Saturday, March 21, 2009

Back on CPAP

Hi everyone,
Lindsay here. I'm back down in Marquette for the weekend. It looks like it's going to be weekends-only for me for a few weeks. Here's why: in a few weeks, Willow will be big enough to try eating like regular babies do: from a nipple. I'll want to be down here a lot from then on, so she can get used to breastfeeding as much as possible, as opposed to all her feedings coming from a bottle. So, given that I only have 12 weeks off of work, I want to conserve as much time as I can now, so I can be down here for the feedings. It would also be great if I still have a little leave left when Willow comes home. The standard 3-month maternity leave works great for term babies, but it's just not enough when your baby is born 3 months early! Willow is 31 weeks (and one day) gestation right now; babies usually get to come home around 40 weeks, give or take a couple weeks. Hopefully she will get out on time, or even early-that would help. Being away from Willow so much will be hard for me, but one good thing is that Josh's work is really slow right now, so he can be down here with her pretty much all the time while I'm up there working. Although the working remotely didn't work out for me, Aspirus Keweenaw has been really flexible and accomodating with my wacky schedule, and I really appreciate it.

Willow is doing pretty good. She was only on the cannula for a day though, and she tired out and had to go back on CPAP. It's not anything to worry about though; it's pretty common to go back and forth for a while. Although she's on CPAP, she is on 21% oxygen, room air. It seems she doesn't need the extra oxygen right now so much as she needs the pressure from the CPAP to keep her lungs inflated a bit. Josh has a little cold, so he's steering clear of the NICU right now. It sucks, but I'm glad it happened now, when I'm down here, so someone can visit Willow. When I got down last night, I went straight there to see her. I got to do like Josh did the other day - hold her like you normally hold a baby, in the crook of my arm. It was the best feeling ever- I got to actually look at her (which is pretty much impossible while kangarooing). I looked at her and she looked at me, and she was very content the whole time, just going to town on her pacifier. The last half hour or so she dozed off with her hands up over her head; she looked so cute and funny. I didn't have the camera with me though.
This morning when I went over, she was getting another blood transfusion, which is also normal. They're still using Grandpa Chuck's blood. She was still on 21% O2 as well, and had a huge poop. She's also tolerating her feedings well and is up to 4 mL every 3 hours. It seems like a lot after being off feedings for awhile, but to put it in perspective: she's getting 32 mL a day. That's about an ounce. I produce about 50 ounces a day. Needless to say, we've got a bit of a surplus of milk right now. Our freezer is full, along with all our allotted space in the NICU feezer, along with part of my parents' freezer. I think we might buy a chest freezer.

That's about all the news for today. Enjoy your weekend!

3 comments:

Mary B. said...

Hi Lindsay, Welcome to the wonderful world of motherhood. What a little miracle! Isn't it amazing how you can totally love this little baby you just met!!! Sounds like you and your husband have a great support system in place. Let me know if you need anything done at work.
Mary Baron

Ryan Schaefer said...

well, I finally created a blog so I can comment on this....gald to see Willow is doing so good! And that her loogie count has decreased.

Camhartnell said...

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Willow: Enjoy your "virtual" pacifier.
Josh: Feel better.
Lindsay: Pump up the jam, pump it up!

Hugs, Cam & Liz