Day 81 in the NICU- November 18, 2012

Avery did much better today than she did the other day regarding her desats. She is still having them but not as low as they were on Friday. They don't really change much on the weekends. They were just going to let her chill out a little bit. We are now allowed to hold her whenever we want depending on when she is getting fed. If they are about to feed her, they want you to hold her during the whole feed or leave her in her crib during the whole feed. Other people are now allowed to hold her too which my sister was very excited about.

My shirt says "Everybody Loves Me" and I think that's true!

 

Aunt Janet got to hold me today. I could tell she was excited!

Day 80 in the NICU- November 17, 2012

Avery had a better day today than yesterday. She was still having desats but they weren't as bad as yesterday. She now weighs 4 lbs 6.7oz. I spoke with Dr Jeff, the neonatologist, and he said she still has a long way to go before coming home but to focus on how far she has come. He said Dr Doumit, the craniofacial specialist, is scheduled to come in and see Avery towards the beginning of next week. He will be the one to tell us exactly how extensive Avery's cleft palate is. He will also be the one performing surgery on her down the road.

Today is World Prematurity Day. More than 15 million babies are born prematurely each year and over 1 million of them do not make it. We feel very fortunate that Avery is doing so well.
http://www.marchofdimes.com/mission/prematurity_wpd.html

This is my impersonation of a burrito!

Day 79 in the NICU- November 16, 2012

Avery had a little bit of a rough but exciting day today. She is still having a problem with desats. When I was there, her pulse ox would go from 95 down to 60, up to 75, down to 40 and back up to the 90's. She has been having a lot of issues with it lately. On a good note, she drank 9ml of formula from a Haberman bottle today! I was so proud. They said while she was getting the rest of her formula through the feeding tube, that she sucked on the pacifier the whole time and that is a good sign. As of last night, she weighs 4 lbs 5.5oz.

I'm dreaming of a day without impressive desats.

 

This picture makes me look like I am ready to work out. It looks like I am wearing a t-shirt and wristband.

Day 78 in the NICU- November 15, 2012

Avery is 11 weeks old today. She is also the oldest baby in the NICU. The previous oldest baby went home yesterday. Avery was doing great today until she had a really bad desat and her pulse ox went down to 13. The nurse practitioner says Avery has some "impressive desats". Not something to really be proud of but she will eventually grow out of it. Not much has changed. She is still getting 35ml of formula and continues to get the Epo injections.

I'm dreaming of going home with Mommy and Daddy 

 

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit me tonight

 

Tastes like chicken!

Day 77 in the NICU- November 14, 2012

Avery had a pretty good day today. She did have a few desats when I was holding her. She also was pretty uncomfortable most of the night because I think she really had to poop but couldn't. They said she had been pretty gassy all day and her belly probably hurt. I spoke with the nurse and she said they didn't try to bottle feed her today. They just dipped her pacifier in the formula and let her suck on that. They said the last time they tried to bottle feed her, that she was good at trying to suck and she would get milk in her mouth but not swallow it so they are just going to move slowly with the bottle feeding. She is still 4lbs 4.5oz.

We had our family support meeting tonight and there was a couple there that had their baby at 23 weeks and so far, their baby is doing well and was born at 1 lb 6oz.  It makes me feel actually lucky that we had her at 25 weeks.

This is probably when I was desatting while hanging out with Mommy.

 

I like snuggling with Mommy.

 

I am so excited because I got cute frog jammies on!

Day 76 in the NICU- November 13, 2012

Avery had a good day today. She now weighs 4lbs 4.5oz. I spoke with the speech therapist and she said they are going to be starting to try to bottle feed Avery again. The nurse said Avery is going to be receiving EPO injections for 5 days in a row. She said it should help with the desatting, which will also help her with bottle feeding. Daddy held her for over and hour tonight.

 

Whaaaaat? Whaaaat? (that's my impression of the rapper Lil' Jon)

Do you think I look like Mommy or Daddy..or neither?

Day 75 in the NICU- November 12, 2012

Avery had another good day today. They said they are going to start trying to bottle feed her again. They think they are going to try a new type of bottle, one that you squeeze since Avery didn't like the Haberman style ones. They have been dipping her pacifier in formula and she really likes it and sucks away on it. They decreased the rate/flow on her cannula from 4 to 3. They measured her yesterday and she is now 17 inches long!

Mommy said the sunrise was really pretty this morning. I can't see it even though I have a window in my room.

 

I was sound asleep when Mommy came to see me this afternoon. She didn't want to disturb me by taking more pictures.

 

These are Mommy's hospital bands. She was going to wear them until I came home from the hospital. It's been almost 11 weeks and Mommy is worried they are pretty germy. She said she will still think about me all the time even if she isn't wearing them.