One kilo!

Last night during weigh-in Madilyn was up to 2lb 4oz which puts her over 1kilo. We were excited about 2lbs but the docs and nurses are excited about 1kilo. So we celebrate!!

She was a little agitated last night but we like to think it's because she missed us. Other than that, all's well.

Eat, sleep, breathe...and repeat.

September 16

A couple apnic and brady spells overnight, most were self-recovery. Madilyn's still figuring out how to regulate her heart rate and oxygen levels. If she was still tucked away, my body would regulate her oxygen and heart so it's understandable for these stats to vary. Not that we don't race to the incubator, hands ready to intervene if she doesn't bring them back up on her own but she's expected to have these moments. Madilyn had two more bradys when I was here but one was after lunch so I don't count that one since we know she struggles after eating.

Got an update from her recent blood work, creatinine is at .6 - yay!! If you aren't aware we started at 1.6 and normal is .5. Madi's high creatinine level indicated some malfunction of her kidneys. An ultrasound found she had hydronephrosis which is common in preemies who've received indocin (to close the blood vessel outside her heart). Good news is that as the medicine works it way out of her system her kidney function improves - no intervention needed!!

I plan to add a definitions page to the blog to help with all these medical terms but until then I've found www.medicinenet.com to be a great resource.

Tonight's visit Madi had the closest thing to a pout we've seen. It was quite cute but man, Dad and I are in trouble. We're going to bite the insides of our cheeks a lot with this gal.

They added an arm to her incubator so they can hang her milk syringe really low. The lower it hangs the slower Madi gets fed. Madi did much better keeping her oxygen level up so hopefully we've found the answer to reflux.

stats for today:  2lb 1 oz, 20cm waist, 17gram diaper (must be why her waist shrunk)

Madi’s first modeling gig

St. V Women's wants to update publications and their website with pictures from the NICU and their babies and had asked if we'd be willing to participate. They wanted us for kangaroo care and since it involved getting to hold Madilyn I said "heck yeah." Madi snuggled in right away and true to form, kept one arm free to move about. The photographer was pleased with her "Aww, how cute" move and zoomed in on that hand several times. I didn't see any of the pictures yet but I'm sure she continued to own the camera. Too bad this session only comes with fame, no fortune.

After pictures were done I continued to kangaroo with Madi for almost 2.5 hours. It was tough for Mom to stay awake as it's so comfortable to hold her. Madilyn's temperature didn't drop during the kangaroo which is good - some self regulation is there. She had some ups and downs after her 9am meal but more on that in the paragraph below.

Madi was up and down on her oxygen sats again today. This is common and will continue as she figures out how to breathe effectively. It seems the variation is greater after eating so they're watching her alarms to confirm and if it is then that could indicate reflux. Simply slowing down how fast she receives milk could solve that problem. I'll keep you posted about any changes.

Stats for today:  2lb 1 oz, 21cm waist, 6gram diaper and 24-27% oxygen

First entry

I'm going to try my hand at blogging. It seems everyone's doing it and that rationale worked well for me in high school so why not?/! Here goes nothin'...