May 31, 2009 Afternoon

Allison is feeling much better today! She is awake, alert and trying to pull every wire and tube out. And... she is 4 lbs today! As you can see, she also has learned the fine art of the "binky" or pacifier--and she can do it all by herself. She is still having a bit of trouble with her digestion, so Dr. Vogel started her on a medication that may help, we'll see how it goes. If she can get back to eating and digesting properly, Dr. Vogel said today she can get out of her incubator and into an open crib. yay!

May 31, 2009 Morning

Allison had a pretty good night. She was put back on formula feedings yesterday, but is having some trouble digesting it. She digested her first feeding, but the ones after that she didn't digest very much of. Overnight they kept trying and she seems to be starting to digest a little more. She seems to be feeling better overall, she's much more alert and even doing her "aerobics" in her incubator and trying to escape from her bed.

May 29, 2009 Evening

Allison has had a good day, her blood work came back better again and showing signs that the infection is clearing up. She still seems to be a bit tired, which is understandable with all she has been through this week. Dr. Vogel said her tummy x-ray came back fine and he examined her and heard good sounds, though her bowel sounds were not the greatest so they are holding her feeds for all of today and will examine her again tomorrow to see if she's ready.

May 29, 2009 Morning

Allison had a good night, she didn't have any apnea spells and is still on low flow oxygen. She had chest and stomach x-rays this morning to check on her breathing and feeding issues and both were unremarkable. So, maybe tonight she might get to try eating formula again. She had more lab work done to check the infection and the results should be back later this morning. She was awake off and on during the night, trying to do her aerobics, but since she was all swaddled up in her blanket, she'd give up and go back to sleep. :)

May 28, 2009 Evening

Allison seems to be slowly improving, her blood work was better again today, though it still shows signs of the infection being present. She is still pretty tired, partly because she had her bi-weekly eye exam today. Her eyes are doing well, her retinas are immature, but that is to be expected and they will hopefully continue to mature on schedule as she gets older. She has had a bit of trouble tonight with her feedings, they found a little bit of blood in the residual formula she hadn't digested from her 2pm feeding. So, poor thing is back on IV feedings and they will let her tummy rest, do an x-ray to make sure everything is normal, and try again tomorrow.

May 28, 2009 Morning

Allison had a good night, she didn't have any spells, which is a good indication that she is feeling better. She is having a little trouble digesting her formula, though, but her nurse said that is to be expected, so they will continue to go slow with them and give her time to get used to eating again. She had another full blood work panel drawn, and the results should be available later this morning.

May 27, 2009 Afternoon

Allison seems to be feeling a little better today, though she's a little tired. The antibiotics seems to be working, her blood tests have taken an upswing, showing that they are killing the infection. She got taken off one of the antibiotics because the other 2 are sufficiently covering the infection . She also got 10 cc's of formula for the first time in 2 days which made her a very happy girl! They will do more blood work tomorrow to see how things are going.

May 26, 2009 Evening

We found out today that Allison has a staph infection. They believe the source is in her left arm, where her IV was placed last week when she was a bit sick. They started her on an additional antibiotic, Nafcillin, that is particularly effective for these infections. She seems a bit more perky today, so hopefully the antibiotics and some good rest will continue to make her feel better. It is heartbreaking for us because the poor girl has been through so much and worked so hard and this will probably set her back a few weeks and make it all the longer before we get to bring her home.

May 25, 2009 Evening

Poor Allison did not have a good day today. Even though her blood work was back to normal yesterday, earlier today she started to look and act like she didn't feel well. Sure enough, in just 24 hours time, her blood work now has signs that she has an infection. So, she is unfortunately back on her antibiotics and will be moved tonight back over to the intensive Care side so she can get the attention she needs. She is having a lot of apnea spells and is back on high flow oxygen (they had just switched her to low flow again overnight because she was doing so well). She was finally getting some sleep about 6pm, so we'll see what kind of night she has, poor thing.

May 24, 2009 Afternoon

Allison is doing much better today--so good that as you can see in the top picture, she decided it would be fun to get her finger under her nasal canula and pull it out--twice. Dr. Esparza and I watched her the 2nd time--she thinks she's sooo sly! They did her blood work again today and it actually looks better, and it does appear she is making her own red blood cells now, so that's great news. She may need another transfusion just as a "boost", but they are going to wait another day or two to make sure. She is back down to a flow of "1" on her oxygen and as I left, Dr. Esparza was trying her on 20cc of food, but only 20 calorie formula vs. the 29 she had been getting, trying to make sure she digests is well before moving her back up.

May 23, 2009

Allison is doing better today, she was apparently wide awake most of the morning--and just a bit for me, then she decided it was nap time as you can see. She is up to 1592 grams, so she's still gaining a bit of weight. I spoke with Dr. Chen and Dr. Esparza today and they believe she may have gotten a bit of a viral infection that made her sick. Her blood work was a little off yesterday, but still in normal ranges, but today it was a little worse, but not severe enough to treat with antibiotics and she seems to feel better already, so they'll just keep watching her for a few days. She is well enough today to begin getting some formula again this afternoon, that will make her very happy. :)

May 22, 2009 Afternoon

Allison is doing much better today--she is much more awake and alert (of course this photo shows her zonked out after our visit) and seems to just feel better. Her tummy is much less distended and she seems to be really ready to get her food back. Dr. Esparza hadn't been able to do rounds yet this morning due to a new emergency admit, but the nurse expected she would take the IV out and let Allie have some food back tonight. Her blood work from this morning came back completely normal, no signs of any infection, sickness, etc., so we're extremely relieved. She also managed to gain 1 oz., she is up to 3lb. 8oz. :)

May 22, 2009 Morning

Well, we are off to a better start to today than yesterday. Allison didn't have her best day yesterday, she started to feel better so got her food privileges back, only to get them taken away when she had 4 apnea/brady spells in a row while eating. She is still on IV feedings this morning, but her blood gas was MUCH better and they were able, again, to suction a lot of mucus from her nose, so it could be that she just had a stuffy nose and it was keeping her from doing her "big girl" breathing. So, we'll see if they give her back her food today or just let her take another day off. :)

May 21, 2009 Morning

Poor Allison had a bit of a rough night. She looked a little pale late last night and a few hours later her blood gas was not good. They did an x-ray of her lungs and tummy and found a bunch of air--she was apparently breathing a lot through her mouth and not taking in her oxygen. So, she is back up to high flow oxygen for a bit until her blood gas gets better (they'll test her again later this morning). In addition, to get the air out of her tummy, she has lost her food privileges and is back on an IV--which she will NOT be happy about. She is apparently still acting herself, though, pushing herself to top of her incubator as if she was trying to escape!

May 20, 2009 Evening

Sleepy girl after cuddling with Mommy today! She's doing great--she is now taking her 29cc feedings over 30 minutes--another big step to trying out bottle feeding next week. She is getting to be such a big girl!

May 20, 2009 Morning

Allison had a great night--according to her nurse she was wide awake for most of it! They have promised to try to break her of this little habit before she comes home--ha! She is beginning to wake up about 15 minutes before her feedings, which is a great sign--she is learning to signal when she is hungry. She only had 2 spells last night--one right after she filled up her diaper (an apparently stunk up her incubator so badly-no one blames her for not taking deep breaths!) and one right after her blood gas was taken - the Respiratory Therapist said she acted just like a toddler and held her breath in protest. :)

May 19, 2009 Afternoon

Allison is 2 months old today! We even had chocolate birthday cake for her today in the NICU--well, she didn't get any, but we all enjoyed it. hee hee. :) She is doing great-she is now on low flow oxygen with much smaller cords and less machinery--yay! Her feedings went up to 29cc over 45 minutes vs. an hour--getting her ready to start that bottle feeding. She snuggled with Mommy for about 2 hours today and did great.

May 18, 2009 Evening

Allison had a great day--she is OFF the high flow oxygen! Dr. Esparza decided she had been on the high-flow long enough and it was time to try her on low-flow (level of "1") and so far she is handling it very well. She is also off her CO2 monitor--so one less set of wires--always a good thing!! She did great cuddling with Daddy today while she got her 3pm feeding, maintaining her oxygen levels perfectly. It did make her a bit sleepy, though, as you can see--and she also appears to be learning to suck her thumb--she was attempting it in this photo.

May 18, 2009 Morning

This is Allison with her Daddy yesterday. She's already looking at him like he is the most fascinating person on earth, huh? :) She had a good night last night, she only had one little apnea spell, but her blood gas wasn't as good this morning--they have no idea why, could just be a fluke. She is a little lethargic, but this is probably due to her first vaccines, which she got yesterday. She's a big girl now, she has to start getting those! She weighed 1583 grams (3lb, 7oz.), which means she has gained a full 2 lbs since birth! Though this weight was before she had her diuretic dose for the day, so it may go down tomorrow.

May 17, 2009 Morning

Allison had a great night. She didn't have any apnea spells at all, which is great. Her blood gas was still good this morning and she's up to 1503 grams (3lb, 5oz)--big girl! :) She was wide awake when I called, looking for someone to feed her breakfast.

May 16, 2009

Allison had a great night. She didn't have any spells, except when I called this morning--right after she heard her nurse tell me she hadn't had any since yesterday. ha ha. She is up to 1472 grams (3lb, 4oz). She had a good blood gas test this morning, so they may try to turn her oxygen flow down to "1" today.

May 15, 2009 Evening

Our little sweetie is having a great day. She cuddled with Mommy for 2.5 hours today while she ate lunch and took a nap. Then we dressed her in her Island Girl outfit and she decided to take yet another nap. It's hard work being this darn cute! :)

May 14, 2009 Afternoon

Allison had her 2nd eye exam today and did great--other than immaturity, which is expected, there are no abnormalities and everything looks good. Above is a recent photo of Allison with Daddy's wedding ring. When she was first born, it went all the way up her arm, now it doesn't even fit over her little hand--she's grown so much! The second photo is of her pretty little hair bow that her nurse, Maureen, put in her hair today. :)

May 14, 2009 Morning

Allison had a great night. The charge nurse slipped up when I called this morning and said "Allison is looking after Nancy tonight"--we think that's probably pretty accurate--she's keeping an eye on those nurses! Her blood gas was good this morning and she had some additional blood work done to check her electrolytes--Dr. Esparza is checking to see if she can be changed to the next step up of formula ("big girl formula"). She weighed 1425g today 3lb, 2oz.), so she's back on track gaining 50 grams yesterday. Of course, this was before she finally had a big poop-ha ha! Isn't she gonna love these entries when she's a teenager??? :)

May 13, 2009 Afternoon

Allison is doing really well. When I got there today her heart rate was a little high and she seemed a bit agitated, but she had her wonderful nurse, Jill, today who noticed right away she was just hot. She is doing so well retaining her body temperature these days that they can periodically turn down her heated incubator--it was just time to turn her down again. Her Aunt Cindy came to visit today to see for herself what a big girl Allison has become! She was also kind enough to take some photos of us snuggling. Allison also did another "first" today--she cried for Mommy--not just a little whimper but a full on burst out cry. It was the best sound I have ever heard, though I'm sure she didn't think so. :)

May 12, 2009 Evening

Allison has had a great day. She seems to be back on track with her feedings, I held her during most of her 3pm feeding all the way through her 6pm one and she digested almost all of it, very little spit up. She was very snuggly today, staying with me for about 2 hours and she did great, kept her oxygen saturations up and didn't have any apnea spells that were bad enough to set off her alarms, just a couple of dips that she recovered from all by herself. The above is a picture of her I took right before left, she was anxiously wondering where her 6pm feeding is. :)

May 12, 2009 Morning

Allison has found a new trick to keep the nurses on their toes--spitting up! She has decided she is going to either spit up or not digest all of her newly increased feedings again, so just to make sure everything is OK, they did an x-ray of her little digestive system and it came back fine. So they skipped her 6am feeding and gave her the 9am one on schedule and so far she's done fine. Mom is currently waiting for her changing table/dresser to be delivered (love those 4 hour delivery windows), but I'll have a chat with her when I get there this afternoon. :)

May 11, 2009 Evening

Allison got to have her 3pm snack while cuddling with Daddy. She loved it, she didn't have any spells and managed to take a little nap. Her new "big girl" bed is great, it's a lot easier to get her in and out of it, which means w can be more involved in her care--yay! Mommy and Daddy are now responsible for checking her diaper, changing her and taking her temperature before we spring her free for her feeding and cuddle time. :) Dr. Esparza and Dr. Nagle said today her lab work was great, and her chest x-ray was one of the best she has ever had. Double yay!

May 11, 2009 Morning

Allison had a great night--she has moved! She is in a big-girl isolette now vs. her "Giraffe" incubator and is not in the intensive care section of the NICU anymore. Yay! Her blood gas was about the same this morning and her chest x-ray looked a little better, so that's good. They did her routine complete blood work this morning, too, we should get the results back from that later today. She gained just 7 grams yesterday, but is now being weighed on the "big girl " scale since she doesn't have one built into her bed anymore.

May 10, 2009 Mother's Day

We just got back from visiting with Allison. She was a busy girl last night, she and her nurses stayed up to make Mommy a Mother's Day card (complete with footprints!), get dressed up in her matching "big girl" pink aloha outfit and take photos. She's doing well today, had a few apnea spells this afternoon, but got her breathing treatment and seemed to be doing better. She is back down to 25cc feedings, the 27cc's were just a bit much for her and she had a little spit up. But overall she is hanging in there and had a good day.

May 9, 2009 Afternoon

Some photos of Allison cuddling with Daddy today and of her striking a pose after it was all over--so dramatic! Maybe she's trying to tell me no more photos??? Yeah, not gonna happen. :) She did really well today--even going up another 2cc's to 27cc per feeding.

May 9, 2009 Morning

Allison is doing very well--she had a great night. She only had 2 apnea spells, one of which when she was "busy" dirtying her diaper, which is normal. Even given the nice big dirty diaper she left for her nurse, Debbie, she gained another 50 grams and is up to 1410g (3lb., 2oz.)!! She had a good blood gas this morning and is doing well with her feedings, which went up to a whole 25cc each yesterday.

The above is just another photo from the other day in her Hawaiian shirt. I think it really is a favorite!

May 8, 2009 Evening

Her nurse Janice took these this morning during Allison's "protest" that she did not receive her breakfast on time. hee hee. Quality is not the best because I had to scan them, but they really are good photos--there are more, but I am having trouble uploading to the blog tonight, these are the only 2 that would come through.

She had a great day today-she got a little increase in her feedings, so that made up for breakfast being late I guess. She spent some time cuddling with Mommy this afternoon and did really well maintaining her body temperature.

May 8, 2009 Morning

Allison had a pretty good night. Her blood gas test results were not as good as usual, with borderline CO2 results, but Dr. Vogel decided to leave her oxygen flow at 2 and give her some more time to adjust. She got weighed this morning and is 1360g--which is--drumroll.... 3 lbs.!!! We may have to put her on a diet soon. ;-)

May 7, 2009 Afternoon

Allison is having a good day today. She fell asleep while I was holding her as they changed her bedding, so I just hung out holding her for about an hour and a half. She did well, though she got a bit agitated after about an hour--come to find out she had a dirty diaper. :) She is doing well with her breathing and blood gases, so Dr. Vogel decided to turn her oxygen flow down to "2" today. yay! She had another "big girl" shirt on today--she really likes them--today was her "Aloha" shirt as you can see. :) She is very tired -- it's hard work cuddling with Mommy!

May 7, 2009 Morning

Allison had a great night. She got a bath, which she is starting to actually enjoy and not fuss so much. She had a couple of apnea spells, but she comes right out of them either on her own or with a little tap to the foot, which is normal. Her blood gases were good and her chest x-ray was done, but hadn't been looked at yet by the doctor, so we'll see how that was later today. She gained another 10 grams so she's now 1320 grams (still 2lb, 14 oz--but almost at 15oz)--she's just creeping right up on that magical 3lbs!!

May 6, 2009 Afternoon

Just some photos of Mommy & Allison from earlier today, taken by her wonderful nurse, Dawn who I cannot thank enough. I was very proud of Allie today, she did a great job of holding her body temperature while I held her and she even took some time out from her nap to "coo" at me. :)

May 6, 2009 Morning

Allison had a great night! She had NO apnea spells and her blood gas test was good this morning. She's not getting any changes to her settings, etc. today, she's just gonna hang out. She also had a great weight gain--up to 1310grams (2lb, 14oz.), meaning she has doubled her weight! :)

May 5, 2009 Afternoon

Allison got to wear her very first shirt today! She is such a big girl. She weighed in this morning at 2lb, 10oz!! She is creeping up on 3lbs!

May 5, 2009 Morning

Allison had a great night. She is down to a flow level of 3 on her oxygen and at 40%. She had a good blood gas test this morning. Her nurse, Nancy, said she only had a couple of apnea spells during the night and one happened when she was busy filling up her diaper. :) She had a little fun with Nancy in the middle of the night, too, by setting off her monitors. When Nancy got over to her, she noticed Allison had her nasal canula in her mouth--again. A minute later, she had it in her eye, a few minutes later, under her chin. hee hee. Because she is doing very well and pretty stable, she is also going to start getting baths every other day and pretty soon Mommy & Daddy will get to help.

May 4, 2009 Evening

Allison got some more cuddle time with Daddy today--which she enjoyed very much as you can see. :) She is doing well on her new feeding schedule and the doctor is even increasing the amount up to 22cc. Her chest x-ray looked pretty hazy this morning, yet she had a fantastic blood gas test, one of the best she has had according to Dr. Chen. So, once again, those 2 results don't quite "jive" and since she is doing well, they aren't going to mess with her and aren't too concerned about it; this is just part of her immature lungs.

May 3, 2009 Afternoon

Allison was a bit sleepy today as you can see. She was actually pretty awake and alert when we got there, but tired out quickly--all those "big girl" feedings (can you say food coma??) and the excitement of visitors (Grandma & Grandpa) must have gotten to her. She has gone down on her oxygen flow rate and percentage, which is great, and she only had 3 little apnea spells during the night. Her blood gas this morning was also one of her better ones. She lost 5 grams yesterday, she is 1180 grams today (2lb, 9.8oz), but Dr. Esparza says that is due to all the work she is doing breathing on her own and her new feeding schedule--she should start to gain weight again as her feedings increase.

May 2, 2009 Evening

Allison had a great day today. She is doing so well with her blood gases that now she is only going to be tested once every day vs. twice. Yay! Less pricks in her little feet. She is up to 20cc of food on her new feeding schedule (one hour on, then 2 hours off--getting ready for bottle feedings). She is on 40% oxygen today, with a flow of 5; which is pretty good considering she has only been off her ventilator for 5 days. Daddy got to hold her today and Grandma got to hold her tiny little hand for the first time. :) Mommy didn't get to visit due to a slight scratchy throat--can't take the chance that it might be something other than allergies.

May 2, 2009 Morning

Allison had a great night according to her nurse, Debbie. She had a good night's sleep, her chest x-ray looked better this morning and her blood gases were better from yesterday's readings. When we called around 6am, she was apparently wide awake and looking at Debbie as if to say "well, what are we gonna do today?? I'm bored in here!" :)

May 1, 2009 Afternoon

Here are some pictures from yesterday--I tried to add them last night to my afternoon post, but apparently did something wrong so here they are again. This is the first time Daddy and Allison got to snuggle skin to skin -- there is truly no better sight than seeing your husband bond with his little daughter like that. Allison had a very big day today, she began getting her "big girl" feedings of 18cc over one hour, then off for 2 hours. The doctor is getting her ready for regular feedings and preparing her to bottle feed (yay!). She also got her last blood transfusion of Daddy's blood today. While she didn't need it just yet, Kevin's blood was set to expire so they decided to give it to her early. Hopefully this will be one of the last ones she needs. She had a few apnea spells while I was there today, but she is learning to regulate her own breathing and a few of the times, she didn't even set off her alarms, she recovered on her own.