November 9, 2008

Amaree having her hearing test. You can see the probes on her head testing the signal. She just put her hand on her cheek and waited for it to be over.

Amaree had another good day today. She weighed in at 4 lbs 9 oz. She blew her diaper out a few times today so we know things are back to working order.

When we left for lunch, Amaree played a little trick on us. The nurse told us that she was fussy and so she gave her the binky and went to finish with another baby because Amaree still had some time left before cares. The nurse made it across the room but Amaree was crying again. When she came back, Amaree had rolled from her right side, over the nest edge, and onto her left side facing the wall. She couldn't believe it. Then at her next set of cares, I had my hand underneath her and then she wasn't there-she has figured out how to arch her back and push with her legs to get herself rolled over. We were just staring at her. I can't believe she managed to do. It was pretty neat to see her do it.

Her major accomplishment for the day was her breast feeding. She got 34 mls! That is major because a full feeding was just bumped up to 38 mls. We were a little skeptical at first, but I pumped right after and was missing a bunch of milk, so she must have done it. We are so proud of her! Good job little one!

November 8, 2008

This is how Amaree looks when she is done eating, just happy and sleepy. She is getting so big!

Amaree has been moving right along. She weighs 2065 grams, or 4 lbs, 8.8 oz! She did have a hearing test, and she passed the hearing part, but the sensitive hearing came back inconclusive. There was a response, but it wasn't as good as they would have liked. They were not too concerned because the room was really noisy, and it is hard to test sensitivity in a noisy room.



We have been working on the breast feeding thing, and she is doing better, but she still hasn't quite gotten it. They keep saying that one day the light will just come on, and we are waiting for that. Today we got twenty mils at one of her feedings, so that was great. She is getting 37, so it was a major accomplishment. I really think she could have done it by now if we hadn't had so many setbacks.



All of us have been anxiously awaiting for Amaree to have a bowel movement to make sure that there was no blood, and she finally had one tonight and it was clear of blood. We are so warped, just waiting for her to have a poopy diaper.

November 6, 2008

Amaree is wide awake after eating, she just loved to be awake.

Amaree's eye exam came back and she is doing better! *Sigh of relief*. That was a major stressor and it is such a releif that it is doing better. Thanks to those who prayed for her, I am sure that is what caused them to correct themselves.

She has another IV and I am frustrated about it. I want her to go back to not having any IV's! Hopefully that will be in the next few days. She has been eating from the breast and doing better, and we are all waiting with anticipation for her next poopy diaper.

November 5, 2008

The labs for NEC came back negative, and all of her other tests have also been negative. Right now they don't know what caused the bleeding, but they started her feedings again today. She is started on 1/4 of what she was eating and they have moved her up to 1/2. She still has to have some IV fluid to supplement until she gets back to full feeds with fortification.

The IV's have been a drama for us. She has had several in her head, and they have all gone bad. She has five bruises and bald spots from the tape pulling on her hair. She has had attempts in both hands and both feet. They finally got one in her foot last night after about 45 min. I was not happy. It went bad later today and fortunately Christine (one of our primaries) was able to get it in with only one poke.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have another eye exam. :( We hope it comes back good or with some good news. The eye exam takes a lot out of the babies and is very difficult to watch, or so I hear, since I haven't watched. Even the nurses tell me it is difficult to watch.

Our other bad news is that Andrew's dog was killed on Monday, and a nurse didn't understand some instructions and gave Amaree her first bottle, something we really wanted Andrew to do. It has been a rough week and it isn't even over yet.

November 4, 2008

Mondays are always a bad day, and it was a bad Monday for Amaree. I got a call very early yesterday morning from the hospital telling me that Amaree had blood in her stool. They stopped her feedings, put another IV in her head, and put a tube down her throat. The tube is sucking everything out of her stomach. It is called an Anderson tube and it decompresses her bowels.

There are several possibilities of the problem, and we still don't have results of any of the labs. The worst case scenario is that she has a disease called NEC (pronounced neck, it actually stands for something, but there is no way I can tell you what it is). This disease makes it so they can't digest food. It would mean 7 days of treatment, and then 7 days of getting back to feedings. Right now, it is looking like it isn't NEC, but it still could be. There are several other possibilities, but we don't know.

I tried to hold her yesterday, but it was so hard because the tube was making her gag. She would just gag and gag. Fortunately, once we get her to sleep, she is sleeping fairly well. She must be having such a hard time, having to go without food, having to get poked every few hours, not understanding what is happening.

Andrew and I are having a difficult time with it. We feel like we just got over the blood thing, and Sunday she was doing so great--she was even breastfeeding again. We gave her a bath, and she was so happy, and having a good time. Then for this to happen the very next day is really discouraging. Andrew describes it like we keep getting punched in the gut. I agree, but we are always blindfolded and don't know where or when the next hit is coming from.

November 3, 2008

Last night we gave Amaree her first bath. She was super cute and it was enjoyable for her to have a spa day. They have quite the process for bathing. First, you undress the baby.

Then you wrap them in a towel, and put them in the bath water. The face gets washed first, and then you wash each limb and torso, wrapping everything back up once it gets washed.

Once every thing has been washed, you take her out and put her in a clean dry towel. She really enjoyed the warm bath part, but I don't think she liked the cold, getting out part. I have more pictures, but I don't think Amaree will appreciate me in a few years if I post the naked bath pictures instead of saving them for the future boyfriends.

November 2, 2008

Amaree is doing much better. She looks great and is acting more like herself. We are working on breastfeeding again, and she is working her way back to being comfortable with it. She also got moved into a crib, rather than a cart. We are excited about the because this is the last transition before going home. She was also weaned to 1 liter on the high flow nasal cannula.

We have learned a little more about her eyes, and the problem is that the blood vessels around her eyes are not developing like they should. They can repair themselves, which we are praying that they will. If they don't correct themselves, they do a surgery which stops the growth of the vessels and hopefully the body will grow new ones correctly.

Last night I read Beauty and the Beast to Amaree. She was really cute, and started to wimper right as the Beast appeared. I comforted her and told her the story had a good ending, and then read her the rest of the story. I think she likes that story, even if it scared her a little.