Evin has had a good last
couple of days! She has been eating well
both through a bottle and breastfeeding.
By bottle she is getting a tiny bit of formula to help her gain weight.
Yesterday they felt
comfortable enough to pull out her feeding tube since she was doing so well
eating on her own. Her sweet little face
is now tube-free!
Last night at her “weigh in”
she gained a tiny bit of weight- woohoo!
Doctors were thrilled and said this is what they were waiting for from
her and that we should be going home in the next couple of days.
Since there was talk of us
going home, we had to do a “carseat test” that every baby in the NICU must do
before going home. The baby must sit in
their carseat that is strapped into a seat for 90 minutes and have their vital
signs monitored. We were not so excited
to have this scheduled from 11:30pm-1:00am last night. This was also in between feeding times, so we
knew Evin would get hungry during the test.
Mitch and I both described this as torture because Evin screamed and
cried almost the entire 90 minutes and there wasn’t anything that we could do
to comfort her. If she was taken out of
the seat at anytime, we would have to start over. Good news is, we made it through and she
passed the test!
Starting last night they
took her off the monitor so we could get used to being around her without
constantly looking up and being able to see her vital signs. This means that for the first time since
March 22nd, Evin does not have a single wire or monitor on! We are now able to hold her and carry her
around our room without being confined to the area right beside her bed.
Today she continued to eat
like a champ and the doctor told us today….
WE SHOULD BE DISCHARGED
TOMORROW!
All day today we have been
meeting with doctors to set appointments with her pediatrician, cardiologist,
pulmonologist, etc. for when we leave.
Evin will go home taking
aspirin every day (for the rest of her life) and taking a blood pressure
medicine that will act as a heart function medicine. We were taught how to give the meds and we
reviewed feeding procedures and things to watch for with Evin.
Since she is a heart baby,
we have to be particularly careful with her and the germs she is exposed
to. She will be getting a RSV (sort of
like a cold but can be very dangerous if babies get it) vaccination in the
morning. Normal babies do not qualify
for the vaccine because it is so expensive, but preemies and heart babies are
at a higher risk for RSV, therefore they are vaccinated. The vaccine does not completely eliminate the
risk of getting it, but it does lower the chances.
Evin has not been weighed
yet tonight, so we are praying for another weight gain. I am not sure if the discharge date would
change or not if she does not gain.
Please pray for another weight gain!
Hopefully our 3 and a half
week stay in a hospital is coming to an end and the next time I send an update
will be from the comfort of our own home!
Kori
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| Loves to sleep with that head thrown back. |
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| Baby giraffe |
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| During the carseat test. This is 1 second of about the 30 that she wasn't screaming. The rest of the 90 minutes were miserable! |
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| Starting to get too long for her preemie gowns! |
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| Snuggled up with Mommy. |
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| Holding Little E wire free! |
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