Update

Wow!  It's been over 2 months since I've posted last.  As you can imagine, life is busy here taking care of a toddler, preemie and try to keep up with the house and business.  Charlotte is doing great!  She took her feeding tube out of her nose about 2 weeks after she came home for good.  I got sick of reinserting it and I had a feeling she did too.  From that point on she never missed a beat in her feedings.  I usually have to take her to the doctors every other week.  One visit to her pediatrician and one to the eye specialist.  They finally gave me a month off and I don't have to go back until the 3rd week in January YAY!  She is developing great and catching up on her growth chart.  Her eyes still seem to be a little premature still, but that should catch up too.

At her last doctors visit about 2 weeks ago she weight 8lb 13oz and by now should be over 9lbs YAY!  She's come such a long way.  She's doing great, adapting well and just loves her big brother just as much as he adores her.  She sleeps well through the night and it wasn't until last night that I decided if she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night to feed I'm not going to wake her.

Ok, so I thought she was going to get a break from the doctors, but I have to call them tomorrow.  She has some sort of infection that appeared overnight on her left nipple  After consulting with a pediatrician at St Johns, they think maybe it could be mastitis.  UGH!  I had no idea babies could get this.  Hopefully antibotics will clear it up and we'll be good to go.  If you've had it before you know it hurts like heck!

I'll try to update more often, but no guarantees lol

lots to share

I probably should try to update more than once a week or 2 but time totally gets away from me. So she was moved back to Phase 1 during my last post. It was discovered she had a touch of pneumonia and was treated for 5 days of antibotics. She also has severe refux :( She's had 1 brady since my last post, but none recently. She is off CPAP and just on the blender an she is doin fabulous on it. She's also in a crib now and holding her own body heat really well. I got to feed her twice with a bottle and she did a great job! Her feedings are up to 45cc's (about an ounce and a half) of milk and she drank 28cc's and then we hadta do the rest in her tube. You have to be careful with bottle feedings because it really wears them out and they could end up burning more calories than she's eatting. She is FIVE pounds now and some of her preemie clothes are too small woot woot! It will still be a few weeks before she's home but we are getting closer. Now we just hafta tackle her swollen legs problem.

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Told you so!

I knew they only moved her for the sake of room!  Charlotte is now back in Phase 1.  The cause was 7 braidys on the midnight shift 2 nights ago.  They have also put her back on her CPAP because her breathing has been labored.  PFT and they were gonna take her off?  Really?  They have maxed out her reflux meds now, so hopefully that will help.  I believe she had 3 braidys today and she is very swollen.  She weighed 4lb 1oz yesterday and today she weighed 4lb 4oz which is NOT good.  She isn't suppose to gain that much overnight, she is retaining too much fluids.  They are going to test her proteins tomorrow to see if it's too low.  The were going to give her lasiks (sp?), which is a water pill, but by the end of the conversation it sounded like the doctor changed his mind.  I'm going to call in the morning when he returns.  She did finally smile for me today, but she was not smiling at all yesterday.

The past two days have been stressful for me for several reasons-1.  I knew it was too soon to go to Phase 2, 2. She's back at Phase 1, 3. She's back on CPAP, which they did warn me could happen, but she was doing so well, 4.  I know I'm not a doctor, but WHY don't they listen?  This may sound crazy to some, but my mommy intuition goes farther than a doctors "diagnoses".  Each time I've told them no, do it this way, it's worked out.  The good news is we only have about a month left and she'll hopefully be home.  She is 8 weeks old today and I'm sure she is just as anxious to bust up outta that place as I am, just not too soon so she ends up back.

Even though this sounds like I'm complaining about the hospital it's really only a reflection of a few days, not her entire stay.  I would go to this hospital in a heart beat (no pun intended) because I am that confident in them.  They are awesome there!

No news is good news...

with Gary Ga-news.  Ok, so some of you may not remember Great Space Coasters lol.  I find myself not posting as much because there really aren't many changes with Charlotte.  She is in Phase 2 which is the last phase before they go home.  I am excited, but then again I'm not.  I don't think she's ready for phase 2.  I think she was only moved there for the sake of space in the more critical areas.  The babies in her room are all in cribs and/or with no oxygen.  She still has more braidy's (her heart rate drops) than I want and when the other nurses are busy feeding babies they don't run to her bed side to check her monitor going off when it drops.  We were visiting one day and the baby next to her dropped and the nurse just stood there and said, "oh, that's not right".  WHAT?!?!?  I hope they don't do that with Charlotte, sadly though, they probably do.  I will be talking to the doctor today or tomorrow about that.

The resident told me on Saturday that they plan to take her off oxygen this week.  Um...NO!  She was gasping for air when she had a braidy yesterday.  They probably know what they are doing, but it's very stressful as a parent.  I do believe she will be home at the end of October if not before though.  She seems to be doing really well otherwise.  I'm just not sure I want her home that early if she is having these problems.  As of yesterday she was up to 3lb 15oz.  She tolerates her feedings pretty well.  I will try to post a pic later.  I'm hoping her "preemie head" goes away.  That's what I call her head being long.  Most preemies I've seen have it.

Whatta Day!

Charlotte was wide awake when we went and seen her today.  She was so cute, but back to that in a minute.  She has been improving since she's been on reglan.  She has not had one drop in her heart since Friday on the midnight shift.  They were switching between CPAP and the blender (just the oxygen prongs) every 3 hours because her little nose was getting raw from the mask on the CPAP rubbing her.  Well she was doing so good off the CPAP they were going to move it up to 6 hours, but instead have decided they aren't going to put it back on unless she needs it.  GREAT NEWS!  However, keeping myself and everybody in check with reality, it could take a day or 2 and she could revert back to CPAP.  But for now we are taking this great news.  Her nose inside is so dry from the oxygen her nose bleeds :(  They do have humidity added to it, but...Maybe I'll ask tomorrow if it's improved and if not then I'll ask if they can add more humidity because I'm sure you know how bad it hurts when your nose is so dry. 

I believe her feedings are a little over an ounce now and she weighs...ready?....I can't believe it.....3lb 9oz!  It's AMAZING how she's filling out in her face, neck, etc.  So now back to her cuteness today.  She was laying there lookin around and sucking, you know how their tongue kinda curls when they are sucking?  So I put my finger in her hand to see what she would do.  She pulled my finger to her mouth and started sucking on it!!! I was so excited!  I hurried to get the nurse to get her a pacifier (and of course it's purple tee hee).  She LOVED LOVED LOVED that pacifier.  She started to high stat (her oxygen went from 88 to 100), which is really good because that means she was breathing more on her own because she was relaxing.  Then she started making this cute noise like she was grunting but it was more like a grunt and a mmmm, mmmm.  It was hiliarious.  She made her mommy and daddy's day today with that.  At this rate I'm hoping she'll be home by the middle of October, but again, they aren't giving me any date as of now because it's just too soon.  So I'm planning for her due date of November 11th and if it's sooner than that's even better.

Finally!

They are giving her reglan for her reflux. Why do I have a feeling its because I asked her nurse yesterday at what point are they going to do somthing? Her heart usually always drops when she eats. I mean like to 46! Yea it comes up after a minute but that's too much for my liking. Her nurse tonight said it could take 24 hours to kick in so we'll see tomorrow.

I on the other hand ....I'm so frustrated because I haven't been able to hold her. One of her nurses screwed up her schedule so everytime I go up there either she is eatting or just finished so they won't let me hold her. Do you know how tortured I feel right now? Its hard to register that I even had a baby 6 weeks ago. I have no baby waking me up every 2 hours. No diapers to change. No holding, cuddling....all I have is an overweight half pregnant looking body. I have been totally robbed of my pregnancy, my babies first days and weeks of her life. Its a NICU nurse that heard her first cry. Not her parents. Those same people get her first feed, first diaper change, first bath, first time using a pacifier. Its such BULL!

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GIMME A C....

Gimme a P
Gimme a A
Gimme a P

What's that spell?  CPAP!!! YAY!  Charlotte is now on a CPAP, which is pretty much what they put people on that have sleep apnea.  Her settings are at 6 so she just needs to get down to 4 and they'll put her on a ....oh I forgot what it's called now, but basically the same oxygen hose they'd put you on for extra oxygen.  Ok, can you tell my brain is mush lol.  I am so tired today for some reason.  The eye doctor did come in to see her yesterday and she did not like q-tips being stuck in her eye.  So far all he sees are premature eyes, so lets pray as she matures they will develop just fine.

I don't like how she destats though when she's eatting.  Yesterday her heart rate dropped to 46!  It's usually around 158.  They think it's acid reflux, but if they "think" when are they going to do something about it?

Please continue to pray.  Even though she's doing great, anything can change at anytime.  Not to mention long term effects we may still have ahead of us.