Update Day 7

We spoke for a bit with Maisie's NPN and one of the neo docs while they were making rounds this afternoon. Maisie is up 5 grams from yesterday!! (She was born at 1474 grams, dropped and is back up to 1430.) She is also eating more! First they had her eating 10 cc's of milk at a time, then 15, and today they bumped it up to 18. The goal is to bump up her milk intake, reduce her IV fluids, and get her ready to just eat on her own, so this is all very good progress she is making!

She is also doing just fine as far as billirubin counts go- no more jaundice! Also, the nurse did NOT hear her heart murmur today- yay!!! But Maisie has had a lot of "Brady's" lately- those episodes where her heart rate drops really low and she forgets to breathe. If she doesn't improve, they may try to medicate her to help her stabilize more. I think it's funny the meds they would give her is just plain old caffeine! :)

I asked about when she might be discharged- what they look for, when they think she could go home. The NPN said usually all preemies stay until they are gestationally 40 weeks old (so closer to her actual due date). She said they can progress a whole bunch and seem perfectly normal, but still have to stay in the NICU until they are ready to be full babies. They have to be stable, eat well on their own, and that last part- learning to eat is what takes the longest. She can gain weight, get off the tubes and all, but still have to wait until she can eat on her own. So pray hard that she gets stable and learns how to eat FAST!!!

I did get to hold her a bit this morning and am hoping for more "Maisie Time" this afternoon! I LOVE that skin-to-skin time with Mom and Dad are a big part of her care! Ross and I keep forgetting our camera at home, but we're bringing it back with us to her room today and will make sure to leave it there so we can take LOTS of lovely pics!