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This week started with a move back to room 'B-2' with the "bigger" babies. All three of us are relieved, as the noisiest monitoring machines have been left behind. Now we are surrounded by bottles, yogurt burps and fussing babies in cots with oxygen nasal prongs. Erwin is definitely headed in that direction, too. She got to try bottle feeding for the first time a few days ago; we put a little bit of milk into a bottle nipple and she sucked down 6cc's in minutes. She passed the test, successfully sucking, swallowing and breathing without choking - very good for a first try!
Erwin is spending more time on nasal prongs, and today she is spending a total of 12 hours on them. Here is hoping that she continues to do so well and that she will be off of CPAP by the end of next week. As it is, she is breathing room air when on CPAP and requires very little if any oxygen when she is on nasal prongs. She has even spent a few hours without any breathing assistance whatsoever!
Since Erwin continues to grow bigger and stronger, we decided to start getting used to listening to her bodily sounds so that we can continue to monitor her when she comes home. Today we listened to her heart when the nurse was giving her her physical check-up. To our surprise, we could barely hear her heart murmur. It was nowhere near as loud as it was a few weeks ago. We don't know if her PDA is finally closing up for good, or if it was just the position that she was lying in, but we were definitely excited to think that she may finally be getting over this major hurtle. To top this off, Erwin is no longer getting her caffeine in the morning and has continued to be apnea spell free for about 10 days now. We are very proud and very excited by each one of these little steps that brings our beautiful little baby girl closer to coming home with us.
Click on the "Gerber Baby" image to the left to view this week's Erwin movie!
This week has been marked by many changes for Erwin. The eye doctor came in to examine her eyes. He is quite happy with her progress. She continues to gain weight slowly but steadily and she is now 1708 grammes (3lbs 12oz). We get to see her beautiful face more often as she is spending more than half the time on nasal prongs which is probably related to her heart murmur being less and less audible. She has now tried breastfeeding for the first time. She is a pro at it, although she tires quickly. She can also suck back a bottle in 10 minutes. This is a very important step as she has to feed on her own before she can come home.
Mom and Dad get to bathe Erwin every other day and are getting quite good at it. We need to be quick as she gets cold easily. She very much enjoys floating in water.
The best surprise of the week was to come in and see Erwin in a crib, wearing pyjamas. This is because she can now maintain her own temperature when bundled in many layers of blankets.
We have changed our schedule around by getting up early in the morning and arriving for the 9 am care. We stay for the noon and the 3 pm care and still have time to accomplish all our chores whe we get home.
Although we don't have a definite date when Erwin can come home, we are starting to look forward to it with more and more enthusiasm, as each day brings her closer to being able to manage life out of the NICU.
Love, Erwin, Chenoa, and Sylvain
