Hello,
Well we didn’t get as much time with Emily yesterday as we had planned. Funny this whole long weekend we have really only been spending about as much time with her as we normally do when Tony is working. Yesterday we had to pick up Maya at 1 pm and after signing the papers, getting a quick lunch, and the traffic down to her (who thought that doing road construction on the busiest travel weekend of the year was a good idea?) we didn’t get down there till about 5 pm.
Emily had a much better day though (I hope that doesn’t mean that she wants us to go away). Her oxyhood was off her most of the day and she was doing well with her saturations. Her canula has been lowered to about 60% from what we hear as of this morning and she is sating in the low 90%. I am not positive but I think that her flow rate was lowered to 2 liters as well. We were told that she even took her inhaled meds good too. We were told that yesterday they sucked out a hard dried blood clot out of her nose. I guess it was quite large and once it was out her stats went way up!
They are going to try her with her oxyhood open when she is in her bed. For those who don’t know the oxyhood is much like a plastic box. Only it is open on one side (the side that is down so Emily is not laying on plastic) and on another side it has loose plastic that can be wrapped around her body or around her feet so that she is enclosed in a bubble for lack of a better word. The thought is that since she clearly needs the humidity but the humidity makes her really wet (often we can’t see through the bubble) that maybe the best solution is to open the “wrapped” side so air can get in but she is still getting humidity. One thing we have noticed is the hospital air is EXTREMELY dry. Also all the babies have vents over their cribs/isolattes so they have moving dry/cold air over them. Hopefully this would help Emily.
Emily did okay with the Advant bottle yesterday. It was tried 2 times during the day and once with me. We were told that it was also tried at 4 am this morning. The first time she didn’t brady but much was leaking out. The second time it didn’t leak out as bad but she had a few minor bradys. When I did it with her she seemed to drink too fast, have a drift (heartrate) then get herself out of it. After 11 ml she was done (she had a big brady then). At 4am she took 29 ml from it. I also have the Doctor Brown bottles so I might try them today with her. For those who don’t know Dr. Brown bottles are suppose to prevent gas. They have a ton of parts (other then just a nipple, ring and bottle) and we are told they along with the advant bottles are the ones they see the most in the ICN. I have a “preemie” flow on them so she might like that. We will have to see. One thing I like about her bottles (any of them) that the hospital bottles don’t have is the clear silicone nipple so I can see exactly how much milk is in the nipple so that I can control how fast she is getting it better. I will let you know how the Dr. Brown bottle goes. Oh for those who don’t know Emily normally has big bradys when she feeds by bottle. This is due to her immaturity.
The nursery is getting quiet again. The count is really low (at least that we have seen since we have been there) and so that could be why Emily had a good day yesterday. She doesn’t like noise and light when she is trying to sleep. Also the baby next to her is not there now so there is very little reason for anyone to be near her unless they are working with her. I guess Emily can now get her beauty sleep!
That is all the news for now. Sorry there are no pictures. We didn’t take any yesterday and forgot the camera (in the car) the day before.
Jennifer