Closing Week 5

Week five of life in the NICU is coming to a close and, for me, the last few weeks may as well have been three years. It is hard to describe the daily stresses, combined with worries of what is to come, and how it all affects me. I remind myself daily of how lucky I am to have a rock of a husband and a wonderfully supportive family. It is still incredibly difficult.

Charlotte has had a few rough days, which equals a very stressed out Mom and Dad. They have been trying to wean her from her nasal cannula and they were too aggressive. The doctor reversed some of the orders so that she is getting more air flow and that has helped. Today was a much better day. Perhaps more frustrating than the problems she is having, is the answers to our questions typically sound something like, "Well, this is normal for preemies". If you have never wanted to punch someone in your life, come to the hospital with me and I promise that will change.

In more positive news, she is still gaining weight. She is up to 1,480 grams or 3 pounds 4 ounces. They will measure her length again tonight, so I will be sure to report that with a caterpillar picture tomorrow or Tuesday. We haven't reported her feeding level in awhile, it has steadily increased and she now gets 28 ccs at each feeding. I noticed today that her hands are starting to look more like "baby" hands with a little pudge on them. She has also started rooting around for a nipple and she loves to suck on her pacifier when she is being fed. That tells me she is making the connection and I am hopeful we can start trying to bottle feed her in the next two weeks.

To the family, thank you for bringing Christmas to us. It was great seeing everyone, even with a dead tree and too many people in a too small house. I hope you all made it home safely.