April 30, 2009

Sarah is doing amazing still!! Just treating her for her pseudomonas now. Hopefully its gone soon. She is just doing so well. She now weighs 4lbs 3oz. I am such a proud momma! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=radofV5iRqU

Later in the day April 29, 2009

Sarah is doing so good!! I am so happy that they took her off the jet because she really likes it. Here is a great pic we got of her tonight.

April 29, 2009

Sarah is off the Jet!! They are still getting good gasses from her so they may need to wean her vent even more than it is now. She is happily sitting at 90% oxygen saturation.....and that is beautiful. Its so much quieter and less monotonous sounding. And the sooner she gets weaned from the Vent, the sooner she will be extubated. :):) Trach still showing no growth....lets hope it stays that way

April 28, 2009

Kisses from Sarah!

Sarah had a new doc today....she was more aggressive and got some stuff into action. She got an IV in her noggin so she looks like a little unicorn. They gave her another blood transfusion to get her hematocrit where it needs to be. She kept getting bad blood gasses, but tonight was an amazing one and hopefully they stay that way!! Her Lumbar Puncture results came back clear. Her blood tests have come back good....now we are just waiting for her Trach culture.

Youtube Debut.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx2KZOWh4ik

This is a video of Sarah stroking her pillow....quality is bad, but this is super cute. :)

April 27, 2009

Sarah is now on 2 different diuretics that are less stressful to her system and she takes them every day. She lost a little weight but she will gain it back soon. She did really well today and she looks really cute in her outfit. Now I have to locate a ton of the little sleepers with snaps...they keep her feet warm and they allow her leads to have better access too.

April 26, 2009

Sarah weighs 4lbs and She is 15 1/4 inches long!!! YAY!! She got a bath today and is dressed in her Sunday best!!! She is much better from yesterday and still no reasoning behind why she had her episode. She now fits in Preemie clothes....so in another week or two she won't fit into them anymore. She can also rock quite the mohawk. If she keeps her weight and temp up, we will be put into a crib! I am glad that today we finally have a happy clean baby I believe we are on the road to a happy healthy baby!!

April 25, 2009

Sarah had a not so good day today. She had a seizure lasting 4 minutes. It was witnessed by the nurse and a respiratory therapist. Neurology was walking by and orderd an EEG. She got an EEG that showed no seizure activity....good thing. They ordered a full work up on Sarah including blood work that showed she had a low hematocrit level, it was 23 and needs to be 25 if the baby is intubated so they are giving her a blood transfusion for that. This is her 3rd blood transfusion to date and babies do really feel better after getting them. You can see it :). The blood work showed all other levels were good. They also did a lumbar puncture, fluid was clear but sent it off to be checked as well. As it stands....we don't know why she had it, or if it was a real seizure so they are keeping an eye on her....she is not doped up (thank goodness) except for her morphine to cut the edge on the High frequency ventilator (it does shake her 420 times a minute). Tonight she is just really tired and done with being messed with. I dont blame her. She is good now...but today was really busy and tiring.

April 24, 2009

Hello! Sarah weighs 3lbs 11.5oz today. They are continuing Lasix and decreased her feeds back to 26cc's. She has too much fluid on her lungs and in her other tissues and they are trying to get her back to a 'dry' weight. She's Puffy. I got to hold her again today...RT thinks its better so that she can mobilize some of her wetness out of her lungs. Hopefully it works soon. They retaped her face and i got a good picture of her chubby cheeks without any tape!! I also think she looks like she is dark blonde right now....I want it to get lighter!!

April 23, 2009

Sarah weighs 3lbs 9oz. :) They are giving her a 3 day course of Lasix to get the water off her body/lungs. No other changes as of yet. Pray that we get her off the jet and vent within the next 2 weeks...so she can start to take a bottle :). I got to hold her again today, we did really well! Her onesie actually fits!! She is also learning to perfect her stink face. lol

April 22, 2009

My child has turned into Monster Baby(see above 5day pic and 6week 4days pic)....I hadn't realized how big she had gotten until I held her today (**does a little dance**). She is a fatty!! She is getting fed 28cc's every 3 hours now, she weighs about 3lbs 60z. Her and I had a talk today about getting off the jet soon...I hope that she listened and does what momma told her to do. I get to hold her again tomorrow (**does ANOTHER little dance**). As soon as she is off the jet I can hold her way more often...

Sarah is doing really good...tough part is being here with no job, no car and no money....work is hard for Eric too....hopefully work will get busier (everyone take your car to him!!) so he can make sure everything is handled for us at home while we are gone and when we get back!!

OOPS.....FORGOT TO SAY...

She also got an eye exam today to see if her eyes are developing correctly...so far, so good. :)

April 21, 2009

Sarah got her isolette changed today, they do it once a week. and they put her huge boppy pillow in with her(its only the size of an adult neck pillow but big to her). She looks super cute with it! She really seems to like it too. Im gonna start dressing her every day so she can wear her preemie clothes for a while. Still holding at 3lbs 5oz. :) She is probably getting taken off the jet soon because she breathes over it (good).

April 20, 2009

Sarah had some fluid on her lungs that was causing her to drop all her stats. They gave her lasix and she is doing much better(diuretic that sloughs off water). Got to dress her today....she looks super cute in her onesie (preemie size) Hopefully she will actually fit into it soon! She is still a fatty!

April 19, 2009

China Town called Sarah today....they want their chins back!Sarah is 3lbs 5oz and 15 inches long today. 26cc's every 3 hours. Docs are seeing about weaning Sarah off her oral morphine and her jet. She is continuing to do really well!

April 18, 2009

Sarah is 6 weeks old today and chugging along like a little choo choo train. Eric is up this weekend and got a beautiful picture of Sarah with no tape on her face. She is still doing really well and getting chunkier every day. I get to touch her now. I bitched enough that the docs lifted the contact precautions for me. Nurses still have to gown up but I get to touch her!! Dont have much else today. :)

Picture time!

I will get yelled at if there aren't any pics of Sarah!

April 17, 2009

As of last night Sarah weighed about 3 lbs 3 ounces. She was a little puffy last night and hadn't pooped in a day or two so they gave her a glycerine chip and they gave her lasiks.....she will probably weigh less tonight. Docs are gonna talk to epidemiology and see what the deal is with me being the only person in the damn unit with contact precautions.....hope to get the ban lifted! Other than that we are doing really good so far today. I may have to update later just in case. :)

April 15, 2009 & April 16, 2009

Yesterday evening Sarah was still doing well. She weighed in at 3 lbs 1.3oz.

Today Sarah is increasingly agitated. Her cultures still show light colonisation which probably means she has the Pseudomonas now and its not only in her tube. Its still not making her sick but there is a possiblilty she could be infected with it in the future. She is getting wrist wrinkles and fat knees. She is just really cute!

April 14, 2009

Hello!!

Just a quick update about yesterday! Sarah was extubated and re-intubated with a larger tube around 130pm. She did really well and has been doing really well since. She doesn't have a leak anymore in her airway. She weighs 2 lbs 14 ounces which is down from before. She was given lasix and it sloughed off a few ounces of water weight.

So far, April 15, 2009---Cultures are still negative on her trach!! Hopefully within 48 hours they will stay that way. :) Her IV was taken out and her morpine has started to be given orally. She has been more awake and alert today than she has this whole week. :) :) :)

More to come later!

April 13, 2009

Sarah is doing well today. She was a little puffy so they gave her lasix(a diuretic) to get some water weight off her. Her feeds are still at 26cc's every 3 hours. She weighs 3 pounds 1 ounce and she is 14.5 inches long. She kept brady'ing this morning...basically her heart rate would drop pretty low and her monitors would alarm.She is okay now, but the Respiratory Therapists think that it could be because her breathing tube leaks air. The docs are thinking about changing her breathing tube tomorrow. It's a possiblity, but not set in stone. It will be bigger to decrease the leak and hopefully once they change it they can take her off Contact Precautions. I am hoping so!! Hopefully soon she can be off the Jet and back on a conventional ventilator so I can hold her again! Hopefully after the ventilator she can get to the point where she won't need a machine to breathe for her. She has what the nurses fondly call "toaster head" where her head is flat on both sides but big in the back...lol. That's it for now

Happy Easter from Sarah!!

Hello Everyone!!

Today is Easter and Sarah got her picture taken! She almost fits into that dress!

Today she is 2lbs and 14.5 oz.

They upped her feeds to 26ml every 3 hours.

They keep having to move her IV! She has had one, sometimes two every day since Monday!! Poor baby is like a leaky bucket!

Pseudomonas

Sarah has something called pseudomonas colonising in her tube. She is not sick from it and the only way to get rid of it is to extubate her or change her tube. Neither of which will happen for quite a while. It is a bacteria that grows in water. The water that is in her vetilator is completely devoid of any bacteria upon entering the tube but it can grow none the less. This particular strain that she decided to get is highly resistant and for that reason the UNM Hospital Infection Control has mandated that Sarah be placed under "Contact Precautions" which basically means we can have no skin to skin contact with her. We have to wear gowns and gloves when we go in to see her. It sucks.

Hello Everyone!

Sarah's Journal is here! Since there are so many people interested in Sarah's Progress I had to do something. Day to day everything that happens sometimes gets lost in my brain but hopefully I can keep this updated.

Sarah was born March 7, 2009 at 10:10pm. She weighed 1lb 7oz and was 12 1/2 inches long. She was born at 25 weeks and 3 days gestation which made her 14 weeks 4 days early.

Babies born at such an early gestation have a hard time breathing. Lung development is the last thing in babies to mature. Since Sarah was so early her breathing is done for her with a machine. She can still breathe on her own...she just needs a little help. When she was born she came out crying and breathing fine....but since breathing made her tired she sometimes 'forgot' and had to be intubated.

As of today, April 11, 2009, Sarah is 5 weeks old. She weighs 2lbs 14 ounces and is 15 inches long. That makes her twice the size she started off at. She is huge compared to the above photos.....and oh so cute! She has gained a lot more fat on her body,her skin is less red and more pink, and her motor skills are improving. She looks around and has audio and visual recognition. She cries, but she makes no sounds, her intubation tube is placed between her vocal cords. You can only see her facial expressions when she cries.

Last week Sarah had some issues. Her oxygen requirements went way up. They placed her on a different breathing machine called an oscillator and once they took a chest x-ray they put her on a high frequency jet. She had something called P.I.E.(Pulmonary Interstitial Emphysema). Basically the ventilator she was on caused the alveoli in her lungs to break and air to go into her lung tissue. On an x-ray this looks like lace. Since being on the jet, which allows for a different type of airway pressure that allows for healing, her lungs have greatly improved. Her oxygen requirements are getting lower and lower and she is doing really well. The machine is touchy and alarms all the time...but the only thing we have to worry about with that is my sanity. :)

Yay! Butt Crack!

Sarah eats 23cc's of milk every 3 hours. (7/10 of an ounce). It is fortified with additional calories to bring it to 26 calories. Regular breast milk only has 20 calories and she needs her calories to grow.

Since this is the first post, and Sarah is 5 weeks I will post some of my favorite pictures. :)

Her first picture EVER!!!!(look down!)

TA TA For Now!