Day 74 - Slow and Steady Wins the Race

OK, well maybe she won't be winning any races any time soon. But I'm hoping that slow and steady will get her out the door of the NICU!

Chloe's respirator support is still being reduced a tiny bit each day. She had a little bit of a rough night last night. She seemed a bit aggitated while I held her and her nurse said it continued through the night. They gave her some Tylenol but she still had a couple of desat's/Brady's (when her oxygen saturation and heart rate both drop to unacceptable levels) so they increased her breaths per minute by two and, after a good blood gas this morning, decreased it back to 22.

The nurse also mentioned that her body might just need some time to get used to the decreased breathing support. Premies often 'forget' to breathe, especially if they're sleeping or super comfortable. Chloe's body has gotten accustomed to the vent doing the work for it. Her body now needs to start sensing for itself that her CO2 levels are high and that she needs to breathe and this might take a bit of time for her.

She's not gaining huge amounts of weight but is going up a tiny bit. She was at 1300 grams last Tuesday (right before they stopped her feeds) and then it went back down to 1240. She's now back up to 1300. That's slower weight gain than we'd like but I'm hoping we'll start seeing some real weight gain here soon. I've read some other blogs where babies coast for a while at the same weight then have a sudden big weight gain. They also increased her Elocare fortifier to 2 calories. Between that and my hindmilk she should be getting some pretty plumped up milk. Let's pray that it helps!