I might not have put it in the blog but "cautiously optimistic" has been a familiar phrase these two months. In this case we're cautiously optimistic that Madi will be home soon, real soon. If this was a race we'd be on the last lap just out of the last corner, finish line in sight and using the last energy reserves to cross that line. We're that close.
Madi's gaining weight, keeping her temperatures up, eating like a pig and breathing consistently. If she wasn't on oxygen we'd be outta there. But she is on oxygen and so we stay. When Madi switched to the nasal canula she was on 1 liter of flow. Earlier this week she moved to .75L and today she should go to .5L. How she does with half will determine whether she goes to .25L or completely off. Once the O2 is gone she's a stride away from crossing the finish line.
Dan and I have been in training the past week or so - baths on our own, not using the monitors to follow her breathing, learning to draw meds and running on her schedule. For me the hardest part is not peeking at the monitor to see how low she is when the alarm goes off. As she's matured the lows haven't been as low but Madi'll get choked up every once in a while. Other than those times Madi will drop her sats for just a few seconds and be back. Instead of looking at the monitor we're looking at Madi. Is she getting blue on her upper lip or around her eyes, is she breathing, are they good, deep breaths? She'll self-resolve and want to get right back to eating. Man, that girl can eat! She's "ad lib" now which means she eats as much as she wants. Some overnights she's been as high as 60mls which is almost triple what she got a week ago. Madi's 5lbs 4oz because of it. 5lbs 6oz will be triple her birth weight. It's so surprising to go back and look at the pictures from day 1. Now that we're past that stage, it's a little frightening. The thought of being on our own without the docs and nurses is a tad scary as well but we've had one heck of an introduction to parenting so I know we'll do just fine.
If you've been meaning to come visit you better get a move on. We're checking out of our second home soon. That's not cautiously optimistic either, it's reality.
Reeda, I'm so happy for you guys! The oxygen and isolette were our main issues with Xander (his sats were on a roller coaster all day long!), so I can't even imagine how you are juggling all the various checks you have with Madi. She is so precious, I can't believe her little pudgy cheeks in the more recent pics. It's so crazy to see she's almost tripled her birth weight when a full term baby normally triples their weight in the first YEAR! Despite her setbacks, she seems to be more than making up for it and is a true fighter. I'm really looking forward to meeting her if we can (next time we visit), and good luck on getting out of there. Miss you!
ReplyDeleteHowdy, Reeda it's Pam (Parry) - I thought of another t-shirt......"Premature Birth Is Not For Sissies!" Sorry I couldn't get there today. Been sick for a while. Maybe I'll make it before you go home. If not, I'll catch ya there. Love you guys.
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