NICU Day 20

The Husband and I went to see Baby Girl together today.  He got to take her temperature and she held his hand (finger).  It was the first time he'd touched her.  He wore a mask, because he's still got sinus pressure.  We need to figure out why he has so many sinus infections.  I held Baby Girl for an hour, Husband needs to get a book or something before he does Kangaroo Care.   He's pretty sure he'd go crazy if he just sat there with her.  Baby Girl allows Kangaroo Care for about an hour to an hour and 10 minutes, then she goes from high satting on low levels of oxygen to desatting or bradying.  I am told this is all age appropriate behavior, it continues to disconcert me.

I continue to have issues with getting up every few hours to pump.  I end up sleeping at least one 2.5-3 hour block every night despite my best intentions.  We'll see what Baby Girl thinks of that when she gets home.  I suspect she'll put a stop to it for sure.

Dr. Dang saw Baby Girl today before she left, so a nurse practitioner gave us her update:

• They are beginning to wean Baby Girl on the NIPPV, her rate will be decreased to 25 at 8pm today.  
• Baby Girl is up to 18 ml for feeds.  She is currently receiving those feeds over 2 hours, but Dr. Dang isn't seeing a significant change in the number of alarms.  She wants one more day of data, but if she's not seeing an improvement in the pattern, they will ramp her back up to feeds over 30 minutes instead of over 2 hours.
• I reiterated that I wished we had fortifier and protein made from human milk sources instead of cow milk sources. I also reiterated that even with last night's 10g weight gain I thought we might want to wait a bit more and recheck her BUN and Creatinine before we move forward with additional protein.  I asked if skimming the fat off of breast milk could work as an alternative, but they really need the higher protein diet in these tiny preemies.

890 grams (up 30 g) - 1 lb 15 oz

Milk: 871 ml (29.03 oz)

Feeds: 18 ml pushed over 2 hours

NIPPV down to 25, 29% oxygen.  Will check blood gas at 2am

Day Nurse: Terry & My

Night Nurse: Ashley