Friday September 28 - Day 25

Just a quick post to update on how Aimee is doing. She is 1316 grams or 2 pounds, 14 ounces now. Hopefully, by the end of the weekend she will be 3 pounds. She is still off CPAP, it's been over 48 hours now. 

*Edited*

We decided to go see her this afternoon. We were on our way to Toronto to go to Medieval Times (Mike won tickets on Monday) and we stopped in for about an hour and a half. When we got there, she was asleep. She turned her head away from us so we couldn't even see her face.  At 4pm, her nurse took her out so we could each hold her for half an hour before we had to leave. She was so wide awake. Her feeding tube is now in her nose instead of her mouth. They couldn't do that before because of the CPAP machine. They don't seem to expect her to go back on CPAP at all, the machine isn't even at her bedside anymore.

Her doctor came to talk to us when we first got there. He was telling us that once she gets to 1500 grams she can be transferred. She was at 1316 grams last night. That should only be a week or so until she is at 1500. They decided to transfer her to their level 2 nursery, but don't have a bed for her there yet. Once they have an open spot, she will be moved there. She won't be in the NICU anymore, which is a good thing because it means she is doing really well. 

I took a bunch of pictures, but for now here are 2 of them. 

This one made me laugh when  I looked at it. I asked Mike to take a picture of me holding her and this is what I got. She was yawning, but the picture makes it look like she is yelling at me. 

The nurse put a little hat on her. She decided she wanted to suck on her fingers instead of her soother today. 

Wednesday September 26 - Day 23

We were surprised when we got to the hospital and saw Aimee off CPAP. Apparently, around noon she decided she had enough and pulled it off. The nurse said that she was doing fine off of it, so they decided to just leave it off. By the time we got to the hospital, it had been off for about 6 hours. She was doing so much better than last Friday when they had took it off. Last Friday, she was squirming around, crying and going red in the face. Yesterday, she was just laying there sleeping and when she was awake, she seemed a lot more alert and happy. 

She's up to 17 mL feeds every 2 hours now. The nurse said she was going to change the feeding tube to her nose instead of in her mouth. She weighs 1298 grams or 2 pounds, 13 ounces. Hopefully within the next few days, she will hit 3 pounds. 

Today (Thursday) she is still of CPAP. Last time we called was around noon and she was still off. That was 24 hours off. They said they might transfer her to the level 2 nursery, which is the intermediate care unit. Right now she is in the neonatal intensive care unit. After the weekend, they might transfer her here to Cambridge or to Kitchener. We want her to be in Cambridge because it is close to our house, but Kitchener seems like the better hospital for her to be at. It's still a lot closer than Hamilton.

This one is from Monday, I just loaded it on my computer today.

This is from Monday too.

 These ones are from Wednesday...

Fast asleep

She was stretching, but it looked like she was waving.

Took this one right when we got there yesterday and saw she was off CPAP

After getting her diaper changed before we held her.

She loves to put her hands on her face.

While I was holding her.

Mike holding her.

She was a little bit relaxed

Monday September 24/Tuesday September 25 - Day 21 and 22

I went to visit Aimee yesterday with my mom and sister. When I got there, the nurse came over and was telling me how she was doing. She was up to 1227 grams (2 pounds, 11 ounces). She said that she is still gaining weight fast and over the next few days they may reducer the human milk fortifier (HMF) in her feeds so she doesn't gain so fast. Until the last few days, she wasn't gaining fast enough. Now she is gaining too fast. She was still on 14mL feeds.

The nurse said that they think she has a PDA (Patent ductus arteriosus) and they wanted to do an echo to see if it is bad and whether they need to do anything. She was telling me that it's a heart valve that didn't close before birth and it's common in premature babies. 

We left the NICU for a little while to get something to eat. When we came back, they were doing the echo so we weren't allowed in for half an hour. After they finished, we went back in and visited for a bit longer and I got to change her diaper. 

Today, Mike called and got the results from the echo. She has an asd (atrial septal defect). Right now, they aren't going to do anything about it because it doesn't seem to be affecting her at all. It seems like a fairly common problem from reading about it and it's not hard to fix if they have to do something about it. She is up to 15mL feeds and gained 30 grams. She is 2 pounds, 12 ounces now. It's good to see she gained, but didn't gain too much. One ounce a day would be what she should gain if I was still pregnant so that seems much better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrial_septal_defect

Aimee is 3 weeks old today. 

Here are some pictures from yesterday.

When I got there yesterday, she was wearing a sleeper. It was a little big on her. 

I love this picture. She has one hand under her head. They changed her into this onesie after her echo because her sleeper got covered in ultrasound gel. It fit her much better than the sleeper did.

She was licking her hand.

The nurse came and put her soother in her mouth and Aimee held onto it with both hands while she was sucking on it.

Sunday September 23 - Day 20

Aimee got to wear clothes for the first time today. We were surprised when we walked in and she wasn't laying there in a diaper. She looked so cute in her little gown. The nurse brought over a sleeper for her to be changed into at her 8 o'clock "handling time" when they change her, take her temperature, feed her and usually weigh her.

Today her weight was up to 1140 grams (2 pounds, 8 ounces). They are a little concerned about how fast she gained that weight since yesterday she was 1035 grams. 105 grams in one day is quite a big weight gain. Mike called tonight to see what her weight was but they hadn't weighed her yet. I guess I will just see when I go tomorrow.

Tomorrow, they should be doing her ECG to check on her heart murmur. The nurse practitioner said that it could just be small and they will leave it and see if it fixes itself.

She was crying a lot today while I was visiting her with Mikes mom. She wouldn't calm down so the nurse took her out and I held her. Within a few minutes, she was calm. She had her 2pm feed and just laid there looking at me and sucking her soother for a while. Then she went to sleep. At 4pm, they took her out again and let Mike hold her. He held her for 2 hours until it was time for her 6pm feed and then we went home. She slept in his arms the whole time and was really sucking on her soother. She's getting good at sucking on the soother. They gave me one of them to take home today.

Pictures from today...

Sleeping all wrapped up

Sleeping in her dad's arms

In her little gown

Close-up

September 21 - Day 18

We went to visit Aimee today. When we got there, she had the CPAP off. They were trialing her off of it again. By 4pm, she had a few desats and bradys (low heart rate) and had to be put back on it. She was much calmer on CPAP and just seemed more content. It sucks that she couldn't stay off of it so she won't be transferred to Cambridge yet, but it's better for her to be there. They said after 2 failed attempts being off CPAP, they probably won't try to take her off for another week. Hopefully in that week, she will get bigger and stronger and will be able to stay off next time. The nurse said her lungs just aren't expanding properly yet, even though she can breathe on her own.

They did put a different type of mask on her. Instead of the one that covers her face with the huge tubes, they just put a little tube that looks like the oxygen ones people have. With this one, she doesn't have to have the hat on and it barely covers her face so we can still see her cute little face.

As of September 20, her weight is 1035 grams (about 2 pounds, 4.5 ounces). She was up to 1085 earlier in the week (I think Monday), but the one nurse said it was probably just extra liquids and not actually her gaining weight. They lowered her feeds to 13mL (from 14mL) every 2 hours for a day and her weight went down and that's why she though it was just liquid. She's back up to 14mL feeds every 2 hours.

We spoke to her doctor today. He said they hear a bit of a heart murmur and they are going to do an ECG. They don't seem to think it's a huge deal yet. He said other than that, she has no problems at all. 

Pictures from today....

Off CPAP. The first time we really got to see what she looks like.

 She looks so peaceful sleeping

Daddy's first diaper change

All done

She was crying, Mike was trying to calm her down.

The new CPAP mask

I just thought this one was funny. She was waving her arms and legs around.

She likes to lick her feeding tube

 While I was holding her.