Dad's weekend visit

I didn't get in on Saturday or Sunday with Mum for her milk delivery, but I managed to get in a quick visit on Sunday night. So, the nurse asked me "Would you like to have a cuddle?" Who am I to say no? The visit was a little longer than it was supposed to be. So sue me.

She's recently been put on "ad-lib" feeding, where they let her go as long as she wants between feeds. (up to 5 hrs max) She wakes up and eats when she's hungry. She hadn't been feeding terribly well, but it may have been that she had getting enough food stuffed into her every four hours that she was probably never getting hungry. The idea is, when she wakes up now she should be good and ready, which will help encourage her to eat.

Mum asked me today if her feeding tube was out. I didn't notice during my cuddle, but thinking about it, it was. When it was time to change her tube, they didn't put a new one in.

Today she had one not-too enthusiastic feed with Mum, but then the next time she woke up she guzzled a bottle with no trouble. She's been 48 hours on the bottle. So far so good!

(2485 g on Sunday)

5 pounds!

It was just about two weeks ago that Elizabeth passed four pounds, and now she's just passed five. She's putting on weight at a good clip.

She's certainly eating enough. She's getting 60+ ml every four hours. This is the good stuff, delivered daily by the milk lady and fortified. She's getting it from the tap when she can, from the bottle when she's got the energy and from gavage otherwise. It seems like a lot of milk for that little tummy, and we've wondered if she isn't gaining too fast, but they're not concerned.

We were there for a bath lesson today. Neither of us had been there for a bath since she was born, so we were overdue. We've bathed babies before; there's nothing really different except that she is very small and loses heat very quickly.

Something else new... When she was very small I had noticed that she... well, she didn't have any butt. No buns at all. But now that she's putting on weight, she's starting to get a little bit of tush.

Dad gets a cuddle

Another weekend, another visit by Dad. I normally only seem to get to see my new wee girl on the weekends. I've made a few mid-week trips, but they end up being late in the evening and a PITA. This is OK with me as long as I get reports from Mum's daily visits, which I do.


Mum missed a visit yesterday. She's had a sore throat, hence the mask in this picture. (Better safe than sorry)

I got to have a good cuddle after this, which I haven't had for a couple of weeks. The wee girl is certainly more substantial than the last time I held her, and she's starting to fill out her sleeper. She's been eating well and is up to 2189g. (4lb 13oz)

They're giving her a bottle at every feed now, or trying to, and Mum is attempting to breastfeed every day. If she's awake, she feeds pretty well. She had to be taking bottles or boobs consistently before she can come home. No gavage feeding at home!

Moving around

Elizabeth has been moving around in the NICU these days. She considered one of the stable ones (that is good news!). This is a rare picture of her without a hat.

Her weight has been climbing, she is now 2094g (4lbs 9oz). They are now trying to get her to take a bottle at every feed.

Mother's Day

I visited with Elizabeth today and found a few things waiting for me. The NICU staff had a card for me and a poem that brought tears to my eyes. These are very nice keepsakes of Elizabeth.


Elizabeth also had a box of chocolates for me. I think she may have had some help from 2 visitors the day before (Dad and big sister).

Two visits in one day

Big Sister and I had some shopping and stuff to do in preparation for Mother's Day. We had to visit Elizabeth and talk to her about a thing or two as well.

We weren't planning to be there long, but Big Sis really wanted to be there for a feed, and we ended up staying. So here was the first, but certainly not the last meal she'll be giving her little sister! (I'll teach her how to cook tater tots. I hear little sisters love those.)

Two months old today!

Elizabeth is 2 months old today and got her first set of immunizations at the hospital.

Another Bed

Today, when I went in to see Elizabeth, she wasn't doing as well with her breathing. They did a chest x-ray and everything seemed to okay with her lungs. It seems that she was just tired. (breathing takes a lot of work). Anyway, they decided to put her back on CPAP, to give her a rest thus resulting in putting her in a crib for more space (she was in a cot).

When I called this evening, she was doing much better with her breathing and her oxygen requirements had gone down. She will be back on nasal prongs tomorrow.

First Attempt at Breastfeeding

Elizabeth and I made our first attempt at breastfeeding. All in all things didn't go too badly. She seemed a little tired. She had an eye exam today, all is okay so far.

When it came time for me to leave, she was wide awake, wiggling and looking around.

4 pounds!

Elizabeth has reached the 4 pound (1820 g) milestone!

Doing Much Better

I found out today that both the Lumbar puncture and the blood culture (from Saturday) were negative so she will only need to do a 14 day course of antibiotics.

Elizabeth is doing well on her nasal prongs, and we're going to try to start feeding from a bottle again. She was too tired today when I was in to try but I did get a good cuddle in!

And, she was selected to try out a new type of bed that the hospital is considering purchasing. I got to listen in on the training.

Not the most fun weekend

Saturday started out poorly. We had gotten a call that they'd identified the infection as Strep-B, and wanted to take a sample of her cerebro-spinal fluid to culture. This is done with a Lumbar Puncture. (aka "LP") This is not something I'd like to watch being done on my wee girl.

Saturday evening, we got to talk to the doctors about what had gone on and what was ongoing. She was showing no signs of meningitis or other complications of the skin infection, but if the spinal fluid showed signs of the bugs, she'd be on IV antibiotics for four to six weeks. First reports on the fluid looked good though. (phew)

I got to hold her on Sunday while I fed her. Once the feeding was done, Mum went off to pump and Elizabeth and I had a little nap together. (The nurse took her away and put her back in bed when she noticed this, as she was afraid I'd drop her. I haven't dropped one yet though.) That was nice.

And, because our fridge packed it in last week, we spent the rest of the weekend looking at new ones. Yaay.

Things are quite improved today

The cellulitis had improved quite a bit overnight. In fact, I was on my way in to CHEO when I got a call that they were moving her back 'home' already. She didn't even lose her window spot!

She was back on nasal prongs when I saw her this morning and had been for 12 hours. She was put back on CPAP so as to not tire her out too much. She is also back on her feeds again this morning and weight is 1670g (3lbs 11oz).

Everyone is glad she seems to be on the mend. Something so small sure can cause a lot of trouble! Her Dad thinks she just wanted to get out and see bit more of the world.

A Scary Day

Elizabeth is not doing very well. She has a case of cellulitis on her right shoulder, neck and part of her back. She is on 2 kinds of IV antibiotics and may be put on a 3rd. She has had a few more spells so is back on biPAP and back in an isolette.

While I was there, it seemed to be getting worse and a decision was made transfer her to CHEO so she could be monitored more closely and do an MRI if necessary.

However, by early evening the antibiotics seemed to be working and the area of cellulitis seemed to be shrinking.

I was there much of the day and went back again in the evening with her Dad for another visit.

It was a long, scary day.

Three Spells

When I phoned this morning to see how things are going, I found out she was back on CPAP because she had 3 spells (a spell is when she stops breathing and her heart rate drops. Usually, a pat/rub on the back is all that is needed to get them to breath again). They figured she was getting too tired.

Tonight she is still on CPAP because she had another spell. Anyway, they are now suspecting she may have an infection and have put her on antibiotics. With preemies, they start treating suspected infections before waiting for confirmation from blood cultures, which can take a few days. I guess we will see how she does tonight whether or not they will try nasal prongs again tomorrow.

Nasal prong trials

For the last 3 days, they have had Elizabeth on nasal prongs for 18 hours and then on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) at night for about 6 hours for a break.

Tonight they are going to try her on nasal prongs all night. I guess we will see how she does.

Her weight is is now 1642g (almost 3lbs 10oz). I tried her on a bottle today, but she seemed too tired to take it (only took 9cc of the 31cc). They rest of her feed was given to her through gavage tube.

Here is a cute picture from Big Sister's visit on Saturday, where Elizabeth's is holding her finger.