Saturday, February 23, 2008
Home at last!
She's home! I'm sitting with her trying to get rid of her hiccups before she finishes the rest of her bottle. I'll post more soon, but I wanted everyone to know the good news. We are looking forward to being able to be home as a family. Thanks for all your prayers!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Ad libbing
Just a quick note before I retire for the night...
Sadie's up to ad lib bottle feeding every three hours. This means that Sadie is given a bottle every three hours but it's up to her to decide how much she drinks. It's okay if she drinks 40mL at one feeding and 75mL at the next as long as she continues to gain weight.
So for the next two days, it's all up to you, Sadie. Good night, little girl. Go Sadie, go!
Sadie's up to ad lib bottle feeding every three hours. This means that Sadie is given a bottle every three hours but it's up to her to decide how much she drinks. It's okay if she drinks 40mL at one feeding and 75mL at the next as long as she continues to gain weight.
So for the next two days, it's all up to you, Sadie. Good night, little girl. Go Sadie, go!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Back to 2/3
I'm at work waiting for 355 payroll warrants to be printed so I figured I'd take a break and update the blog. I'll be seeing Sadie this evening so I probably won't have time for an update tonight.
On Monday morning, the doctor put Sadie back on the 2/3 bottle feedings. She'll be her doctor all week except Wednesday, so hopefully her feeding schedule won't get changed again for a while. That is, unless they change it to every feeding. That would be a good thing. She's been doing alright and finishing most of her bottles.
As of last night, she was up to 7 pounds, 6 ounces. I'm going from memory, so I'll edit the blog later if I remembered wrong.
On Monday morning, the doctor put Sadie back on the 2/3 bottle feedings. She'll be her doctor all week except Wednesday, so hopefully her feeding schedule won't get changed again for a while. That is, unless they change it to every feeding. That would be a good thing. She's been doing alright and finishing most of her bottles.
As of last night, she was up to 7 pounds, 6 ounces. I'm going from memory, so I'll edit the blog later if I remembered wrong.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
A rollercoaster ride
Sadie is a month old today!
The past couple days have been a rollercoaster ride. The last update was a good one as they increased her bottle feeds to two out of every three. Well, that didn't last too long. She did okay until Saturday. In addition to bottle feed every 2 out of three times, the doctor wanted her to drink 65-70mL within 30 minutes. At her 12:30am feeding, she took over 45 minutes to drink 35mL. She At her 3:30am feeding, she took over 30 minutes to drink 37mL so they stopped and gavaged the rest (60mL total). Because she was having so much trouble drinking the required amount within 30 minutes, the doctor reverted her back to a bottle every other feeding. On Friday, they also measured her hematocrit level and it was unchanged at 30 after four doses of epogen. At the time, this was devastating. We were so excited that she was doing so well at her 2/3 feedings that we thought it was okay to expect her to come home in a week or so. We know from experience with Aedan to never expect your baby to come home at a certain time, but it's next to impossible to do so. Saturday was a very hard day, but things got a bit better.
Saturday night at 6:30pm, she ended up drinking her full 60mL bottle within 30 minutes. Sunday morning at 12:30am, she drank 50mL. At 6:00am, it was 60mL. We gave up the idea of her coming home the middle of the week, but this was the hope we needed. We now knew that she wasn't spiraling down, she just had a tough day trying to keep up with the increased bottle feeds. Preemies tend to not like too many things changed at once. With her hematocrit still at 30, her number of feeds increased, and then the amount per feed increased, we think that was just too much for Sadie to deal with.
They did a repeat of the labwork Sunday morning. Her hematocrit was up to 34! Also, the doctor that was on duty changed the orders to ad lib feedings every 3-4 hours. This meant that they'd feed Sadie when she woke up and acted hungary as long as it was every 3-4 hours. We spent the day with Sadie today and she ended up doing relatively well with this schedule. She took her first bottle with us at 12:35pm and took an hour to drink 33mL. It took a long time, but we also had to stop to change she diaper three times as she wanted to make room. We were a bit disappointed when we left for lunch, but when we came back, Melody (her nurse) said that Sadie she found Sadie "eating her blanket" so she tried feeding her more. Sadie ended up drinking another 30mL in fifteen minutes. She started acting hungary again at 5:30pm and ended up drinking 55mL in a half hour. Then, when we got home, there was a message from Melody that she drank 45mL at 7:00pm. She may not be eating exactly the way the doctors want, but she is showing them that she can eat quickly when she wants too. We are praying that the doctor's orders stay at ad lib every 3-4 hours. With so many changes to her feedings lately, it's impossible for Sadie to show the doctors what works and what doesn't. We're also praying that she continues to do well with her feedings and continue to gain weight.
Liz is Sadie's nurse again tomorrow. Jen is going to stay with Sadie most of the day and I'm going to stay home with Aedan. There are a couple things that still need to get done in Sadie's room and there's other stuff around the house that's been piling up since we are gone so much. Hopefully, tomorrow will be another good day...
Last, but not least, she's up to 7 pounds, 1.1 ounces.
The past couple days have been a rollercoaster ride. The last update was a good one as they increased her bottle feeds to two out of every three. Well, that didn't last too long. She did okay until Saturday. In addition to bottle feed every 2 out of three times, the doctor wanted her to drink 65-70mL within 30 minutes. At her 12:30am feeding, she took over 45 minutes to drink 35mL. She At her 3:30am feeding, she took over 30 minutes to drink 37mL so they stopped and gavaged the rest (60mL total). Because she was having so much trouble drinking the required amount within 30 minutes, the doctor reverted her back to a bottle every other feeding. On Friday, they also measured her hematocrit level and it was unchanged at 30 after four doses of epogen. At the time, this was devastating. We were so excited that she was doing so well at her 2/3 feedings that we thought it was okay to expect her to come home in a week or so. We know from experience with Aedan to never expect your baby to come home at a certain time, but it's next to impossible to do so. Saturday was a very hard day, but things got a bit better.
Saturday night at 6:30pm, she ended up drinking her full 60mL bottle within 30 minutes. Sunday morning at 12:30am, she drank 50mL. At 6:00am, it was 60mL. We gave up the idea of her coming home the middle of the week, but this was the hope we needed. We now knew that she wasn't spiraling down, she just had a tough day trying to keep up with the increased bottle feeds. Preemies tend to not like too many things changed at once. With her hematocrit still at 30, her number of feeds increased, and then the amount per feed increased, we think that was just too much for Sadie to deal with.
They did a repeat of the labwork Sunday morning. Her hematocrit was up to 34! Also, the doctor that was on duty changed the orders to ad lib feedings every 3-4 hours. This meant that they'd feed Sadie when she woke up and acted hungary as long as it was every 3-4 hours. We spent the day with Sadie today and she ended up doing relatively well with this schedule. She took her first bottle with us at 12:35pm and took an hour to drink 33mL. It took a long time, but we also had to stop to change she diaper three times as she wanted to make room. We were a bit disappointed when we left for lunch, but when we came back, Melody (her nurse) said that Sadie she found Sadie "eating her blanket" so she tried feeding her more. Sadie ended up drinking another 30mL in fifteen minutes. She started acting hungary again at 5:30pm and ended up drinking 55mL in a half hour. Then, when we got home, there was a message from Melody that she drank 45mL at 7:00pm. She may not be eating exactly the way the doctors want, but she is showing them that she can eat quickly when she wants too. We are praying that the doctor's orders stay at ad lib every 3-4 hours. With so many changes to her feedings lately, it's impossible for Sadie to show the doctors what works and what doesn't. We're also praying that she continues to do well with her feedings and continue to gain weight.
Liz is Sadie's nurse again tomorrow. Jen is going to stay with Sadie most of the day and I'm going to stay home with Aedan. There are a couple things that still need to get done in Sadie's room and there's other stuff around the house that's been piling up since we are gone so much. Hopefully, tomorrow will be another good day...
Last, but not least, she's up to 7 pounds, 1.1 ounces.
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