Two Steps Back

Well, today was an emotional day.

When Miss Avery was first admitted to NICU they talked to us about blood transfusions and told us that about 99% of preemies get them. In order to be ready we had one of our close relatives donate blood for us to have on file should she need it.

Today was the day Miss Avery ended up needing it. She was only 2 weeks away from greatly increasing her odds of not needing a transfusion. The primary reason preemies end up needing blood is because of the amount taken from them while in the hospital. Babies can not produce their own blood cells until 6 weeks of age and so if you take take take prior to that 6 week point the probability is they will need blood. Miss Avery was looking really good until today.

In addition yesterday she started doing a few dips again, today she continued. So with the blood transfusion and her dipping her cpap bump rate was increased back to what it was before (10 bpm). Hopefully once she gets blood she will start feeling better and will be able to go back to a zero bump rate on the cpap.

It is also looking like this weekend they will be adding fortifier to her milk in order to increase the calories she is receiving. Currently Miss Avery isn't really gaining much weight and hopefully this will help.

Miss Avery is also being checked for an eye infection. She has one eye that seems to continually produce gunk. It is always the same eye so they are taking a sample and sending it off to see if she has an infection.

With Avery having almost a solid week doing great it was really hard to walk in there tonight and find out about her few steps back. I just wanted to scoop Avery up and just hold her close and tell her it will be alright. Through out our visit tonight I had to sit back a little bit away from her because if I sat too close I would have cried through the entire visit. I hate the though of her not feeling well. And looking at her helpless little self in that bed just makes it so much worse when I know there is absolutely nothing I can do for her. It breaks my heart into little pieces. I want her well so bad.

Pat was just as stressed out. The difference from him and I is that instead of crying he just kind of gets quiet and shuts down. It is emotionally exhausting when she has days like this. Good days are definitely ahead for Miss Avery, however doesn't make today anymore fun.

Good Grades

So Miss Avery had another good day Monday. On Sunday her cpap bump rate was changed to zero which means they are testing her at the lowest level. If she does well with it then they take her off c-pap and put her on a nasal cannula. The nasal cannula is a little less obtrusive and is a step closer to needing no assistance with breathing. Miss Avery of course still has a way to go with all this since the apnea stuff usually continues to week 34 and Miss Avery would only be week 29 as of this past Sunday.

So far Miss Avery seems to be doing very well with the zero bump rate. Monday day no dips just lots off good breathing and good heart rate maintenance. On Monday evening she did have a couple heart rate drops, but it didn't sound like it was anything major. And as of Tuesday she was back to her high stats or as her Daddy calls it she was making good grades.

She was so good that on both Monday and Tuesday we were able to hold her. Both days she was just a stylin' in her new hat. Monday I did kangaroo care and today we just held our little burrito, or actually I held her. Daddy said it's his turn tomorrow. I think he gave me today because we were running late and he wanted tomorrow so he could holder her longer...he thinks he is sneaky, but I'm on to his little game.

Oh and look at Miss Avery's new condo decoration:

She did it!

Today was the day!!!

Miss Avery broke 2 lbs!!

Of course Mommy and Daddy are both very excited. We know it is possible that she will hover a bit and even that she may lose a little bit because just like us her weight fluxuates, however this is a milestone! Miss Avery is now officially working her way to 3 lbs!! And with 3 lbs comes BABY FAT!! I can't wait to see baby fat! We keep hearing they start to move fast after they break 2 lbs...so I guess now we get to watch and see. It took her 24 days to get to 2 lbs.

In addition Daddy got to do Kangaroo care for the first time. It was very sweet. I think Daddy enjoyed it as much as Avery did.

Mommy of course had to check out how sweet Miss Avery looked sleeping in Daddy's arms. It was just the sweetest thing.

Oh and to top off the day, Avery got a new closet today thanks to DW! How cute is that! Right now it is stuffed with blankets, but when she gets a little bigger we will get to stuff it with clothes as well!!:

What a great day for Miss Avery!

Big Day

Miss Avery had a very big day today!

Her feedings were increased to 4.4 ccs per hour. Her fluids were completely removed which also resulted in her picc line being removed. How exciting is that!

Then Avery had her c-pap and feeding tubes taken out in order to be changed which meant for a brief time there was no tape or tubes attached to Avery's face. This was actually the first time Pat and I got to see her pretty face completely unobstructed.

Next she was weighed and came in at her highest weight yet! Miss Avery weighed in at 1 lb 15.6 ozs (896 grams)! Only .4 ozs to go to reach 2 lbs!!

And if that was not enough Avery had a bath today. A big bath in which Mommy and Daddy both got to help.

After her bath Miss Avery had her tubes reattached and was sent off to bed to recoup from her exciting day. She was definitely tuckered out because she was sound a sleep in no time.

Good Days

So last couple days Miss Avery has been pretty good. She has been having great numbers and has been having fewer dips. In addition on Wednesday Miss Avery weighed in at 874 grams. This is 1 gram away from her birth weight and the highest she has weighed since. She weighed the same yesterday as well, so we were pretty excited about that.

She is getting 4 ccs of food per hour right now, which is about 3 ounces a day. She seems to be handling it pretty well too.

Since Miss Avery has been being good we have been able to hold her for the past couple days. Daddy had his turn on Wednesday and I had mine last night.

We have also gotten in some good diaper practice lately. Not to mention suctioning. Avery had her first suction by Daddy last night. Avery is a great bubbly blower, however those bubble accumulate into a lot of yuck, which as I mentioned before is a result of all the extra tubes going in. So in addition to the 4 times a day the nurses give her a good suction she also sometimes gets it with the ball suction which Pat used last night.

All in all Miss Avery has had a good couple day.

Weight Gain

Miss Avery seemed to be doing pretty well today. Her nurse said she stayed at 21% O2 through out the day. Both Pat and I were able to hold her. They did add potassium to the food as a result of taking away the fluids, but other than that nothing major. Her blood sugar was up this am to 116. I was to the normal range is between 50 and 150, however 116 is kind of high so they are going to check it again in the morning.

This evening Miss Avery's weight was at 862 grams up from 846, however after being weighed she was suctioned and had lots and lots of yuck come out. Miss Avery is typically suctioned 4 times a day. This is just to help her remove all the mucus and stuff that builds up since she is not big enough to do it on her own. Term babies need to be suctioned when there noses and stuff gets stopped up. This is basically the same thing, but from what I have been told since they have all these tubes going into their bodies that don't belong they tend to make more yuck that they would normally. So tonight there was a lot of yuck and so I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow she was down a little in the weight. We don't want to get our hopes up that her gain was for real. So we will weight and see what tomorrow holds. Hopefully she won't be back down to 850.

Here are a couple pictures since I haven't posted any in a couple days.

Her new blanket:

Holding her passy:

I have a video of her sucking her passy, however I think the file is to big because I get an error when I try to upload it. Next time she has her passy I'll try again. It's really cute watching her hold it in her mouth.

Pretty in Purple

So yesterday Miss Avery was back to being pretty good. She didn't have too many dips and was able to stay on 21% O2 most of the day. They increased her food intake to 3.6 ccs per hour which is the equivalent of about 17 teaspoons per day. They also took her off fluids. They ran a glucose test yesterday to see how she did without fluids and as of last night her sugar was fine. We were told it came in at 80. This was around kick out time (shift change for nurses) so I didn't get the chance to ask what the normal range is. This morning they are going to do a little more in depth workup to see how she is doing without fluids. I was told they were going to check things like her potassium levels, glucose again, and a few other things.

Now Miss Avery did lose a little weight yesterday. She went down to 846 grams from 850. There is a bigger baby right next to her and I keep telling her she needs to visualize being that big, but she just doesn't seem to get it. Either that or she is like me and is going to do the opposite of whatever you tell her, so maybe I'll quit telling her to think big thoughts.

Other than that Miss Avery did get a new blanket yesterday. So now instead of having a pretty in pink condo she has a pretty in purple condo with her name embroidered front and center. I think she even started the day in a purple bow on her headband to match her purple blanket. Yes, yes, they are all about some color coordination and stylin' babies up at the NICU.