Sorry I'm not very good at taking pictures the past couple days... its really been such a blur and I'm so focused on bad/good news when we get to the hospital, I forget to take any. She's still super cute. Trust me.
I woke up today trying really hard to be positive. Hearing that she took 45 cc's in 15 minutes without any Bradys was a great way to start the day! The way of holding her on her side and pacing her seems to be working as far as holding off Brady's is concerned. Also we spoke with the doctor who basically told us that we could still room in on Sunday and take her home Monday. They will be ready to discharge her "in a few days" and are pretty much just waiting on us to say we are comfortable feeding her/catching her Brady episodes when she's eating. He said that she will eventually grow out of this when she starts to be more awake during the day/while she's eating, but it will just take time. Other than that (which is fairly common in babies her gestational age), she is doing well enough to go home. Since her "blue face" episode left me scarred, I was hesitant to think taking her home Monday was still in the cards. I really didn't know if I would be comfortable feeding her knowing she was still having them almost every time she ate.
However, I went in at 2:30 and was shown how to position her so I could do it myself. And she ate the whole bottle in 20 minutes and never dropped her heartrate! Hooray! I felt totally great doing this. I could pace her! She would never Brady again under my watch!
Yeah right. At 8:30 I could tell in her body language (went limp) that she was about to have a Brady. I immediately took the bottle from her mouth and slapped her back several times. I looked up at the monitor and saw her HR go from 120 to 110 to 95... I kept slapping. I saw her peep her eyes open and I glanced back up at the monitor. 110.....115....135. Thank you Lord. The alarm never went off. I caught the Brady before it happened simply by paying attention to my daughter. I could do this. I didn't have to be scared to feed her, to touch her. She could still come home before Thanksgiving..... all we had to do was get through 2 more days. I went to sleep as I always do... anxiety ridden and hopeful. I called through out the night and was told she had no more Brady's, and was taking her bottles well. Her official weight is up to 4 lbs 11 oz. We're gonna have a 5 pounder before we know it! I can't wait.
The meeting with the pediatrician went super well. She seems like a lovely woman, and even though she doesn't normally accept our insurance, she is making an exception for Avery : ) I prayed that all would fall into place if this was the doctor that was meant for our child. She has a lot of experience with premature babies and her office also has a "sick" and a "well" entrance and waiting room, so important for little one's immune system. I hope and pray we aren't there too much, but if we are, then that is a peace of mind for me. I was so excited to know that soon, I would actually be there with a baby. What an awesome feeling!
I went to sleep with the notion in my mind that we would be bringing home our baby in just 3 short days. That is something I akin to Christmas Eve! I could barely sleep. As I said yesterday, the tides are always turning, both in "normal" life, and most importantly to us right now, life in the NICU. Tomorrow could change everything.
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