Making Progress

Addyson made some pretty big strides today.  She was taking the 50 cc amount of formula each feeding and today she took 35 cc on her own before she fell asleep and had to have the rest by the NG tube.  She was able to have a full feeding every time but one and did pretty well each time on her own.

The doctors now are concerned about Addy's jaundice.  You can tell by looking at some of her earlier pictures verses her newer ones that her skin tone has gotten much more yellow over the past couple of days.  Yesterday they measured Addy's bilirubin levels and they were just over 13.  At 15 they will put her under lamps to treat it, so they did another blood test tonight and it was 13.9.  The doctors had expected it to be over 15 and were ready to put her under the lamps tonight, but now it looks like they will check it again in the morning to see what it is then.

They said that the bilirubin could be responsible in part for her sleepiness and her lack of desire to eat.  They said once her jaundice goes away, she will be more active and likely take food better.  They told us that the bilirubin levels should be peaking anywhere from four to seven days, so if she doesn't get above 15 she won't need to be treated for jaundice.

When we talked to the doctor she said that she was expecting to put her under the lights tonight and have her off of them by Monday morning and after that they would work on digestion issues.  But now with her levels tonight not being to the point where they would treat it, we aren't sure what the schedule will be.  After her jaundice clears up, the doctor said that it would really be up to Addyson and how well she eats to determine when she would go home.  She said that she expected that some time around Wednesday, but couldn't say for sure.

Addyson is now taking 55 cc of formula every three hours and will have to get up to 62 cc, so she is almost there, now she just has to get to the point where she will take 75% on her own.  She has been digesting what she has eaten fairly well today and is on the right track.

We have also been finding out that Addyson likes to be sneaky when you are changing her diaper.  She has peed while we have been changing her about four times and pooped at least twice.  Today she started pooping and Beth went to catch it, but then she started peeing as well and soaked through her new diaper, her sleeper, her onesie, the blanket, and the sheet on the mattress.  So if you are changing her and she gets you good, don't say we didn't warn you.

One other good thing that happened today is that Addyson was moved from the main NICU to the Stepdown NICU unit.  It is a smaller NICU unit that is on the fourth floor and is for babies who are not serious, but are just having feeding and growing issues, so it is encouraging for her to get moved there.  Everything is the same there, so we still can't have visitors other than our two support people, which now are Lynn and Steve.

All the rules are still the same too, so we have to check in, scrub in, and have the nurses unlock the doors for us to get into the unit at all.

Beth and I left the NICU a little earlier tonight, after her 8 pm feeding, because the nurses thought she needed some extra rest tonight, especially if she is going to be under the lights for the jaundice soon.  She is just overly tired from trying to nurse, bottlefeed, and going through all of the check ups that she has to.

Keep praying for Addyson and for Beth.  We should be able to get some good sleep tonight, so praise God for that.

P.S.

Beth's milk seems to finally be coming in.  She just pumped in our room and got about 3 cc, so Addy will at least have a little breastmilk in the morning.