So Happy Together

On our way to go see Amelia, I got a call from the doctor. She had tolerated the spinal tap well, but they got a dry tap and did not get any spinal fluid. The doctor said she would be comfortable with not repeating the spinal tap if she resubmits the blood cultures and nothing grows (this would would mean the antibiotics had most probably cleared up whatever she had). However, just as a cross check, she would do a brain x-ray. Menengitis can appear as a bright spot on an x-ray. If she sees no bright spots and the cultures don't grow bacteria, she will assume the infection is cleared. However, if the cultures start to grow something even though she has been receiving antibiotics they will have to do another spinal tap.

When we saw her last night it was incredible how much weight she has lost! She looked so cute. Her little arms and legs looked like toothpicks. She still has a big noggin and a barrel chest, but the doctor said these were the last places babies will lose the extra fluid. She is of course the most beautiful baby in the world to me!

We read books and sang songs to her. Mostly I just rested my right hand on her head and smooshed her feet up with my left hand. The nurses said this is the kind of touch they like. Gentle pressure that feels like they did when they were in the womb.

At one point she put her hand up to her mouth and I thought she was sucking on her fingers. I got so excited. I called Todd over so he could tell me whether I was seeing things. He thinks I was seeing things. The nurse overheard me and offered to get a preemie pacifier. It is a special pacifier that has notches cut out so the cords and wires and tubes can rest on the pacifier without them getting in the way. Anyway, the first one she gave us was a bit ambitious. It was huge and barely fit in her mouth. I don't think she was very interested in it. She went and found another pacifier that was smaller and fit her mouth better. By this time I think she had fallen asleep and I didn't want to upset her so we didn't try it.

She has a storage drawer under her isolette, so we put both of the pacifiers there and we can retrieve them quickly the next time we want to try using them.

Amelia is on 33 for her pressure settings, 40 breaths per minute, 70% oxygen. Her last blood gas was in the mid 70s. We saw her chest x-ray last night and the nurse pulled the one from the day before so we could see the difference between the two. Even I could tell that her lungs look like they are beginning to clear up a bit.

Oh, one last thing. The doctor said they are going to do an x-ray on her tummy, just to make sure her bowels look ok. There is something that preemies get called NEC that is gut related. I don't know much about it because it is scary and I don't need to. The point of the x-ray is to be cautious and make sure she doesn't have any signs of NEC. Then she will be able to be put on breast milk! This may happen as soon as today.