Update June 7 to June 13

Monday June 7, 2010: I got my incision looked at and sure enough it is not healing correctly. Go figure. The doctor put some stuff on it that was supposed to burn but didn't really and prescribed antibiotics. He said it's infected and that I am doing wayyyyyy tooooo much. He basically want's me doing nothing. He said that for 6 weeks post c-section I am supposed to be waited on hand and foot. Seriously?

Another great thing... Squish actually breastfed today. She complained at first not liking to have to work for her food, but she did it! I have to say it was a proud moment for me. She is up to 4lbs 15oz so finally over her birth weight!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010: Morphine is back down to every 6 hours. Kelley was exhausted and didn't get to visit her today, and missed her like crazy. Grandma got to spend a little bit of time with her and hold her again.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010: Kaitlyn's morphine was lowered by 10% so it is now 0.09 per kilo. The doctors are saying that this is the quickest they have ever weened a baby.

I'm staying at Jason and Alex's again tonight to spend more time with Squish without the drive. I am so thankful that they are letting me do this and not too upset that I'm crashing at their place.

Thursday, June 10, 2010: Kaitlyn is up to 5lbs 4oz! She did have a rough day, but her nurse thinks it's due to the fact that she chugged down 80ml of food and ate herself to a tummy ache. She was really hard to keep calm and such. Dr. Z is guessing less than 2 weeks until she gets to come home!

Friday, June 11, 2010: 5lbs 5oz and lowered her morphine again to 0.08 per kilo.

Saturday, June 12, 2010: Squish is up to 5lbs 7oz and got to breastfeed again. Based on my pumping we are guessing she got 30ml all by herself. Later during the day she projectile vomited all over the floor, missing daddy by inches. I have to say Kelley took it like a champ and didn't throw up or anything himself. Doctors are talking about lowering her morphine to 0.07 per kilo tomorrow, amazed she is taking it so well.

Stayed at Jason and Alex's again... they are amazing.

Sunday, June 13, 2010: 5lbs 9oz. Breastfed again, it took a bit, but Kaitlyn nursed for her whole 30 minutes and did not want to come off. They lowered her morphine and she is doing well.

Updates June 4, 2010 to June 6, 2010

Friday, June 4, 2010: The oxygen is out! She's doing great. She's also doing so well that they are weeing her faster than they have any other baby, the morphine is down to every 6 hours. We are staying at Jason and Alex's for the weekend so we can spend more time with the baby without the long drive. My c-section isn't seeming "right"

(yes that is a whole entire Squishes, except that one arm you can't see, okay, maybe not an entire Squish, but close.)


Saturday, June 5, 2010: Squish had a bad night so they moved the morphine back to every 4 hours. Jason and Alex got to hold her today. She is eating so well that they are letting Kaitlyn eat all that she want's too up to 2oz (60ml).

Sunday, June 6, 2010: Kaitlyn is still eating like a champ, eating all 60ml that they will allow her, holding it down, and wanting more. Matt and Annette got to see her and hold her today.

I think I'm going to get my c-section checked out. It's draining and doesn't feel closed right. Figure I will call in the AM and get it looked at. They had better not plan on taking too long or keeping me from Kaitlyn.

Thank you Jason and Alex for letting us stay with you!

Quick Update... May 31 to June 3

I have been keeping a sort of pregnancy diary, and now a baby diary. Here are what I wrote in it:

Monday, May 31, 2010: Kaitlyn got her first feeding today. A whole whopping 10ml, and loved it. I was actually able to hold her today for the first time in what they call Kangaroo Care. Basically I open my shirt and hold her against me, skin on skin. It was great to see all her vital signs lower closer to normal just with that contact. Kelley got to hold her too, and she did even better with him, she's a daddy's girl already.

(If this photo doesn't show you how tiny she is, nothing will.)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010: Squish is up to 15ml of food. Grandma Cathy got to hold her today also and noticed that she has a few of my features. She has my "pointer toe", where her second toe is actually longer than her big toe. Squish is having very high scores on the withdrawal board - and they are considering giving her morphine. Her food it also to be upped 5ml each feed since she is eating so well, until she hits 35ml.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010: Kaitlyn is a different baby today. They gave her the morphine dose and will every 3 hours when they feed her. Her whole body is more relaxed. She is eating so well the IV is turned off, but left in "just in case" so they do not have to stick her again.

Thursday, June 3, 2010: Kaitlyn has been downgraded. The IV is out. I got a great surprise walking around the corner and seeing her in a different bed, with clothes on and a bow in her hair. All she has now are the air and the monitors! (YES! She has clothes on! God Bless the night nurse who gave her a bath and decided to surprise us with a dressed up Squishes!)

From 6/2/2010 - Squishes "condition"

I know a lot of you have been following this, and wanting more info. Here is an email I sent out:

Things are exhausting, but everyone is doing good.

I'm not sure what you know, but Kaitlyn ended up being life flighted to Phoenix when we had her on Friday night. She was grunting instead of breathing and crying, and showing other signs of respiratory distress, so to be on the safe side they had her sent to the hospital in Phoenix. I'll get the name of the hospital when we are up there later... I just know how to get there.

Saturday her breathing issues got worse - which is what Dr. Z (the neonatologist taking care of her) said would happen. Her breaths per minute was all the way up to 125-135 per minute which was very bad, and dangerous. The put some stuff called surfactant in her lungs, and put her on a CPAP machine to force air in. It did wonders and within an hour her rate was down in the 50's. (20-60 is a good rate for newborns) We had been warned that the CPAP could damage her lung, and it did. She developed a small tear from it that caused her left lung to collapse part way. They took her off the CPAP and put her on just a tube in her nose for the air. The CPAP had done it's job and gotten her airways working by then, and the tube relaxed her lungs enough that they could re-inflate and the tear has been healing, they think it's probably all the way, or close to all the way healed now. (They don't want to do xrays all the time on a baby so small). She still has some issues with her lungs, but she's getting better. One of the things is that when she eats they think the pressure of the food filling her tummy presses on her left lung and she has to work harder to breathe, so the % of oxygen in her blood drops - but that is getting better daily. They planned 2-4 more weeks of time in the NICU for those problems.

Kaitlyn also started having problems Tuesday that got really bad on Wednesday with coming off of my pain medications. They ended up having to start giving her a tiny dose of morphine, rather than have her suffering. They are having to ween her off the morphine slowly, and we've been giving a 2-3-4 week guess on that process as well, but have been told that some babies take as long as 2-3 months, or longer, depending on how much and what the mom was taking. So far they have weened her more quickly than they have any other baby. Dr. Z said that I did a great job weening off the medication, and that she probably would have been fine if she had stayed put till her due date. I feel really bad knowing that it's my back problems, and my pain medication that had her suffering, but the doctors and nurses have all told me that with my pain and problems I probably would have miscarried her, or she would have been born weeks earlier without it. The pain can cause you to miscarry in the first and second trimester, your body saying you have too much wrong to bring another life into the world and take care of it - so if I hadn't taken it then we could have lost her then. If I had stopped taking it sooner, or weened to quickly the pain would have caused me to go into labor and she would have been born earlier, as it is they think my back pain is what caused me to start having contractions all the time after I hit 30 weeks. Dr Z said I did what I had to do to keep her in me, and safe and healthy in there - his job is to get her well enough to come home.

I'm doing well - I'm exhausted, but it's so worth it. I'm pumping breast milk every 2 hours most of the time for Squish to drink, as it turns out she is quite the little piggy when it comes to feeding. I get a 4 hour stretch of sleep at night and that's it - after that every 2 hours I pump for 15-30 minutes so it's a little bit tiring. At the same time  I know how good it is for her, and seeing her guzzle it down feels good.