"My story..." Monday, part 4

This will be my last entry of journal entries from our hospital stay. Next week, I'll share a little bit about what happened BEFORE my daughter made her early entrance into the world...

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2006 11:56 AM, CST

sweet C. continues to do well. she is off her blood pressure meds and will be done with her antibiotics this weekend. her blood cultures have been negative for bacteria since the 7th. her pneumonia should break up on its own over time now... she will likely need some kind of respiratory support for awhile yet since she's so small and all this has been hard on her lungs, but that's ok. she weighed in at 740 grams yesterday, about 1 lb 11 oz. we're excited about that! her head ultrasound remained unchanged and that's a good thing... it means there's no bleeding going on in there. she will continue to get head ultrasounds every wed just to be sure. she's a little doll baby and we're so glad she's tough too! it's been such a joy to have her eyes open wide. thanks again for all the wonderful messages you all have left for us!

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2006 08:53 AM, CST

it's been a LONG time since an update... sorry! we had a hectic few days. A. got sick with a high fever and we were dealing with that, trying to get him better for his first bday tomorrow! he's back to his healthy, smiley self again.

soooo... C. hit 2 lbs yesterday!!!!!! what a big girl! : ) she's doing just great with her feedings and is up to 16 mL (over half an ounce) every 3 hrs and they fortify the breastmilk to add calories. they had to up her ventilator settings the last couple days (as we've said, it's the roller coaster...), but she's still doing very well.

there was some discussion about a possible intestinal infection, but cultures revealed no problems. she is no longer getting weekly head ultrasounds because her last one was totally clear... we're sure they'll check again sometime, but not every wednesday any more.

C. spent an hour and a half doing "kangaroo care" with mommy yesterday and did just great with it. the only bad moment was when our little troublemaker decided to grab her oxygen tube and bend it! she's always up to something... : )

it's always so nice to read your messages... we are all doing well. it will be wonderful to print this journal and guestbook and show it to C. when she's older...

MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2006 02:41 PM, CST

SHE'S OFF THE VENT!!!

well, the spunky princess continues to thrive! she was doing so well on friday, A's bday, that they decided to take her off the ventilator already that afternoon! she is now on a machine called a c-pap that delivers pressure and oxygen through a little mask, but she has to do all the breathing on her own. she is doing exceptionally well on it so far! there is always the chance that she would need to go back on the vent, but the odds go down with each day, barring illness of course. she had a dip in her weight yesterday, but is now back up to 2 lb 2 oz. she is eating 18 mL every 3 hours and they fortify it up to 30 cal/oz to help fatten her up even more! one of the nurses has offered to teach mommy how to prepare her feedings one of these days. we had 2 hours of cuddling today and C. did very well with it. amazingly, our little spitfire has NOT tried to take off her oxygen mask yet! can't wait to update you with more crazy-C news! ; )

******************************

Thanks for reading!