NICU - Day 44

Date: January 5th - Happy birthday Aunt Brittney!!!
Gestational Age: 34 weeks 3 days
Weight: 1870 grams (4 lbs 2 oz)

We (the nurse and I) were surprised to see that Maddie gained 2 oz in one day! Pretty impressive. We actually weighed her three times because we thought it was so unbelievable that she had gained so much weight. We are still waiting on her to poop though. She hasn't pooped since they started refeeding her food into the bottom half of her intestines. When I'm in her room, I check her diaper "just in case" every couple of hours and it is always the first question I want an answer to when I call her nurse when I'm away. I'm becoming as obsessed with her poop as I felt the nurses (and sometimes doctors) were with mine while I was on the Mother/Baby Unit.

Maddie is returning to her struggles with spells, having three today (two overnight and one during day shift). She also was struggling with her oxygen saturation, falling into the 80s and occasionally the upper 70s. Her nurse suctioned her while I was holding Madelyn and we weren't getting much, so we tried again after she was back in bed and used saline which got us the big reward! I don't know that Maddie was even able to breathe out of one nostril because of the giant raisins of boogers stuck in there (too nasty of a description? I apologize). She has been doing a lot better with her oxygen since she was suctioned. Also, Maddie continues to like keeping the nurses on their toes. Why else would she have needed a second ostomy bag change overnight last night and have pulled out her feeding tube this morning? When pulling out the feeding tube, she even left the tape there, just pulled the tube right through it.

Wearing another new hat from Grandma. No worries about getting a cold head!

We discovered that Maddie is about the size of an American Girl doll. Therefore, she decided to borrow some sunglasses from Kate's doll. We are all dreaming of a place that is warmer than Iowa where sunglasses are required due to the current chilliness in the Midwest. At last check, the temperature here is -3 and that doesn't include the wind chill.

Maddie got to cuddle with Aunt Renae! It was an exciting event and Renae (of course) got teary-eyed. I feel like this is a pattern. She makes people cry when they hold her. She doesn't even have to show them her right hook.

Cuddling with Nae Nae

Too cool for school