I Would Rather Get Spit Up On....

Yesterday, Megan and Marla went down to the hospital during the day while I took Drew duties. Then we switched our duties late in the afternoon. Megan and Marla came home and I headed to the hospital. It worked out so well that we're planning the same thing for today...except we're adding some Oregano's pizza during the transition.

Everything has pretty much held steady for Kayley the last couple days. The only changes that came were to her ventilator settings and her feedings. Dr. Lepp lowered Kayley's breaths per minute back down to 10 because her blood gas test came back so good. It's really not that much of a change for Kayley since she breathes right over the ventilator anyway. But, it is a change in the right direction.

Kayley's feedings have gone steadily up to 17 cc's. Our nurse and nurse practitioner said this is her full feeding even though Dr. Lepp said it was 24 cc's the other day. I'm sure we'll get that straightened out to figure out if they will increase them any in the days to come. Again, it's calculated based on her weight and maybe they are using different numbers.

Kayley's weight ballooned yesterday to 1330 grams, however, it was due to the blood transfusion. When the weight displayed on the screen, I about jumped for joy. Again, the nurse qualified it by telling me she just received some blood and that's why it went up so much. It's sure to go down at the next weigh in. And sure enough, at last night's weigh in, it went down to 1260 grams. Technically, that is still an increase if we go by the time before Kayley received the transfusion. So, we'll take it.

Kayley got me 2 nights ago by spitting up on me. Although not too gross, it was still a surprise. Well, Kayley really got Megan yesterday. While Megan was changing her diaper, guess what? Yep, Kayley pooped on her. I can only wonder what is in store for me today.

Last night, the nurse and I were talking about Kayley's next extubation and the outcomes. If Kayley makes it, great. However, if Kayley still can't handle it on her own, it's still nothing to worry about. She probably just has to gain some more weight and get a little more mature. She also said that if she does fail, they will probably shoot for a specific weight to try her at next time rather than shooting for a certain day. So, let's hope Kayley stacks the weight on just in case. We are very hopeful that she'll make it this time though.

Kayley was held 2 times again yesterday. Megan during the day and me at night. Kayley really seems to benefit from it. The nurse mentioned that it really helps the babies gain weight. The skin-to-skin gives them our body heat to help them keep warm. This in turn allows them to save the calories they would be using to keep warm themselves to gain weight instead. So, we're glad we can help her out so much. Kayley doesn't really know this yet but she's also helping Megan and I tremendously too. Holding her is so beneficial to us. We love it.

Kayley had 2 episodes yesterday where she was really mad. Both times, it was after she was put back in her bed after Megan and I held her. Her heart rate spiked to over 200 beats per minutes. It scared Megan and I a bit but the nurses just shake it off. As long as it's being raised for a reason (she's mad), they don't see it as bad. If she were just sitting there and it happened, that's an issue. In any case, she gets over her fit and calms down pretty well...which is also a good sign.

As I was talking to the nurse last night, she told me that it's good and soothing for Kayley to have us put some good things in her mouth (sugar water, breast milk, pacifier, etc.). This way, Kayley won't associate everything going into her mouth as bad (feeding tube, suction tube, ventilator tube). In the end, she will handle being introduced to the bottle and oral feedings better and won't think we're trying to do something she doesn't like. That makes sense to me.