Day # 9 - 3lbs, 14.8oz
Emerie had a good day today. She gained a little weight yesterday and took all of her bottles overnight and most of her bottles today. She's up to 27 mls at each feed. Her bilirubin was 9.7 today which was down a little from yesterday. So the plan is to take her off the lights tomorrow. Hopefully for good this time. Since she's tolerating her feeds so well, they stopped the TPN today and took out her PCVC. So now we just wait and give her time to get bigger.
For some reason I can't get the pictures to upload tonight, but tomorrow I'll have pictures of tonight's "dinner" and Emerie's first Halloween costume.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Day #8 - Graduation!!
Day #8 - 3lbs, 13.4oz
Last night, Emerie graduated from the Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery (NICN) to the Neonatal Progressive Care Nursery (NPCN). The NPCN is basically the NICU for less sick babies. It's great! The rooms are a little bigger, there is more privacy and it has a much more relaxed atmosphere. Emerie's doctor, nurse practitioner and nurse in the NPCN today all took care of Oliver 2 1/2 years ago when he was there.
In other good news, Emerie gained weight yesterday. She has been taking her bottles so well that they're going to go ahead and increase her feeds to 21 mls today and 23 mls tonight so they can go head and start fortifying the milk. Her bilirubin did go back up again, so as Andy says, she gets another "day at the beach." They will check another bilirubin again in the morning and hopefully she will only need to be under the bili lights for one or two days.
Our new digs. Take note of the window! :)
One advantage of being a NICU baby...if you're on constant cardiac and respiratory monitors you're allowed to sleep on your stomach.
Last night, Emerie graduated from the Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery (NICN) to the Neonatal Progressive Care Nursery (NPCN). The NPCN is basically the NICU for less sick babies. It's great! The rooms are a little bigger, there is more privacy and it has a much more relaxed atmosphere. Emerie's doctor, nurse practitioner and nurse in the NPCN today all took care of Oliver 2 1/2 years ago when he was there.
In other good news, Emerie gained weight yesterday. She has been taking her bottles so well that they're going to go ahead and increase her feeds to 21 mls today and 23 mls tonight so they can go head and start fortifying the milk. Her bilirubin did go back up again, so as Andy says, she gets another "day at the beach." They will check another bilirubin again in the morning and hopefully she will only need to be under the bili lights for one or two days.
Our new digs. Take note of the window! :)
One advantage of being a NICU baby...if you're on constant cardiac and respiratory monitors you're allowed to sleep on your stomach.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Day # 7
Day # 7 3lbs, 12oz
Emerie gained 10 grams yesterday. Yea for small victories! She took 2 bottles overnight and got the rest through the NG, but the doctors seemed pleased that she was able to take the two. They're continuing to increase her feeds and she should go up to 19 mls tonight. Some fun premature baby trivia I learned is that if Emerie was the size of an average adult she would need more than 10,000 calories a day in order to gain weight and 50% of those calories would need to come from fat. That's a lot of pizza!! Anyway, the point of all that is in the next day or two she will be eating enough that they can start fortifying the milk with the extra fat, protein, vitamins and minerals that she needs to grow and gain weight.
This is what I found when I got to the NICU this morning...a rare moment of wakefulness. :)
Emerie gained 10 grams yesterday. Yea for small victories! She took 2 bottles overnight and got the rest through the NG, but the doctors seemed pleased that she was able to take the two. They're continuing to increase her feeds and she should go up to 19 mls tonight. Some fun premature baby trivia I learned is that if Emerie was the size of an average adult she would need more than 10,000 calories a day in order to gain weight and 50% of those calories would need to come from fat. That's a lot of pizza!! Anyway, the point of all that is in the next day or two she will be eating enough that they can start fortifying the milk with the extra fat, protein, vitamins and minerals that she needs to grow and gain weight.
This is what I found when I got to the NICU this morning...a rare moment of wakefulness. :)
Monday, October 27, 2014
Day # 6
Day # 6 - 3lbs, 12oz
Emerie didn't lose any weight yesterday which is great! Hopefully tomorrow she might even gain some weight. This morning her bilirubin was down to 7.9, so no more bili lights. Which means we can now hold her as much as we want! Emerie's done pretty well with her bottles. She up to 11 mls every 3 hours right now and they'll increase that to 15 mls tonight. She was able to finish the whole bottle on half her feeds. The other half of the time she wasn't able to finish so the nurses had to put the rest of the milk into her stomach through her NG tube. We were hoping she would be such a good eater she wouldn't need the NG, but it's pretty unusual for premature babies to have enough strength to eat as much as they need to eat in order to grow. So until she's stronger she'll get a bottle at every feeding and whatever she leaves in the bottle will get to her stomach through the NG.
The other bonus of being off the bili lights is that she can now model the latest preemie fashions. :)
Emerie's first outfit, thanks to Boppy.
The NICUs most popular accessory. The NG tube.
A little Halloween fun with Maddy and Oliver.....
Emerie didn't lose any weight yesterday which is great! Hopefully tomorrow she might even gain some weight. This morning her bilirubin was down to 7.9, so no more bili lights. Which means we can now hold her as much as we want! Emerie's done pretty well with her bottles. She up to 11 mls every 3 hours right now and they'll increase that to 15 mls tonight. She was able to finish the whole bottle on half her feeds. The other half of the time she wasn't able to finish so the nurses had to put the rest of the milk into her stomach through her NG tube. We were hoping she would be such a good eater she wouldn't need the NG, but it's pretty unusual for premature babies to have enough strength to eat as much as they need to eat in order to grow. So until she's stronger she'll get a bottle at every feeding and whatever she leaves in the bottle will get to her stomach through the NG.
The other bonus of being off the bili lights is that she can now model the latest preemie fashions. :)
Emerie's first outfit, thanks to Boppy.
The NICUs most popular accessory. The NG tube.
A little Halloween fun with Maddy and Oliver.....
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Day #5
Day #5 - 3lbs, 12oz
Emerie did great yesterday. No apnea episodes since starting the caffeine. She was able to finish all 7mls at each feeding, but seemed to get tired towards the end. Starting tonight she will get 11mls at each feeding. Her bilirubin was down to 8.9 this morning, so I got to hold her for a couple of hours. She is going to stay under 1 bili light today and as long as her bilirubin is down tomorrow morning, they will take her off the last light. We've been able to hold her very little since she started with the bili lights because it is so important for her to spend as much time under the lights as possible. It will be wonderful to be able to hold her as much as we want!!
Maddy sent "Monkey" to the NICU for Emerie.
Emerie did great yesterday. No apnea episodes since starting the caffeine. She was able to finish all 7mls at each feeding, but seemed to get tired towards the end. Starting tonight she will get 11mls at each feeding. Her bilirubin was down to 8.9 this morning, so I got to hold her for a couple of hours. She is going to stay under 1 bili light today and as long as her bilirubin is down tomorrow morning, they will take her off the last light. We've been able to hold her very little since she started with the bili lights because it is so important for her to spend as much time under the lights as possible. It will be wonderful to be able to hold her as much as we want!!
Maddy sent "Monkey" to the NICU for Emerie.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Here's what has happened so far...
Babies born at 32 weeks gestation are expected to have difficulty maintaining their body temperature, remembering to breath, and learning to eat. Therefore, shortly after she was born, Emerie was taken to the NICU and placed in an isolet that helps to keep her warm. She was put on monitors to follow her heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygenation and had an IV placed keep her hydrated.
We were able to hold her for the first time mid-day on Wednesday and she spent most of that first day sleeping. She wasn't allowed to eat her first few days because premature babies intestines are not fully developed and if they have too much food too soon they can develop something called Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) which can be life threatening.
Day #2 - 4lbs, 0oz
Emerie had a Percutaneous Central Venous Catheter (PCVC) placed. This is a special IV that is put in a vein in her ankle, goes through her body and ends in the vein that runs into her heart. Since she couldn't eat, the PCVC enables her to get Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) which is IV fluid that contains glucose, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals, basically everything her body needs to function. On her soecond day, Emerie was jaundiced as well. Her bilirubin was elevated to 8.9 so she was started on bili lights to help her body metabolize the bilirubin. She also had two apnea episodes. Basically, this is when she just forgets to breath. This causes her heart rate and oxygen levels to drop. Babies usually "self-resolve"and just start breathing again on their own, however sometimes they need to be stimulated to remind them to breath. Emerie self-resolved with one of these episodes and had to be stimulated with the other.
Day #3 - Food!! :) - 3lbs, 14oz
Emerie's bilirubin was 13.6 in the morning so she was started on "triple photo therapy." This involved 2 bili lights shining down on her and a bili blanket that she lies on top of. They started her on caffeine through her PCVC which is supposed to help prevent the apnea episodes. She also got to start eating.....a whole 3mls of milk every 3 hours!!
Day #4 - 3lbs, 14oz
Emerie was able to take all of her feeds from a bottle without any trouble so she was increased to 7mls of milk every 3 hours. Her bilirubin was down to 9.8 which is great. Day 4 of life is when the bilirubin usually peaks so she stayed on all 3 bili lights to make sure the level keeps going down.
She's going to have the best tan in the family........
We were able to hold her for the first time mid-day on Wednesday and she spent most of that first day sleeping. She wasn't allowed to eat her first few days because premature babies intestines are not fully developed and if they have too much food too soon they can develop something called Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) which can be life threatening.
Day #2 - 4lbs, 0oz
Emerie had a Percutaneous Central Venous Catheter (PCVC) placed. This is a special IV that is put in a vein in her ankle, goes through her body and ends in the vein that runs into her heart. Since she couldn't eat, the PCVC enables her to get Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) which is IV fluid that contains glucose, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals, basically everything her body needs to function. On her soecond day, Emerie was jaundiced as well. Her bilirubin was elevated to 8.9 so she was started on bili lights to help her body metabolize the bilirubin. She also had two apnea episodes. Basically, this is when she just forgets to breath. This causes her heart rate and oxygen levels to drop. Babies usually "self-resolve"and just start breathing again on their own, however sometimes they need to be stimulated to remind them to breath. Emerie self-resolved with one of these episodes and had to be stimulated with the other.
Day #3 - Food!! :) - 3lbs, 14oz
Emerie's bilirubin was 13.6 in the morning so she was started on "triple photo therapy." This involved 2 bili lights shining down on her and a bili blanket that she lies on top of. They started her on caffeine through her PCVC which is supposed to help prevent the apnea episodes. She also got to start eating.....a whole 3mls of milk every 3 hours!!
Day #4 - 3lbs, 14oz
Emerie was able to take all of her feeds from a bottle without any trouble so she was increased to 7mls of milk every 3 hours. Her bilirubin was down to 9.8 which is great. Day 4 of life is when the bilirubin usually peaks so she stayed on all 3 bili lights to make sure the level keeps going down.
October 22
Emerie Claire was born at 12:59am on October 22nd weighing 4lbs 3oz and measuring 17 inches long. She was born 7 1/2 weeks early so she will be in the NICU about 3 weeks before she will be ready to come home.
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