Days 35-41 A weeks worth! 3.10 pounds

     This is a whole weeks worth...hold on...it was quite a ride! Feed wise especially!

Beautiful picture of the Columbia River Temple for Gracie's bed
Thanks Hannah!

Cute as a button sign for Gracies isolet...soon to go in her
room. Perfect.

  Monday-3.2 pounds-Diagnosed with Reflux and was put on Zantac...same as Daddy. LOL 
Started feeds after a tough weekend on only IV fluids. Starting slow with only 4 cc's and for four feeds, then they increase amount. They stopped the antibiotics for her medical NEC. Cross your fingers for a good transition back into food passing through again.

Sister Lauren's hand with Mommy's over little Grace.

Tuesday-3.5 pounds- Started vitamin D
Feeds went up to 8 cc's and no belly loops yet. Great news!! She got the go-ahead to start bottles every other feed. Go Gracie! Show them what you are made of!!! Downed all the bottles with no problem, well except desats. No problem though, that is why the oxygen cannula was invented right? Thank you to who invented the cannula...whoever you are. Grace loves you! :)
Poor baby got her eye infection back again. Back onto Nystatin eye drops.

Grace lifting head to turn to the one side she loves, her right
side. I can hear her saying, "No, you can't make me lay on my
left side!"

"Oh, all right mom. You win"

Wednesday-3.7 pounds-Oral Thrush...how the heck do you get thrush in a controlled environment like the NICU? Crazy, I know. One thing I'm glad I'm not doing when she has Thrush? Breastfeeding. I hear it can be transferred to mommy. Please keep that away! Yuck. Now she is also on oral Nystatin.
Feeds? I know you want to know...get ready...she is taking 12 cc's now! Doc wants her to take that four times and then she'll go up to 14 cc's for two following times. Now, remember, before she got sick last week she was over 20 cc's, so she is basically working back up to where she was and testing her GI track. So far...no belly loops! :) Every time she goes up on her feeds, she goes down on the IV fluids. Good thing too! Poor Gracie is very puffy with Edema, retaining too much fluid. She is looking like a dough boy (girl). The TPN is the culprit they say. "Be gone with you TPN, did you hear, Be gone with you!"
She did start Lasix today to help with the fluid retention. Pleeeezzze work! For the sake of Gracie.
She was also very well known down in the blood center. She had a CBC (Complete Blood Count) draw and a CRP plus something else...sorry, forgot what it was. I know you are disappointed.


Thursday-3.9 pounds- The fluid weight just keeps on coming! Poor baby. Her feeds by bottle are up from 17 to 20 cc's. She hasn't stooled since Monday, so the little "sliver" of glycerin suppository was just a little bit bigger. Poo, baby, poo. You can't hang onto everything...let it go. Fluid and poo.

IV in her head...bummer. They tried
to put it into her hand several times first.
Thank you great nurses for all your
tries...before going to the head.

Gracie found her thumb this week

 Friday-3.10 pounds-
The sick bugs are going around our house today, so...I'm outta there! Grace can't have any sick bugs near her as she doesn't have an immune system yet. She will be very succeptable to illness because it turns into RSV, respiratory bad guys, for the entire winter season, spring & into the early summer. So I'm staying at the hospital during the entire day & then staying with a dear friend & her husband at night until things clear up at home. It is at Hannah's but I sure wish I could be home with my family & hug the sick ones. I'm so thankful for Hannah's and Brandon's welcoming hearts! I really miss everyone. I came up with this great plan though. I put together sacks with treats & toys in them, a paper heart from Gracie & a balloon tied to it all. I put them all lined up in front of the house door and went to the car, called John and they came out. They loved it! That is the best I can do right now to help them feel my love. It was fun!

At our front door...surprise!

A package for everyone...get better guys
Mom loves you!

I was a safe distance away. Flu bugs fly away!

Gracie was a little tired today but still plugged away at the bottle feeds. She is nearing her full feeds with tonight being full feed for her weight. 32 cc's with 30 cc's equaling 1 ounce. Go Gracie! So far no frog belly.
Pooped!! Celebrate good times, come on!! (music playing)

IV free!!

All tuckered out after a full feed

Saturday-3.11 pounds-Started Prolacta again today. The human milk fortifier that started all the problems last week. It is the best for her though and she needs the nutrition. It's base is breast milk, not cow's milk. One good thing about it!

Grace needs a cannula only during feeds, then it's off!
This is a little skinny 2 ounce bottle and a slow flow nipple
as not to drown her. She has a very strong suck.
As you can see...her arms aren't puffy anymore...a little bigger
than my finger width.

Nurses say that Gracie is the strongest in the NICU so that means she is the next one ready to transition to either the step-down unit or the Pediatric floor. YIPPEE! Finally, she is referred to as the most stable. I was wondering when this day would come. Now if/when there is another preemie born, she gets moved. They have quite a few born here. She is the senior in the NICU right now. In the last 2 weeks, since she arrived, there have been about 25 babies put through the NICU. Only 2 who are younger, gestation wise, than her. She is the peanut, besides the 1.2 pound baby. Never seen such a tiny baby. We are, again, packing up her things in anticipation for her move. Please pray that she will stay healthy and keep progressing...


Sunday- Grace weighed in today at 3 pounds 11 ounces! I sure wish this was true weight but she is still very puffy from her chin down to her toes. Nurses were talking about moving her down to a step-down room today but no babies are being moved. That is o.k. as it is the Sabbath day after all! :)
She has bottled all her feeds today with only one needing to have 4cc's gavaged through her feeding tube in her nose.
Gracie got her first neck & shoulder massage as her muscle on her left side is tight & a little shorter than it should be. She loved it & stayed awake through the whole massage.

Her one-finger massage

Mesmerized...ahhh....

She had a strong grip on my hand

Ya gotta try this massage thing...I'm sold!!

Still having lots of desats but no bradycardia or apnea at all.

Gracie is sporting many of her tiny 3-5 pound preemie clothing now. It is so fun to put new outfits on her. Thank you to many wonderful friends who were thinking of Grace when out shopping. You are wonderful! Such cutie-patootie outfits!