Life in the NICU

Sophia has been in the NICU at Vanderbilt since birth, but is doing great considering her prematurity.  She has never required any oxygen which is such a relief!  She is currently getting nutrition through an IV and getting my pumped breast milk through an NG tube.  When she first attempted to drink from a nipple, she would suck but then forget to breath making her oxygen saturations drop.  Her doctor says this is very common and usually the coordination of eating and breathing at the same time comes around 34 weeks. So for now she is getting the majority of her feeds through a tube with occasional trials of small amounts through a nipple.  She also has occasional bouts of apnea requiring stimulation for her to breath which is also very common in a baby of her gestational age.  Her bilirubin levels were high yesterday and she was placed under the UV lights...or her little tanning bed as we like to call it.  She will probably have to be under these for a few days until her levels come down.  Other than this we are just working on fattening her up and making progress so that one day soon we can bring her home.  The initial estimate that we were given for her stay in the NICU was 2-4 weeks and it all hinges on her progress tolerating her feeds and progressing to oral feedings and no longer having apneic spells.

My mom has been here since Sunday night helping us out which has allowed Nick to go back to work. I'm feeling well and feel like I spend most of my day attached to a breast pump!  We are able to go and visit Sophia anytime during the day or night except during nurses shift change and we are trying to soak up as much of her as we can.  When she is off of the UV light treatments we will be able to have her out of her bed much more often to hold her and I'm going to attempt to have her breastfeed. Nick and I are so in love and can't wait until the day that we can bring our baby girl home!