Update on Addyson

Sorry for the delay in getting the post up.  We have been pretty busy here coming to as many of Addyson's feedings as we can.  She gets fed every three hours at 2,5,8, and 11, so we only have about 2 hours in between by the time she gets done feeding.

Addyson is doing fantastic!  The doctor has accelerated her schedule because she has been doing so well.  When she was first in the NICU she had to have a CPAP on and was in a baby warmer with lots of monitoring.  She has since been completely taken off the oxygen and had her nasal cannula taken out and her pulse ox monitor taken off, so the breathing problem side of things is over.  Now she just has to work on getting her digestive system up to par before going home.  She has also been moved from the baby warmer to a crib.

They have been slowly increasing the amount of food they are giving her at once and giving her a chance to take it through a bottle first.  Today's 11 am feeding is the first time they have given her about 50 cc of formula at one feeding and the goal is about 60 cc or 2 oz, so we are almost there.

She still has the NG tube in, so each time they feed her they syringe everything out of her stomach to see how much she has digested.  The rule is that if she has digested 70% or more, she gets the full feeding, but if she has digested less than that, then the amount she hasn't digested is subtracted from the full amount.

They had been waiting to start her on bottles or breastfeeding until her breathing rate was down, and now that it is, she has been trying to either breastfeed for 15 min and try a bottle for 15 min, or trying a bottle for 30 min.  After 30 minutes they said that she is actually expending more energy trying to feed than she is getting in food, so anything she hasn't taken by 30 min is given to her in the NG tube, but she generally falls asleep several minutes into her feeding.

The ultimate goal is to get her to 2 oz of food and get her to take at least 75% on her own at each feeding.  After she can do that consistently for some time, she will get to come home.

The doctor won't tell us exactly when she will be able to come home, but he did say Monday at the latest.  Over the last few days the doctor has been very conservative with his estimates of when things would happen, and he is the one that has accelerated her schedule several times, so it could be sooner.

Beth was only able to stay at the hospital for two days after the birth discharged from the hospital yesterday at 3 pm.  We stayed at the hospital until Addyson's 8 pm feeding and then went home for the night.  There is a guest house that Carle hospital owns that is right across the street from the hospital that is kind of like a Ronald McDonald house for parents to stay in.  We have our name on the list for today and should hear by 4 pm today whether or not we will be able to stay there until Addy comes home.  We can stay there for up to 7 days if we get in, so we should have more than enough time if we get in.

We are going to Addy's feedings every 3 hours to hold her and today might be staying in the NICU pretty much all day except for meals and bathroom breaks.  Lynn is here as one of our support people and since Addy got moved to the crib, she can touch and hold her now and is on cloud nine.

Please continue to pray for Addyson and for Beth, as she has been trying to pump every three hours as well and has not gotten much decent rest lately.

We ask that you don't call Beth or I's phones as we cannot answer in the NICU and will be here most of the day.  If you would like to contact us, please either contact us by email at thecrostreets@gmail.com, Facebook, or leave a use the voicemail button on our blog.  If you use the voicemail button, you will be prompted to enter your phone number, and will then receive a call that will be directly connected to our voicemail and will not ring our phones.  For updates on Addyson and Beth, please continue to check this site and we will try to update more regularly now that we have a laptop in the NICU.

Thank you so much to everyone for all of the congratulations and for all the concerns and prayers.  Beth and I are going to focus on spending as much time with our little girl as possible so please don't take it personally if we don't get back to you right away.  We will make sure to let everyone know when Addy comes home and when would be a good time to visit if you would like to.

P.S.
I will be putting pictures online soon (we have lots) so I will put up a post soon to let everyone know where and how to get to them.