Big Sister's Visit

Elizabeth's big sister and Grampie came to visit today. Big Sister had only seen her once before, the week she was born. (A planned Easter visit had to be deferred)

Elizabeth is doing well. She was on nasal prongs for over 12 hours yesterday, we will see how well she does today.

Dad tried to give her a bottle today but things didn't go too smoothly. He will have to try again another day.

Mom's first feed

Mom got to give Elizabeth her bottle today and she seemed quite happy to take it too. She drank the whole bottle (30cc) for Mom.

Her weight is now 1583g (about 3lbs 8oz).

First bottle feed

Today, Elizabeth had her first bottle. She took 20cc of her 29cc via the bottle. For now, they will likely only try her once a day on a bottle as to not tire her out too much. They are still trying to get her off the CPAP machine.

Eating and Growing

I figured it was time to put a little update even though not much new to report. Elizabeth is eating and growing. She now weighs 1533g (3lbs 6 oz) .

She is still doing nasal prong trials and doing well. They usually have her on them for 6 hours at a time right now.

Midweek visit

In a rare mid-week visit for me (on a trip to the dentist, yay) we visited with the wee one today. Mum changed her and we fed her, and we got a couple of nice pictures.
Here's a contented, sleeping baby.
















Here she should be happy, (note the milk in the feeding tube that means she's getting filled up) but it looks like she's annoyed. ("What, are you still here?")
























Now, who does this remind you of?

A step backwards?

Today, when I went to see her, she seemed quite tired. They told me she needed more oxygen this morning so they didn't do her nasal prong trial, maybe tonight they will try. They did a blood gas test to make sure everything is okay and it came back fine.

She now weighs about 3lbs 3oz and her feeds are up to 28cc.

A new bed

She was due to have a clean isolette today (they change them every week) but the nurse decided that she would try her in a crib today. A crib! So far she is maintaining her body temperature. Mom now has to bring in some sleepers for her to wear to keep her warm.

Her weight today was 1374g (a little over 3lbs!) and she was 9 hours on nasal prongs.

Easter Sunday

Mom made a quick visit today and brought in a few Easter decals to decorate her isolette. There was a nice card waiting for us when I got there. The nurses had done an Easter card with her picture and footprints. A nice gift, and something to put into her album.

Grampie made another visit today and remarked how she has changed since he last saw her.

Dad's turn for a cuddle

I finally got to have a cuddle with my new little girl. I also got to change her dirty diaper. For the first time ever, I got to change two dirty diapers on two different kids in the same day. (Lucky me!)

Mom was there visiting too but she let me do most of her care. We brought in a onesie to put on her before we left in preparation to getting her used to clothes.

Good Friday update

She's doing well. She's 1317 g, with 25ml fortified feeds.
Her last IV is out. Hopefully she won't need any more.

Feeds going well

Her feeds are going well. They are discontinuing the TPN since by tomorrow she will be at full feeds. Once she is at full feeds, they are going to remove her last IV (yeah!). She had 3 IVs at one point when she was really sick.

Her weight today is 1270g. She did another nasal prong trial this morning for 4 hours. She is still on some oxygen (21-30%). Mom got to hold her again but this time did a cradle hold so I could admire her face.

Eating like a horse (a wee one)

She's taking her feeds well and is up to 14cc every three hours. When things go well, they increase this by 1cc at a time, and at her size she'd go up to 21cc.

Then, I dunno. We probably liquify a cheeseburger. :-)

Kim was in today and was able to offer Kangaroo care (skin-on-skin) again, changed her diaper and fed her. Dad is getting a bit jealous, but I'm sure I'll be offered lots of diapers in the future, when they're gooood-n-stinky.

Rapid improvement

We (both of us) went in today to have a visit, and were surprised to find wee Elizabeth on nasal prongs. These are little tubes that stick in her nostrils to supply oxygen. She's been doing so well that they are trying her on the prongs for 3 hours at a time as a test.

We just missed helping give her a bath, but Mum got to hold her skin-to-skin for a while while Dad fed her. She has a feeding tube down her nose to her stomach. In gavage feeding, milk is put in a syringe and simply drains down under gravity to her stomach. Mother and baby seemed pretty comfortable doing this, and I was glad to help. I think she's up to 11CCs every three hours. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it's headed in the right direction.

Things are still going well

This morning update is still good. She is still on CPAP and on mostly room air. She was weighed last night and now weighs 1198g (2 lbs 10oz).

My birthday present

I discovered this morning when I called that Elizabeth had decided to extubate herself. Anyway, the doctors decided not to intubate again so she was put on biPAP with the machine doing about 20 breaths for her. (Intubate/Extubate; so THAT's what they're always doing on E.R.)

By the time we went to see her yesterday afternoon, she was on CPAP and she was doing all the breathing and she was getting about 28% oxygen (room air is 21%).

A very nice birthday present for me.

Feeds going well

She is still on the oscillating ventilator but she may be coming off of it in a day or so. She is tolerating her feeds and is now on 5cc every 4 hours.

Right Side

Today, I found out it is her right lung that is not doing well. They have her resting on her left side to help keep the right lung expanded and help it heal. They will do x-rays of her lungs about every 12 hours to watch her progress.