She finally did it! She's 1815 grams and that equals...4 pounds! Yay for Chloe!
My sore throat from the other day never amounted to anything. No runny nose, no cough, no sneezing, no fever, no aches. Nada. But yesterday I woke up without a voice. Still no other symptoms. I chalked it up to the weather playing havok with my sinuses and the nighttime drainage doing a number on my throat. I went in last night with a mask to breastfeed Chloe. (I felt like a total leper! But, although I didn't feel sick the mask was probably a good idea.) This morning, though, I actually woke up blowing my nose and coughing stuff up. I think my mysterious and elusive nighttime drainage is finally ready to reveal itself and is trying to turn into a sinus infection so I'm staying away from the hospital again and going to the doctor's office tomorrow. After a couple of hours of clearing all the junk out of my head I feel perfectly fine now (except my voice is still jacked up) but I figure it's best to go to the doctor first. I guess I'll just tell them to, "test me for everything and anything that could cause congestion." I don't know what else to do...?
In the meantime, Chloe is doing fantastic with the bottle feeding. She has drained ALL of her bottles since 8pm last night! It's like something finally clicked and she figured out what to do! I'm very excited to hear this - it means she's on the right track to coming home!
It is still looking like she'll come home with oxygen. She's still on the 1/8th liter canula and is normally fine. In fact, her canula was hanging out of her nose most of the time I held her yesterday and I just left it to see what she did. She hung out around the mid-90's without the canula, which is great. When she gets mad and cries is another story, though. She'll drop down to the 70's pretty quickly when she's ticked off. I guess that'll take some time. I'm trying to imagine what it will be like with a baby at home and on oxygen. Will I be able to walk around the house with her or will we be stuck to one little corner of the house all the time? That hadn't really ocurred to me until last night so I guess I'll need to start asking. (Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining. Just in planning/logistics mode.)
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Way to go Chloe! She is advancing so quickly now :D Do you think she'll be home for Christmas? That would be the best gift ever!
ReplyDeleteNice job, Chloe! If you have questions about going home on oxygen, ask away. Don't worry, you won't be stuck to one corner of the house, you can get extension tubes as long as your heart desires. And I have a feeling she won't need it for very long. We didn't need an apnea monitor because D never had them, but we do have a pulse-oxymeter which is a great source of comfort and annoyance. It's a mixed blessing.
ReplyDeleteWay to go, Chloe! I'm so happy she is progressing so well...
ReplyDeleteI thought you sounded weird on the phone yesterday- guess it was the lost voice thing... I hope you get better soon!
Love you guys!
-Leticia
Yay Chloe!!! Forgive my ignorance but will she just have a little portable oxygen tank or a big huge one? If it's a little one maybe you can fashion a little sack for the tank and wear Chloe in a sling or pouch so that you can be mobile?
ReplyDeleteKim Harvey
THE OXYMETER IS THE BAD PART, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WHEN IT GOES OFF IT WAKES EVERYONE UP.. THAT STINKS!
ReplyDeleteBack when Melissa was about to bring Daphne home, I made this post to show her all of the equipment that we deal with on Darbi.
ReplyDeletewww.clintandaudrey.blogspot.com/2009/07/darbis-hardware.html
It's not too bad. One of our nurses told us not to be afraid of the oxygen and that it really is a blessing to have it with you already. If anything were to happen, you would normally have to wait to have the paramedics bring the O2 and luckily, you already have it and can just turn her up. No big. We no longer need to use an air concentrator which is nice because it puts out a lot of heat and is a bit loud. Now we lug a "D" tank around (about 2.5 feet tall) and it's not heavy at all. It is a bit of a pain though and I tend to stay in one room longer rather than move throughout the house during the day. I makes it harder to get stuff done but our apartment is a bit tiny so there's not many places for me to go. :) Your O2 company should supply you with a bag to carry around the smaller tanks so don't worry about that and like Melissa said, you can have all the oxygen tubing in the world (with the air concentrator) which is super nice when you're not using the tank. We didn't get a pulse ox to give us Darbi's actual sat numbers. We have to rely on her coloring and temperment. That was a pain at first and I was paranoid to the max. It's nice now though because I feel like I have more control over the oxygen and I don't have to stare at that little machine which would make me crazy!!
I just had a thought to add to my and Audrey's comments - since you are still at the NICU. When we left, the nurses gave us a TON of tape and duoderm to attach the cannula to D's face. It was super helpful. For some reason, our O2 supplier doesn't give us the sticky things. Lately, since we are only using the O2 at night (and phasing it out, really), our main challenge has been how to attach the cannula because if we stick it to permanently, we hurt her skin to pull it off in the morning, and if we don't stick it to her skin, D will pull it off in a split second. So, I would suggest you chat with the nurses and RTs you like and ask for suggestions on how to attach it. Is Chloe's skin sensitive to tape? If so, the duoderm might be a good option. I know Audrey uses adorable and fashionable headbands on Darbi. Daphne is way too crafty and yanks off headband and cannula to chomp on them :-)
ReplyDeleteGo Chloe! Go Chloe! BTW, if Chloe needs some more poundage, I will gladly give her some of mine! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you will be just fine with Chloe and all her accutraments at home - just take it easy, try something out, and, if it doesn't work, try something else! :-) I know you're a planner (like me!) so feel free to check with the medical supply companies and go in and look at the equipment you'll be bring home. It'll be easier to plan once you know it's sizes and limitations.
Keep up the good work (you and Chloe!).