Little Miss Charlotte and family have hit a couple of huge milestones in the last two days. First huge milestone is that Christopher and I were both able to hold her. It was the most incredible feeling in the world for use to finally feel our sweet baby girl in our arms! I don't think anything can compare to those moments. She seems very happy and content when being held, she does not fuss much and continues to show more of her sweet personality. She makes a lot of sweet little noises when she is sleeping and being held, all things we couldn't hear while she was still on the vent. She also has a very strong personality and does not like the high flow cannula in her nose. I keep threatening that we will have to call her Myrtle (my grandmother's name) if she continues to pull those tubes out of her nose. Also my mom and sister had the opportunity to hold her. That moment was incredible! We are so blessed that little Miss Charlotte is hitting all these milestones faster than we ever imagined!
Her second big milestone she has reached is beginning feeds!! Yesterday they took out her stomach tube and inserted her NG (nasogastric) tube. This happened before lunch time and they started her with breast milk. They began by only giving her 5 mL. Following her second feed we had a little scare. Charlotte became agitated and could not calm down. She had kicked her temperature sensor off, the bed heated up, and she spit up a bit. Once she cooled down, she still was more agitated than normal with elevated pulse and respiratory rate, which could be a sign of pain. Charlotte received a dose of morphine and finally calmed down enough to sleep.
Last night, Brittany and I got to help with Charlotte's first bath. She screamed and screamed and screamed. I don't think she liked it, but tired herself out so much that she slept soundly afterwards and even slept through her 11pm feeding! She has handled her feeds so well that she has gone up to 10 mL per feeding today, and tonight will increase again to 15 mL. The nurse thinks that for a baby her size, a feeding that would completely fill her belly is around 45 mL. She is doing well though, and we are slowly working our way up to a full belly.
Over the past two days, Charlotte's blood gasses tests have been favorable so the neonatologist reduced the rate on her high flow cannula from 12 Lpm (Liters per minute) to 10 Lpm yesterday and to 8 Lpm today. She continues to breathe well, and once she's down to 3 to 4 Lpm, Charlotte can start trying to nurse. Brittany is really excited, and ready for another big milestone.
Neither Brittany nor I can believe that all of these things, from surgical repair, to ventilator removal, to feeding, have occurred within one short week. At this time last week, she was being wheeled into surgery and now we're talking about nursing. This has been unbelievable, and all three of us are incredibly blessed. God is good!!
The goal for today is to have an uneventful day. Charlotte is a fairly active baby, awake more often than normal. Typically newborns in the NICU are awake only for "cares," the routine temperature check, oral care, feeding, and diaper change, and then the baby calms down and goes back to sleep. Little Charlotte is often awake, active, and sometimes looking around. So today we want Charlotte to get lots of rest along with a calm and uneventful day. So far, she's slept well and laid peacefully on mommy's tummy.
~ Christopher and Brittany
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