Day 41, 11.30.08

Evelyn started taking a bottle today!!! She is doing well and when Roger was there this afternoon, Evelyn took nearly the entire bottle in 10 minutes! It took her another 20 minutes to finish the last 10 cc's or so, but still, amazingly well. She will still have a feeding tube to help her finish her feeds until she can finish her entire bottle in 30 minutes or less. Whatever she doesn't finish will be fed in through her feeding tube.

Here she is today holding Roger's hand. Notice... no feeding tube through her nose. They had to take it out to switch sides anyway, so they left it out for a while. It's so nice to see her pretty face with nothing attached!

She is now up to 44 cc's/feeding and has doubled her weight to 2,040 grams (4 lbs 8 oz). She's still having some spells, but is recovering on her own. She'll have to grow out of these and be on 100% bottle feeds before she can come home. We're getting more excited about being able to bring her home sooner rather than later, but we still think Christmas is a good target date.

One other update is that Roger and I took our infant CPR class - a requirement for us to be able to bring Evelyn home. We hope to never use it.

Day39, 11.28.08

Evelyn lost some weight today, but that was to be expected. She had 3 BIG poops today and they stopped giving her the sodium supplement, which was causing her to retain some extra fluids. Yesterday she weighed 2,015 grams (4 lbs 7 oz) and today she weighed 1,990 grams (4 lbs 6 oz).

She is now getting 40 cc's/feeding and they shortened her feeding time to just one hour. Evelyn is handling this shortened time just as well as when she was getting fed over 2 hours. They will likely shorten this to just 30 minutes and start trying her on a bottle over the next few days.

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Day 38, 11.27.08

Happy Thanksgiving! Evelyn is growing and thriving in her open crib. She is currently at 1,980 grams, or 4 lbs 6 oz. They are now feeding her over 1.5 hours, rather than the 2 hours she was at previously and she seems to handling this change well. Once she's on the bottle, they want her to be able to complete her feeding within 30 minutes. She remains at 37 cc's/feeding, but this will likely be increased today or tomorrow.

So, in order for her to come home, she needs to be taking a bottle exclusively and have 5 days of no "spells." She's already maintaining her own body temperature. Maybe a Christmas homecoming? It's not out of the realm of possibilities, but wouldn't be a surprise if she takes longer. She's already calling the shots!

Day 36, 11.25.08

Look who's in a big girl bed! Today, Evelyn was moved to an open crib and so far is able to maintain her temperature all on her own. So long as she is able to maintain her temperature at, or around, 37 degrees Celsius (98.7 F), she should be able to remain in this bed.

Other good news is that the ophthalmologist came by yesterday (11.24) and found that Evelyn does not have retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). They will continue to check her eyes every 2 weeks until her eyes and the blood vessels in the eye reach maturity. Then she will have to follow-up with a doctor at 6 months and then again (I think) when she's 2 years old for another exam. Some things like cross-eyes, lazy eye, and extreme nearsightedness are more common in preemies, but may only become apparent when they are 8-12 months old.

We also forgot to mention a few days ago that the doctor noticed a heart murmur on Evelyn. Thankfully it appears to be a benign murmur that she may grow out of, but they are following it and may do an ultrasound of her heart sometime before she is discharged just to take a closer look. If this was a bad murmur, Evelyn would likely not be able to maintain her oxygen saturation and other vital signs as well as she is currently doing.

Evelyn continues to gain weight and was up to 1,905 grams (4 lbs 3 oz) yesterday (11.24). Her old bed - the isolette/incubator - had a scale integrated into the bed. Now that she is in the open crib, the nurses have to weigh her on a regular scale. Unfortunately, they were all being used at the time she is usually weighed, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow for the latest weight. Evelyn's nurse cautioned that her weight may go down simply because we are weighing her on a different scale, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens...

Day 34, 11.23.08

Big news today is that Evelyn is off the nasal cannula and doing great! Look at her pretty face! They took her off this morning and she is handling this change really well. In fact, she's probably doing better than she was before. For whatever reason, she is maintaining her oxygen saturation better without the nasal cannula. One theory is that the cannula was introducing air to her stomach which was causing her to have more reflux. More reflux lead to more "spells." Without the cannula, she is having less reflux so is more comfortable and having less "spells."

At yesterday's weigh-in, she tipped the scales at exactly 4 lbs. Today she continues to gain and weighed in at 1855 grams, or 4 lbs 1 oz. What a big girl! So big that they have to continue to increase her feeds. She is up to 37 cc's/feeding. They also measured her last night and she is now 15.5 inches tall/long.

Roger is now getting "concerned" that Evelyn may come home earlier that we had originally expecting. Maybe Christmas isn't such a far fetched idea!?! Thankfully we already have the typical baby stuff. I guess we should stock up on diapers soon.

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and prayers. Clearly it's helping. Just look at how she's growing!!!

Day 32, 11.21.08

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVELYN!!! Evelyn is one month old today.

Evelyn is growing and growing. Tonight she weighed... drumroll please... 1,790 grams or 3 lbs 15 oz. Wow! She is measuring just over the 50th percentile for her age, which is perfectly average. Couldn't ask for anything better.

Her breathing spells are becoming less frequent, so her oxygen flow has now been reduced to 0.5 liters/minute. Depending on how she handles the decrease in flow, they will keep trying to wean her off the nasal cannula over the next few days. She remains on 21% oxygen (room air).

Because she is growing and gaining so much, they have increased her feeds to 35 cc's/feeding. That's just over one ounce per feeding! They continue to deliver her feedings over a 2 hour time period and will likely try to start her on the bottle 2 weeks from now. We did receive the donor breastmilk last Wednesday, so she is now on half breastmilk, half formula.

Day 29, 11.18.08

Evelyn is growing and growing. She was up to 1,525 grams, 3 lbs 6 oz on Sunday, but dropped down to 1,490 grams, 3 lbs 5 oz, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. She was retaining some fluids (very common in preemies) so the nurses/doctors assume she has just peed it out (or pooped it out) and is figuing out what to do with all this extra fluid she had/has.

Evelyn is getting better with her breathing too. Yesterday, she didn't have any spells that the nurses had to help her with, so today they decreased the flow on her oxygen back down to 1.5 Liters/minute to try and wean her off the nasal cannula.

She remains on full formula feeds... for now. If you recall, when Evelyn first began feeding through her feeding tube, it was on donated breastmilk. Within the past week, the doctors decided that Evelyn is well enough to receive full formula, but there are many benefits breastmilk can provide that formula cannot. So we've taken it upon ourselves to order and pay for milk from the Mother's Milk Bank in Denver. Roger and I believe strongly in the benefits on breastmilk, but unfortunately, I have not been able to produce any. So luckily there is such a thing as human milk banks (like a blood bank, but for breastmilk). We are supposed to recieve the milk tomorrow morning. We will then bring this milk to the hospital for Evelyn. She will then be on half formula and half breastmilk.