No, Sydney is NOT home

It's also unlikely that she will be home tomorrow. It's not anything that happened while we were there this weekend but I'd like to speak with the doctor tomorrow before I get into the whole long story. Besides, I've had 2.5 hours sleep in the past 48 hours (babies are hard work) so I don't think I could make a long post even if I wanted to.

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Here's 2000 for you:

Forgot to mention this...

Sydney has her car seat test this evening as well. Many preemies have poor head control and in big seats they get poor support and their heads slump, flop forward or sideways. One out of five preemies have oxygen desaturation, apnea and bradycardia while in their car seats. She will need to sit in her seat for at least an hour without problems. We purchased a car seat that is highly recommended for preemies and has good support, so we're expecting her to pass with flying colours. Thanks for the car seat Uncle Dennis and Mom!

Grandy's back!

We're soooo close!

Sydney had a wonderful night!! She's taken every last drop of her feedings from every bottle for the past two shifts. I'm so happy that we had the time to develop great relationships with a lot of the nurses who know Sydney best. The nurse that had her earlier in the day promised me that she would get Sydney assigned to a night nurse who knows her and would take the time to feed her properly. It's not as if she takes an hour to eat...she finishes her bottle in 10 minutes just like all the other babies. She just needs that burp because of the reflux.

She had her Jamaican nurse last night and she spent a lot of time caring for baby girl when she was still in intensive care. I fed her and she did great. One burp in between and a slow flow nipple and we were done in record time. She didn't have any dips in her oxygen saturation and she breathes just fine. She's back with Nurse Angie today (same one who had her yesterday) and we're happy about that. Angie is the kind of nurse who calls and checks on her babies on her days off. She's wonderful.

Miss Thang weighs 7lbs 3oz today!

Jesus Take The Wheel

First, the great news:

Sydney's ROP is regressing!!! Hallelujah!!!!! Her eyes are maturing and it's clearing up on it's own. I cannot tell you how excited we are are!

The "something to pray about" news:

Sydney's day nurse had some problems feeding her today. The nurse on shift is convinced that the nurse obviously does not understand my baby girl and how she eats. She eats great if you know how to feed her. She MUST be burped halfway through her bottle or she gets umcomfortable. Once she is burped she takes the rest. She does for me and the nurses who have cared for her the most. Feeding issues are the number one reasons for well babies to linger in the NICUs around the country and obviously doctors want to play it safe. I just don't want them to not work with her and she stays there even one day longer then she needs to.

So, I called the doc and let her know that I don't want her coming home if she is not well enough to do so but I also want to make sure that their concerns are valid. She said she agreed with me and made a deal with me. We will room in on Friday AND Saturday night and I get to do all her feeds. If she eats all 16 bottles for me, then she leaves without delay. If she doesn't, she stays. I can live with that.

Your mission (should you choose to accept it), is to pray super, super hard that we have no issues and my big girl does great this weekend.

Did I already mention that the ROP is going away?? Woot!

15 Weeks!

Sydney is doing fine this morning. Breathing and eating great. I love days like this when I hardly have anything to say. :D

She's cute huh? Go ahead. Admit it.





In her little newborn onesie. She has her feeding tube taped to her face just in case she needs it if she poops out during a bottle feeding. She does get very tired as the days end but she hasn't given up. They don't want to wrangle with her with her tummy half full trying to re-attach it. So far, she hasn't needed it.

Day 104!

Sydney is eating and breathing like a pro! She's doing great without oxygen and we are still free of all tubes.

She weighs 7lbs 1.75oz and that's a bit less than yesterday but perfectly acceptable. She's burning a ton of calories now that she's breathing without support and not using her feeding tube.

Please continue to pray that everything goes great over the next 5 days.