Monday, October 11, 2010

37 Weeks Gestation-Countdown Commence!!!

Casey 37 Weeks Gestation
5 lb. 7.9999 oz (birth weight 2 lb 4 oz)
10 weeks 5 days old
75 days in the hospital, 22 days until due date

We're freaking out just a bit. When the girls were born, we were told to expect a 10 week stay in the NICU. 5 weeks later, things didn't seem to have progressed that much and we were told that 14 weeks total would be more realistic. There really is something to be said about gestational age. Casey hit a certain age and suddenly things have started to rocket forward. If you look at the criteria for discharge from the NICU

1. Eat all meals by mouth (no feeding tube meals)- CHECK!!!
2. Maintain body temperature - CHECK!!!
3. Able to sleep and eat with no oxgyen aid- Thanks to some innovative thinking with thickening her milk so she's less likelly to choke on it-CHECK
4. Go 7 days with no apnea or brady spells. Usually the countdown is only 5 days but because of her micro-preemie status, the staff feel more comfortable with upping that probation period to 7 days. Casey is halfway through the countdown!!!

If all goes as planned, Casey might be home as early as this Friday!!!

We know that it's a flexible date, things pop up here and there. If she were to have an apnea or brady spell, the 7 day countdown would reset back to zero. This morning's meeting revolved around her weight. She not only has NOT gained weight this past week, she's lost weight. She got up to 5 lb 12 oz and then she's lost weight the past couple days. They will not send home a baby who is losing weight. There's not much more we can do. Her milk is already fortified to add more calories. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow. I'm still pretty shocked that she's doing so well off oxygen. I think we all really expected Casey to have to come home on oxygen.

Casey has her job to do and Scott and I have jobs of our own. Some things that we have had to tackle this past week.

1. We learned how to install Casey's car seat and we had it inspected by certified technicians. It was a free service offered at the Kaiser Mapunapuna Clinic to anybody, including non-Kaiser members. Our technician also happened to be a NICU nurse, Gina. They reallly care about keeping babies safe in our cars.
2. We had a infant CPR training at the NICU. It is NOT a certification class, although, we are planning to get certified (we're getting a class together so let us know if you want to take it!!!). But this training offered by the NICU was to teach us how to perform CPR and also to rescue an choking infant. They want us to practice constantly so we feel comfortable performing these life-saving measures...and it gives us a crucial lifeline until the ambulance can arrive.

The training was at the NICU and we were allowed to bring in family and friends, anyone who might be around Casey or involved with taking care of her. We originally told Arlene we would have 7 people but we ended up with almost 12 people. Poor Arlene had to contend with our boisterous Sunday night crew, but she had us rotating with the dummies and kept us on track.
The group started to pool in the hallway before class began.
Only Mikey, the straight A student, made sure to be ready and in the classroom on time. He's even reading the training material ahead of time.
Arlene patiently explaining the dos and donts of CPR.

Next on our list, Casey has to take the carseat challenge. I will take in her carseat tomorrow and have it adjusted to her size. She just barely makes the minimum weight requirement for the carseat. Thank goodness. Otherwise, you have to get a special carseat for babies under 5 lb. After she's fitted into her carseat, they have her sit in it for 90 minutes and watch her vitals to see how she'll respond to being upright in a carseat for an extended drive.
The following pictures are brought to you by Arlene. She's an amazing photographer and creates these spectacular designs. We have one she made on our fridge that looks like a professional birth announcement.

4 comments:

  1. Dang, you shared all the good pictures and the CPR. Hmm, I wonder what I can blog about now.

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  2. Yay Casey!!! And yay for mommy and daddy!
    (And Scott, you should just post those pics again. We love looking at her. She's so adorable. I want to see her, but I am slightly sick, so I want to make sure to stay far away for now.)

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  3. I'm excited for you guys! such good progress. I'll keep up the prayers for her weight gain.

    p.s. she looks like she's getting some baby fat (woohoo)!

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  4. Oh come on Casey...you can do it!!! Oh how we love the pictures and updates! May God's Glory surround you and fill you with great peace and joy. We love you all! Jeph and Jaclyn and kids :)

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