So I am wondering if anyone else out there has had this problem, or maybe it is just me, but I am beginning to HATE Claire's nurses. Of course it is only one day in every couple or so that I get one that tells me things like, "how many times have you held your baby today? You are only suppose to hold her twice a day." Or something else like "Well, I was too busy chatting about all of my problems in my life, so I decided she didn't need a bottle, I just tube fed her instead. So ya, sorry it looks like she will have to stay another day because she didn't take a bottle every three hours today." Sometimes I just want to scream....
Yet on the other hand, I Love most of these nurses for taking care of my sweet baby. How can you get mad at people who are helping your baby get better. It will be three weeks tomorrow since this whole ordeal happened I guess I can and should just expect that I will get a bad nurse about every 3rd day/night, so really I shouldn't be surprised, but as you might be able to tell I had a bad one last night and it is driving me crazy at the moment. So I decided that I will just have to step it up and be at the Hospital every three hours to feed her so it actually gets done.
Well, so far today she has taken a bottle every single time from 5:30am til now, so we are doing awesome. The funny thing is I finally got to talk with the Dr. and he said that if we are ok with learning how to put a feeding tube in then we can take her home! So we will see how that goes. I am really nervous about it, but I am hoping I can do it, because then I might be able to have my baby at home by Monday. It is crazy, but I never thought I would have to do this, I think with our next child I will be prepared to have some kind of Hospital stay, because it sure is becoming a trend in our family.
I really thought I would have this child down packed. I would know what signs to look for if she had an allergy etc. but instead I have to learn how to stick some tube down my daughters nose and get it into her stomach (because if you don't get it in her stomach then it could go in her lungs) so she gets enought to eat. I am hoping that when I take her home I will just be able to give her the whole bottle every time, which is what I do when I am at the hospital Then I can just blame Claire being in the hospital forever on the nurses.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Claire Bear
Claire is doing well. The criteria for her coming home consist of her breathing on her own, eating on her own, and gaining weight. When she takes all of her feedings from a bottle for three days in a row, she'll be ready to come home. She's been off the oxygen for a couple of days, and has been holding her levels just fine. Yesterday they moved her from an Isolette into a crib. She just needs to get a bit better at eating and she'll be home. We don't know how long it will take, but we're hoping it's real soon.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Pictures of Claire
Here are a few pictures of Claire and an update of what's happened since our last post.
She was taken of the ventilator on the 12th, about a week ago. It felt pretty good to get a better look at her face.
On the 13th, she had her umbilical arterial line taken out. They were confident she wouldn't go back on the ventilator, so they no longer needed to do blood gas tests, which rendered the UAL obsolete. Once it was out, they let us hold her. She started to feel a bit more like "our baby" after that.
At this point they stopped all of the sedatives she was on, and started to bring down the levels of blood pressure medicine she was taking. That meant she would be more alert, awake, and aware of her surroundings.
She even opened her eyes a little bit.
On the 14th, they started feeding her with the milk Kanien had been pumping. She had a tube down her esophagus to vent gas that might build up in her stomach, which doubled as a feeding tube once she was able to eat. They started by giving her 5 cc's of milk, and gradually worked it up. A normal feeding is 52 cc's.
Happy Daddy
Marcella stayed at her Grandma Dougal's house. She loves the bikes and their dog, Chester. Having her there made an unbelievable difference for us, since they won't let anyone under 18 into the NICU.
On the 15th, two days after Kanien was discharched, we "moved in" with the McCann family. They live about 10 minutes from the hospital, so we could try and attend Claire's feeding and care sessions, which take place every 3 hours. Caroline and Jeff let us stay in their bedroom. This is Marcella's bed on the floor of their room.
On th 16th they tried to move Claire into a crib. She was wearing a onesie, pjs, two hats, and three blankets, but she couldn't maintain her body temperature without the heater, so they moved her back.
She's been doing pretty well with a bottle. The nurses tell us as long as she's awake, she'll eat from a bottle. Her feedings are up to 32 cc's now.
She was taken of the ventilator on the 12th, about a week ago. It felt pretty good to get a better look at her face.
On the 13th, she had her umbilical arterial line taken out. They were confident she wouldn't go back on the ventilator, so they no longer needed to do blood gas tests, which rendered the UAL obsolete. Once it was out, they let us hold her. She started to feel a bit more like "our baby" after that.
At this point they stopped all of the sedatives she was on, and started to bring down the levels of blood pressure medicine she was taking. That meant she would be more alert, awake, and aware of her surroundings.
She even opened her eyes a little bit.
On the 14th, they started feeding her with the milk Kanien had been pumping. She had a tube down her esophagus to vent gas that might build up in her stomach, which doubled as a feeding tube once she was able to eat. They started by giving her 5 cc's of milk, and gradually worked it up. A normal feeding is 52 cc's.
Happy Daddy
Marcella stayed at her Grandma Dougal's house. She loves the bikes and their dog, Chester. Having her there made an unbelievable difference for us, since they won't let anyone under 18 into the NICU.
On the 15th, two days after Kanien was discharched, we "moved in" with the McCann family. They live about 10 minutes from the hospital, so we could try and attend Claire's feeding and care sessions, which take place every 3 hours. Caroline and Jeff let us stay in their bedroom. This is Marcella's bed on the floor of their room.
On th 16th they tried to move Claire into a crib. She was wearing a onesie, pjs, two hats, and three blankets, but she couldn't maintain her body temperature without the heater, so they moved her back.
She's been doing pretty well with a bottle. The nurses tell us as long as she's awake, she'll eat from a bottle. Her feedings are up to 32 cc's now.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Hip Hip Hurray!
For Claire Bear! Jon and I are so excited! Claire was taken off the ventilator tonight and she has been doing excellent. She decided today that she was going to improve and has made great progress.
Last night Jon and I were hoping that she might get off the ventilator by Friday. Now, if we are lucky, we'll be able to hold her by then. It is hard to describe the complete joy I feel at this moment. I am truly grateful for all of your prayers and fasting for our sweet baby girl.
We are so grateful for all of your love and support. Please keep praying for Claire. She reached a milestone, but still has a few to go. All our love and thanks for the tremendous support we've received from everyone.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Our Little Claire
Here are a few pictures of Claire. She was born yesteday around 6:00 pm. She's having some issues and will be in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit for the foreseeable future. She weighs 6 lbs flat, and was somewhere between 20 and 24 inches. They did one measurement in the operating room(20"), and one in the NICU(24").
Brand New
Lots of Pokers...there are a total of 10 tubes entering her body, along with 5 or 6 monitors sticking to the outside.
Our little corner
We're waiting for some tests to come back before we really know what all the issues are, but right now they're dealing with pulmonary hypertension and possible infection from the amniotic fluid. Kanien's water broke Wednesday night, but they didn't deliver the baby until Saturday at 6:00. We'll update when we can say for sure what's happening. Thanks to everyone who is praying and fasting for Claire.
We're waiting for some tests to come back before we really know what all the issues are, but right now they're dealing with pulmonary hypertension and possible infection from the amniotic fluid. Kanien's water broke Wednesday night, but they didn't deliver the baby until Saturday at 6:00. We'll update when we can say for sure what's happening. Thanks to everyone who is praying and fasting for Claire.
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