Memorial Day/special visitor

Yesterday was Memorial Day.  I went up to see Meghan in the morning and Scott stayed here with Brendan and finished mowing.  I asked mom if she wanted to go, and she invited Fr. E, our Priest, who had been wanting to meet Meghan.  So, we picked him up and he came with us.  He wore his collar, which ended up being a pass into the NICU b/c they let him come in with Mom and me, instead of limiting us to only 2 :-)  I don't know if it was the collar or the holiday, but it worked.  We got some photos of him holding Meghan, so as soon as mom emails them to me I will post them.  He also gave her a blessing before he left. 

She's doing well.  Yesterday she was 4 lbs 4.9 oz, then last night she was 4 lbs 6.7 oz.  I don't think she had any apnea yesterday, and only one the day before.  She's taking on average about 8-10 cc's from most of her bottles, sometimes she is just too tired.  I talked to Mom and Scott and even one of the nurses and they all told me, as nice as possible, that I need to relax and let Meghan do her thing on her own schedule.  They're right.  I think I was just having a hormonal moment or something during the last entry.  I just want her to come home. 

Sunday

She's now 4 lbs 3 oz, eating 40 cc's and she's IN A BED!!!!!!!!  They moved her out of the isolette while we were there this afternoon.  She's in one of those little clear acrylic basket things they use in the regular nursery.  I called a little while ago and they said she's doing great in it, her temp has stayed normal and no problems.

As for bottle feeding, it seems to depend on the nurse.  Some of them are like "oh, she's only 33 weeks so we aren't even going to really try unless she's REALLY wanting to" or they only even try every other time.  I would honestly prefer them to at least TRY at each feeding, unless she's sound asleep, because the ones that do try usually have good results.  When they do try, she usually takes at least 10 cc's and she's taken her whole feeding 3 times in the last couple days.  She may only be 33 weeks, but she has so far surpassed all their other expectations wayyy ahead of schedule, so the doc is hoping she will be ready to go home in a couple weeks.  She HAS to start nippling all her feedings though, so she needs her nurses to work with her.  Maybe they will more once she's 34 weeks.  I dunno.  Part of me wants to talk to them, or at least to the doc and request them to at least try at almost every feeding, but I don't want to sound like a pushy mom.  I don't want them to think I'm rushing her and not putting her needs first, because that's not it.  I just feel that she would catch on a lot quicker if they would try more often.  She's doing very well on the bottle when she does try.  She's got the suck-swallow-breathe thing down pretty well.  And when I feed her I watch her cues, if she starts having sat drops of falling asleep I stop, I'm not going to push her too far.  I just want them to at least try, not just say "oh, she's only 33 weeks so don't bother."  I know a lot of 33 weekers don't take bottles at all, but then again a lot of 33 weekers also don't hold their own body temp without the incubator, and they still require caffeine to avoid apnea spells, some of them are still on nasal cannulas to assist breathing.  She's quite advanced for her age, and I feel that some of her nurses just group her into a generalization of what a 33 weeker should be doing, KWIM.  ::::::::::sigh:::::::::  Sorry, just needed to vent a little.

Friday and Saturday

Sorry I didn't get a chance to update yesterday, so now I'm doing a 2 day update.  

Friday:  Scott's birthday.  His parents went with us to see Meghan.  His mom held her for the first time (see photos) and his dad got to see her for the first time in a couple weeks.  We got to talk to her doc and he said that it might only be a couple more weeks!!  No way to really tell yet, it depends on how soon she starts eating all her feedings from a bottle and how she does when they move her out of the isolette.  But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel at least.  She was 3 lbs 15.5 oz yesterday.

Saturday: I went up with my parents for a short while.  My mom held her, my dad visited her but is a bit intimidated by her size to hold her yet (he's 6'4", a big guy, so to him she is super tiny) she is still bottle feeding at about half her feedings, usually taking 10-15 cc's.  Still a few minor A's and B's, nothing too major and totally expected for her age.  they went up to 40cc's for her feedings.  Oh, and she is 4 lbs 1.8 oz!!!!!!!  Finally over 4 lbs.  Such a big girl!!  She's doing very well.  Not sure if we are going back up tonight, or if Scott might go up by himself or what.  We shall see. 

Thursday update

She had another good gain yesterday, she's now 3 lbs 14 oz.  Only one ounce smaller than I was when I was born (full term, just tiny), and she is officially one lb heavier than she was at birth!!!!!  Yayyyy!

Scott gave her a bottle today, she took 14 cc's from it before she quit and we gavage fed the rest.  They will be moving her to a regular bed soon, one of those little clear box things they use in the nursery.  She's ready to move out of the isolette, temp wise, but not quite ready size wise.  Probably in the next couple days.  She might be over 4 lbs at her weigh in tonight, she gained over 2 oz yesterday.  She's been having a few more apnea spells so they are going to check her residual caffeine level soon and see if she needs to go back on it or not. 

We also talked to the nurse about rooming in, a friend of mine said she did that with her baby at a different hospital.  Our hospital does it too, they have a room where you spend the night in there with your baby but it is right next to the NICU and has monitors that can be monitored from the nurse's station.  Basically to make sure you're comfortable taking care of the baby and that the baby is comfortable with you.  They reccomend one or two nights just before you go home, and they said they will go over it more with us when we get closer to her discharge date.  I'm really looking forward to that date!!  I just wish we knew when it is. . . .

more photos!

My cute baby girl!  Mom went up with me last night to see her grandbaby, and we got some more great photos.

 

Meghan nursed for about 20 minutes until she had a little heartrate drop, so I stopped.  Then she was too tired to bottle feed, so they just put it thru the gavage tube.  I still plan to go up for one or two feedings a day, but I think I'm not going to nurse, just bottle feed.  She's not getting much milk from nursing, only a few cc's, then she's too tired to bottle feed.  Yesterday I guess she took 30 cc's from a bottle once, and 18 another time, so she does a lot better on the bottle.  The nurse said a lot of preemies go home on the bottle and mom's pump or formula feed.  I plan to keep the pump for a while and just bottle feed or nurse a little once she comes home, but if nursing makes her too sleepy for a bottle and she's not getting enough milk, I don't think it is benefiting her much.  I'll talk to the nurse about it.  The main thing is that no matter how she eats it, she's getting my milk and not formula, that will help her so much in the long run.

Brendan is going to his Grandparent's house today (Scott's parents) and Scott and I  are going up to see her then going to work on moving furnature in her room.  We need to move the dresser out of Brendan's room b/c it goes with the crib and has a changing pad spot on it, and we got him a new big bookshelf (he has drawers under his bed for clothes, doesn't need a dresser.)  He saw the shelf downstairs and loved it, he thought it was very fun to climb on so we will need to keep a close eye on him LOL.

Scott's birthday is tomorrow.  We're going out to eat with his parents, then my parents are taking us out on Saturday.  X men opens tomorrow too, we might go see it during the day.  And of course we will go visit our baby girl, maybe Scott's parents will join us.

great nursing!

I went up for her noon feeding and she nursed for almost 30 minutes!!  She must have been hungry b/c as soon as I put her up there she latched on right away and wouldn't let go.  I tried to switch sides after about 20 minutes and she didn't want to, I had to pry her off!  She didn't nurse as well on the other side so I tried the bottle, she took about 5 cc's before getting too tired.  Her sats stayed perfect while she was nursing, started dropping when she was bottle feeding so I took that as her cue for getting too tired.  She is sooooooo cute!  She's doing well today, no A's or B;s (Apnea or Bradychardia [sp??] spells)  and she's been trying to bottle feed at every feeding.  Oh, forgot to mention last night that her weight was 3 lbs 11.4 oz!!  I'm going back up tonight with my mom and maybe my dad, he has never held her yet so if he comes up with us it will be his first time holding her.  :-)

quick midnight update

I didn't get to go up there tonight, they were closed b/c a baby was having surgery in there so they shut the whole unit down to avoid infection.  I did just get off the phone with them though, she's had a few short sat drops but all have been self resolved, no heartrate drops this evening, and she's been bottle feeding about every other feeding, she just took 14 cc's from the bottle a few minutes ago.  (her full feeding is 34 cc's).  The night nurse said she was going to nipple every other feeding to give her a little break in between, she'll gavage feed the other feedings.  We'll go back up tomorrow for her noon feeding.  She's doing good!