Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Overdue Update!

I apologize for the lack of posting! Ava has been doing very well the last few days! Currently she is on 4 liters of high flow. The goal is to decrease her flow so that she can eat by mouth, but the conflicting matter is that she is also on a medicine called Dopram that helps her remember to breathe. The doctor wants to get her off that medicine before decreasing her flow as they are unsure of the long term side effects of Dopram. So for the last couple of days he has been weaning her dopram and depending on how her night went (I have not called yet) she will be off the Dopram today. As long as she does ok, they can start weaning her flow as well. She may not be technically allowed to eat yet but we are allowed to do non-nutritive suckling and she latches onto the breast extremely well and is very effective when she nurses. So I have high hopes that she will be a great eater!


Curently Ava is getting 36mls of breastmilk every three hours. To give you an idea of how much surplus I am making, I am able to pump about 240mls every 3 hours! She is doing well with her feeds and tolerating them fine. I am anxious to find out her weight from last night. She has been teetering right below 4lbs for a few days now so I am hoping that she hits that milestone today! She really is getting SO big! I love being able to hold her and snuggle her every time I go in. She is so much more alert these days and I am so in love!


A couple days ago, they tested her out to see if she could regulate her own temperature in an open air crib. Unfortunately she got a little bit on the cold side so she will stay in the isolette a little bit longer. My guess is that she will be in an open crib within a week. Once she hits that 4lb mark it becomes much easier to regulate her body temperature.


Natrually, I am getting pretty anxious and excited to bring her home. The bigger she gets, the more she feels like just a normal baby. In some ways it feels like it is just around the corner and in other ways, it feels so far away. The reality is that all she needs to do is eat, breathe, and grow. She is not requiring any oxygen so the cannula is there just to give her flow to help her remember to breathe, so hopefully she won't need it much longer. I really feel as though eating is not going to be a problem for her so once they allow her to start, that could happen pretty quickly. And she IS growing, so we have got that one down! It sounds so simple, but this process could take a while. If I had to guess, I would say she will be home in 3-6 weeks, but who knows! Only God!





1 comment:

Laura said...

That is such great news! She's growing and getting so much bigger! Love the picture with her hands over her eyes!