July 13th, 2007

Friday the 13th - ahhh! I'll have to remind Megan to stay away from black cats today...

Well, she definitely got some genes from me because she gained 30 grams! She is up to 880 grams and just shy of 2 lbs! The nurse said that she is doing great with her feedings and has no problem with her peeing and pooping.

He said that they did lower her ventilator to 32 overnight, but she didn't like it. They had to bump it up. I have read that they sometimes give another steroid treatment to help develop her lungs again. Unfortunately, we only had enough time to get me one steroid shot 24 hours before she was born. Also, it is not uncommon for a baby as young as her to need assistance from the ventilator for at least a few weeks or until they reach 1000 grams.

We are brainstorming about how to get more bottles for storing her milk from the hospital. The nurse yesterday was so excited to give us 16 bottles and thought we would be all set for a while. I didn't want to burst her bubble and tell her that would only last us for about one day!

Bob and I went to visit Megan in the early afternoon. I guess you could say that this is one of our "down" days. They have been having to increase her ventilator, so they did a chest x ray. She has a lot of gunk in her right lung. They took some cultures to have it tested for any bacteria and already started her on antibiotics as a precaution. They said that they will do a Chest P.T. on her. This is a vibration procedure to break up that mucus / gunk in her lung and suction it out. The nurse said it is very common, but of course I am worried about it. Her ventilator was turned up to 60 when we were there :( They did decrease her breastmilk to 8cc just so they don't stress her out.

We did call in soon after our visit. They have already decreased her ventilator to 50 and she was doing fine. The nurse said that we should hear about the culture tomorrow, but they don't expect to find anything. They will just break it up, suction it out and we should see improvements.

On the plus side, she still looked very good when we saw her. Her color is great and I can already see her filling out. Her skin is smoother and those adorable cheeks are getting fuller. The true test will be when we can see her baby butt :)

We also got her birth certificate in the mail today! It was so nice to receive something with her name on it - Megan Lyn Foster. Soon to follow will be her social security card!