11 days old

11 days old/days in the NICU

Weight: ?

As I've mentioned before, for the last few days, Ella's O2 levels have been up and down up and down. Her doctor showed me a chart of it today and it's just crazy. And they cannot seem to find a reason as to WHY it is doing this!! Today they added a new medication (I don't remember what) to her neb treatments, which she gets every 4 hours and they started her on caffeine. We had **really** high hopes that this would work but when I went in to see her tonight, the nurse said that she had still been up and down with the O2. Her doctor said it wasn't the most dangerous thing (basically, it's not lethal) but it's definitely slowly down her progress! I don't really know what the next step is :(. Ella's doctor also said she may just be prone to asthma since I have it and Olivia often needs neb treatments when she has a cold. It's so frustrating because at 29 weeks, the average preemie would not still be on the ventilator and need this much support. I know that she will eventually be off of it, and her doctor even said that with these issues we would still probably see her home by her due date, but it's still super frustrating and it really hurts that I can't fix it. I feel so helpless, especially when those alarms are going off and they're having to raise her O2 or her pressure on her vent. 

Aside from that, a few good things DID happen today! Her feedings were TRIPLED. That's right. TRIPLED. She was getting 1 ml every 3 hours and now she's getting 1 ml AN HOUR! I was super excited to hear that. She was also completely weaned from the Nitric Oxide, which was what they gave her that night that she was so sick and we almost lost her. Surprisingly enough, that was the ONE thing I never asked them what it was for! But I know it's a step forward for her to be off it. This morning, Ella was awake and aware for Shane. They had a nice long conversation while looking at each other. I was so glad to hear that, since I got to experience that twice!