A Day in the Life of the Turners...Now.

So at this point Karsie is, at a minimum, a two person job. She needs to get fed every 3 hours. And by feeding we don't mean get up and bottle feed her. Since she has a feeding tube in we need to make sure, during her feeding, that she doesn't pull the tube out and have it go into her lungs, which would be very bad, and also that she doesn't throw up a big amount. Therefore, someone has to be up and watch her during that hour. So our schedule goes like this:

9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. - Kevin and Michelle work together. Usually, Kevin gets the milk ready (we have to mix breast milk, rice cereal and formula to give her the extra calories and then fill up the syringes) and Michelle gets Karsie ready.

9:00 p.m. is also Karsie's dressing change. See "Changing Pinky" a month or so back.

10 p.m. to midnight - Kevin is in charge of any crying and soothing, but this is sleep time for us. Michelle pumps.

midnight to 1:00 a.m. - Kevin's shift. In charge of feeding and medicine.

1:00 a.m - 3:00 a.m. - Kevin again in charge of crying/soothing, but otherwise sleep.

3:00 a.m. - 4:00 a.m. - Michelle's shift (also pumping).

4:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. - Michelle in charge of Karsie if needed. Sleep.

6:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. - Both shift. Karsie has woken up both mornings during this shift. She is very happy and playful during this time and a while after.

7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. - Chores. Play with Karsie.

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - Both shift for feeding. Dressing change. (By the way, there are four medicines that we use and during every feed we give the medicine depending on the schedule of the medicine. For this blog purpose we will not put every scheduled medicine down).

10:00 a.m. - noon - Chores. Play with Karsie, but she's usually asleep at this point. Also, Michelle pumps again.

noon - 1:00 p.m. - Both shift.

1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Nap if time (one of us at a time).

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Both shift. Michelle pumps.

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Nap if time (the other one of us). Usually consoling Karsie as she is getting grumpy.

6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. - Both shift.

7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Get ready for bed. Michelle pumps.

The second night/day we were able to get much more sleep. Karsie slept through the night again, but we worked out a routine where we were able to get much more sleep in during the time we have reserved for it. So far she's been a fairly easy baby considering. We just have a million things to do FOR her....and we're loving every second of it.

Karsie's New Home

Karsie in her crib.  She loves sleeping in this.
On Daddy's lap.  
Grandpa and Karsie are reunited after a short time apart.  But it seemed much longer.

Karsie at her first doctor's appointment.  Sounds funny to say after spending three months in the NICU.  We LOVE her new doctor.  This picture was right in the middle of a raging tantrum. We happened to calm her for 5 seconds to take this picture.