Baby Austin

Hello! This is Carrie (David's oldest daughter) here. As my first contribution to the blog, I figured I'd tell y'all who don't already know about it about JR and I's big news. We had our first baby on April 28th, a beautiful lil' girl who we named Austin Keelee (She gets her first name from the song "Austin" by Blake Shelton, and her middle name from her Grandma Powell) Austin was a premie at 8 weeks early (32 weeks gestastion) but for a premie, she has done fantastic! The nurses in the NICU nick-named her "mighty-mite" and "rockstar" because from day one she did great: by the time she was 9 hours old, she on nothing but room air, and breathing just fine on her own (which was a HUGE relief to her daddy and I) . She also started to successfully coordinate the suck-swallow-breathe reflex within a few days after her sudden arrival (something we were told not to expect her to be able to do that for until she was closer to 34-35 weeks gestation, or 2-3 weeks old) and thus was able to begin feeding by mouth instead of thru her feeding tube all the time. After 3 weeks, Austin was able to come home, (best. day. EVER!) she's now been home almost 3 weeks and continues to do well. She's now almost 6 weeks old and is a little over 5lbs. (she was 3 lbs. 12oz. when she was born) and is a very laid-back, happy baby. About the only time we hear her cry is when she's being lifted out of her little bath tub! I will post a couple of pix of Austin here for y'all, Also, I've only given a condensed version of our story here, if you have questions or curiositys that are not addressed by this post, feel free to ask thru the comment button! Loves! -Carrie

Top Left: Soon after birth/intubation
Bottom Left: Austin was two days old before her daddy got to hold her
Top Right: Just before going home, first time we had seen Austin "wireless" since she was born
Bottom Right: Finally home (4 lbs. 6oz. and 29 days old)




Comments

TheWebWalker said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Monday, June 14, 2010 10:56:00 AM
TheWebWalker said…
She is so beautiful, Carrie! Congratulations to you and JR, I can see how proud you are. You're going to be great parents. Enjoy her to the max. P.S. Did you know that your Auntie Sherry was a preemie too?
Monday, June 14, 2010 11:03:00 AM
Anonymous said…
Thanks Aunt Susan! I didn't know that Aunt Sherry was a preemie, how early was she?
Monday, June 21, 2010 11:27:00 AM
TheWebWalker said…
Carrie, I have been in touch with Sherry about your question... Here's her response:

"As much as I can remember of stories -- NO I don't remember it myself!!! -- I was about 5-6 weeks premature, and weighed around 5 pounds. I remember being told by Mom that they kept me in an incubator at the hospital for about the same amount of time -- i.e., I finally went home about the time I should have been born. One of the reasons I have lung and vision problems is because of the high oxygen content of the incubator. Mom and Dad lived in a converted two car garage at the back of Nana's house that Dad fixed it up as a first home for us. My "room" was a curtained-off closet that he basically turned into an incubator as well, I remember being told I was "given oxygen" there -- I'm guessing he pumped oxygen into that area to make it easier for me to breathe.

So yeah -- little Austin is a real miracle!!!

Love,

Sherry"
Saturday, August 21, 2010 11:45:00 PM
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