Feeding & Growing

Things in the NICU continue to roll along-Most of the news is good.

Its been almost a full week since the last update, and perhaps surprisingly, there is not alot to report. No news is good news.

I was able to catch the morning "rounds" on Saturday, and it lasted no more than about 3 minutes. Apparently, there is not much to say....A far cry from just a few short weeks ago, when there would be a 20 minute de-brief on the various ailments that the girls, particularly Ashlyn, were facing.



Ashlyn with Bink



Here is where we stand:

Ashlyn:



Ashlyn bath



She is starting to look pretty good! She had her first bath a few days ago, and is very alert many times when we are there. She is on high flow oxygen at 1.5 lites, which is a nice downgrade from her Cpap machine. She is weighing in at 3lbs and 11oz and is just starting to enter the "feeder and grower" stage.

The plan is to introduce "real" breast milk on Monday-She has been on Enfaport (a synthetic breast milk substitute) for around 30 days now, because of the risks of her Chlothorax. The hope is that the Chlothorax has healed itself by now, and that introducing "real" breastmilk won't aggravate anything.

Other than that she is looking good!



Dad & Hanna



Hanna:

Hanna is growing fast.....She's up to 4lbs 14oz, and should be cresting 5lbs this weekend! She really looks like a "real" baby now.....She is sucking on mom's boob intermittently, and is still practicing this craft. This is one of the key skills she needs to learn to be able to go home.....She's getting there!



Hanna



Her PDA murmur is still "loud", but she remains "asymptomatic" so no action. The hope continues that it will close on its own over the next month or two....Since it's not causing her any distress, no one is really concerned. It lingers on my mind however, as I know its going to have to be closed-either by her or by medical intervention.

For some kids where it doesn't close on its own, they can do a less invasive "angioplasty" type surgery where they stick a coil into the duct to block it. Its usually done before 1 year of age...Hoping and praying that we don't have to go there.

All in all, things are good in the NICU...we are starting consider when we might be taking our girls home.The girls were born 44 days ago and have lived their entire little life's  Hanna will likely come home first, and I'm guessing we are still 2-3 weeks out...Ashlyn is probably a week or two behind that. Cant wait!




The whole family!