3 Months

On Monday Natalie was three month’s old. Tuesday marked week 13. Wednesday, marked two months from her original surgery and she got her PICC line out. It was the first time since she was born that I was able to pick her up from her crib on my own. She is still connected to the monitors, but otherwise, she is wire free. It was a nice feeling of control to be able to take her out and put her back without having to wait for the nurse to come in to do either.

Today she is 38 weeks gestation and weighs in at a whopping 6 lb 13 oz!

Tuesday I met the physical therapist that checks on the NICU babies once a week. A few of the nurses have mentioned her and how knowledgeable she is to help us when we are home. She explained that after preemie babies go home that they come in for check ups every few months for the first two years. However, with really little preemies (around 28 weeks or earlier) they do not wait for four months to evaluate their development, but start physical therapy right away. She explained that it is pointless to wait 4 months to find a problem when they could have already been fixing it. So Natalie will go home with a prescription for physical therapy once a week for the first four months and then they will decide whether she needs to continue it at that point.

Yesterday, they ran full blood tests and found that her bilirubin and liver enzymes were a bit high. They assured us that this often happens when the baby is on TPN (IV nutrition) for a long time. It can sometimes correct itself, but there is medicine to help if it is needed. They are going to do an ultra sound just to double check that she is not having gallbladder problems, but they are really just doing that to cover their bases.

Natalie has not been eating very well from her bottle. They told us it might be a struggle and it has been. She still has her gavage tube (feeding tube) in and when she is too tired they give her the food that way. Last week she was taking almost all of her bottles, but now that she is at almost 2 ounces every three hours, it seems a lot harder for her. The feeding specialist has been to see her a few times. Sometimes she is just too tired and they let her sleep; other times, she is so eager she sucks too hard and stops breathing. So right now they are only trying to bottle feed her at every other feed and she usually takes a little less than half.

Otherwise, she is doing great. She seems to get cuter everyday. She makes all those newborn cooing and grunting sounds, and blesses us occasionally with her little smile. When I come in after work she usually stirs to the sound of my voice and wakes a little to check me out, then contentedly goes back to sleep. She has a sweet disposition and her nurses seem to love her. In the new hall she is in, we mostly have new nurses who are just getting to have her for the first time. Yesterday, it was a nurse who was at her delivery and had not really seen her since. She could not get over this healthy little girl whose birth she was at and swears she has the same sweet little face.

As for Jimmy and myself, we trek on. The work, hospital, home and repeat schedule is getting old very fast. We trudged out of her room late Wednesday night and when the nurses asked how we were doing, my only response was "Day 92". They laughed and told us not to worry, only a few more weeks at the hospital and then our real work begins. I am just looking forward to actually being home, maybe I will get to cook a dinner or two!

Here is your dose of Natalie Rose: