Growing Baby!

Katie is doing great! As of this morning, she is up to 3 pounds, 4.2 ounces!

That is great news.. but even better news? On Monday, they switched her off the CPAP and is now on the high-flow nasal cannula. This is a HUGE STEP! She is doing well on 21-25% oxygen.

Ron and I have both been sick for the last few days, so neither of us had seen her since Sunday. Ron was finally feeling better enough today to go see her. There will be more pictures to come this weekend!

11.28.12

Kangaroo Care.. for Dad!

Katie is doing great! She now weighs 1350 grams (2 pounds, 14 ounces). She has been on around 21-30% oxygen. She is up to 25ml every 3 hours.

She had her follow-up head ultrasound on Monday, and the report came back as "resolving". That is great news! Hopefully she won't have any more brain bleeds.

In other news.. Ron got his turn at Kangaroo care today! It was his first time holding Katie:

11.21.12

Our first family photo!

11.21.12

And, per request, another picture of her wearing Daddy's wedding band. It was a little tight to get it around her fingers, and I didn't want to force it. I guess that means she's growing out of using it as a bracelet.

11.21.12

Kangaroo!

Katie is doing great! She is up to 2 pounds, 10 ounces. She is eating 22ml every 3 hours. That's nearly 6 ounces a day! It doesn't sound like much, but she is very tiny. She is tolerating the CPAP very well, and usually is on around 24-28% oxygen.

So far I've changed 3 diapers. Ron has changed none. Yes, I'm keeping count.

Oh, yeah, and today I got to hold her for the first time:

11.18.12

11.18.12

Hiccups! (video)

I forgot to mention.. with her being off the vent, air is actually reaching her larynx, and therefore.. she makes noise! Her cries are just little wheezes right now, but as you can hear in the video below, her hiccups are definite squeaks!

Update! (lots of pics)

Katie is up to 2 pounds, 9 ounces!

She is up to 16ml every 3 hours. That's about 4 ounces every day! Friday night, after we left the hospital, they called us to let us know that they barely had enough milk to get them through the night. They were definitely surprised when we showed up with nearly 50 bottles (not all full, I'm not THAT good).

The head ultrasound report came in and there is no change in her bleed from the last ultrasound. The followup is scheduled for November 19.

In other news.. she is off the ventilator! This is huge news! That means that she's breathing on her own! That means no more tube down her throat! Well, not a big tube that makes her look like she is snarling. They moved her feeding tube from her nose to her mouth (it's very tiny), and put a CPAP mask over her nose. It delivers oxygen and constant pressure, keeping the sacs in her lungs open so she can breathe on her own without having spells when she stops breathing, or apnea. They still happen, but not as much/bad as they would if she was only receiving oxygen and not pressure. They're currently watching her carefully to make sure she can tolerate it without her heart rate dropping. They even mentioned maybe starting Kangaroo Care soon!

Here's a bunch of pictures of Katie over the last few days:

11.08.12

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11.13.12

11.13.12

Pics and Small Update

Katie is doing well today. As of last night, she is up to 1060 grams (2 pounds, 5 ounces). She is eating 5ml every 3 hours. They haven't given us the report from yesterday's head ultrasound.

They did have a quarantine on the floor because of an instance of pink eye. We had been required to wear gloves, masks, and robes. They have now lifted the restrictions. It was so nice to actually touch her again.. I had forgotten how soft she is!

Now we can give everyone another picture of her wearing Ron's wedding band:

11.06.12

And, of course, the foot shot for Grandma!

11.06.12

Waving "Hi"!

11.03.12

Smiling Baby!!

Katie was doing really good when we came to visit. She hasn't gained any weight since last time. They have moved her feedings up to 2.5 ml/cc every three hours. The doctors are going to reevaluate her daily and hopefully start feeding her larger amounts! I'm definitely ready to start taking her milk up there every day.

To make up for such a tiny update, here is a video of her smiling! Be sure to change the quality to 1080 HD, otherwise it's a little blurry.

Screenshot from the video:

11.01.12