Daily Dose, Sunday May 31

Today was a quiet restful day for Hope. She spent the day doing a little bit of all of her favorite things: cuddling with daddy, cuddling with mommy, lounging in her boppy, swinging in her swing, playing with her balloon and sitting up and watching all the people walk by.

Her blood gas this morning was good so her ventilator settings were lowered again today. She appears to be on a good trend and hopefully they will be able to continue to lower her support throughout the week.

Hope weighed a whopping 9 lbs 2 ounces today (4,150 grams). She is now 20 inches long. At the rate she is growing, she will be pushing 10 pounds before we know it!

Daily Dose, Friday May 29

Overall today was a good day for Hope. She spent a good deal of the day awake and playing not only with mommy and daddy but with her new balloon. Daddy bought Hope a bumble bee balloon and she loves it! She likes to have it tied to her wrist so it will bounce up and down when she moves her arm. As you can see by the picture she spent a bit of time just staring at her new friend today.

The developmental pediatrician visited with Hope today. They haven't scheduled the swallow test yet because Hope is still pretty sleepy because of the valium. The doctor had some trouble waking Hope up and so they decided to lower the dose of valium she gets during the day in Hope of helping her to be not so sleepy.

Hope's ventilator settings were lowered once again today. She is breathing on her own once again with just the pressure support and air pressure coming from the ventilator. The plan is to wean her down a little further in the next few days.

Hope had such a big weight gain yesterday that she decided to take a break and remain even on the scale today...maybe tomorrow she'll break the 9 pound mark!!