Car Seat Test

Each day that passes brings us one step closer to bringing Kylee home.  Today, we met with a car seat expert from Texas Children's Hospital who took steps to ensure Kylee would have safe travels.  After ensuring that I properly secured the base of the car seat in the car, we made sure that Kylee fit properly into the seat as well.

She is now up to 4 pounds 14 ounces and technically was too small for the current seat we have because it is rated for babies five to thirty-five pounds.  This won't be a problem when it is time to bring Kylee home as she will likely gain two whole ounces between now and then.  Once we got Kylee all strapped up in her seat, her nurse began the "Car Seat Test."  This intense test consists of Kylee remaining strapped in for an hour and being observed.  As long as her heart rate and oxygen saturation levels remain constant, she has passed this grueling evaluation!!

As far as any expected date for us to bring her home, that is still up in the air.  We have been told that her reflux problem is not what is keeping her in the hospital, but rather her unwillingness to feed solely from a bottle.  Reflux is an issue that healthy, full-term babies experience and something that they eventually "outgrow."

One of Kylee's night nurses told us that she took an entire bottle during one of her feedings the other night; however, this has been a one-time thing so far.  They are doing a rotation where she will get a bottle two or three times a day and be tube fed two or three times a day.  Obviously, the goal is to be able to remove the tube completely and just feed her with bottles.

Natalie and I keep reminding ourselves that Kylee should not even be born yet so it should not be a huge surprise if she has a few issues to work through.  Luckily, Kylee does not have any severe problems that won't self-correct with time.  This is one of those instances where patience is a virtue.....