Baby's come a long way

Keep your fingers crossed.

Penelope is 60 days old

We just had rounds and there is so much news to tell.  Time to dig up your lucky rabbit's feet, green clovers, yellow moons, orange stars and purple horse shoes....

Last night/early this morning, the nurse removed Penelope's feeding tube.  Her last gavage feeding (through tube) was Wednesday at 3pm.  She has successfully had all her meals through breast or bottle since then.  Today she will be moved from her isolette to a crib/bassinet (whatever happens to be available).  She had one brady last night.  If she doesn't have any more bradies or desats for the next 10 days or so, and she continues on this path (eating, regulating body temperature, not getting sick), she'll be discharged.  If she does have any episodes or other problems, the 10 day clock will restart.  Things are going so well that it is really, really scaring us.  We are so worried that something will happen because this almost seems too good to be true. 

I have so much to do before she is discharged.  I need to find a pediatrician in New York and one in Houston and a preemie clinic in Houston that will track her development.  I need to make sure the apartment is ready for her arrival.  I need to make sure we have everything she will need when she gets there.  We need to decide how to get her from the hospital to home (subway and cab is out of the question).  I need to stock up on sleep, if that is possible. This is all very exciting and terrifying. 

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

Penelope is 59 days old

During lunch, Trent and I went to a support group for nicu parents led
by former nicu parents. It's so reasurring to meet people on the other
side of this and to hear that their kids are doing well.

Today has been an exciting day. Penelope has had all of her feedings
via breast or bottle since 6pm yesterday. That makes 8 in a row. It
seems to be wearing her out, though, and I suspect she may need to
rest during at least one of her feeds tonight. But it shows she is
getting much stronger. She is also still off the canula. She's made
quite a bit of progress.

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

Penelope is 58 days old

Penelope is doing well today and we are starting to feel like we may
possibly be approaching the halfway point. I'm starting to put
together a list of baby things we will need while we are still in New
York.

She gained a tiny bit of weight yesterday and is 2.7kg. We are
continuing to work on oral feedings. The nurse removed the canula this
morning. It's still off but if she still needs it she will let us
know. It isnt a big deal if she needs it again. She's doing well with
the feedings and the team is more concerned that she masters eating
than whether she needs the canula.

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

Penelope is 8 weeks old!

Penelope is 36 gestational weeks. Still 4 weeks from full term. Yikes.

She is doing so well today. She gained 85g and is just over 2kg
(4.75lb). I gave her a bottle at lunchtime and she just guzzled it
down. Trent will feed her at dinnertime and the night nurse will give
her a midnight snack.

She had another retinopathy eye exam today; she will have them every
other week until she is "full term" or discharged, whichever comes
first. The opthalmology team hasn't sought me out, so it is probably
safe to assume they didn't find anything.

We've been doing this for 8 weeks now and are starting to get anxious
for her to come home. We have to keep reminding ourselves and each
other that she is still really little and she has made so much
progress. If you look at the photos from the first blog entry and
compare them to today, the difference is astounding and very
frightening. We have to continue to be patient and optimistic.

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

Penelope is 56 days old

One of our friends is visiting from
Houston. Trent and I have really enjoyed having her here. Little
Penelope seems to really like her too.

Penelope weighs 2.07kg which is roughly 4.5lbs. Things are pretty much
the same today. She's still on canula and working on bottle and
breastfeeding. This afternoon she took a bottle in less than 5
minutes. Ot seems like she's becoming a good eater. She was very alert
this morning and showed off her beautiful eyes for Miss Amber.

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

Penelope and Miss Amber

Rubber duckie, you're the one!