Day 57 - Milk's Going Down

So sorry for the belated update! I just realized last night how much of a slacker I was this weekend when it came to posting! Then I was at the hospital until after 11:30 or so last night and had just enough energy to pump and stumble to bed some time around 12:30. This whole no-kids-at-the-hospital thing is really putting crimp in my sleep schedule! We've figured out how to visit Chloe every day without putting Solana in daycare (I considered it but just can't bring myself to put her through another new situation or exposing her to more germs.) Dave will go straight from work and then come home to have dinner with us. I'll then go after getting Solana ready for bed. I think my new blogging time will have to be morning since I don't have time when I get home... Ok - now that I've sufficiently crafted my excuse.... ;-)

Chloe. She seems to be doing well with feedings. She's fed with a tube that goes into her mouth and all the way down to her stomach. That way they can drip milk directly into her stomach. Right now they have the milk on a continuous drip. Instead of dumping an entire feeding into her stomach at one time it's slowly dripping in there throughout the day. She's up to 3cc's per hour and seems to be tolerating it. Praying that this will continue and thank God she's getting some milk nutrution!

They finally completely stopped her steroids on Saturday and, not surprisingly, her lungs are feeling it. She's struggled a bit with respiration and they've had to turn up some settings on her respirator. She's up from 18 breaths per minute to 30. Her oxygen settings are up to 35ish. I think I'm getting used to this NICU thing because I'm not terribly worried about these steps backward on her ventillator. It makes sense to me that her body's working harder and bound to struggle a bit without her steroids. Plus, she's spending some new energy on digestion so we can only expect her to excel at so many things at once. (I haven't slowed my prayers, though!) We were blessed the past couple of weeks with some ridiculously good respiration days and I have faith those days will be back soon.

Chloe is 8 weeks old.
Adjusted 33 weeks gestation.
1120 grams (2lb 7oz)