Story Time

We are cautiously optimistic, but things do seem to be going better.

Zoe is gaining weight every day, and now weights 1180 grams or 2 lbs. 9.5 ounces. She is progressing on her feeding regime, and is half way to full feeds. She was at full feeds before the nasty infection came, and everyone seems to think she will have no problems achieving this again. She also had a little poo in her diaper; good sign that things are being processed.

Zoe is back on CPAP, the constant pressure mask that assists her breathing. We watched the transition off the ventilator, and she looked happy and comfortable with the change. We hope she stays on CPAP or progresses to a nasal cannula.

As I have said for the last few weeks, the next week will tell us a lot. We hope she gets to full feeds without problems, excels on CPAP, and does not run into any more roadblocks.

We also started reading to her every night. We hope that she recognizes our voices and is comforted by our presence. So far, she seems relaxed and enjoys the story. There really is very little we can do but wait and be there. Story time helps us and her.

Daddy Time

Zoe continues to do well today. We are still waiting for her system to start moving food through her belly - hopefully that will happen soon. Yesterday, she got a clean condo and Neil got to hold her while they were changing that out. He held her for about 40 minutes or so. She was perfectly content the entire time. She had her eyes wide open and was looking around, checking everything out and truly enjoying her time being held. She fell soundly asleep after about 20 minutes. Her heart rate came down, her breathing leveled out, and she was very peaceful. It is a good sign that she tolerates being held well. Of course, I forgot my camera, so I didn't get the first picture of that, but we'll have to recreate it in the future, many times.

Phew!

It is so much more fun to go to the hospital when your baby is doing well. Zoe has officially gotten rid of that nasty infection. It was a tough one, but not tougher than our Little Gorilla. She is feeling so much better. She has great energy and has even managed to put on some serious weight, gaining 70 grams last night to put her at 1,040 grams or 2 lbs. 5 oz. The next big hurdle is to reintroduce her to breast milk (which they started again last night) and get her to 1,200 grams. The docs say that that magic number seems to be a turning point with the smallest babies- we are excited to get there.

It has been a stressful 10 days with Zoe being sick and we are thankful to be on this side of it. Another hurdle down. Zoe wanted me to tell you all that she really appreciated the positive wishes and prayers. She realizes she gave us all a little bit of a scare and will try to avoid that in the future.

One Month

When we entered the NICU, one doctor told us that there are many steps or checkpoints that are significant. The first 72 hours, one week, one month and then two months. Zoe has made it one month and we are proud of her for that.

She seems to be improving every day. We wanted to hold off on writing until we have a negative blood culture for 72 hours. We are close, she has gone about 56 hours and no infection has grown in her last blood draw. Previous blood draws began to show signs of growth much sooner. Our fingers are crossed.

She is still very active during her care times, and she continues to need little support with her breathing. If everything proceeds as we hope, the doctors want to restart breast milk feeding and extubate soon. We are cautiously optimistic.

It is nice to finally hear good news. We will write more soon.

Happy 1 month little Zoe!!!

Still Fightin'

We were convinced Zoe was finally over this bug since she looks and is acting so much better, but unfortunately, the blood cultures are still coming back positive. Sometimes when infections seem to linger, like this one, the bacteria can be growing on the catheters or other tissues or bones in the body. The antibiotics apparently have a hard time fighting infection when they are attached to plastic lines or embedded in bones or tissue. They have changed her antibiotics once again to hopefully get at these tough bacteria. If this doesn't work to cleanse her blood, they'll have to pull all of her lines. This is fine, it just means she has to get poked a lot to draw blood. They will also need to reduce the glucose level in her IV nutrition while she doesn't have a central line.

The good news is that she is obviously much better so these bugs are reacting to the antibiotics. It just may take more time for her to fully beat this thing. She is so close to being herself again, we are hopeful. Last night, the nurse encouraged me to try to calm her down and to bond with her by putting my hands on her and talking with her. She was awake for about fifteen minutes, giving Mom a chance to have a heart-to-heart with her about getting well soon. She really does know my voice - the miracle and specialness of this are more than I can explain. When she started fighting to keep her eyes open, I stopped talking, let her rest, and eventually tore myself away - tucking her in in my own way.

Takin' a Breather

Little Gorilla

We gave Zoe this nickname early on because we were so amazed by how much dark brown hair she had on her body. Of course, this hair usually comes off before birth, but she's still got hers for the time being. We're not exactly sure where she got it, but we're thinking it will get blonder as she gets older.

She is about the same today - still fighting an infection. Two of her cultures (blood and lung fluid) grew some type of staph bacteria. The doctors feel confident that the antibiotics are doing their job, but it's hard to wait for her to fully recover. As one of the doctors said today, a day feels like a week and a week feels like a year. Her numbers look good, she's just really exhausted from being sick.