Free at Last, Free at Last!

Today was a good day for Riley.  Started off with a visit to Dr. Nichols (pediatrician) for a weight check - she was 13lb 10oz.  Lost an ounce from last week, but still way up from last month.  In the afternoon, we had our checkup with Dr. Riva (pulmonary) - the doctor we had the unpleasant experience with last month.  She was pleased with Riley's weight gain and everything else, so she said we were free to turn off the oxygen during the day.  She wants us to continue to keep her on it at night, and wants us to spot check her oxygen saturation throughout the day, so we'll have to keep the wire on her foot all day, but thats a lot easier than having the tubes on her face and dragging around the oxygen tank.  Riley is now much more mobile and has a much prettier face!  We'll go back to her in a month, and as long as she doesn't back-track on her weight gain, or have problems with daytime saturation, we should be off the oxygen all together.  Immediately after that appointment, we headed over to Dr. Shah (neurologist) for her followup there.  He also was very pleased with her progress.  She has had no signs of any seizures since leaving the hospital, and her development seemed right on track.  He was so pleased, he said we didn't even need to schedule another appointment - unless Dr. Nichols or one of the OT/PT people see something that might indicate a neurological problem.  Both of these were obviously huge to us, and it really feels like we've had a monster weight lifted off our shoulders.

Yesterday, the Rainbows speech therapist was finally able to make it here to look into Riley's feeding issues.  She has shown signs of getting better, and at times eats very well, but still gags quite a bit and regurges a lot as well.  She had Pam make a few small changes to the way she gives the bottle, and also to how we do the solid foods.  Overall, it seems the main problem is reflux.  She called Dr. Nichols and today we have started her back on medication for the reflux.  Hopefully this will settle her tummy a bit and make all the feedings go a little smoother.

One more milestone, about an hour ago she rolled over on her own for the first time!  We had her on her tummy, and she pushed her elbows up and rolled to her left and onto her back.  Way to go Riley!

Riley and Mommy:

Riley and Baxter:

Riley with a clean face, no patches, and no oxygen tubes!!!

8 months old!!!

Today Riley is 8 months old.  I know I say it over and over again, but holy crap time has flown by.  I can't believe it has been that long since graced us with her presence.  She was just a little over 4 months old when she came home from the hospital, so that means here in another week or so she will have been home as long as she had been in the hospital.  Great news!

Pam has continued to take her into the pediatrician every week for weight checks.  The doctor wanted to do this to make sure her weight gain was significant and consistent, and to chart it all, so we won't have a repeat at Dr. Riva's office next week.  So far each week has brought good news.  As of last week's appt. she was up to 13lb 6oz!  This is a great jump from where she was 3 weeks ago.  On Thursday we had our follow-up with the Wesley Developmental clinic, not really sure what it was for since it is redundant with what Rainbows is doing.  They said she is doing great, is behind in a few small areas but nothing major and nothing to be concerned about.  Rainbows will be out again this Thursday to check on her as well.  The Dr. Riva appointment is a week from today, and also have our follow-up with Dr. Shah (neurologist) that day as well.  We are praying for great news from both.  Could be a really good day, or a really bad day... 

Last weekend we did end up making the trip up to Manhattan to see my sister, Nikki, and her family.  Took Baxter as well, made for a very fun trip.  Both Riley and Baxter did very well on their first road trip.  It was amazing the amount of stuff we had to take though just for a 3 day trip...filled up a minivan!  But we had a great time hanging out with Nikki, Eric, Landon, and Makena.  Got to see Makena's first basketball game, and I gotta say 6-7 year olds playing basketball is hilarious!  I was even able to score some last minute tickets to the KU/K-State basketball game on Saturday.  Wow, what a game!!  Since I should be going up there for work at least every other month, we may have to make this trip a regular thing until Pam goes back to work.  I think Nikki and family would enjoy that...or maybe not?  Haha

There's never a dull weekend in our lives, it seems like.  This weekend we'll have a house-full of people over on Sunday for the Super Bowl (or Skach-Bowl IX as we are calling it).  Everyone's invited, so let me know if you can make it!  Then we'll have those two big appointments next Tuesday, so I'll be sure to post updates after that...everyone please pray that I'll have good news to pass on.

For some reason, even with all the excitement of this weekend we didn't get any good pictures.  Nikki took some of Riley decked out in K-State gear to root on the Cats Saturday, so here's one of hers.  EMAW!

13 pounds and some yummy peas

I know its been a whole two weeks since I posted, but not a lot has happened.  I went on my "guy's weekend" to Omaha last week with a few friends.  Pam and Riley had a good time without me but were glad to see me when I came home.  This week, Pam went to see Dr. Nichols on Monday and despite our argument against it, he wants us to continue to see Dr. Riva.  He is having Pam bring Riley by once a week for a weight check though, and last week she tipped the scales at 13lbs 2oz!  Sure makes Dr. Riva's scale look even more inaccurate.  She'll get checked again tomorrow and we hope to see more gain.  I think she is looking more "chunky" again after thinning out a bit the last few months so thats a good sign.  Nothing much said from Rainbows, other than "she's doing great."  So I guess no news is good news there. 

She has been "eating" a little bit of rice cereal by spoon the past few weeks, but Pam is now hitting her hard with solids.  This week was "peas" week, and next week will be "sweet potatoes".  She takes them pretty well, doesn't eat a whole lot but is able to get them down.  Before long she'll be snarfing down steaks like her old man!

This weekend we were out and about again.  Had Pam's mom babysit Saturday afternoon while we went and played a little winter softball, and then my mom watched Riley in the evening while we checked out Wichita's new downtown arena for the inaugural Wichita Thunder hockey game there - quite impressive!  Today we took Riley over to my parent's house all day while we helped them clean, organize, and pack stuff up.  They are putting their house up for sale and needed the kickstart to make the house look good.

Next weekend will be an exciting one for us.  Thursday after work the 4 of us (Pam, me, Riley, and Baxter) are all heading up to Manhattan.  I needed to go up there for work on Friday anyways, so thought it would be a good time to take Riley on her first road trip (and Baxter's too).  We'll stay up there through Saturday afternoon/evening after watching Makena's first basketball game (and the KU/K-State basketball game, of course).

New photos from the past two weeks:
Riley checking herself out in the mirror on her playmat.

Showing off her messy face after eating peas.

Early Groundhog Day

Dr. Riva must have seen the groundhog, because she sentenced us to at least 4 more weeks of dragging this oxygen tank around.  We disagreed with her on a few things, particularly Riley's weight since that seems to be the hang-up.  Their scale didn't match up with Dr. Nichol's scale or our scale at home and claimed she was closer to 12lbs than the 12lb 12oz that we got last week at Dr. Nichols.  Not only that but her claim that she isn't gaining enough weight is comparing her to a what a 7 month old should be, but all of her development has and should be tracked on an adjusted scale, which means she should be looked at as a 4 month old.  She also contradicted some other things that Dr. Nichols had told us and tried to make some changes to her feedings.  We called Dr. Nichols and he told us to leave the feedings alone and asked us to come in Monday to discuss it since he is her primary care physician and its his job to make those decisions.  I'm hoping he'll be able to recommend a different pulmonary doctor since we aren't too happy with Dr. Riva so far.  She is very impersonal and so far has reminded me a lot of our first interactions with Dr. Hsiao in her impersonal "bedside manner".

Other than that, not a whole lot of new news.  Rainbows came out last week and has said Riley's development is right on track.  Her head and neck movement are great, she is sitting up really well, and has started to take the rice cereal better.

This weekend we took advantage of our family's generous free baby sitting and got out of the house a little bit without a baby in tow- went to a Wichita State basketball game and got some errands ran, and then took Riley to the Blessed Sacrament CYO Spaghetti Dinner.  It's an annual event that I helped participate in back in the day.  It was great to see a few old friends there, show off Riley, and eat some good Italian food.

This next weekend I'm back to my "part-time father" routine as I head to Omaha for our annual "guy's weekend".  A few friends and I make the trip to watch Wichita State play at Creighton every year.  Hopefully Pam will be able to get away soon too so I don't feel bad always leaving.  It will be tough to leave them for just a few days, but after the long days I've had at work it is a much needed break.

Riley's been a really happy baby lately and with Pam home all day every day, she's been a bit of a shutterbug.  Check the facebook "winter photos" link to the right to see more, but here's a few of the best:

Happy New Year!

Riley rang in her first new year in style...by sleeping right through it.  She actually was awake at midnight, but slept most of the rest of the night, before and after midnight.  We had a handful of people over to help celebrate, played some games, and put away a few bottles of champagne.  Maybe staying up and playing Wii til 4:45am wasn't the brightest idea though, haha.  I have to go back to work tomorrow; it's been nice staying home the past week with Pam and Riley, but alas I have to find a way to put food on the table since we're starting the new year as a 1-income family. 

This week, Rainbows will be back out for the first time in awhile.  Hopefully they can help with the latest issues - Riley can't stand being laid back while feeding, and has been crying uncontrollably a lot.  She has had a pretty runny nose lately too, so we've had her sleeping in the swing instead of her basinet to keep her more inclined, otherwise she wakes up coughing on the drainage a lot.  We think she might have an ear infection, but Dr. Nichols didn't seem too concerned last week - then again it has gotten worse since we saw him, so Pam plans on calling him in the morning.  Riley is also scheduled to get this month's RSV shot this week.

Other than feeding times, she's been pretty good lately.  Loves to sit up and look around, so we've been propping her up on the couch, recliner, etc.  She's smiling more and more, and when we lay her on her playmat she is getting better at rolling back and forth from her side to her back.  Haven't rolled all the way over yet, but getting close.  Been trying to do more "tummy time" too - her neck is getting stronger and she can hold that position a lot longer than before.

Here's a few of her sitting up like a big girl...

One last post for 2009

Okay, I know I said you wouldn't hear from me until next year but had some good news to tell everyone about. Yesterday at our appointment with Dr. Nichols (pediatrician), Riley weighed in at 12lb 12oz! That means she has gained 12oz in 2 weeks! This is great news, since the weight gain is our biggest obstacle to getting off the oxygen. He went ahead and had us start mixing in a formula supplement anyways to make sure the weight gain continues. Just have to mix in a tablespoon of powder with each feeding to add a few extra calories. 2 more weeks and we'll be back to see Dr. Riva, let's pray this weight gain keeps going.

Happy New Years!

Riley's first Christmas, and the end of an amazing year

Riley's first Christmas was an exciting one. Started out on Christmas Eve with dinner with Pam's family. Her sister, Laura, turned 21 on the 24th so we had to celebrate that (along with her engagement!!!) with dinner at Kobe's Steakhouse. It was Riley's first trip to a restaurant, and also her first experience in a blizzard. We rushed from dinner to Christmas Eve Mass so we wouldn't have to stay out in that bad weather any longer than we had to. She did good all bundled up.

Christmas morning we had Pam's family and my parents over for breakfast. Santa skipped our house this year since we knew Riley would be overly spoiled by the rest of the family. Once she is old enough to understand it all we'll probably ask him to start coming by, haha. We hung out here after breakfast and opened presents and played a little Wii. Then we headed over to my parents' house in the afternoon for dinner and presents with all of my side of the family. And just as expected Riley was spoiled and got all kinds of wonderful toys, clothes, books, etc. Thank you to everyone for the great presents!!

Saturday, I spent the morning working with my brother-in-law in the basement getting the bar finished while my sister and her kids hung out with Riley and Pam upstairs. Makena read Riley books and Landon was elated to get to hold her for the first time. We went down the street to the Erwin's house to celebrate Koelton's 1st birthday that afternoon (Happy Birthday K-Man!), and then headed back to my parents house in the afternoon for the "big" Skach family Christmas. Unfortunately it was a much smaller gathering than most years due to the weather and other travel issues that kept all the out-of-towners from coming. We still had a good time though hanging out with everyone and playing games. And of course, everyone was thrilled to see Riley and she enjoyed meeting more family members.

I'm off work this week, burning some vacation time at home. Hoping to get some projects done around the house but so far after Day 1, the only thing I've accomplished is setting some new high scores on Wii. Oh well, still have a few more days. Tomorrow Riley has an appointment with the pediatrician to check her weight. Hopefully she will have gained a little bit, but either way there's a good chance he'll have us add some formula to her diet to help boost the calorie intake and therefore help the weight gain. Need to get her packing on the pounds like before so we can get her off the oxygen!

Thursday Riley will get to celebrate her first New Year's Eve. We decided to stay in again this year rather than carting her out anywhere. So if you aren't doing anything, come on over! Looks like we'll have the "usual" crowd hanging out here, and now that I have the bar downstairs done it really helps with the gatherings.

I'm guessing this will be my last post of the year, so I spent some time reading back through everything I have written so far. Hard to believe this is my 70th post. But going back to the beginning it is amazing how far we have come since our tiny, fragile, delicate gift from God came into our lives and changed us forever. 12 months ago, we had just found out we were pregnant and were trying to keep it from everyone while we figured out how to tell our families. Who would have thought 1 year later we would be the parents of a 7-month old. Despite everything, I wouldn't change a single thing and am so grateful for everything that has happened this year. 6500 visitors in less than 7 months shows how much love and support we have out there, and for that I am truly grateful. I know that without all of you, we couldn't have gotten through everything okay. I hope you all have had a great year as well, and wish everyone the best in 2010. Thank you for being a part of our journey this year and please stick around for the ride next year.

On a side note, I encourage everyone to click on the "Journey to Me" blog link to the right. Please keep Heather Moore and her son Eli in your prayers. Although a few years apart, Heather and I grew up across the street from each other. Her son is only a month old but is fighting through some major health issues and desperately needs God's intervention. Check out her blog for their story.

Also to the right are links to my Facebook photo albums. You don't have to be a Facebook member to view them, so browse through and check them out since I don't post very many photos on here.

Here's a few photos from this past week...

Asleep in her swing...it never fails, if she is being fussy and won't calm down we can put her in there and she'll fall right asleep. Best babysitter ever!


Happy baby in her Christmas outfit. She's really smiling a lot lately, and every time is better than the last. Love it!

Merry Almost Christmas!

Only 4 more days til Riley's first Christmas, woo hoo! Unfortunately, we didn't get the early Christmas present we were hoping for last week. Because Riley isn't gaining much weight, Dr. Riva opted not to take her off the oxygen yet. I don't really agree with the decision, but alas I am not a doctor so I have to live with it. Even though Riley has been able to go without the O2 for long periods at night (when the tubes come out of her nose) and her saturation remained high, she explained that she might be taking extra breaths to make up for it, which burns more calories, which keeps her from gaining weight. So she needs to show that she can gain weight on the O2, so that if they take her off the O2 they'll know if it is the reason she isn't gaining weight. Dr. Riva wanted to go another 2 months, but after my objecting we are going back in 1 month. Hopefully with Pam home now, and the possibility that Dr. Nichols will put her on some formula next week, Riley will start to pack on the weight the way she used to.

She also had a follow up vision screening last week, and passed with flying colors. We'll have to go back in 6 months (and probably every 6-12 months throughout her childhood). No more appointments this week, and only one planned next week is the pediatrician to check her weight and discuss adding formula to her diet to help with calorie intake. We've also been mixing in a bit of rice cereal to get her used to having stuff in her mouth. She seems to do okay with it and actually swallow it sometimes not just play with it.

Pam was told she didn't have to serve out her remaining two weeks at work, so she's started her SAHM (I guess that's the acronym for Stay-At-Home-Mom) status sooner than planned. She's been keeping busy with Riley and today even got lots of holiday baking done. This next two weeks should be fun for us. Already had one Christmas on Saturday night, since Pam's sister-in-law and nephew will be out of town when her family gathers at our house on Christmas morning. We'll head over to my parent's Friday afternoon, then back over there again on Saturday for the extended Skach family Christmas. Will be exciting for everyone to see Riley, some were able to see her in the hospital but many haven't ever met her. Then next week I'm taking some vacation time so will be able to hang out at home all week with my two ladies. Hope to get some projects done around the house, and get some good relaxation in. Then we'll get to celebrate our first New Year's Eve as parents! I'm told that usually results in going to bed before midnight, but we're hoping to keep that from happening.

We took our Christmas photos last week, and finally got our cards out in the mail today...after many takes (never realized how hard it is to get 2 adults, 1 baby, and a dog to all look and smile at the same time) this was our best shot:
Also included with our cards this year, Pam finally got Riley's birth announcements done and included them. I think they turned out great! Being married to a graphic designer really has its perks sometimes...

Here's another cute one from the yesterday. Riley doesn't enjoy laying down anymore, but loves to sit up and check out the world around her. She'll sit there and look around wide-eyed for long stretches of time. Can't wait to see what her inquisitive mind does once she becomes mobile.

Stay at home mom

This week marked another major event in our lives. After much discussion, and surprisingly few arguments, Pam turned in her notice at McCurdy and as of Christmas will officially be a stay-at-home mom. She tried returning to work a few days a week at the beginning of December, while my Mom watched Riley, but it wasn't working out very well so we decided this was the best option. My Mom did great, but Riley still is having trouble feeding, and with all her doctor appointments and everything else it just seemed Pam would not be able to fully concentrate on work and return full time for quite awhile. She is looking forward to being at home to attend to Riley's every need, but will definitely miss all the great people at McCurdy she has worked with over the past 2 1/2 years.

No major appointments this past week, but coming up on Tuesday is the one we've been looking forward to for awhile - Dr. Riva, the pulmonary specialist. We are hoping that she will tell us we are done with the oxygen and the saturation monitor. It is likely we will still need it part of the time, probably during the night and maybe feedings as well, but we'll find out for sure in a few days. On Wednesday, she has a follow-up with Dr. Whitfil, the eye doctor. Because she has been on oxygen so long, there is still the posibility of retinal damage, but unlikely because of the low levels she has been on - plus throughout her NICU stay she had several tests and always passed with flying colors, so we are expecting positive results there as well.

Riley's been getting out and seeing more of the world these past few weeks. We've taken her shopping a few times, but have done our best to keep her from being exposed to too much. She has also been to a few more of my basketball games, and really seems to enjoy all the lights, sounds, and action.

I'll try to post again later this week after the appointments, with hopefully some very good news. In the meantime, here's this month's "Riley and Baxter" photo...she hasn't gained much weight, but is definitely getting longer!

Happy half-year birthday!

As of 8:49pm tonight, Riley is officially 6 months old. It's been such an adventure, hard to remember what life was like before!

Yesterday was Riley's BAER hearing test. It was supposed to get done before she left the hospital, but kept getting delayed. They had to sedate her to do it, so it made for an interesting day for Pam and Riley. They had to get there at 7:45am, even though the appointment was at 9am, and didn't end up leaving until 2pm - and Riley wasn't able to eat the entire time! Just like her Daddy, it took a whole lot to knock her out, and even then she woke up during one of the last tests so they weren't able to get all the results they wanted. They want to see her again in 6 months just to make sure she continues to do okay.

Tomorrow morning is her 6-month appt with Dr. Nichols, the pediatrician. I think she'll be getting her 6 month shots, and another round of RSV. Hopefully they'll be able to help with some of the feeding problems we've been having. Latest issue is Riley's hatred of the bottle. She'll be doing just fine, but as soon as the bottle touches her lips she starts screaming. Made feeding time not very fun, and she's not eating near as much as she should since she fights it so much.

Not much else to tell, but wanted to make sure we recognized this great milestone. Only 6 more months and we can throw a big party!