Special Holder...

Kayley had a special new holder today. Grandma Marla stopped in for Kayley's 6 pm feeding to hold her for her first time. Marla was excited all day and when the time came...maybe a little nervous. No one can blame her though. Megan and I were very nervous for our first times too. It took a while but now we're pretty comfortable. It will only be a short time until Marla feels that way too as there is still a lot of holding to be done.

Kayley had a change today with her feedings. They are now up to 33 cc's. This big jump just shows how well she is doing. The doctors feel so comfortable with how she's handling them that they increased them by 4 cc's. I can remember just a short time ago when her whole feeding was only 4 cc's. Kayley has come a long way.

Kayley weighed in at 1750 grams...up 10 grams from yesterday. It's not a real big gain but it's still a gain. With the past couple weight gains she's had, it was bound to slow down a bit at some point. No problem though. I'm sure she's packing it on with the new dosage she's receiving. Both nurses today who are 2 of Kayley's primary nurses commented on how huge she has gotten since the last time they saw her. Neither of them had seen her for 4 or 5 days. Megan and I don't see a lot of difference since we see her every day so it's nice to hear that from those that can really tell.

Kayley is still doing great with her new prongs. The whole time I was there tonight, she kept her oxidation level very high. It looks like she is getting used to them. Even though it's great that she's on the lower flow prongs, there is a small side effect. With such a low flow, they no longer humidify the air that Kayley is receiving. Evidently it doesn't help with the flow as low as it is. So, if you can imagine, Kayley is receiving dry air in her nose. The side effect is that the inside of her nose can get dry and crusty. I definitely noticed it tonight when I was holding Kayley. Her nose seemed stuffed up. To combat this, the nurses put saline in her nose to help moisten it. And, when there's enough gunk in it, they will suction it out. They don't want to suction it too much because it could irritate it.

The last update of the day is that with the nurse's help tonight, we got a new recliner for Kayley's room. The one we had in our new room was broken and didn't lean back all the way so when we put our feet up, it felt like we were sliding out of the chair. It was very uncomfortable. So tonight I asked our nurse if she could help me steal one out of another room. She complied and we now have a comfy new chair...perfect for those marathon holdings.