A Day of Firsts

Today has been a day of firsts for Sadie. She wore her first outfit today. You can see pictures on her Picasaweb album. Each day has multiple pictures so you can click on the "album cover" picture in order to see the rest of the pictures.

Feedings:
She also started getting fed from a bottle and breastfed. In terms of the amount she's eating, it is being increased by 2cc's every feeding. She was up to 16cc's (about a tablespoon) at her 10:30am feeding. They will gavage her through the tube to her stomach most of the time and bottle or breastfeed starting twice a day. They will then increase that number as she does better and better at her feedings.

Breathing:
The doctor has also ordered that she get weaned off the nasal cannula as long as she is able to breathe well without it. The nurse decreased the flow to 0.5 liters of pressure for an hour today and she did well. They continue to decrease the pressure for longer periods of time until she's breathing on her own with no extra oxygen or pressure

Her IV:
If you've seen today's pictures, you might have noticed that she now has her IV in her scalp. She's had to have her IV replaced a couple times in the NICU. Because Sadie is a bit more chubby than the normal NICU baby, it a little harder to find good veins for her IV. They spent 10 or so minutes trying to find a good vein in her hands or feet and were unsuccessful. The next step in to put an IV in her scalp. They say that it's actually less painful than a hand or foot IV and it will actually last longer. So hopefully she won't need her IV relocated for a while. My mom asked me what they were giving her though the IV and I'm sure she's not the only one. As far as I know it's just nutritional and doesn't include any medicine. If I remember right, it's some form of sugar (dextrose?), some lipids (fat), a neonatal vitamin mix, and some other things.

Other stuff:
Her bilirubin level bumped up a bit and was up to 7.2 from 6.7 yesterday. This is normal and as long as it's below 10, she shouldn't need to be on the lights anymore. She is also regulating her temperature quite well. One of the nurses said that if she's able to sustain her body temperature on her own, she'll be able to move from the isolet to a bassinet. That's another of the little steps she needs to take in order to come home. Every little step helps.

Mom and Dad:
We're doing well. Jen continues to heal from her c-section and is able to do more and more each day. The pain with her pelvis, or Sympysis Pubis Separation, is still rearing it's ugly head when she's lying down, but she's able to sit, stand, and walk with little or no pain. We are adjusting very well to getting up three times a night due to Jen's pumping schedule.

Technical Update:
If you haven't noticed, I finally got the video of Sadie being born up onto YouTube.