Good Day

Yesterday was a great day. All her blood work came out good, so she has no infections. She is still a lot more passive, but they said she might just be feeling better without her IV line in and at the same time maturing and getting used to this new environment. They were happy I spoke up when I noticed a difference. As they said, she has a different doctor and nurse everyday, and I am the only constant, so if I ever notice anything off to let them know.

She officially weighs 2 lbs 1 oz, so we are moving in the right direction. They lowered the level of NAVA she is relying on and in a few days they will take her off entirely where she will be just on CPAP with no extra aids. They have moved her feedings up to 18 mls, which is great though I am feeling the pressure to keep up on making enough milk, but so far so good.

I was sitting in the lobby for a quick cup of coffee this morning when a woman came up to me who I haven't met yet and asked: "You're Natalie's mom, right? She's a stud." She said she recognized me from being in her room all the time and just wanted to tell me how amazing Natalie has done and what a special little girl she is. She is a NP in the NICU, she hadn't worked with Natalie but had just heard about her.

That conversation made me feel good. All the nurses and doctors have been telling me how good she is doing, but this woman would not have felt the need to make the effort to tell me if she did not believe it. 

We had not done Kangaroo Care in a few days because she struggled with it a couple of days in a row. I have been just holding her swaddled like a normal baby. We tried Kangaroo again last night at her 5:00 feeding and she did super well. She lasted over 2 hours until her stats went nuts, which basically means she has handled as much stimulus as she could and it is time to put her back. But we were really happy with how well she did. 

I was talking to a nurse this morning and she explained the whole heart rate / breathing issues and why this is normal until 32-34 weeks gestation. She said in utero the baby obviously does not have to breathe. That at around 32 weeks they practice breathing, but they do not need to and they only practice whenever they feel like it. They breathe in amniotic fluid and then go about their business. So her brain is not even remotely prepared to breathe full time before then. As of today, she is at 27 weeks gestation age so she is doing super well. 

As for myself, I have made myself quite cozy here in the NICU. It is not remotely lonely because I have become so friendly with the so many of the nurses. I am still juggling my schedule with Jimmy coming at night. My days have been a little too long this week and last night I crashed a little (more emotionally/mentally than physically) but it is okay as I expect to have my good days and bad days. I cannot believe that I am going back to work in a little over 3 weeks and cannot imagine how tired I will be then, but that is a worry for another day!

Today I am feeling very positive in general, I mean, she is doing so incredibly well. Now it is time for me to go to the dentist (lucky me), so thank you for checking in. Miss Natalie is an extremely lucky girl to have all of you rooting for her!

Not-so-daily dose of Natalie Rose:

Sleeping cozy

Kangaroo-ing

Getting work done and being mad about it