Lauren dropped some in weight again. Tonight she weighed 2 lbs, 2.8 oz. She is still tolerating her 17cc's feedings every three hours well, with occasional small residual volumes. Her oxygen setting is now 21% via nasal cannula at 1 liter per minute, so she is breathing the same concentration of oxygen all of us breathe, but there is just a little extra pressure going into her nostrils. She is tolerating that just fine, and they might just take the nasal cannula away soon. Also, they have been bundling her up with blankets and putting her on the warmer with a low heat setting to see if she stays warm. So far she has tolerated that well, a good thing since one of the prerequisites for her being able to go home is that she must be able to maintain her temperature on her own. Her nurse a couple of days ago warned Mommy that virtually all premature babies are found positive for ROP when their eyes are initaially examined by the ophtalmologist. ROP is Retinopathy Of Prematurity, a condition where there is abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye that can cause vision problems up to and including blindness. One of the factors that cause ROP is prolonged use of oxygen. The ophtalmologist examined Lauren and said that her eyes are still (understandably) somewhat immature, but that he saw no signs of abnormal development. Way to go, Baby Lauren.....
11/19/01 10:30PM:
Lauren lost a little more weight today. She weighed 2 lbs, 2.2 oz. She is still tolerating her feeds at 17 cc's each time, but now they are adding some human milk fortifier (HMF) to it in order to increase her caloric intake. Today they started using the stoma baggies again since her wound has healed enough - now her stools won't stay in contact with her skin. Today they also discontinued her nasal cannula and she is doing just fine without it - now she doesn't have anything on her face other than the gastric tube. She looks beautiful...
11/20/01 11:00PM:
Lauren has officially been downgraded to the Level II NICU, and her condition is no longer considered as critical. Lauren gained a little weight back today - her weight tonight was 2 lbs, 2.4 oz. They are still feeding her 17cc's at a time, but now they have doubled the amount of fortifier added to the milk, so her caloric intake is higher. She is now past the 24-hour mark off the nasal cannula, and she has not had any apnea or bradycardia episodes. They checked her blood for the level of theophylline, and it came back somewhat low, which suggests that she might not need it for much longer. My research on the net tells me that most neonates wean off theophylline somewhere between 32-36 weeks gestational age. The day nurse found out that Lauren prefers the big girl pacifier to the preemie pacifier. She also told me that there was talk about letting her breast feed sometime in the near future, not so much for nutrition but to get her used to sucking and drinking milk - it will then be easier to get rid of the gastric tube. Over the last two days they have taken swabs from her nose and her rectum and sent them to the lab to be cultured for bacteria. So far they have come back positive only for the common bacteria expected there. They did blood tests for liver enzymes this morning, and one of them came back very high. This could indicate liver damage, which is not uncommon on kids that have been on TPN or antibiotics for extended periods of time. Lauren has had both. They will be doing more tests tomorrow to evaluate the condition of her liver function. This might turn out to be the next "bump in the road" for Lauren...
11/21/01 11:00PM:
Lauren had a good day today. Tonight weighed 2 lbs, 3.8 oz, a nice increase in weight considering she is not on TPN any more. Her liver tests came back elevated again, so they will continue to monitor them. She is now up to 18 cc's on her feedings every three hours. Her stomas continue to look good and her bowels are functioning well - it's a good thing they are putting baggies over the ileostomy now that she is passing so much stool. Baby Lauren says to tell everyone Happy Thanksgiving.
11/22/01 9:00PM:
Baby Lauren had a good Thanksgiving Day. She is up to 2 lbs, 4 oz in weight. She is tolerating the increased feedings well. Today they discontinued the pulse oximetry monitor that checks her oxygen on a continuous basis. Way to go, Lauren....