Thursday, May 4, 2006

First update

So far our baby girl, Meghan Rose Genevieve has far surpassed anyones initial expectations.  When she was born they thought she would be on the respirator for a week or more.  It came out within 12 hours, and they put her on a c-pap (forgive me if I mispell or use an incorrect term for some of the medical equipment/terms, I'm not very familiar with them) which was a smaller tube.  Then they downgraded her again within another few hours to just a nasal tube with 2 small prongs pushing air into her lungs.  It is on a slower flow, and it is only pushing room air, no extra oxygen.  They are hoping to even wean her off that within the next few days to a week.  Her lungs seem to be functioning much better than anticipated.

She has an IV in to aid in nutrition needs, but again they are hoping to slowly wean her from it as she increases her feedings.  She started on breastmilk the second day, and at first was combining my milk with donor milk (which sounds freaky, but I guess they have a milk bank similar to a blood bank here in town and it is screened and tested like blood) because I was not producing enough milk. My milk has started to come in though, and she is getting plenty now from just me.  The first day she had milk they started her with 2 cc's every 3 hours.  They moved her to 4 cc's about half a day later and then this morning they hadn't gotten the orders to move her up to more because her doc was doing a transport, but the nurse said she had been sneaking her 5 because she was digesting all of the milk.  They are feeding her thru a gavage feeder tube, a little tube inserted into her stomach thru her mouth.  They suction it out after each feeding to make sure that she is digesting everything.  This evening when I went to see her, she had been moved up to 8 cc's every 3 hours!!  Plus, they will probably be moving her to 12 cc's tomorrow!  What a little piggy!

She had a few short spells of apnea, when she forgets to breathe and her oxygen level decreases, and after 3 of them (in over 24 hours, not very close together) they started her on caffeine.  Since then, she has not had any more apnea spells, and that was almost 36 hours ago!

They have been letting us hold her a little bit, they allow Scott and I to do what they call "kangaroo care" where they put screens up so we can hold her skin to skin (they put a hospital gown backwards on me, like a robe, and when Scott holds her he just unbottons his shirt).  That is the only time I have seen her actually hold still!  She is a wiggly little girl, even managed to flop herself over the other day when they laid her on her left side, which she apparently didn't like.  They have to sedate her slighly to put IV's in because she won't hold still!  :-)  When we hold her though, she just relaxes and just snuggles right up.  This evening they even let my mom hold her, although instead of kangaroo care they just swaddled her tight and let mom hold her. 

I need to call and find out how she did this evening, they were placing a central line IV because she has lost several IV's already (takes after her mom, her veins don't like needles either).  They were going to do X-rays to make sure it was properly placed, and they had planned to do more over the next few days to monitor it.  I believe they were planning to do a scan tomorrow to make sure there is no bleeding in her brain, which they said is pretty standard procedure.  She's also a bit jaundiced, but her bili ruben (sp?) counts are going down with the light they're using, and they may take it off of her tomorrow.

In order to come home, she has to fit these criteria:

1. She must be able to eat on her own, thru a bottle or breast, and keep it down. 

2. She must not be having any apnea spells or heartbeat irregulairites.

3. She must be able to maintain her own body temp

4. She must be gaining weight.

A friend at Church has nicknamed her our little M&M, for Miraculous Meghan.  I like that nickname!  She is truly a miracle, and a wonderful blessing. 

I will update this journal as much as possible, and that way everyone will be able to see what progress she is making.  Feel free to leave a comment anytime you want.  Hugs to all!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jen,
I've enjoyed reading your first few entries, especially the part about Meghan's miraculous progress and Brendan's joy at having you home! Wow, I knew the delivery was hard for you, but had no idea about the details...how scary!!! I am soooo thankful that you and your little M & M are well! It must be wonderful for you to be home again, too. I am keeping all of you in my thoughts and prayers, and sending you gentle hugs!
Love to all,
Laura (dpertot)

Anonymous said...

My Prayers are with you and M&M.

God Bless You, Cyn

Anonymous said...

Jen I love her given name. Gosh I gave my daughter 3 names because she was a big baby. Your sweet peanut's name is almost bigger than her! LOL
I also like her nickname! M&m! That too is my dd's nickname. She was my miracle baby. Thanks so much for setting this up so we can stay updated.
Positive thoughts and prayers
"auntie Kym"