Monday, September 21, 2009

Update: good news!

Anne's feedings are being moved up to 28 mL per feeding (from 18), which is just less than an ounce (an ounce being 30 mL), so that's awesome. They're adding all kinds of good stuff to her food - calcium, protein and other stuff that sounded good but I can't remember - to fatten her up and help her gain weight. Anne is now off of IV fluids, so it's all breast milk. They've taken off her IV line and the IV pick line (that went in at the wrist all the way up to her heart), so she's off of tubes except for a little bit of monitoring and her feeding tube.
They want me to start "non nutritive" breastfeeding, which basically means I pump, and then put her to breast, so she can learn and we can work on that. This is cool, because until now, we only got to hold her two hours a week. She also gets to do "non nutritive sucking" on her "wee soothie" which is smaller than a NICU soothie...even though the wee soothie is the size of her head. She was almost small enough for the "wee thumbie" but not quite.
The nurses say that Anne is really feisty, and that she's a little Houdini, that she likes to wiggle out of all her moniters and set off the alarms. Yesterday, when we were visiting, she was really awake and alert. It was the most awake we've ever seen her. Her big, big eyes were wide open, and she was so cute. She held Andrew's finger, and it was the most alert he has ever seen her. She was moving and looking around a lot. Dr. Kari (don't know her last name, sorry), who is Second-In-Command at the NICU, says that Anne is acting very age-appropriate, and that they weren't expecting her to do as well as she is doing. Her eyes and her face are a little "twitchy", which is normal for babies as premature as she is. And when her face twitches, it twitches into a smile. The doctor is having an eye specialist come in and double-check her eyes to make sure they're OK, not that they think the eyes AREN'T OK, they're just making sure.
This weekend was the big BYU football game. On Saturday, I surprised Andrew by asking the nurse if she could put a blue-and-white bow in her hair. So the nurse and I put two ribbons together and put it in her hair. And then, when I came back, I was smiling because I knew it and was waiting to see Andrew's reaction. He is a huge BYU fan, and he and I were both in our matching shirts, and Anne was in - well, just her diaper, and her bow (her wardrobe right now consists of just diapers and hair bows). He was very proud. But BYU lost the game in a horrible, embarrassing way, so she won't be wearing THAT bow again for a long time. She's back in the yellow one, which is my favorite, of course.

5 comments:

Naomi said...

Thanks for sharing the goods news, I did think her little bows were cute in the pictures below. I'm glad your teaching her young that she's a BYU fan!

Verity said...

Oh shiloh she is so cute and so little. I am so glad they are ketting you try and breast feed her. WOW I am so happy for you both. You are all in our prayers!!
Love the Flanerys

Georgie Girl said...

I sure love you all! It's so great you can "nurse" her now! Get used to the recreational nursing, it won't go away when she gets to do the real thing! Enjoy the snuggles! P.S. Welcome to "mommy Guilt", all us mommies are riddled with it!

Neesha said...

AWESOME NEWS, Shiloh! She's coming right along and how exciting for you to be able to introduce a little nursing. Recreational sucking is such a great soothing technique, I'm really excited for you! It's wonderful that she's learning how to use the soothie too! Keep the updates coming. I'm so happy to read your news! She's tiny, but she sure is beautiful!

Ashley Seil Smith said...

Hhahaha, you guys are so great.