Elise had a very good day! Last night, her ventilator tube was a little out of position so they took an X-ray and fixed the positioning. That seemed to help her, "I'm not gunna breathe" episodes. A little de-satting at times today (lowering her oxygen levels), but no bradys (low heart rate) or apnea (stop breathing) episodes! Doctors are still considering CPAP...probably by the end of the week she will transition. She is on very low vent settings currently, so it all depends on when Elise is ready to start doing all the breathing work on her own. Hopefully the time spent on CPAP is not long...most preemies do not like the CPAP. I can't say I blame them...who wants a space helmet on with 2 big tubes stuck up their noses?!
We were so thrilled when Elise reached 2 pounds yesterday! I posted the good news right away on Facebook...too soon. Sure enough, as all preemies do, she decided to drop a few grams today. She is currently still 1 pound 15 ounces. No fear! We can't sweat the small stuff with an experience like ours. Very soon we will be able to make her 2 pound weight "blog official." Stay tuned!
This momma got a nice 3 hour holding session with her girl today! Dad and I are taking turns, so if Elise behaves herself, daddy will get his turn
again on Friday. It is so wonderful to hold her. She truly is like a little baby kangaroo in her "pouch."
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| Momma's kangaroo! |
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| The beautiful hand-knit hat I wrote about in the last blog -- fits her teeny head perfectly! |
It was also nice to hear Elise's day nurse say that Elise's medicine list is getting quite small...yahoo! That's a beautiful thing considering she is less than 5 weeks old and not even 31 weeks adjusted. We pray this trend continues with our little tiger. She is now up to 15 ml's of milk fortified to 24 calories every 3 hours. She also gets a daily dose of vitamins every morning. She got her PICC removed today as well- so no more IV!
We enjoyed today coming to an end by having a nice dinner together and then heading back to the NICU to say goodnight to Elise. The thought was brought up at dinner that we have to sneak in all the date nights we can-- so true! After dinner, we got to share in 8:00 hands on time and give her kisses! (We call this our "night cap.") Before we left to head home, I asked Karrie (our favorite night nurse) if the nurses said such wonderful compliments to all babies like they do to Elise. We've noticed whenever a nurse (who doesnt have Elise as a patient) walks by Elise's isolette she always says, "awww what a gorgeous baby!" Of course we are biased as parents and think she is the cream of her crop, but I wanted to know if nurses said those things to all babies or they truly meant it just for Elise. I loved Karrie's response: "If I don't think a baby is cute, I'm not going to say anything! So those nurses truly mean it- Elise is beautiful!"
Makes a mommy and a daddy beam with pride! We certainly agree with the nurses!
Until next time,
G & J & E
She is so cute!! I love her little hat and her pretty yellow bow, her sweet little nose and those precious little eyes! Truly a blessing!! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing that she is doing so well! Keep fighting beautiful little one! And I think it is so beautiful that you are allowed to do kangaroo care with her. I can't read enough good things about that. I only wish you could do it all the time- good for your soul and her healing. Enjoy those dates momma you guys deserve it.
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