Elizabethan Era

This kid is TROUBLE

2007-09-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

Paraphrasing "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"...

"From the day she was born, she was trouble..."

For some time now, Wee Liz has been crawling around, going like stink, and getting into everything. She regularly goes through the paper recycling bin and dumps it. She pulls books and movies off shelves and tosses them. She steals toys from her big brother and pulls her big sister's hair. (sometimes even when she hasn't been abused) She screams like a banshee.

And now This!

We are in trouble now. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

One thing that's interesting is that Liz has become bipedal almost exactly halfway between the other two. Big Sister started at one and Little Dude at two, and Trouble (aka Miss Grabby-Grabs) is just a few days from 18 months.

BTW, The "Miss Grabby-Grabs" nickname comes from her secret power. When you aren't looking, her arms can double in length. Things that you thought were safely away end up in her hands, or in her mouth, or in your lap. I ended up with a full pint of Waterloo Dark dumped into my crotch once. Neither of the other kids did that.

Trouble, I tell ya, Trouble.

One Year

2007-03-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Marie is one year old.

In one way, I hardly think it possible that a year has passed. But generally I think that it has been a long, long year.

Mum and I have been counting down to this day since December. December is when things started to go bad with the pregnancy. Mum was in and out of the hospital repeatedly, and on strict bedrest for quite a while. Considering how little I get done at the best of times, I don't know how I managed, but I did. Every day, every week that went by with Liz still in the womb allowed her to get bigger and stronger. We were hoping for 30 weeks; we would have settled for 28; but at 26 weeks our waiting was over. They told us that it was going to get worse, not better, and the wee girl (as she would turn out to be) would be better off outside than in. I was very hesitant, I really didn't want it to happen that soon. But, they were right, it got worse, and she was hauled into the world just before midnight.

Not the most dignified start, really. Notice her "light bulb" shaped head. There was almost no amniotic fluid in there, and her head was squeezed into this shape.

But here she is now. Things could have turned out worse than this:

Here's another video of her in her jolly jumper.

Happy birthday, Wee Liz.

First Christmas and into a New Year

2007-01-29T14:39:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth was largely a spectator to Christmas this year. She took it all in with aplomb.

That cold she had on the last post turned into a big, noisy cough with a lot of rumbling in her lungs. It was an awfully big cough for such a little girl. It was keeping me up at night. I'd lie there listening to her breathing and occasionally gagging and/or throwing up in her bed. It seemed to help for her to sleep face down on my chest. (And that, I didn't mind a bit)

The first cold left, seemingly only to be replaced by another, and then another.

For a while there, the coughing was bad enough that she'd end up barfing up anything she'd eaten, so we took to feeding her half-bottles so they'd stay down. This kept her going, but it didn't give her a chance to gain any weight. Lately, when we feed her she'll sometimes eat well, but then cough up her meal with a load of accumulated phlegm. Then we just feed her again and it usually stays.

A little while back, Mum took Wee Liz in to CHEO for a chest x-ray. They were there for a long time before they X-ray tech came back and said they could leave. Apparently it's not easy to distinguish between a bad X-ray and a good X-ray of bad lungs. :-( (sigh) Very soon thereafter, her pediatrician put her on a 2nd puffer for the winter. It seems to be helping, and she he seems to be throwing off the cold again. Hopefully she'll get a break before the next one.

(This post created in January but not published until March!)

A second stay at CHEO

2006-11-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

Well, that nasty cold that the wee girl had acquired didn't improve over the weekend. It seemed like her cough was getting worse instead of better, and she had started wheezing a bit, so Mum took her to the doctor on Monday for a check. The doctor suggested she go to CHEO.

The concern was her breathing. With BPD you see the diaghram involved more in breathing, and you could tell from the way her stomach muscles were moving that she was working hard at it. If things were to take a turn for the worse we wouldn't want it to be at home in the middle of the night.

Once at CHEO, she got hooked up to an SPO2 monitor for the first time since she left the NICU. (Dad wants one of these for home - he kinda misses the 24hr monitoring - it was very reassuring). They also gave her a couple of doses of Ventalin via a mask. This apparently acts as a stimulant - Mum says she was booting non-stop for a while after this.

Her sats were not bad, which is good, but she ended up being admitted for observation. Mum of course stayed with her for what ended up being two nights. It was kinda back to old times for Dad and the two older kids.

They also tested her for RSV. RSV is a perpetual worry for little kids, and particularly for preemies (strike one) or kids with lung disease. (strike two) Fortunately, the RSV test came back negative. Interestingly, we're told RSV "season" is normally the winter months, but this year, the "season" didn't end in the summer. This is probably not a good sign.

So she ended up being diagnosed with bronchiolitis. It's halfway between (literally) bronchitis and pneumonia. What does this mean? It's a viral thing, so we treat the symptoms and keep a very close eye on her. It also means we keep washing our hands and yelling at Big Sister when she forgets to do so. Little Dude still doesn't bother much with her, though he signs and says "baby" when he sees her.

All the doctors and nurses thought she was adorable (they're right) and Mum had no problem getting a volunteer to sit with her when she needed a break. We're very glad CHEO is there for us when we need it, but it's good to be home again.

First Halloween

2006-11-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

It is Elizabeth's first Halloween. She didn't go out trick-or-treating but Mum dressed her up a little.

Big Sister has always had a tempermental attachment to Eeyore; Big Brother was always a Tigger kind of guy, so it seemed natural that this one should get assigned to Piglet.

Who you callin' a piglet?

On another note, she seems to have picked up the cold the rest of us have had. She's breathing okay, but her cough sounds pretty nasty. We'll be keeping a very close eye on this.

At her doctor's appointment this week, she weighted in at 5kg exactly (11lbs).

No news is good news

2006-10-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

We haven't posted much lately, but it's because things have been going well for the wee girl.

She successfully had her half-birthday on September 13th. Lizzie May didn't celebrate the way her big brother did - he barfed in his big sister's mouth. (A fine commemoration) Liz had already woofed in her sister's mouth some time ago, so I guess she didn't want to repeat herself. Her half-birthday was uneventful, as we recall.

She had her CHEO followup clinic appointment last week and she is doing fine. Her corrected age right now is 4 months and they assessed her development at that age, so she's doing fine. (her real age is 7 months)

One thing they're still keeping an eye on is a trace of ROP. I don't know if we've discussed this before. It is abnormal blood vessel growth on the retina, and apparently it may be related to being on oxygen early in development. Anyway, Liz had some areas of concern, and it's been improving, but there's still one little spot of concern. If it doesn't clear itself, they may want to zap it with a laser to prevent any damage to the retina.

She now weighs about 10.5 lbs. Weight gain has been slow but overall she is healthy.

Networking advice from the little one

2006-08-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

I was having a chat with Wee Liz today, and to my surprise, she started telling me about what kind of home networking equipment we should be looking at.

See, I need to upgrade one of the computers. Our cable modem is pretty fast, but it tops out around 5Mbps or so. Given that, I've been thinking that a Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) on the motherboard would be good enough.

But she thinks it should be faster. She looked at me today and said "GigE, GigE". (e.g. Gigabit Ethernet, or 1000Mbps) She must be planning on some serious data transfers.

At least she didn't ask for OC-192. (It could be worse; Katie once told me "Da Da Da die die die!")

Another milestone!

2006-08-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

Today, Elizabeth's weight was measured at 8lb 9oz. (3886g)

Why is this a milestone? Well, that was the exact weight of her big sister on the day she was born. And it's only taken four and a half months to get there.

Now Wee Liz can start to catch up to Kate.

A new tactic

2006-07-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Wee Liz was taking a long time to eat. She'd eat for a while, nod off, then wake up after a little while and want another snack. To head off the snacking, we've been making sure she's good and hungry for her feeds.
It's been working. She's eating better and faster, and sleeping more soundly. Burping still has to be done carefully, but it's still faster overall. Her weight gain is better too. (up to 7lb 13oz)

Kim is trying to nurse her almost every feed, and she's getting better at that all the time. It'll be good to be able to dispense with most of the bottle feeds. Babies are much more transportable when they can drink from the tap.

I've never watched so much TV

2006-07-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

Wee Liz is eating well, but if we don't burp her carefully and often, we get to feed her twice. Consequently, feeding can take a while.

I often find myself doing the feed/burp/spitup cycle at night, and so I end up watching more TV than I've watched in years. The home improvement shows almost make me want to do something about the 50 sheets of drywall I've got stacked in the basement. Almost.

Here's a picture of the we girl just hangin' out in the world smallest hot tub. This bowl had potato salad in it just minutes before. Which reminds me of a tradition I need to uphold. Hmmm...

Giving it up for Canada Day

2006-07-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

So as it turns out, "Dominion Day" was illegally renamed to "Canada Day" way back when. Oh well.

We haven't had a blog update in a while, as there wasn't much to report. Lack of excitement is a good thing.

However, there was one thing...

Wee Liz had gone 12 days without a poop. This was a new one on us. We didn't worry about it too much as she was eating well and her belly didn't seem tender or distended, and she seemed to not be in any discomfort. After a week, we took her to the Doctor who told us that she would poop when she was ready. Apparently kids can go through phases where they absorb everything.

So, we loaded her up on prune juice, and we realized why she was saving it up, as she finally pinched off a loaf on Canada Day. Then she really cut loose the next day, and all has been fairly regular since.

Last day of school

2006-06-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

Big Sister Katie is finished with school. She is still tickled pink with her wee little sister.

The little guy, not so much, but at least he only occasionally tries to kill her.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

2006-06-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

Today was Elizabeth's due day. Happy supposed-to-be-Birthday!

All the breastfeeding and pumping has been great for baby, but it's been good for Mum too. It looks to me that all that milkfat has been coming straight off her ass. But, apparently, there's no good way to say that.

Three kids? Whose idea was this anyway?

2006-06-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates; it has been busy.

Apart from the first night, I haven't been as nervous as I thought I might be. I've gotten used to the idea that the wee girl will keep breathing on her own now. I figure she's probably good to go for 100 years now. (but I still check from time to time; she's so little)

We've been coping. The little girl is supposed to be feeding every four hours or so, and this can take two hours to do. I find we have to be very careful and thorough about burping her. If we don't get all the bubbles, we will see part of her meal again. The other two were like this as well. Fortunately, my patented Miller Baby Burping technique is working. The "Don't Shake A Baby" people might not like it very much, but it works for me. :-)

Elizabeth seems to have settled in to her new environment. We thought that it might be too dark and quiet at home here (it is never really dark in the NICU), but this hasn't been a problem. She might even be appreciating the moments of quiet too.

You could see it in her eyes the first few days; if Kate or Duncan started wailing nearby, she'd open her eyes as if to say "What the hell is THAT?" but, she seems to be getting used to the commotion. She's learning that she has to compete for attention too. If we're immersed in some other crisis, she gets louder and louder as she gets more and more hungry. I figure it's good practice for her lungs, and if I'm otherwise occupied (say, chasing Duncan down the hallway to wipe his butt before he sits on something) I'll sometimes let her practice a bit.

Oh yes, and this week was Kate's dance recital, so we've had her to rehearsals every night. As I said, it's been busy.

A busy week

2006-06-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy week for Elizabeth. She is adjusting well to her new home. She had 3 appointments this week, one with her pediatrician (first visit), a follow-up eye appoinment and a visit with lactation consultant. We are looking forward to things quieting down.

Her weight is now 2705g (about 6lbs). Everyone seems to be adjusting to her, a few crazy moments but we all seem to be able to cope.

Reactions

2006-06-09T23:29:00.000-07:00

Big Sister Katie is thrilled.

Big Brother Duncan is not. He knows his world had been rocked, and he's not happy about it. When he first saw her, he looked at this thing in Mum's arms for no more than a second and decided he wanted to have nothing to do with her. Kate had to restrain him to get this first warm, loving portrait of all three kids.

Home

2006-06-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

After 89 days, Elizabeth Marie is home.

On our way

2006-06-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

We only learned yesterday that she'd passed her car seat test, which was the final hurdle. She had to be able to prove that she could keep her oxygenation up while strapped into her seat. We hear she was in it for two and a half hours with no problems.

We were at the NICU for several hours today. There was a flurry of paperwork to do, appointments to go over, questions to ask, stuff to gather up, and then we were off.

I was reminded of when we came home with Big Sister Kate. It seemed amazing at the time that they just gave this teeny baby to a couple of obvious nincompoops, and away we went with no adult supervision.

I was pretty nervous on the way down, because after all the warnings about keeping her away from colds and viruses, here we were in an elevator filled with strangers. In the pharmacy where we stopped to pick up a couple of things, a little girl wanted to see the baby and got too close. A karate chop dropped her in her tracks, and we escaped in the confusion...

We had been dropped off and picked up at the hospital by Grampie, as we had been many times before. Kim has been at their house almost daily for the duration. When we got back to their house to drop him off, Grammie was there to see if she was really with us. She really was.

And then we were off again.

A busy week

2006-06-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

With the prospect of the wee one coming home, we had some work to do.

The cradle was still in our room, but had been afflicted with "Horizontal Surface Syndrome" and filled with three years worth of crap. This needed to be emptied and to have a leg reglued.

The baby swing was in the basement needing repairs. We had loaned it out, and when it came back, I put it in our garage. Then one cold winter's day, I knocked it over and the brittle plastic brackets broke. Though we won't be using the baby swing for a while, SWMBO informed me it needed to be fixed before she came home. And so it came to pass.

Then, there were prescriptions to fill, appointments to be made, and a big batch of goodies for the NICU staff to acquire...

She's been in the NICU for just under three months, with cardiac, respiration and SP02 monitors and 24-hour care, and now she's coming home with just us to watch over her? Terrifying!

No more nasal prongs

2006-06-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth has been off nasal prongs(oxygen) since last Thursday. The nurse decided to try her off them and she did fine. She needed them briefly on Friday evening and then for one feed on Saturday but has been good since.

If all goes well, she can come home Friday!

Infant CPR

2006-06-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

Dad and I ended up making a evening visit this week after our infant CPR course. The hospital encourages parents of the NICU to take the course. Hopefully we won't have to use it.

Elizabeth is still taking all her feeds by mouth. So no more gavage feeding for her. She is still on some oxygen (via nasal prongs) and they would like to wean her from that before she comes home. She now weights 2490g (5 1/2 pounds).

Dad's weekend visit

2006-05-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-05-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-05-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

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

Another Bed

2006-05-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-05-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

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

Doing Much Better

2006-05-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-04T18:55:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Big Sister's Visit

2006-04-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-04-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

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)

2006-04-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

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.

A better day

2006-03-31T20:57:00.000-08:00

She continues her slow climb back uphill.

They're keeping a pretty close eye on her. Those clear plastic things on her in this photo are for blood gas sensors. They can monitor O2 and C02 levels in real time. These are a bit finicky and can suddenly go out of calibration, so they're backed up with frequent blood tests.

A turn for the worse

2006-03-30T23:22:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth has not been doing well this week.

We were on our way to the General and almost there when we got a call from the doctor on duty.Mum was talking while I was driving, but it didn't sound very good from my end.

Elizabeth had been deteriorating all day. They had stopped her feeds. She had regressed to the point where she was on 100% oxygen and the HFO (High Frequency Oscillating) ventilator.

The HFO keeps the lungs inflated and does rapid in-and-out breaths as a treatment for PIE (Pulmonary Interstitial Emphysema). PIE is a condition where air has leaked into the wrong side of the lungs. This can actually be caused from being on a ventilator, as apparently they're hard on the little lungs. The RTs (Respitory Therapists) walk a fine line. Too much or too little ventilation, and there's trouble.

So, she'd been given steroids to reduce lung inflamation, and she was on mild sedation due to the HFO. In addition, her hemoglobin levels were low and they were treating it as sepsis (a blood infection) and had given her antibiotics and a blood transfusion. (a little one, of only 15ml... but still, the poor kid had IVs everywhere)

Basically, they'd done everything they could for her, and they were telling us that it didn't look very good.

So I had to have a good talking to her. I held her little hand, apologized for not being there for a few days and promised I'd do better. I told her the important rules of the house. ("When Mummy's unhappy, everybody is unhappy") I'm not sure, I might also have promised her a pony...

Anyway, we were there a few hours, and while we were there, her blood gas O2 levels crept up, her C02 levels crept down to an acceptable level, and things seemed to settle down.

Maybe it was the transfusion, maybe it was me holding her hand, maybe it was the pony. But she had a good night.

Moved one room over

2006-03-28T20:14:00.000-08:00

I found out today they have moved Elizabeth from one room to another. She's got an obstructed view, but she hasn't complained.

Her blood gas was not as good today. The ventilator is doing 35 breaths/min.

Her weight today is 1000g (dropped 61g). This likely a result of a different scale since she now has to be taken out of the isolette to be weighted.

Echo was done today, likely to get results later.

Quick Update

2006-03-27T20:11:00.000-08:00

She is still on the ventilator at a rate of 33 breaths/min and 25-30% oxygen. Her weight is 1061g. The x-ray of her bowel is looking better but still holding off the feeds. They are going to do a repeat echo on her heart either Tuesday or Wednesday. (note: no one can hear a murmur anymore).

Upgrading Isolettes

2006-03-26T20:05:00.000-08:00

When I called this morning, she was getting 37 breaths/min from the ventilator. They did another x-ray of her bowel and it looked better but are still holding off feeds. They will let the doctors on rounds tomorrow decide.

I decide to inquire if a brain scan was done in the first few days to check for brain bleeds. Elizabeth's came back normal.

When I went in to visit this afternoon, I got to change her diaper, take her temperature, move the O2 sensor from her left foot to the right and do her mouth care.

They are upgrading her isolette tonight since she is over 1kg (1089g), she no longer needs the cadillac version which is usually reserved for the smaller sicker babies.

Oh, and Grampie got a visit today.

Holding her own

2006-03-25T19:57:00.000-08:00

Her weight today is 1033g (not really any change) and still no feeds. She had 2 bowl movements since yesterday which is a good sign maybe they will restart her feeds soon. Note she is getting food via intravenous called TPN ( total parenteral nutrition). it contains protein, fat, sugar, vitamins and minerals.

Her blood gas is better ( this measures the oxygen and the carbon dioxide in the blood). The ventilator is set to 40 breaths/min and she is getting 26% oxygen (room air is 21%).

PDA confirmed

2006-03-24T19:51:00.000-08:00

Her weight today is 1032g. She not getting any feeds. They did another x-ray of her bowel and it didn't look good. They are also giving her lasik (diurectic) because they think she is retaining fluid. An echo was done at noon and it confirmed she has a PDA. She is being given medication (indomethacin) that helps to close the valve.

Heart problem?

2006-03-23T19:41:00.000-08:00

Her weight is now 1011g and her feeds were at 6cc every 3 hours but now have been stopped since her system did not seem to like them. X-ray and cultures were done to check on things. The ventilator is now doing 45 breaths/min for her.

An echo (echocardiogram) will done on her heart tomorrow since her breathing is getting worse and sometimes the nurses and doctors can hear a murmur. They are suspecting that PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosus). This is a valve in the heart that would normally close in a newborn baby after it is born, but sometimes in preemies it doesn't always close.

Another update

2006-03-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

Her feeds are now 4cc every 3hours and her feeds will be incremented 1cc every 9 hours. Her current weight is 968g. The ventilator is set to 40 breaths a minute.

Update

2006-03-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth is getting 2cc evry 3hours for feeds. She is still on the ventilator and is likely to be on it for a week, I'm told.

First Hold

2006-03-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

Mom was in to visit today and was lucky enough to be there when they changed the incubator (which they do every week). So Mom got to hold Elizabeth while they were setting everything up. Elizabeth now weighs 901g, and she seemed very tired today from all the handling the night before.

A name is chosen and a new era begins

2006-03-19T19:25:00.000-08:00

We finally picked a name! Her name is Elizabeth Marie.

We decided on the first name first. We told Katie, but we told her it was still a secret from anyone else. She managed to keep this secret for a whole weekend until we told the rest of the family.

Our kids so far had been given good, strong names, taken from the works of William Shakespeare. We looked for another good, strong name, but the pickin's are a bit slim for girls names. (though Titania had a certain ironic appeal for a wee baby...) But what better, stronger name than the name of Shakespeares Queen? It certainly fit the theme, and had the bonus of having been present in both sides of the family.

The second name gave us more trouble than the first. We narrowed it down and finally agreed on Marie. This should have been all figured out before she was born, but we didn't have the time we thought we would.

So there you have it, the new Elizabethan Era has begun.

(P.S. Only her Dad is allowed to call her "Lizzie May" :-) )

--

Elizabeth is doing okay today. She is on the bipap machine. She has had no feeds since midnight but they plan to restart at 1cc every 3 hrs at 6pm.

We got a call at 9:50pm that they had to intubate her again. They found fluid on her left lung and part of it had collapsed. She is still breathing room air.

Home from the hospital for half my girls

2006-03-17T20:16:00.000-08:00

I brought Mum home from the hospital today. She's recovering well.

It seemed a bit strange to bring her home from the hospital without a baby, but she's in good hands, and she seems to be doing well.

They've warned us that preemies can have a 'honeymoon' period, and that we can expect some ups and downs in the future.

A visit from big sister

2006-03-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

Big sister got to visit today to get introduced to little sister. We thought she had gotten over her cold, but I made her wear a mask just to be safe.

A baby is born

2006-03-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

Our new baby was born at 11:12pm weighing 936g and 35cm at 26 weeks gestation (14 weeks early). She arrived with a little cry and her apgars were 9 and 9. (after 1 and 5 minutes, respectively) We heard her wailing in the other room while they stuck tubes into her.

Very good considering how early she was.