3/16/06 Update

Sean and I have been trying to spend some more time with the kids and focus more on eachother. It's been rough over the past few weeks with our stress levels so high. It's definitely taking EFFORT to remain positive through this all. From what I've heard this can either break or make a couple and we're determined to make it out even stronger. So that's why there hasn't been an update for a few days. We actually didn't even turn on our computers yesterday evening at all!

Well, Emma has put on some more weight. She is no 2 lbs. 5 oz. YAY! You can definitely see the difference too. Her neck is almost starting to get a roll. She is just getting cuter and cuter by the day. she's now up to full feeds (6 cc/ml per hour). Her PICC line started to clot today so they went ahead and removed it. They're hoping not to have to put it back in. It was used to deliver her fat emulsion and added nutrients, but now with being on full feeds she shouldn't need it anymore. It's so nice that she doesn't have any IV's or anything in her now. All she has is the NG tube which goes down her throat and into her tummy for her continuous feeds and her nasal canula for oxygen. She is still requiring about 25-35% oxygen through the canula. When they try to bring her down to room air she starts having more spells. It's just a matter of her maturing a bit in age and size. Hopefully as she gets bigger the spells will lessen.

There is a concern with her still having oxygen. The longer she is on oxygen the higher chance of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and having vision issues. At this point though there's really no choices. She needs the oxygen. She will most likely be tested for ROP sometime next week. Her hearing tests can't be performed until she is in an open crib since they are sometimes affected by the isolette noises. Once she can maintain her body temperature on her own and handle the noises of the NICU she will move into an open crib.

Sean and I are now able to hold her pretty much whenever we want. It's starting to feel more like she's actually our baby and less like she's a baby we gvo to visit and have to get permission to touch. That is a great feeling to be able to touch our daughter without asking if it's ok. We've learned to wtch her monitors, and her color and how she's acting to know when to just let her rest or when she would be better off being held. She seems to know us and typically does better while there, especially when we hold her skin to skin. Yesterday and today I even took her out of her isolette, swaddled her, and untangled all of her wires to hold her all by myself. I felt so accomplished!

Other than that there hasn't been a whole lot of change. They did up her caffiene since she seems to have all her apneac episodes and brady episodes while asleep. They're hoping the caffiene will help.

I will probably not update again until Monday, unless there is another major milestone or setback.