Delle's NICU Journey -- Week 6

Day 36:

Delle is 3lbs 12oz and 16 and 1/4" long.

She made it into an open crib!

She is back down to one dose of caffeine a day.

She's still working on latching.

And she is getting 32ml of milk every 3 hours.

Let me just note that we do no pick out any of her linens or outfits. They are all provided by the NICU.
 (We're not cat people.)

Day 37:

3lbs 14oz!

She had her weekly eye exam today. She recovered quick again and her results

 looked good. No ROP and at a level 2 still. Because the eye exam is so stressful on

her, we weren't able to practice breast feeding today.

Day 38:

She's up to 3lbs 15oz!

She was too sleepy today to get a good latch.

And she's still on 1 liter of oxygen, but has been hanging out

 at 21%, which is room air and the lowest they go!

Day 39:

Delle joined the 4lb club! She is 4lbs 1 oz. She's huge! Yet, I don't 

know how she was any smaller than she is now.

Her oxygen was turned down to .5 liters!

And she did great at nursing today! It was her best latch yet.

Day 40:

4lbs 3.5oz.

She's been doing really well on .5 liters, she's mostly at 21%.

She was too sleepy to nurse today.

And she got a pretty bad bum rash again that is being treated with ointment.

Day 41:

33 Weeks!

Delle is 4lbs 4oz and is getting 34 ml of milk now.

We're still just working on nursing. Her latch is 

very shallow so she has a hard time staying on.

And she got to cuddle with Grandpa & Grandma today!

Day 42:

4lbs 5.5oz.

Her little bum rash was doing better, but has gotten worse today.

Everything else is going great though! 

We're still at a stand still with nursing, but we're going to try a nipple shield 

tomorrow, she should get a better latch with that.

Delle's NICU Journey -- Week 5

Day 29:

Delle is up to 3lbs 3.9oz!

And she is down to 1.5 liters of oxygen.

Day 30:

Delle is 3lbs 5oz and up to 28ml of milk every 3 hours.

She is now off of the high flow and on a regular nose cannula at 1 liter.

And her bed temperature is down to 30 degrees Celsius. She has to maintain a body temperature of 

37 degrees Celsius for them to be able to turn the bed temperature down half a degree. 

Once she gets down to a bed temp of 29, they will start dressing her. And when she can maintain 

her body temperature while the bed temp is at 28 (room temperature), she gets to be moved into an open crib!

Day 31:

Today Delle had her first eye exam. With the amount of oxygen that preemies get, it can 

cause damage to the retina as it's developing and could cause blindness. They have to dilate her eyes

 and then clamp them open and shine a light in for the test. They give her Sweeties (sugar syrup) to help with the pain,

 but it is still very stressful for her and sad for me! We did skin to skin right after and she calmed down really

 quick. Her test results were great this time. Her retina is at a level 2 and needs to get to a level 3, and the 

vessels looked good. She will continue to have eye exams every Wednesday until her eyes are fully developed.

Delle is up to 3lbs 6oz and 29ml a feeding. 

They had to raise her bed temp back up to 31.5 because she was getting cold.

And she is at 1 liter of oxygen at 21%! (21% is basically room air.)

Day 32:

ONE MONTH!

Delle is 3lbs 8oz today.

Her bed temp is down to 29 degrees Celsius and she was put in clothes for her first time! 

She has also graduated to a bigger pacifier (the regular green Avent Soothie).

And she latched! She was so wide awake and rooting around so we jumped on the chance of trying non-nutritional

 nursing (I pump before so she doesn't get a heavy flow of milk. Since she's so small still, she isn't ready for that. 

And they also want to make sure it's a positive experience for her so she won't hate it before she's got it down). 

She didn't latch long, but a few seconds a few times is great progress for her! 32 weeks is when they usually

 start introducing nursing, so she's a little bit a head of the game.

Day 33:

She is 3lbs 8.8oz today.

They moved her into a new room, and she's been able to maintain her body temperature so they have the top off of her isolette! She'll move into an open crib after a few days of being able to regulate her temperature.

She was too sleepy today to try latching, which is very normal for her age. 

Day 34:

32 Weeks!

Delle is up to 3lbs 10oz and 31ml of milk every 3 hours.

We're still working on latching, she did really well today though. She latched a few times for a few 

seconds and was able to suck a little bit too. She's making great progress! The doctor ordered one nutritional 

nursing session a day, so we'll keep trying. 

Day 35:

Delle gained 2oz yesterday and is up to 3lbs 12oz. It's great that she is still gaining so much now that

 she is out of her little incubator and burning more calories to keep her warm.

They are planning to move her into a crib this afternoon.

And she was a little sleepy today when we tried nursing, but she was awake for about 

15 minutes and did the best that she has done so far.

Delle's NICU Journey -- Week 4

Day 22:

Delle is up to 2lbs 13oz and is 15" long.
She is getting 24ml of milk every 3 hours.

Her high flow is still at 2.5LPM.

And her diaper rash is looking so much better!

 

Day 23:

Delle gained 50grams and is at 2lbs 15oz!

She is being weaned down to 2.0LPM of oxygen.

Day 24:

Delle hit 3lbs today! She is still SO tiny, but 3lbs seems huge!

She is up to 25ml of milk every 3 hours.

And she is doing really well at 2.0LPM on the high flow.

Day 25:

The nurse didn't chart Delle's weight last night, so we don't have a weight for today.

There aren't any other changes for her either, which is great!

Hyde and I both had little fevers today, so I wasn't able to hold her. But Sean was able to go up and see her for a bit.

Day 26:

Delle is 3lbs 2oz.

Her latest newborn screening came back normal, so she is now off of her Vitamin C dose. (I'm not sure what it was even for, something that was abnormal in her previous newborn screening.) She'll have another screening at 36 weeks.

Everything is looking great with her and she just needs to keep growing!

Day 27:

No weight gain, but no loss either.

Her corrected gestational age is 31 weeks today! (Crazy I should still be pregnant now and would have many 

more weeks to go.)

She is being weaned off of the humidity in her incubator. They start moving babies to open cribs around 32 weeks/1500 grams (Delle is 1420 grams right now).

Day 28:

Delle is up in weight, just under 3lbs 3oz.

She's up to 27ml of fortified breast milk every 3 hours.

Sean held her for the first time today. Delle loved it! She was so content and had her eyes wide open for so long, it was the sweetest thing! She didn't have any dips in her oxygen or heart rate while she was laying on him.

And they are starting to wean down the air temperature control in her incubator! (As soon as she can regulate her own temperature, she'll be in the open crib.)