No More Blue Number

Kayley's numbers are the top 2.

The nurses other assigned babies are the bottom two screens.

Kayley's pulse oximeter is gone. So many times I have written about Kayley's oxidation (after looking tonight, I found out it's really called oxygenation). Well, the pulse oximeter was what told us Kayley's oxygenation. For the last 8 weeks it has been so important. Before Kayley was 34 weeks gestation, the number had to be between 83 and 93. After she hit 34 weeks, she had to keep it above 90. It was the cause of so many alarms which in turn caused lots of eyes to be fixed on that little blue number. It was one of the 3 numbers on her monitor. We're now down to two...heart rate and respirations per minute. The doctor had it taken off Kayley because it was no longer needed. Her oxygenation would still dip a bit every now and then but she always recovered on her own fairly quickly. There was really no need to monitor it any longer since the nurses never had to intervene.

Megan and I both agree that this is a good step. Just imagine if Kayley was on that monitor up until the time we take her home. Then, when we get home, we'd be without it and aways wondering what Kayley's oxygenation was and if it was high enough. That would create a lot of anxious moments. Now, we'll be able to get use it not being monitored while Kayley is still in the hospital. It will make the transition home a little easier.

Another change implemented today for Kayley is that they are no longer putting the extra calories in Megan's breast milk. They finished what they had mixed up for the day at Kayley's 9 pm feeding and that's it. Straight breast milk from now on.

We're already starting to see a slow down in weight gain. Last night Kayley didn't gain any weight and tonight she only gained 10 grams. Kayley is now 3070 grams (still 6 lbs 12 oz). I'm going to be way off my prediction of 7 lbs by tomorrow night.

Kayley did pretty well feeding today. The day nurse got her to take 38 cc's. That's the highest mark turned in so far. Not wanting to be outdone, I came in tonight expecting high marks. Well, what I was expecting and what Kayley was expecting just wasn't the same. She piddled quite a bit and only got 27 cc's. I guess that's a good sign though. She wasn't at the top of her game and she still got quite a bit. A week ago, piddling meant she'd only get 5 cc's. So, Kayley's still improving.