Quick Update

Hey just a quick note ,I talked to Amy tonight and she said that Hope is up another 1 oz that make 1100 grams or 1lb 7oz and she is doing great!

Piglet

I was bracing myself to hear that Hope hadn't gained any weight yesterday since they were giving her medicine to make her pee. She hadn't peed enough the previous day, so I figured she would pee out any extra fluid and they were going to tell me she was down. But she gained 60 grams yesterday and is up to 2 lbs 6 oz. Praise the Lord! I just talked to the nurse, though, and she thinks her urine output is still not up to par. So they may give her the meds again today. Please pray that her kidneys are working good and that she still gains. I am so excited to hear that she's chunking up.

Way Big

She did it! Our little girl finally broke the 1000 gram mark (she's 1010 to be specific). She can officially be handled without gloves. She gained another 30 grams today. That makes a total of 120 (roughly 4 oz) over the past 5 days. Woo hoo! Do ya think she was wanting to eat or something? She is still swapping back and forth between the cpap and nasal cannula. There's not much other news. At this point she just needs to keep growing and getting stronger. God is good!

As for the rest of the family... we still have a mild cold floating around so we weren't able to visit Hope this weekend. But we did get out for a hike this afternoon, which was really nice. It makes me feel a little guilty to be having fun while Hope is in the hospital, but we do need to take care of the rest of the family too. If only we could be everywhere, doing everything that needs to get done! We are thankful that God is holding our Hope while we can't.

Thanks again to all of you for praying for us.

Quick Update

Hope is doing well. She gained another 20 grams, so she's making progress. Good job, little girl. Mike now has a sore throat, and I'm pretty sure I've had a mild cold, so it looks like we won't be getting in to see her any time soon. I miss my girl! Please Lord, let us get over this quick so we can see her again.

And She's Off!

And growing, that is. Hope gained another 30 grams yesterday, so she's up to 2 lbs 2 oz. Yahoo! They are up to 2.2 ml/hr on her feeds, which the doctor said is about 1/3 of what she needs. She is progressing well. She still has a lot of gas in her tummy, but no one seems to care much anymore. They've decided that's just how she is. She is pooping well, so it looks like things are working. She finally went back on cpap after 34 hours on the nasal cannula. She just got kind of tired. Whether she goes back on the cannula depends on which doctor she has. Today's doctor wants her on it, yesterday's doc preferred that she stay on cpap. Either way, she's doing fine. Thank you, Lord, for this miracle baby!

Daddy's Little Girl

Things are going well with Hope. She has been exclusively on her nasal cannula for about 30 hours now. They said they'll put her back on the cpap if she starts acting tired, but so far she's doing great. She has gained 20 grams over each of the past 2 days, so she's weighing in at 2 lbs 1 oz. The doctor told me today that they would like her to gain between 15 - 30 grams per day, so she's right in that range. They have put her on continuous feeds, which means she is getting a constant drip of breastmilk. She is getting 1.4 ml/hr right now and that will go up to 1.6 ml/hr around 6 am. They will up the rate by 0.2 ml every 8 hours. She is tolerating this well and she's pooping good. Mike got to do kangaroo care with her for the second day in a row. Nurse Mary took a picture of them and put it in a cute little holder that has her age and weight and is titled "Princess Hope".

Correction

I apparently misunderstood the doctor yesterday. They are not giving Hope an extra 1/2 ml every 12 hours. They are increasing her feedings by 1/2 ml every 12 hours. So right now Hope is getting 2.5 mls every 3 hours. At midnight they will start giving her 3 mls every 3 hours and by noon tomorrow she will be getting 3.5 mls every 3 hours. They are trying to work up to full feeds so that they can stop the IV. I asked what would constitute "full feeds" for Hope right now. The nurse said she should be getting 15 mls every 3 hours. So we have a ways to go, but she's getting there. She has some catching up to do. The doctor told me this morning that she should be weighing about 1500 grams at this point and she's only weighing in around 900. C'mon Hope! Let's start packing it on. But she's doing well otherwise and tolerating her nasal cannula well. Mike is going up to see her this evening and will get to do kangaroo care with her. Hopefully he'll get some pictures that we can post.