Leaps and Bounds

Today was an extremely good day for Kylee.  Her CPAP was removed completely which means she is breathing well on her own and no longer needs any assistance.  In addition to being able to breathe on her own, Kylee has been doing really well with feedings.  They have upped her feedings to 17 cc every three hours and when we left the hospital at about 9:15 or so this evening, they only withdrew about 2 cc from her stomach before feeding her again.  The doctors and nurses (and her parents) are extremely satisfied with her progress and said that she is working her way home!

Due to her previous feeding issues, they had Kylee on two different intravenous nutritional supplements so that she would not lack nutrients if she did not tolerate mama's milk for some reason.  One of the two supplements was stopped this morning and the other will be stopped tomorrow morning.  When they stop giving her these supplements, they will be able to remove her IV line and she won't have so many tubes and stuff hooked up all the time.

As of right now, there is a feeding tube that runs into her mouth and down into her stomach.  This is because the CPAP went into Kylee's nose and did not leave any other choice.  Kylee's nurse told us tonight that she would be removing the tube from her mouth and replacing it with one through the nose...and she said that would be more comfortable for Kylee.

Kylee's nurse also said that they will try to start bottle feeding her in the not too distant future.  Depending on how well she is able to feed from a bottle will decide how long Kylee will need the feeding tube in her nose.

For now, Kylee is still in an incubator because she doesn't quite have control of her body temperature.  Her incubator is set to 30°C (86°F) to keep her body temperature where they want it.  The nurse said they will slowly decrease the temperature until it reaches the temperature of the room air which is 28°C (82°F).  Once Kylee is able to maintain her body temperature where they want it, she will be moved out of the incubator and into a crib!!

When we went to the hospital tonight, I held Kylee for about two or so hours.  Natalie has gone every night this week and held Kylee for about the same amount of time each day.  One of Kylee's doctors told Natalie that she wanted her to be at the hospital everyday to hold her as the skin-to-skin contact would be beneficial. I must admit....I think it has helped....hahahaha.

Our little Kylee is improving with every passing day.  She is up to 3 pounds 15 ounces and has grown ¼" and is now 17 inches tall.  We have now gotten to see what Kylee's face looks like without any tape on it with the removal of the CPAP.  Everyone agrees that she is beautiful........