Well, if we were in any doubt that Lucy was not going to be a fan of feeding, we needn't worry anymore! She's a right little guts, smashing as much breast milk as she can in record time at each three-hourly opportunity. One time last week the nurse asked me if I had spilt any of the bottle, as clearly someone so small couldn't have finished the whole lot in just 5 minutes. Once she's latched on to the bottle (with expressed breast milk in it) or the boob (straight from the source) she gulps it down as if she's trying to create a new personal best. Then she lays back basking in that post-milk-feed-drunkeness until she's sound asleep. Good girl!

She's also now ready for baths. She wriggled around a bit at first but is now quite content laying back and letting Mummy do all the work, as you can see below.

Progression towards discharge seems to be continuing smoothly. The oxygen being delivered through the nasal prongs is being weened at an appropriate rate, and she's up to about one 'sucky' feed for every one tube feed. Once she's strong enough to allow abolition of the tube feeds, she'll be ready to come home and meet everybody.

1. Lucy's new room-with-a-view
2. Just chillin'
3. "I'm sick of these bloody photos, just leave me alone!!"

 

Well, just as Lucy got into Nursery 2, she was turfed out again quick smart. However, rather than being sent back to whence she came, she was deemed strong enough to progress to Nursery 1. This should be her last stop in the hospital system before coming home, and the timeline for this much-anticipated event is dependent on three factors. Firstly, she has to be on full feeds, which means no cheating by having milk down her nasogastric tube when she doesnt feel like taking the breast. To progress towards this requires Robs to be in at the hospital twice a day for feeds, which is particularly exhausting. Secondly, she has to keep putting on weight, which shouldn't be a problem as long as everything's good with #1. Finally, she has to adjust to a lower oxygen level from her nasal prongs. As it stands now, we're hopeful that we'll get her home in 4 or 5 weeks.

This time I mean it, pics to follow...

It's been full steam ahead once again on the Lucy-train. CPAP is now thankfully a thing of the past (touch wood) and, after the best part of 12 weeks in NICU Special Care Nursey 3, Lucy's moved house to Nursey 2! Although she's still monitored very closely by various leads, and the patient to nurse ratio is still low (3:1 as opposed to 2:1 in SCN3), the move has given us another tangible sign of progression.

Lastly, Lucy's up to 2216 grams and getting towards 'normal' new born size. Certainly makes for more cuddly cuddles!

Pics will have to follow tomorrow...

L

A belated Happy Easter to all! 

Lucy's been killing it again. I told you in my last post that there was a chance she would be tried off CPAP to see how she went. Well, she got down to the required PEEP of 5 cm H2O and maintained good sats during the week, so they gave her a go on Easter Saturday - and she lasted the whole hour! Now, just two days later, they've got her on a cycle involving 6 hours of CPAP followed by 3 hours of breathing with just an extra dash of oxygen. So the top picture is what she wears during the CPAP hours, and the bottom one is her with just the nasal prongs:

Now, the more observant of the readership will recognise the other major change during the past week. Compare both of the above pics to the older ones and you'll get it.

Got it? Yeah?

That's right - Lucy's earnt her way out of the humidicrib and into a normal looking cot. Here's a wider shot:

Added to all these little gems of info is that she's knocking on the door of the 2-k-g club, weighing 1940 grams this morning. So all in all it's been another good week!

Another lengthy break in communication = another good trot for Lucy! She's 9 weeks and 5 days old now.

Body weight:          1660 grams

Continuous PEEP:  6cm H20

FiO2:                     30%

Lucy's sats have been good on these numbers, so there's a chance that she may have a go on additional oxygen only nexk week, which would be a huge step forward. She's looking more and more like a 'real' baby now - meat on her bones (nice fat legs!) and a good healthy colour. Robs was even able to have a go at breast feeding today. At first Lucy wasn't really sure what she should be doing but towards the end she had a couple of effective sucks which was nice. Other than that, she gets 30mL of breast milk every 3 hours, a far cry from when she was getting half a mL every 6 hours.

As of tomorrow I'm off on school camp, so Oscar will be Man of the House. At least when I get back it'll be school holidays, so on top of the jobs to be done around the house and the garden, there should be plenty of time for cuddles just like the ones we got during the week!