Five Weeks, Five Pounds

Courtney's five weeks old today and she has reached the five pound mark. Her feedings have been increased to 40 cc's, so the amount she's eating isn't the problem...it's just how she's eating.

On the advice of an occupational therapist (because eating is her job right now), when she's being fed, she's only allowed to suck on the bottle a couple of times before it's taken away from her. This forces her to take a break and breathe. It also makes her feedings last what seems like 3 hours.

Hopefully by giving her these forced "breathing breaks", she'll soon understand to break on her own. That's the plan for now anyway. And just in case you were wondering what you've missed, here's a pic from tonight. She's growing, and yet...not quite fast enough to get her home. Sigh.

A Small Step Backwards

As much as we prepared for a misstep, I guess you can never be fully ready when it happens. After 3 days without a feeding tube and eating only by bottle, Courtney ran into a little trouble on Sunday. They tried feeding her a couple of times without success before deciding that the feeding tube had to go back in. I suppose that's better than the alternative of her choking on her formula.

Today she went in for a test to figure out why she was experiencing d-sats (a drop in oxygen levels) and bradycardias (drop in heart rate) while she was eating. The first thought was that she might just be tired after all of that bottle feeding. The less attractive possibility was that she was aspirating. Basically, she needs to figure out how to eat and breathe, just not at the same time. Then she'd end up with stuff in her lungs, and that's just not good.

She was given a feeding this morning with a delicious barium additive (Yummy!). Then they take pretty pictures to make sure the food is going down the right pipe. The good news is that it was. The conclusion is that her feeding reflexes are just developing a little slow. Just something to keep an eye on, so not a huge deal. It might just take a little longer to get her home.

She's still gaining weight, however. She's up to 4 lbs, 11 ounces. So all in all, things are good. She just needs to act her age, which I suppose is -1 months old.

Daddy's Flying Solo

Liz had a meeting at church tonight, so I was able to spend some time alone with my daughter. I gave her a bath, changed her, fed her, and did it without breaking her in the process. Yea me!

No major news to report otherwise. She's feeding more from the bottle...about two of every three feedings. And her weight is up to 4 pounds, 8 ounces. Overall, things are still progressing well.

Tomorrow she'll be 4 weeks old, so you can expect more pictures then.

Big Girl Bed

Now, when most people hear "Big girl bed", they probably think a toddler bed. In our case, we're starting a little smaller. Our little girl started in an incubator, so her big girl bed is the hospital basinette. She was moved into one over the weekend and so far things have gone well. She's kept her temperature very well and she didn't lose any weight during the first 24 hours. This was a possibility simply because of the energy she'd use keeping warm.

On the topic of food...she continues to eat. No big suprise there, but she's learning how to eat better. She's now beginning to learn the concept of taking a break from eating to breathe. An easy concept for you and me, but apparently not for a premie baby. Most babies don't gain this knowledge until 34 weeks, so at 33 1/2 weeks, Cat is still ahead of the curve. It looks as if that's the last big hurdle before we bring her home. Once she knows how to eat properly and can get to 5 pounds, she'll be home!

As of today, she's up to 4 pounds, 6 ounces. Amazing how much she's changed in just over 3 weeks. Probably only a small taste of what's to come. Take a look for yourself.

Those Damned Neighbors!

No big news to report. She's getting bigger (4 lbs, 4 oz as of tonight) but nothing has really changed since last post. But since everyone seems to be clamoring some news, here's a fluff piece.

This happened while Liz was still at the hospital. Saturday night, at about midnight, I came home for a couple of hours of sleep. As I pulled into the driveway, I saw that our neighbors had decorated our lawn with a banner and a sign, both saying "It's a Girl!" I had planned on doing something similar (balloons or something), so not only did this not bother me, I thought it was kinda cool. When I got back to the hospital on Sunday morning, I told Liz what Chrissy and Tommy had done to the house.

Liz was discharged from the hospital on Sunday afternoon and we went home. When we pulled into the driveway this time...let's just say that the decorations had increased exponentially. The banner and sign were still there, but there was now 2 additional signs, 2 balloons on the mailbox, a streamer across the top of the carport, and a duck windsock. You'd think the carnival was in town! I literally burst out laughing.

Found out later that while Tommy was up on a ladder attaching the streamer, Bob (our neighbor on the other side) came out to see who was breaking into our house. Thank God for our neighborhood watch.

Moving Day

More good news to report.

Since she was taken off of the IV late last week, she has been moved next door to the Continuing Care Nursery (CCN). Right now, the only thing she's hooked up to is the monitor which tracks heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen levels. The main goal in the CCN is to fatten her up. She is still bottle-feeding occasionally, but she's still young. Figure another couple of weeks before she's on the bottle or the boob full time.

Also, she's on the brink of being taken out of her isolation chamber. They keep her in the incubator until they're 4 pounds simply because they don't have enough body fat to be able to maintain their own body temperature. Well, tonight Cat weighed in at 3 pounds, 15.8 ounces. The nurse said that she'll probably be put into a regular baby box tomorrow night (assuming she gains another .2+ tomorrow). Then for 24 hours, they'll take her temp after every feeding to make sure she's keeping her body temp up to a steady 98.6 (or there abouts). If she can do that, no more baby cube!

After that, just keep feeding her until she's around 5 pounds and then she's coming home. We're thinking another 3 weeks or so (no need to rush things), but it'll be here before we know it.

I Got No Strings To Hold Me Down

Well, she's got one less string anyway. Courtney was taken off of the IV this morning. Her feedings have gone up to 27 cc's, so she's now getting all of the nutrients she needs by eating. She continues to gain weight...at last count, she was up to 3,11 and has been pretty consistent in gaining an ounce a day.

Aside from that good news, she has started eating from a bottle. The nurses had told us that babies don't usually develop the sucking/swallowing reflex until 34 or 35 weeks. But last night, our little 33 weeker took 19 of her 25 cc meal from a bottle before she tired out. And that was after letting Daddy bathe her for the first time (which you can't quite see in the picture, but I'm doing it!), so little Cat had a busy night last night.

Next step is she'll be moved over to the Continuing Care Unit in the next few days, and from there it's just a matter of fattening her up before we can get her home.

Then she'll be asking for an allowance and the keys to the car.

It's Raining Babies?

Baby shower. Get it? Raining? Never mind. I'm just overtired.

The baby shower was this past Saturday. Holy crap. I'm not even sure what half of the stuff is for, but I bet we'll need it. We definitely know some very generous people. I think I need to build an addition on the house just to fit all of the stuff we got. A great big thanks to everyone who donated to the cause. And especially to my sister-in-law, Mary, for putting the whole thing together.

Now the update. We just got home from seeing her and she continues to do well. She's gained a little more weight. She's now up to 3 lbs 8.5 oz. That's above her original birth weight! No breathing episodes over the last couple of nights. Her feedings are now up to 15.5 cc's each and the nurse told us that if they keep increasing the amount of the feedings, she'll be off of the IV in just a couple of days. (The IV is for calcium or other supplements since she's not taking in enough volume yet.)

And I got "Kanga Care" this morning for the first time. What an amazing feeling to have my daughter fall asleep on my chest. Exhilarating and relaxing at the same time. Can't wait till she's home so I can make that a regular activity.

There will be more pictures on the way, but the camera's all the way upstairs, and I'm kinda lazy right now. Maybe next time.