Daily dose, Thursday May 28

Hope had another good day today. Hope's blood gas results this morning were very good, so the doctor weaned more on her respiratory support. This seems to be going well, and Hope is looking forward to more weaning in the next couple of days.

Tomorrow developmental pediatrics will come to consult on Hope's ability to swallow. If things look good, the doctors will probably order a couple of tests and then, if things still look good, the doctors will clear Hope for breastfeeding!

Hope had no significant events today. Mom and dad are hopeful that we may be almost done with these, as they seem to be gradually diminishing in frequency and severity.

Hope weighed 4,060 grams. This puts her over 4 kilos, which is 8 pounds 15 ounces!!

Daily Dose, Tuesday May 26

Hope spent most of the day sleeping today. Everyone is keeping a close eye on her to make sure that she is getting enough valium that she is relaxed and comfortable, but not so much that she sleeps all the time. At this point we are going to keep the dosage the same, but monitor her on a daily basis.

Hope spent some time with her physical therapist this morning and they were very pleased with what they saw. Hope has been practicing every day with daddy and mommy and she showed the physical therapist just how well she is doing learning how to hold her head up.

The big news of the day was that the developmental pediatricians started their evaluation of Hope for oral feeding. She was pretty sleepy but they were pleased with what they saw. Hope took a bottle happily and without any trouble. They want her to resume the non-nutritive feedings and if that goes well they will put Hope through a swallow study later this week to assure she is not having any reflux or swallowing issues. Hopefully she will do well with this and she will soon be able to take some of her food orally instead of all by feeding tube as she does now.

Daily Dose: Monday, April 13

Hope had a good but tiring day today. She had a few episodes but she still was able to do a full force breastfeed. Hope had enough of this "non-nutritive" stuff and she was ready to show everyone that she could do it on her own!! She did very well with it. Hope was also weaned back to .5 litres of flow and is up to full feeds. The doctor was very very impressed!!

Hope also got a little taste of luxury today. Mommy & Daddy took their first infant massage class today and were able to give Hope her first massage! Apparently being a baby is so stressful and requires massages... what a life!!

Mommy won't be able to feed Hope again tomorrow because she is feeling a little under the weather tonight. So we all are sending get well wishes to Hope's mommy because Hope definitely wants to continue her good work with her feedings.

Hope got MORE gifts today!! Peggy, Hope's favorite RT, brought her a pair of socks to match her blanket and someone donated the beautiful hat that Hope is wearing. Hope sends a big thank you!