- They added more fortifier to her feedings, so now the she is getting 24 calorie breastmilk! Hopefully that means she will continue to gain weight. She is up to 3 lbs, 2.2 oz (last time we heard).
- When we showed up, sister was wearing a shirt for the first time. See picture below:
Ok, so it is more of a vest -- Josh made plenty of jokes about it. But she was wearing more than just underpants, which seems like a big step to me.
- She had a pretty intense eye exam today, where they were checking to see whether she had retinopathy. Apparently, for lots of preemies, their eye vessels don't reach the outside of their retinas, which can necessitate laser surgery at some point. But our awesome girl has mature retinas, meaning she has blood flow to all parts of her eye. Thank you Lord!
Unfortunately, all of the aforementioned excitement was a little bit stressful for her, so she had a rough day with her oxygen. When Josh was holding her this morning, she almost got put back in her little box because her oxygen levels kept dropping too low. But, fortunately, both of us got in some snuggle time today.
Other exciting news:
(This is Phoenix's excited face):
It sounds like me and my girl will get to begin our breastfeeding adventure in the next couple days! Don't get too excited ... she will still be fed soley through her tube. But we are hopefully going to start introducing the idea of breastfeeding to her sometime this weekend! Our nurse (who is a lactation consultant, and therefore a huge champion for breastfeeding) said that she will probably go home on some combination of breastfeeding and bottlefeeding ... meaning the two of us have a long road ahead. But I am thrilled, and would appreciate your prayers for success!
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| The thought of breastfeeding makes Nixie smile too! |
One last prayer request:
We need to find a pediatrician for Nixie. These are the three things that we are looking for (in no particular order):
- Familiarity with preemies. Because she was premature, Phoenix will have different needs and a somewhat different development timeline. We want her doctor to be a whiz with all things having to do with prematurity!
- Proximity to our house. This whole NICU experience has taught us the importance of having health care close to home.
- Not sure how to word this one. I have had quite a few doctors in the last couple months that effectively bullied me during my appointments ... they used fear tactics to get me to do what they asked. As Josh puts it, they would dictate rather than discuss. I want her doctor to consider us partners in her healthcare and not subordinates. And I want her/him to exhibit an openness to other options/routes, in case we decide to do something unorthodox (like opt out of vaccines ... gasp!).
That is a lot to ask for, but I am sure such a physician exists. We just need to find him/her.
Side note -- Phoenix has hairy shoulders, and I not-so-secretly love it. I kind of hope it doesn't go away. Josh disagrees, although I am sure it would help him to deter potential suitors. (He is reading over my shoulder, and says "I don't need help")
PS ... If you have something snarky to say about vaccines, keep it to yourself. We have not even come close to making a decision on that, so don't stress.
Love that you guys are getting so much time with her! She's gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteShe is so beautiful! I commented on one of your first posts. I am a friend of a friend who also had a preemie. I wanted to recommend my incredible pediatrician. I found her when my oldest was about 9 months old and am so thankful I had her when I had my preemie. Her name is Dr. Kute, here is her website: www.drkute.com. She is in Alpharetta, which is about a 35 minute drive for me, but it is worth every single minute. When we were in the hospital she gave me her personal cell phone number, spoke to the neonatologist on a regular basis for an update, and even called and spoke to a nurse that was ugly to me. She is also a LLL certified lactation consultant and if it weren't for her I would never have been able to nurse as my little guy didn't latch until he was almost 3 months old. When we go in for a visit she lets the kids play with her "tools", does procedures while I hold and nurse them and is all over just incredible.
ReplyDeleteWe did not fully vaccinate our preemie due to some residual medical issues he had and she has been my strongest supporter. She has an MD, but also has a background in naturopathy so she always suggests natural remedies first, which I love. We love her to pieces and truly feel like she partners with us in our children's health.
Still praying for you and baby Phoenix and if you have any more questions about Dr. Kute feel free to send me an email: greenmamaem@gmail.com. Before I had my preemie, I also interviewed Dr. B at Suwanee Pediatrics and I really liked her, but when he came early I hadn't made the switch yet so we stayed with Dr. Kute and I have never regretted it or the the drive.
Emily,
ReplyDeleteLove the new pictures, she looks like she has grown a lot!
We also use Dr. Kute. And I totally agree with Emily G.! She is great and well worth the drive!
At this point, the only thing I love more than Nixie's excited face is her smile! And I have already joined your love for her hairy shoulders!! Does she take after Daddy on this one? :) Obviously, she takes after Mommy in her fashion sense.
ReplyDeleteLove you and so does Jesus!