On The Third Day...

I simply can't believe how much progress Danee is making day by day. There is truly no question in my mind that she is a little miracle baby!

Let's recap:

Monday at 4:30, she entered the world not breathing. She was put on a respirator that did her breathing for her. 90 minutes later, she was only relying on the machine for 25% of her breathing.

Tuesday at noon, the respirator was gone, and in its place, a simple CPAP machine, which didn't do much more than ensure that she was breathing in enough air to fill her lungs. No extra oxygen, just added pressure.

Tuesday night, she was doing even better. She'd had several wet diapers during the day, and one of the nurses proudly exclaimed "She Pooped Today!" They had added to her IV drip, a bag they refer to as Baby Gatorade. Orange coloured sugar water with electrolytes.

By Wednesday at 4:30, the Baby Gatorade was joined by a tube of Lipids, which is a fancy hospital word for "easily absorbed fat," to help get some weight on our little girl. The CPAP was gone, and all she has to enhance her breathing is a little tube below her nose, which gently blows moistened air so she doesn't dry out. Having her mouth free for the first time, she was able to suck on a binky for the first time... And she loves to suck!! She loves to suck so much in fact, that she couldn't choose between her binky and her fist, and spent most of the time I was there with a combination of both stuffed into her mouth. She's also finally able to make little gurgling, cooing, crying noises. I love her voice!! Here are a couple clips from tonight's visit...





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Anyway, next up on the progress agenda is putting food into her tummy, instead of directly into her bloodstream. Tomorrow they're planning on putting a feeding tube down her throat, and will do a few drops of formula to test and/or stimulate her digestive system. Since that's only a few drops at a time, they're also going to insert a PICC Line to continue the food by IV method.

She's also developing a little bit of jaundice, so they've got her under a special lamp, and will continue that through the next few days...

Finally, she'll likely be moving tomorrow. She's been in a private room in the NICU so far, but will graduate into a not so private area out in the general population.

Here are a couple new pics from tonight... Now that she doesn't have breathing tubes all over her head, they were able to wash her off a little, and her hair was light and fluffy, instead of glued to her scalp. Made it look like she has even MORE hair than she already did!





See what I mean?? Total Miracle Baby!! And I gotta tell ya, those sucking motions and sounds she was making tonight make me wanna scoop her up and love on her even more!