12 Weeks, 1 Day

Wearing her Sunday best. 5/23/10
Dress on loan from Aubrie Dawson and her baby doll.

Weight: 1814 grams (4 pounds)

Lungs: Off the vent! Charlotte's doctors were able to take her off the vent Sunday morning. She's been doing really well since then and everyone is very pleased. Her poor face gets so scrunched up when she's on CPAP, but it's so much better for her lungs than the vent was, so we'll adapt.

Heart: She continues to have moments where her heart rate jumps to over 210 bpm, but for the most part, her heart rate is about 170-180. I even saw it as low as 160 the other day. So we're making progress.

Digestive: Charlotte's little belly was distended today (she also threw up all over a pretty pink dress) so they decreased her feeds to 24 mL over 2 hours (from 34 mL/hr) and they're giving her a suppository. Probably more information than you wanted to know, but stimulating bowel movements is a big deal in the NICU, so you'll just have to deal with it. :) She also had a larger than normal residual after her feeding, so we're hoping that it was just a random hiccup and she'll be back at it again in no time. {A "residual" is what is left in her stomach after she is done with a feeding. Before each feed the nurse suctions her NG tube to see what is left in her belly. It can be kinda gross, but it helps to measure how much food she is digesting. They also check the pH balance of her residuals to make sure the stomach acid in her belly is at the right level.}

Eyes: She had her eye exam today (finally) and so far, everything looks good. This is the time when ROP typically manifests itself, so we'll continue to watch it, but we're pleased that nothing of any significance has shown up yet.

That's the update.