NICU day 1

Everyone keeps asking us "What's your baby's name?".  The thing is, we don't know.  We'd been kicking around ideas, but we thought we had all the time in the world.  Time's up, we need to figure this out.  While we wrestle with that dilemma, our baby girl is getting settled.  25 weeks, 2 days.  1 lbs 11 oz.  12 3/4 inches long.  Tiny little dream, hoping she's super strong.  We settle on a name that means Valiant and Courageous, she'll need everything we can give in the coming months.  They tell us to expect this to be a long and rocky journey.  She'll be in care probably beyond her due date, 9 days of September, 31 days in October, 30 days in November, 31 days in December, before even getting to January, we'll be over 100 days in NICU.

As we went from L&D to the Mommy and baby floor, we had a chance to stop by the NICU to see our baby girl.  I begged to take a picture with my phone.  I saw the nurse's eyes go wide.  I realized this must be one of the areas where cell phone use is prohibited.  I freaked out and told my husband to put the phones in airplane mode.  The nurse said if it rings, some of the ventilators will turn off.  I panicked inside. My husband handed me his phone, I frantically changed it to airplane mode.  I ordered him to find my phone and do the same.  Then I focused on getting a picture.  I carefully turned the flash off and snapped 1 picture.  She was so small and terrifying.  We hadn't washed up coming in, I was terrified we were going to make her sick.  I asked to leave so we could keep her safe.

We make brief visits over the day and we're told she's doing amazingly well from a respiratory standpoint.  She is breathing over the vent and doing a lot of the work herself.

Later, a nurse practitioner came by and told us that she was doing amazing things from a respiratory standpoint.  They decided to extubate her and switch her to something called [letters I can't possibly remember as overwhelmed as I was]. Later, my mother in law is able to guess the acronym and tell me what it means, she's a respiratory therapist and super smart in these things.  She went from the vent to non invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV).

When I went to visit her for the last time at around 9:30, they told me she was rocking that as well.  Her blood gasses were excellent and by morning, they expected her to be on CPAP. They assured me I could call and check on her whenever I wanted overnight.  I called every time I pumped.

Height: 12 3/4 inches (32.385)
Weight: 1 lb 11oz (5301.36)
Pump Total: 1 ml (8 pumps)