Tag: hospital

We’re home! More to come later!

Has it been 4 days already?  We are getting the hang of the parking lots, hallways, and NICU room at this point.

I think Ellie is continuing to improve, but that doesn’t mean it’s not frustrating too.  Originally, they told us that she needed a minimum of 72 hours in a crib, maintaining her own temperature, before she could go home.  That would be Friday, at best.  However, she is still not the best eater, so they probably won’t send her home if she’s “not a stellar eater” (in the words of our nurse yesterday).  Part of me says it might just be HER, and part of me says it’s because she’s a preemie.  She’s still not supposed to be here.

Her jaundice went up in the morning, as expected, but it’s not high enough to use phototherapy yet.  She is maintaining her temp ok.  It was on the border of “acceptable” all day yesterday.

At this point, we’re focused on eating.  She just sleeps all the time, and doesn’t want to wake up to feed.  Last time they weighed her, I think she was down to 5lbs, 6oz.  Because we are forcing the food, she’s not losing much, which is the point.

I know we’ll get there.  I know this is typical preemie stuff.  Like I said, that still doesn’t mean the whole thing is not frustrating.

And a big kudos to the NICU staff.  All of them have been great.  It really takes a special person to care for these sick, sick babies.  There was a baby born yesterday at 26 weeks, weighing less than 2 lbs!  So compared to some of them, we’re doing great!

This is the update for Tuesday.

Ellie continued to eat well Monday evening and through the night.  However, at her morning (9am or so) feeding, she was not very interested.  She was moved to a crib around 10am and she began to spit up a lot.  She was able to maintain her body temperature (on the cool side, but still within range) for the first few hours.  She still had not had any dirty diapers, so the nurse was getting slightly concerned that she wasn’t passing anything.  At her next feeding (around noon), she had a small dirty diaper, then we decided to try to nurse.  She did very well (unlike the night before) but soon got sleepy again.  Jaundice has set in (just a little – not at a high enough level yet to cause a bilibed, but noticeable) which causes sleepiness, and she’s not eating enough to have much energy.  So we had a hard time getting anything else down her.  She did have a major dirty diaper while we were trying to feed, so that’s progress!  The nurse decided since she had two feedings that were not so good, they stuck a tube down her nose into her stomach to force the remaining food.

I guess she decided that she didn’t like the tube, because at her afternoon feeding, she woofed down the amount she needed to, plus some!  She continued to have dirty diapers through the afternoon and evening.  We pushed the next feeding to 4 hours since she ate so much.  At the bedtime feeding, we tried to nurse again, and I think she did a great job.  (On a side note, NICU said they like to send their babies home on a 4 hour schedule!  I didn’t get a 4 hour schedule with Samantha until about 4 months old!  Crazy!)

She is doing well with her own body temperature.  She needs to wear clothes now so we can help her keep as much warmth as possible.

Brian and I had to watch a car seat video last night, and will watch a CPR video this morning.  I’m not sure if they make all parents do that now, or only NICU parents.

Here’s a picture from yesterday evening.  I’m not sure why she looks like she has a black eye.  I asked about it the night before, and they said it was because she was laying on her tummy.  Even though you’re supposed to lay babies down on their backs, when they are first born, NICU still lays on the tummy because they will ball up more and feel more secure.  Here, she has been on her back all day, and the one eye is still yucky.  We’ll see how she looks today.

Oh, and I was discharged from the hospital yesterday.  We were able to use the room as long as we wanted, so we used it all day, making coming and going from NICU easier.  It was nice to sleep in my own bed last night though.  Samantha is still at MamaLinda and Pop’s, so the house feels very empty now.