Our Shining Star

Our little Starlynn Baby is getting so big. Here's a health update from the last couple months.

Starlynn's due date was August 2nd. She was 2 days shy of 2 months old. She was still on oxygen and monitors. She was only able to wear button up clothes or outfits that fit over her body because of the oxygen tubes taped to her face. It made for a limited wardrobe. She was getting better at nursing then and was still maintaining the schedule from the NICU. We slowly veered away from any sort of schedule and just focused on nursing and sleeping whenever we could.

This is Starlynn at 2 months old. She is seriously the sweetest baby. She was around 7lbs here and still wearing newborn clothes and diapers. We had some seriously scary moments with some apnea spells. Her alarms would go off if she stopped breathing for more than 20 seconds and one day it went off 15-20 times. We hoped it was a bad lead that was attached to her but she appears to have grown out of it all now.

Oh my gosh the cute! Her precious eyes have gotten so strong. Eye problems can be a common preemie problem but Starlynn's eyes appear to be doing just fine. She had some cross-eyed issues longer than most babies but is doing so well now.

This is the monitor that tracked Starlynn's breathing and heartrate. It would beep very loudly when something was wrong or when a lead came off her. That happened in sacrament meeting even. And the tubes, oh the tubes. It was all such a big hassle but it helped keep my baby breathing so I can't hate it too much.

The awesome oxygen tank. We also had portable tanks for when we needed to leave the house. They were heavy and cumbersome but like I said before, worth all of it to help Star maintain her oxygen levels.

Just another shot of the equipment we had. I never want to forget all we went through for this miracle baby.

This was from the day we got word that Starlynn passed her oxygen test. She failed the first time because she was unable to maintain a high enough saturation overnight. So we waited two weeks and tried again. The next time she passed. It was a pretty emotional moment for me as I removed those horrible stickers from her face for the last time and watched my daughter breath entirely on her own.

Can you see the circle mark by her ear? Those darn stickers were the worst part about the oxygen.

Check out that belly button! Starlynn has a herniated belly button. This picture is from when it was at it's biggest. Luckily it's gone down in size and doesn't appear to need surgery at this point. You can also see the leads that are stuck to her. These were always pulling and making her monitor beep like crazy when they would come of her. Oh and look at the start of those chubby thigh rolls.

After Starlynn came off the oxygen, she stayed on the monitor for about a week. The doctors wanted to make sure she didn't have any more apnea spells without the oxygen help. That sign above her is handwritten by a dear friend. Those lyrics mean a lot to me and Ben and I love having them present to read and remember.

Here's little sis with no tubes or wires! She's three months old here. She was around 9lbs then and slowly starting to give us the occasional smile. They were few and far between but so very special.

This precious face has caused me to lose sleep and worry and stress more than I thought I could but I wouldn't trade any of it. In fact, I'd do it all over again. She's proof that my Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers and still works miracles.