The Fairy and the Mermaid

The girls are 31 weeks (gestational age) or 3 weeks (actually age) old today! Happy Birthday!

Hazel continues to give her nurses a run for their money. She pulls out her tubes as often as she can. We are no longer able to keep record. It is now a contest to see how many times she can pull her tubes out in a row not how many times she can pull them out in a day. Her night nurse finally gave her another tube to hold onto separate from the functioning nasal tube. This seemed to settle her down. She went to sleep with a smile on her face and a tube in her hand. The doctor is increasing her feedings to every one hour instead of every three hours. The hope is this will help with her spitting up, gag reflex, and acid reflux. Her piccline (similar to an IV threaded through her vein from her hand to her heart) was removed yesterday. This is a very big step! She will no longer receive any extra nutrients through an IV, just milk. She should start gaining more weight everyday. Her nasal cannula is down to 2 liters and a setting of 21% oxygen. This is the lowest setting before she is weened completely off.

Cora still remains calm and alert. She now weighs a whopping 2 lbs. 5 ozs. Her piccline will be capped off today at 2:00, but not yet fully removed. If she does well without her extra fluids, it will be removed soon. Human Milk Fortifiers will be added to Cora's milk starting this afternoon. This is an extra boost of vitamins and minerals to help her add weight. She is gaining approximately an ounce a day. The final goal is four pounds before she can come home. She is a little over half way there! A pacifier was also added to her daily routine. She loves it! You can hear her sucking like crazy. It is just one more step towards eating from a bottle.

We will be starting kangaroo care (holding the girls on our chest, skin to skin) this week. This helps the girls heal faster and bond with us even more.