So I know this blog is about my baby girl and not about myself and I plan to keep it this way but let me explain why it has been so long since the last update. Most of you that know me know that we are in the process of building a new home. Anyone that has ventured down this path knows how incredibly stressful it can be. We started working on this home before I was pregnant with miss Olivia and had planned to have the home complete and ready for her arrival. Of course my baby girl had plans all her own and came 3 1/2 months early so needless to say her Daddy and I are sorely unprepared and a bit of a mess at the moment. Long story short we have been living in a hotel for the last month. This was becoming increasingly expensive and quite depressing. A hotel room is so impersonal and trying to pump in a dark corner of a hotel room was becoming near impossible. There have been so many times I wanted to throw that damn machine out the window. I cant wait until I can really feed her, I'm really looking forward to that day. My sister was kind enough to offer her spare bedroom to us, and wow what a difference this has made it is so great to have a kitchen and a touch of home. Not to mention I get to see my sis and spend more quality time with her than I have in a long time.
Now on to baby girl I'm sure everyone is anxious to hear all the news. Again this post may be a bit all over the place there is so much information.
This extra volume in her feedings is really helping she is 2lbs 10oz .. woo hoo we are more then half way to 3lbs. She is looking so much bigger to me and it appears she is starting to get chubby cheeks. Nothing cuter then a chubby baby I cant wait for her to have rolls all over. Because of all of this wonderful weight gain Olivia is now in big girl clothes and is doing a fabulous job of maintaining her body temp. She is still in the incubator and will remain there for a while. Even though the bed is set to room temp unless of course her body temp drops then the bed automatically kicks on. The fact that it is enclosed helps keep her body temp up. They dont want her to burn any calories trying to keep herself warm.
Her oxygen needs are gradually becoming less and less. She is still at 21% (room air) with a flow of 1 1/2 liters of pressure. They have tried a few times to turn the flow down to 1 but she was not tolerating this very well. Again the doctors assure me that as she grows bigger and stronger she will be able to tolerate this and eventually be off any kind of pressure. I have had multiple people in the NICU tell me that Olivia is about 5 weeks ahead of her gestational age which is music to my ears, but she is still on the small side. So again a complete celebration with every ounce that is gained. Her appenic spells (where she quits breathing) are becoming less and less she has gone 24hrs without any episodes so crossing my fingers this continues.
Yesterday they performed an eye exam on her. The poor things eyes were so sensitive when I was with her. They had dilated her eyes and were waiting for the doctor to arrive. So the light was really bothering her. In spite of all of this discomfort I got 3 big smiles from her, and I know that nobody is going to believe me and say that it is involuntary or just gas smiles but Im telling you I got 4 smiles real conscious smiles after I was chatting to her. Her daddy got 2 of these precious grins today. We are determined to catch this on film to share with all you doubters lol. Her eye exam came back and nothing alarming. The blood vessels are immature and still have a ways to go but this is to be expected considering how premature she is.
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