She's home!! :)

Day # 19 - 4lbs, 10.6oz

We have a NICU nurse coming to the house to check on Emerie tomorrow and a pediatrician appointment on Wednesday for a weight check.  It probably won't be on a daily basis, but I'll try to keep posting to the blog with pictures and updates as much as I can. 

Day # 18 - Going Home!!

Day # 18 - 4lbs, 8oz

Emerie did great with her bottles over the last 24 hours and as long as she passes her "carseat test" tonight, we get to take her home tomorrow.  Premature babies sometime have difficulty breathing in a carseat because they don't have enough head/neck control to keep their airway open.  Therefore, every baby born before 37 weeks gestational age has to pass a carseat test before leaving the hospital.  I brought in Emeries carseat this morning and left it at the hospital.  At some point tonight they will strap her in, put a pulse oximeter on her to measure her oxygen level and let her sit in the carseat on the floor of her room for 90 minutes.  As long as her oxygen levels stay normal during the 90 minutes she passes the test.  Most babies do well in the carseat test, so hopefully it won't be a problem.

Coming tomorrow....  Pictures of Maddy and Oliver meeting Emerie!!




Andy and Maddy left this morning for Camp Thunderbird.   They are camping tonight with the Y Guides.  It's eight kindergarten aged girls and their dads.  I'm sure they'll be getting a lot of sleep....

First activity of the day.....

Day # 17 - No more NG tube!!

Day # 17 - 4lbs 7oz; 2020 grams

Emerie had a great day yesterday and finished all of her bottles.  She did so well that they took out the NG tube and changed her feeds to ad lib.  This means that she will still get a bottle every 3 hours but they'll put a little extra milk in the bottle and let her eat whatever amount she wants to eat.  They'll then look at her intake over a full 24 hours as well as whether or not she gains weight to determine if she is eating enough.  If she does well with this and "behaves herself" as her doctor said, she'll get to come home on Sunday!!  Very exciting!!

Boppy came to visit today!

Emerie's nurse Jean.  She took care of Oliver when he was in the NICU too. 

Day # 16

Day # 16 - 4 lbs, 6.2oz; 1990 grams

Emerie enjoyed her first night in the bassinet.  She didn't have any trouble maintaining her body temperature out of the isolet.  She finished 4 of her bottles and came close to finishing the other 4.  She has to finish all her bottles for 72 hours straight and when she does, she gets to come home.  When Andy gives her a bottle she always finishes it and he's starting to get a little cocky about his bottle skills.  If he keeps bragging, Andy is going to be on bottle duty every night when Emerie comes home!! 

In other big events, the nurses asked us to go ahead and bring in her carseat so they can do her carseat test (more on this later).  This mean they think she's getting close to being ready to go home!

A little perspective on how little Emerie is

Emerie's new bassinet

Two weeks old!!

Day # 15 - 4lbs, 3.4oz; 1945 grams

Emerie was 2 weeks old at 12:59 this morning.  She gained a little more than an ounce yesterday which is great!  In other good news, we're down to one cord.  When she was in the NICN she had at least 4 cords, the PCVC, pulse oximeter, telemetry (heart rate and respiratory rate monitor), and periperal IVs.  She got rid of the PCVC and IV about a week ago and yesterday they took off her pulse oximeter.  So now we only have to deal with the telemetry cord and NG tube.  It makes holding, dressing, diaper changes so much easier!!

Emerie made the big move to the bassinet today!!  Exciting for us, but she didn't seem to notice.


 
Maddy sent in "Monkey" to keep Emerie company.  When I got to the NICU this morning, Emerie's nurse had put Monkey beside her and she was lying there awake smiling at him. 

Day # 14

Day # 14 - 4lbs, 3oz;  1910 grams

Emerie now weighs 10 grams more than her birth weight!!  She did not do well with her bottles overnight, but today finished all 3 bottles that Andy and I gave her.  Hopefully she will continue the trend during the night tonight.  She is not out of the isolet yet.  It is on the lowest settings possible and she is maintaining her temperature, but since she wasn't doing very well with the bottles last night, they didn't want to place another stress on her by moving her out of the isolet today.  If she continues to do well with her bottles overnight, she will move to a bassinet tomorrow.

It's still going to be a while, but we started the discharge planning today.  This includes a class on "How to care for your baby."  News flash...you should not leave your child unattended in the bathtub.  I also got to watch two DVDs.  I can't remember the names, but the theme of the first is "don't shake your baby" and the theme of the second is "put your baby on it's back to sleep."  So now that we have receive the appropriate education on child care, we're one step closer to going home!!

 Oliver accompanied me to my follow-up appointment at the OBs office today.  The high was 70 degrees, but he insisted the hat was necessary.  He was quite the hit with the nurses and scored Oreos and a lollipop.

  

Day # 13

Day # 13 - 4lbs, 2oz

Emerie has now become the boring baby in the NICU which is a good thing.  She's what they call a "feeder and grower."  She is up to 36 mls of milk at each feeding, so basically we're just waiting for her to get big enough that she has the stamina to take all of it out of a bottle and not have any put down the NG tube.  She did pretty well yesterday.  She took the majority of her bottles, but had to have some portion of 4 of them put down the NG.  She is also almost ready to come out of the isolet and into a regular bassinet.  They have been weaning down the temperature on the isolet over the past several days and today they turned the warmer off.  If she is able to keep up her body temperature on her own, so should be in a bassinet within the next few days.


As you can see, its a rough life in the NICU.........