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Austin came through the surgery and stayed in critical condition for a couple of weeks. While he was recovering from his first surgery, my darling little Ashli seemed to be having smaller ups and downs.
Let me reflect on Ashli's three months in the NICU. Think of how a tiny kitten is born with its eyes still fussed together. Well, my Ashli's were also. She began to open them around day 11 of her life. During her first week, we had a scare with her also. Her bilirubin began to soar. When it reached a count of 12 the only choice was a Complete Blood Exchange. Fortunately, they were able to conduct the exchange at her bedside, so we could be with her.
We were told that "little girl preemies" do better than "little boy preemies," and we were model examples of this. After her blood exchange she tackled all the "normal" micro-preemie problems, e.g., getting off the ventilator, working toward getting of oxygen (which she didn't succeed at until she came home), and being treated for sepsis, etc. Then during her second month she accompanied Austin in surgery for Retinopothy of Prematurity (ROP). This was a laser surgery done to help keep her retina from detaching and eventually causing her to go blind.
She finally extubated herself one last time, and never returned onto the ventilator (except a short while during the ROP surgery). She made her way from an oxygen hood to a nasal cannula within a few weeks time. For the next month, June 15-July 15, she became an eater and a grower. She went through the IV feedings, continuous tube feedings through nose, and bolis feedings (measured feeding that still went through the nose, but wasn't continuous.) This was used to adapt her to scheduled feedings. Then finally we got to nippling!! We had a time with her when it came to eating. If she choked, she wouldn't cough and revive herself. She would just "shut down." Her alarms would go off. . .and scare us something awful. But we dealt with it for three more months before she got the hang of nippling without choking.
On July 15, 1994. . .before her due date (Aug. 1, 1994). . .she was released from the NICU at a whopping 4 pounds 7 ounces. While getting her dressed in a darling "preemie" outfit to take home, across from her was our Austin. . .dealing with, yet another, mountain to climb!
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