Sophia updates!

Day 18, December 9, 2008: Sophia has not thrown up since yesterday - HOORAY! No feeds were scheduled for today, but the nurses feel that perhaps they will start feeding her tomorrow. Initially, we thought she was going to get her first breast milk through an IV, but the nurses told me this morning that she's probably going to start right off on a bottle! Awesome. I'm really excited about this. Maybe she'll even start pooping soon after they start her on breast milk. I held Sophia for almost 2 hours and she slept pretty much the entire time. I could just hold her and look at her all day. It's amazing how much love you can have for one person!
This morning I also went to a meeting on discharge. It's held once a month for parents of babies who will most likely be going home within the next month. It covered topics like choosing pediatricians, follow up programs, car seats, other classes we can take (infant massage, cpr, home safety, etc), day care, etc. I had never thought about how horrible day care is for a premature baby. Preemies are much more susceptible to germs and sicknesses. For example, most kids or adults who get RSV simply have cold like symptoms, but when a premature baby gets RSV, it usually means the baby ends up back in the hospital with pneumonia. They recommend that NICU babies don't go into a day care program for a year, or 6 months minimum. Oy. Another thing they covered that I had no clue about was smoking. I know obviously you should never smoke around a baby, but I didn't know that just the smoke on someone's clothing can make a preemie baby so sick. They said that if a smoker is coming over to visit the baby, they need to have their last cigarette before they get in their car and come over - they also need to then wash their face, neck, hands, etc and put on a clean shirt. Term babies aren't usually affected by this as severely as preemies are.

Day 17, December 8, 2008: Sophia got her sump out this morning after I got to the hospital. Yay! They haven't decided when they'll start feedings, and I'm worried that she'll start throwing up again like last time they took the sump out. We had an intern as a nurse today - so it's a good thing that Sophia doesn't have a whole lot going on. The only time she ever really cries is when she has a wet diaper, wants her pacifier, or wants to cuddle. She's been doing a great job sleeping through the nights - I hope this continues after she comes home! :) She is currently only on the TPN and lipids - no medications.
Sam and I gave her a bath tonight, like we always do. She didn't seem like she was feeling very well and didn't really want her pacifier either. Hopefully she'll be feeling better tomorrow! She weighed 2.08 kg tonight...which is 4.6 lbs. Sam and I finally remembered to take her swing in to the hospital so that she can sit in it when she gets tired of her view from her crib.
I've lost most of my pregnancy weight - just over 10 lbs to go...and then I hope to lose some more and get back down to the size I was when I moved to VA.


















Day 16, December 7, 2008: Sophia is gaining her weight back! She weighed 2065 grams (4 lbs 9 oz) tonight and is almost 18" long! They are no longer giving her glycerin (sepositories) since she just wasn't producing any poopy diapers. The sump came off vacuum and is now working on just gravity. There's not a whole lot coming out, so I'm guessing they'll probably try to take her off the sump again soon.
This picture cracks me up. She looks sooo happy!
















Big yawn!

















Day 15, December 6, 2008: Sam and I got our Christmas tree today and then went up to see Sophia. I went to pump as soon as we got there and Sam started holding Sophia. When I got into her NICU pod, Sam said she would just not stop crying and her sump was making strange sucking noises. He asked the nurse about it and she basically dismissed it as an issue. I really did not like this nurse. She's just not a people person and doesn't seem empathetic. Her sump continued to make weird noises and Sophia continued to cry. I asked the nurse to please come over and check on the sump because it has NEVER made noise, and it's not supposed to. She basically said "I don't know why it would be making noises" and then walked away. ARG. I was soooo mad. Something was wrong with the sump and she wouldn't even try to figure out what it was. Sam's mom went up later today to see Sophia (after we told her about the issues with the sump) and listened for the sump to make noise. She said it never did and that Sophia slept the entire time she held her. Well....we went back up later tonight and surprise, surprise - someone completely changed the sump out. There was a brand new tube in her nose and brand new tape holding the NG tube to her face. I wonder when someone finally checked on it and figured out what was wrong.


















Day 14, December 5, 2008: Sam had to work tonight from 3-11 doing DUI stuff, so I went up to the hospital at night by myself. I met Greg and Robin Jones (from our church) at CHKD and they got to each hold Sophia :) I gave her a bath on my own and she was soooo squirmy lol. She looks so cute in this new preemie onesie we got from the church baby shower!



















Day 13, December 4, 2008: Sophia's sump was put back in this morning because she was throwing up so much. She seems to be feeling much better now that everything is being pumped out of her belly. I think it was too early for the tube to come out yesterday.


















Day 12, December 3, 2008: The surgeon gave the go ahead to take our Sophia's NG tube - what I refer to as the sump. She's been having less fluid come out, and it's much lighter in color. I went to visit just after lunch and the nurse said she hadn't thrown up at all since they took the tube out. However, while I was holding her, she projectile vomited bile all over me and herself. Poor little sweetheart :( Sam and I went back at night and she was still throwing up. We gave her a bath like usual and she was pretty calm. The nurse gave her a sepository after her bath and about 10 minutes later Sophia was grunting and trying to push so hard. I feel so badly for her. She seemed to feel much better when she was laying on Daddy's chest instead of being cradled in his arms.














Day 11, December 2, 2008: The church held a baby shower for us tonight. We received tons of beautiful gifts! We got lots of cute clothes, a hamper, diaper bag, blankets, etc.