Day 67 - Stable at 6cc's

Chloe had a pretty uneventful day 67. They increased her feeds to 6cc's per hour instead of the 8cc's planned (because her belly had increased in girth a bit) but her belly remains soft and she has good bowel sounds. These are both good things.


Respiratory-wise she remains stable and at the same place she's been for several days. We're still waiting for her to grow, mature those lungs, and get stronger so that they can start weaning her. She's still not ready, though.


Dave and I were present during the opthamologist's visit and he explained to us that Chloe's not actually showing signs of ROP. It's just that the blood vessels on her retina are still growing and he needs to watch her eyes until they finish growing. Here's how he explained ROP to me: Imagine the retina as a disc shape in the back of the eye. Blood vessels need to grow out from the center of the disc to the edges. The blood vessels need to remain in/on the disc. If they get "confused" and start growing out from/up off of the disc and toward the front of the eye that is ROP. Chloe's vessels are still growing correctly. It's just that they haven't finished growing, yet, so he needs to keep watching them. Why the nurse told Dave that she was headed in the direction of laser surgery, I don't know. It could happen but it's not the case as of now.


Here's another lovely shot of Chloe's beautiful eyes to brighten up your day:





















As I mentioned, Dave and I got to go to the hospital at the same time yesterday. You may have wondered how we managed that one... My friend, Angela (who lives up to her name), picked up Solana and took her to their house for a little halloween party for her girls and Solana. Dave and I joined later for some yummy chili and cornbread. (Do you ever want a recipe for something because it's so good but don't because you know you'll pig out on it if you can make it? A pan of that cornbread would NOT help me toward that "last 12 pounds" goal! :-P )

Here's a picture of our Little Bo Peep on her way out the door: