Day 58 - Good Kangaroo - Bad Piggie

Well, Chloe had another good milk day yesterday. They increased her feedings to 4cc's every hour on the continuous feed. She stooled in every diaper for the day nurse. Not much at night so I imagine I'll be hearing about a big one early today. Both of these things seem pretty darn miraculous to me! Definitely Praise-worthy! Just a couple of weeks ago we waited for days and days to get the barium enema through her system and held our breath when they had her feedings to 1cc every three hours (which was not successful, by the way)! Thank You Thank You Thank You God! And the milk seems to be doing its job, as well. Chloe's up to 2lb 7oz. That's right - a whole pound heavier than when she was born! If her lungs can grow/mature as well as her weight then her vent settings should start getting better. Can't wait to get those tubes out!

Last night was a wonderful kangaroo care. Her O2 saturation improved significantly. I feel so cool when her alarm goes off at 100% saturation and they keep coming back to lower her settings... After a few minutes of wide-eyed wonderment she conked out - hard! She was like a sack of cherry tomatoes when they put her back into the isolette. I had to leave before I turned into a pumpkin at 10pm so I only got to hold her for 90 minutes but they sure were luxurious (to borrow a word from my friend Megan).

Chloe does wonders for my Mommy ego, which needed a boost after Monday's kangaroo care. As soon as they gave her to me on Monday she desatted and had bradycardia (her heart rate plummeted). I know it's a normal thing for a premie to brady but it's another thing for it to happen on your chest. Her heart rate dropped to like 39 and her saturation to 4osomething. They bagged her (disconnected the ventilator and manually pumped oxygen into her breathing tube) and the respiratory therapist adjusted her tubes. Talk about scary! Fortunately, I seem to have developed the ability to stay supremely calm and still during stressful moments so they were all able to do their work around me like I was just another isolette or other inanimate object. (I think I learned this ability during my plethora of stressful pregnancy ultrasounds). Fortunately, the event only lasted a couple of minutes before she was back up to normal. (And I managed to keep my breasts covered the whole time - lol!) It definitely gave me a complex for the rest of the night, though! I wanted to put her back to recover. "Surely, she doesn't need extra work right now." I said. But they insisted that every moment with me is a good one for her so I kept her. As much of a proponent and believer in skin-to-skin as I am I was suddenly convinced that I was hurting her and making her work harder. She did...o..k...well...fine but her sats never sky rocketed the way they usually do. I think she was just having a rough night. Hopefully, I helped a bit...

Anyway, last night was great! And she seems to keep getting better. Here are some pictures of our lovely girl. Don't be fooled by the uber-chubby-looking one. She's not really that chunky - her face was just smushed forward or something. I like the idea, though, and I think she's going to have mega cheeks like her big sis'!

Speaking of big sis, Solana gets her H1N1 vaccination at school today! We talked about it for about 10 minutes this morning and I think she's ready! She agrees that piggy flu is bad and the shot will only hurt a little bit. Plus, I promised her an ice cream cone if she does a good job... I debated whether or not I should go since she tends to up the drama setting by several notches when I'm within hearing distance but finally decided my support is more important than drama. (Plus, I've quickly learned that I'm the overbearing type of school mom. Imagine that!) Wish us luck!

She's going to get cheeks like Solana!

I think the bow's kind of cheesy but the nurses seemed to like it so I let it stay. For a bit...