... and another step back.

Amelia has had a little stall in her progress. Over the weekend and into this morning she has had some bad blood gases and needed a lot of suctioning. As a result, they changed her vent settings to more pressure and more breaths per minute. She's already on a thyroid, and is getting regular lasix treatment to dry her lungs out. And it looks like they are going to start her on the steroid hydrocortisone again dexamethasone. (editor's note: There have been studies that this is a dangerous drug to give preemies because it stunts their growth and can reduce their IQ points, bt Dr Khan assured me that because they are using it at a later gestational age, at lower doeses and for shorteer amounts of time, it should not be dangerous to give to Amelia.) It's a bit of a regression, and a little disappointing at the moment, since we were hoping to try the CPAP again this week; but it looks like that's out. She will have another eye exam tomorrow, and depending on how that goes, they may try the CPAP early next week. They wouldn't do it if she is recovering from eye surgery. Xina missed Saturday because she was working, and I missed Sunday and Monday because of illness, so we haven't had the full coverage at her bedside we want. But she's had her primaries at day and night the whole time, so we're confident in her care. I can't tell you how much it makes a difference to us mentally knowing that one of them in on a shift. And you can usually tell the difference in Amelia's health, also.

On the good news flip side, she hit 4lbs flat last night, is still eating like a champ, and doesn't need help with her heart or digestion. And she's awfully pretty.

Yesterday, Xina held her and worked! She put Amelia on a pillow on her lap and the laptop on something else and did her searching. Talking about multi-tasking. I have a hard enough time keeping an iPod going when holding AE.

Nothing else new or fun to report.