week 2 diary

I keep meaning to be better about sharing and documenting updates about our tiny beloved daughter.  Through this experience I keep finding myself trapped in a kind of frozen-time capsule.  I am aware that the world is still moving around me; people are going to work and school, doing their groceries, checking-off their to-do lists, posting social media updates.  But my world is completely changed by my beautiful baby who is growing, breathing and struggling in the hospital.  How could the world keep turning?  Life outside the NICU almost seems strange, noisy and foreign.  

I know that I will want to remember our warrior's accomplishments however, so here is a recap of her second-week in our world.

Celeste started her second-week of life on room air, and I am so proud to say that she has not needed any breathing support since then.  She has frequent apnea spells (meaning she stops breathing) which is common for young preemies, but generally Celeste has been pulling out of them all on her own.  I am often the one who needs a reminder from the nurses to breath when the multitude of alarms and monitors start ringing!  For the meantime, she is also being administered a special medication named "caffeine" to remind her heart to keep beating.  Yep, it's essentially that same cup of coffee that keeps her mama going as well!  We are starting her habit young.

Mid-week Celeste's feeds (breastmilk via a feeding tube) increased enough for her to be taken off of IV fluids.  This also allowed for her PICC line to be removed (which is good news because it lowers her risk of infection).  Celeste went from weighting 2lbs 8oz at 7-days old to 3lbs 3oz at 14-days.  She is mainly classified as a "grower" now, meaning there are no major health issues going on other than the need to develop and "gestate" in her isolette.

In non-medical news, Daddy finally had the opportunity to hold his baby girl.  He was so patient in understanding my need (no, I am not exaggerating here) to have my skin-to-skin time with her, and she was so fragile that she couldn't tolerate much more than one-hour of being held.  But now that she is stable on room-air, it is became much easier for us to carefully pass her between ourselves without too much disturbance.

We were also thrilled that we were able to transfer her to the hospital closest to our home.  Instead of commuting 40-minutes, she is now just 10-minutes from us.  This was important to us so that we could be more involved in Celeste's care and could also give ourselves more to the boys at home.  Having a child in the hospital and siblings at home definitely makes a parent feel torn in all directions, and eliminating a long commute from this equation has been a gift.

 

There we go, week 2 is in the books.

Please continue to keep our sweet girl in your prayers.