Day 22

Charlotte Amalie looked pretty good today. Peter and I have been able to help with her "hands on care" the past two days, which was a little intimidating to be perfectly honest. All we did was change a diaper and swab her mouth with breast milk, but I was scared out of my mind. Since she was born, our prayers have always been that she might come home soon, but after changing her tiny little diaper, I've decided she can just go ahead and stay in the NICU until she's a good 8 pounds. :)

In all seriousness, it was a little scary to help with her cares, but it was wonderful, too. Sure, I just changed a diaper, but I felt, in the smallest way, a little involved. And that always helps.

Of course, here's the current run down:

Weight: She's lost some water weight, so she's down to 660 grams (1.45 pounds). It's 100 grams more than she weighed when she was born, just 22 days ago.

Heart: Still slightly enlarged, but it's doing it's thing. She's still on dopamine to help the heart contract harder and her blood pressures are still a little helter skelter at times. She's much, MUCH, more stable than she has been over the past week, but not quite stable enough to do much on her own. They have an arterial line in her arm to monitor her blood pressure constantly, so we won't be able to hold her until they are able to remove the art line. (The arterial line is very fragile and could be "lost" when she moves, so transitioning her from her bed to our arms poses a significant risk).

Lungs: Still a little "boggy" as the doctors like to say. They've started her on two days of Lasix (before she just got one single dose) to try to dry out her lungs a little more. When the lungs are wet, they become stiff and the tiny air sacs in her lungs don't open all the way. In order for her to get off of the ventilator, her lungs need to be a little less stiff so that she can breathe on her own.

Digestive System: They've increased her feeds to 1 mL every 6 hours. She still doesn't have any bowel activity (remember how she was on a paralytic before?) but they're hoping that they can kind of push her into action.

That's about it. For the past few days, they've mostly been trying to keep her at status quo. Today, they seemed to be thinking more about pushing her so that she can get off the vent. So while she's still pretty much doing the same thing, our focus on where she should be going is starting to change. It's a slight change, but still-- a bit of progress.


PS-
A big thank you to Stacia, who designed our blog header for us. I have no idea how she did it, but I think she may have used special computer magic. Again, in all seriousness, we love it and we really appreciate having something so nice for her blog. You rock!