She's working at it! Chloe is doing really well at the bottle. She's had a couple of really long periods (like 12-18 hour stretches) of taking her entire feeds by bottle and then she'll have periods of being too tired to take her bottle. I think her too-tired periods are getting shorter and more spread out, though, as she grows and gets stronger. 4lb 5oz, by the way :-D
They actually have a minimum requirement that she has to eat - it's 35cc's every 3 hours. She took 84% of her feeds by bottle yesterday and the rest was given to her by her NG tube.
I spoke to the nurse practitioner this morning and, since Chloe does not suffer from Brady or Apnea spells**, she can come home as soon as she is taking 100% of her feeds by mouth! That could be as early as Monday or Wednesday (the days they give Synergist shots - an important immunization required before leaving the NICU)!
Plus, I want to thank you all for your encouragement on Chloe's breastfeeding hiccup. I tried the shield for two feedings yesterday and it worked great for Chloe! I guess it just makes it easier for her to get the milk out. She took almost her full feeds both times!
**Brady (heartrate drops too low) and Apnea (baby stops breathing for an extended period of time) are really common for preemies and those are often the big hurdles to overcome before babies can go home. With all the problems she's had I don't know how in the world Chloe sidestepped those. It may be because she's past full term... I don't know, but I'm definitely not overlooking that as something for which to be grateful!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
My New Favorite Necklace
Solana and I had girls night tonight with my friend, Angela, and her two girls. We saw the Princess and the Frog and then went out for sushi. We had a fabulous time! Before the movie we had a little gift exchange. Angela gave me a gift that almost made me cry. It's my new favorite necklace and I'll probably wear it every day.
Before becoming the mother of an angel twin I could never have understood the range and power of conflicting emotions that I live with every day. I've read sad stories from other parents trying to find their way through their own emotions only to be hurt by family and friends who tell them to get over it or move on. I'm so glad I am surrounded by thoughtful and caring people. Even if they can't understand my feelings - they listen. And they have loving hearts.
I will always see Leila when I look at Chloe and Leila will always be part of our family. How Angela gets that I don't know but I am so thankful to have her as a friend.
Before becoming the mother of an angel twin I could never have understood the range and power of conflicting emotions that I live with every day. I've read sad stories from other parents trying to find their way through their own emotions only to be hurt by family and friends who tell them to get over it or move on. I'm so glad I am surrounded by thoughtful and caring people. Even if they can't understand my feelings - they listen. And they have loving hearts.
I will always see Leila when I look at Chloe and Leila will always be part of our family. How Angela gets that I don't know but I am so thankful to have her as a friend.
Day 114 - My Arch-Enemy
It happened! After a measly two days away from Chloe the bottle has stolen Chloe's love from me! I tried to breastfeed today for 30 minutes and Chloe would give some little sucks and then just sit there waiting for the milk to flow into her mouth. Then, when nothing flowed into her mouth she'd get annoyed and turn away.
For those breastfeeding vs. bottle novices: it's WAY easier for a baby to get milk from a bottle than the breast. They actually have to do a little work to get it from the breast - sucking, jaw action, pressure, etc. With the bottle, on the other hand, the milk will pretty much just dribble out with little effort on the part of the baby. Chloe quickly decided that she prefers the easy method to get her meals.
(Note: Solana spent two days in the nursery when she was born and was given a bottle. I didn't know any better than to tell the nurses "um, okay" when they asked if they could feed my oh-so-hungry baby a bottle since my milk hadn't come in, yet. I then spend the next 6 months pumping full time for her because she wouldn't latch on afterwards.)
While it's certainly not the end of the world to have another non-breastfeeding baby I'm not giving up. The lactation consultant (who I really like) will be in tomorrow and I'm cornering her for as long as it takes to get Chloe latched on again. I only hope she's seen this before and has some good tricks up her sleeve. She told me that preemies usually go back and forth from bottle to breast with no problem. I'm holding her to that.
I've also purchased some bottles my SIL told me about called Breastflow. They supposedly require the same kind of latch-on sucking that breastfeeding does. Maybe if we can get Chloe to eat from those bottles we can get her to latch on...?
For those breastfeeding vs. bottle novices: it's WAY easier for a baby to get milk from a bottle than the breast. They actually have to do a little work to get it from the breast - sucking, jaw action, pressure, etc. With the bottle, on the other hand, the milk will pretty much just dribble out with little effort on the part of the baby. Chloe quickly decided that she prefers the easy method to get her meals.
(Note: Solana spent two days in the nursery when she was born and was given a bottle. I didn't know any better than to tell the nurses "um, okay" when they asked if they could feed my oh-so-hungry baby a bottle since my milk hadn't come in, yet. I then spend the next 6 months pumping full time for her because she wouldn't latch on afterwards.)
While it's certainly not the end of the world to have another non-breastfeeding baby I'm not giving up. The lactation consultant (who I really like) will be in tomorrow and I'm cornering her for as long as it takes to get Chloe latched on again. I only hope she's seen this before and has some good tricks up her sleeve. She told me that preemies usually go back and forth from bottle to breast with no problem. I'm holding her to that.
I've also purchased some bottles my SIL told me about called Breastflow. They supposedly require the same kind of latch-on sucking that breastfeeding does. Maybe if we can get Chloe to eat from those bottles we can get her to latch on...?
Monday, December 14, 2009
Day 113 - Chloe's Stocking
First Family Photo. 12/5/09
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(Gasp) Mommy! You gave me a fright!
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Ugh! It is sooo loud out here in my new big girl bed. Tell those loud nurses to hush!
Chloe has a fun and crafty primary nurse at night. She wasn't satisfied with these stocking pictures and wants to do them again but I couldn't help but posting these now.
This is actually Chloe's stocking that she'll use every year. How cool will it be when she's bigger and she can say, "I used to fit in that stocking!"
The first time I got to help with Chloe's bath. 12/4/09. This was right before she moved into her big girl bed. The regular tubs were still a bit large for her (she wasn't a whopping 4 pounds, yet...) so we used one of those little bins they give you when you check in to the hospital. I don't know what those bins are really meant for but they sure are versatile!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Day 112 - 4 Pounds!
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.)
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.)
Friday, December 11, 2009
Day 110 - Single Mom-in' It
Chloe updates are pretty simple these days. I used to call the NICU and get a report full of all kinds of information. Now I call in and get a 10 second report. It's kind of weird. I find myself stalling on the phone with the nurses trying to think of something to ask or talk about. But Chloe's doing so well that there really isn't all that much to talk about.
She's slowly but surely getting better at eating. They're changing up the formula of her milk to something more palatable. Apparently, Elecare tastes really disgusting. They don't want to change it too quickly, though, and mess with her intestines. So there's still some Elecare in the mix. In addition, she's having endurance issues. Eating is a big job for such a small baby! She'll get there, though. They're feeding her a bottle every time she's awake for a feeding. And they've approved two breastfeeding sessions a day, too!
Unfortunately, Dave had to leave town for a work trip for six days so I'll only make it to the hospital once a day for the next several days. That's ok, though. He needed to get some extra time in work. They've been ridiculously generous with his time off and I'm very apreciative of that. Dave has been taking time off ever since we were diagnosed with TTTS back in July. He took me to all my doctor's appointments, surgeries in Columbus, time off when we lost Leila, for the birth, and all of Chloe's important procedures, trip to Michigan, etc. It's nice that he's able to do this one little extra thing for work. And fortunately, I am once again surrounded by incredibly generous friends who are offering to watch Solana. I have five babysitters lined up for the next six days (and only one of whom I'm paying - the teenager across the street:)!
Kim, Kathy, Ann, Dave, and Kelly - you are all my blessings this week and I am so thankful for you!!!!
She's slowly but surely getting better at eating. They're changing up the formula of her milk to something more palatable. Apparently, Elecare tastes really disgusting. They don't want to change it too quickly, though, and mess with her intestines. So there's still some Elecare in the mix. In addition, she's having endurance issues. Eating is a big job for such a small baby! She'll get there, though. They're feeding her a bottle every time she's awake for a feeding. And they've approved two breastfeeding sessions a day, too!
Unfortunately, Dave had to leave town for a work trip for six days so I'll only make it to the hospital once a day for the next several days. That's ok, though. He needed to get some extra time in work. They've been ridiculously generous with his time off and I'm very apreciative of that. Dave has been taking time off ever since we were diagnosed with TTTS back in July. He took me to all my doctor's appointments, surgeries in Columbus, time off when we lost Leila, for the birth, and all of Chloe's important procedures, trip to Michigan, etc. It's nice that he's able to do this one little extra thing for work. And fortunately, I am once again surrounded by incredibly generous friends who are offering to watch Solana. I have five babysitters lined up for the next six days (and only one of whom I'm paying - the teenager across the street:)!
Kim, Kathy, Ann, Dave, and Kelly - you are all my blessings this week and I am so thankful for you!!!!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
New Background
Check out the background my friend, Megan, made for me. I LOVE IT!!! :-D I have absolutely no idea how to do them so it's a perfect gift. Thaks Megan! You Rock!!!!
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