Pretty clothes from my grandmas

Eating sure does make me tired

Penelope is 52 days old

As I said in yesterday's post, they removed Penelope's nasal canula yesterday.  Around 1am this morning her nurse saw she was breathing too hard and put the canula back on.  So yesterday was not the day.  The team are not concerned and feel confident that in time she will not need it.  The doctor says it is really just a matter of her getting bigger and older.  If they aren't concerned then I know that we shouldn't be, either. 

She keeps gaining weight.  Today she weighs in at 1955g, which is 4.3lbs.  She's already outgrown some of her smaller preemie clothes and I've passed them on to other NICU moms. 

Thanks for checking in.  I'll update more later.

Look Ma, no canula!

Penelope is 51 days old

Penelope is about 35 gestational weeks old, meaning she still wouldn't
be full term if she had been born today. Unbelievable.

She weighs 1835g, so she has doubled her birth weight!
Developmentally, this doesn't mean anything but it feels like a big
step to us.

The team took her off canula this afternoon. So far she is doing ok
but is breathing rapidly. This could mean she's working too hard and
will need the canula again. If she does need it again, the team says
it won't be concerned until she needs it past her due date. She was
due July 11, so we still have about a month to go.

She is feeding and growing and looking precious. That's about all she
will do for the rest of her stay and, I guess, after she leaves the
hospital, too.

Thanks for checking in. I'll update more later.

Penelope is 7 weeks old

The BP oil debacle happened 50 days ago, which means Penelope is 50
days old. April 20 was such a big day!

Penelope is doing well today. She weighs 1900g, which is about
4.18lbs. She has grown so much and looks so chubby! She is getting
really close to doubling her birth weight. Other than her weight,
nothing has really changed. We are definetly in "hurry up and wait"
mode right now.

Thanks for checking in. I'll update more later.

The night nurses have a sense of humor

Penelope is 49 days old

We are on day 49 of this journey and Penelope is chugging along
steadily.

She gained 15g overnight and is now 1835g, which is barely over
4lbs. She is still nippling (eating via breast or bottle) 3 times a
day. Trent and I each get 1 feed and the night nurse does the last
one. It really wears her out so she does it every 6 hours and rests in
between.

It's been a quiet day in the nicu and I hope tomorrow is, too.

Thanks for checking in. I'll update more later.

Learning to eat makes Penelope tired

Penelope is 48 days old

Penelope hit the 1800g/4lb mark!  We've been waiting for this weight milestone.  Now that she is getting to be a big girl, she should start regulating her body temperature and eating orally.  All this will still take time and she'll do it on her own schedule. 

There are several important skills Penelope will have to master before she can be discharged from the hospital.  She has to be able to handle getting all of her feedings orally, meaning by breast or bottle, and not through a feeding tube.  She has to be able to regulate her body temperature at room temperature.  Right now her isolette keeps her warm; it's set to about 85ish degrees.  She has to go a certain period of time (at least a few days) without any brady/apnea/desat episodes.  Lately she's been averaging about 2-4 episodes a day.  I know there are other milestones, but I'm not sure what they are.  We haven't reached a point where it is relevant to discuss them in rounds. 

Yesterday Trent and I both fed her. That really wiped her out and when she was not eating, she was sleeping.  She pretty much slept all day.  That made a boring day for us, but a good day for her.  Boring days are good. 

Hopefully today will be another boring day!

Thanks for checking in.  I'll update more later. 

Penelope & little Harold