefully Laurie’s ears will stay clear, so that we can get an accurate reading) and pulmonologist appointment. We should know more about when Laurie will be completely off the oxygen after that appointment. Thanks again for your continued love, support, and prayers! We realize that God has blessed us with amazing friends and family who have helped us through this long process.

After such a life-changing event, we would now like to do our part in helping prevent other babies and families from being affected by risks associated with prematurity. Our family is forming a March for Babies Family Team to help the March of Dimes work towards the day when all babies are born healthy. We would love for you to join us!

We are forming a team in honor of Laurie, who was born 17 weeks too soon. Although it has been a long nine months for our family, God has answered so many prayers and blessed us through this experience! Yet, ours is not the only story of frightening, touch-and-go days in the neonatal intensive care. Premature birth touches half a million babies and their families each year. Babies born too soon are more likely to die or have disabilities. Birth defects pose another serious threat—taking the lives of many babies and cause lifelong disabilities for thousands more. So it’s important for us to help the March of Dimes help moms have full-term pregnancies and healthy babies.

Won’t you join our Family Team at this wonderful event? Our walk is April 25, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at the Troy University Campus in Dothan, AL. If you would like to walk with us, please call me at 334-347-0265 by April 9, 2009 for further details and so we can order t-shirts. If you can’t join us and would like to sponsor our team with your donation, just log on to our personal web page, www.marchforbabies.org/teams/678403 or send me a check payable to March of Dimes. Thanks in advance for your help!

Love to all!

Todd, Leah, Cole, and Laurie