Pip Squeak, Almost ready to come home
That’s right folks! She’s almost ready to come home. We got moved to the Pediatric Hallway Friday evening. She’s been in the NICU for 5 weeks now and they said it was time for us to move and for us to get her ready to come home. She’s doing five feeds (of 
off the bottle now. If things continue to go well we’re looking at Wednesday (the earliest) to Friday (more likely) as the day she gets to come home.
The Neonatologist came in today to talk to us and it seems there’s been some confusion as to whether or not we’ll be allowed to take Pip Squeak home on caffeine and epo shots. He said he would be looking into it and would let us know what he finds out. He just seemed to think that it was odd that we had been told that. We’ll see what happens. Either way, we’ll probably be bringing her home this week.
Edit: The Neonatologist just came back in. We’re stopping the caffeine that she’s been on. The last apnea event happened on 07/14. He said its not an addictive kind of caffeine so there’s no need to ween her off. 35 weekers usually are old enough that they don’t have any apneas anymore. The Epo shots will continue for now but they are checking the Pip Squeak’s hermatacrit tonight and if its low they’ll up the Epo shots to everyday instead of Monday, Wednesday, Friday. He also said we should bring the car seat and base in for a car seat test. Things are happening fast and we’ll probably be out of here by Friday for sure. 
1 down, 7 more to go
We had our first full feed on a bottle yesterday! A whopping 37ccs of formula! She ate it all and burped with no problems at all. The Pip Squeak will be home sooner than we probably realize. They weighed her again last night and she’s bulked up to 4lbs 5.2 oz which means she’ll finally fit in our car seat that we bought. She’s definitely getting bigger and stronger every day. The SU informed me just now via mobile phone the Pip Squeak took another full feed from the bottle at noon today. Pip Squeak also burped really well for her Mommy and she pooped! Which, normally, poop doesn’t get me that excited because 1) It stinks, 2) It REALLY stinks, 3) It REALLY REALLY stinks, and finally, 4)It looks like well, poop, but because she’s been having problems pooping it makes me happy. They’ve been giving her some iron supplements which is hard on the tummy and it causes constipation. Overall, she’s doing really well. We thought at some point we might be moved over to the Pediatric hallway but they informed us that we would likely be staying on the NICU hall for everyone’s peace of mind.
I forgot to blog about going to the Mariners game in a Luxury “Sweet” courtesy of the SU’s mother and their bank that they do their banking business with. The first thing I noticed about them is that they’re way nicer than the suites at Key Arena. They were bigger, had a plasma HD screen inside, were furnished with better furnishing, the seats were bigger and better, and the staff was a lot more friendly and even fetched one of the kids there some ice cream. The game was awesome, we ended up beating the Tigers off of a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 8th. It was one of the more exciting games I’ve been to. The food was awesome too and much much better than Key Arena. I had a cheeseburger, some pepsi, bottled water, and some dessert all for the grand total of NOTHING.
Pip Squeak, its not just a fun name
I nicknamed the child Pip Squeak shortly after she was born. Little did I know that she actually squeaks. Occasionally, when I hold her, she lets out these little barely audible little squeaks when she moves. They are so cute!
Pip Squeak is not so Pip Squeak anymore. We made it all the way to the 4 pound mark a day ago. And, yesterday, she took 20ccs of formula/milk from a bottle and had no problems doing it. Again, the doctors are amazed by this because she’s only 33 weeks and 33 weekers usually can’t handle eating from a bottle. She wanted more than the 20ccs but they decided that was enough. She’s rocking and rolling folks. We might have her home sooner than later.
I was able to go to rounds with the SU on Wednesday and it appears that Pip Squeak’s iron levels are low so they were thinking about giving her some medication to bring that up or wait and see if it comes up on its own. They said that a lot of times it comes up on their own and since she was doing so well they anticipated that it would. They also discovered that her caffeine levels were a bit low. It was at 8 and usually they like it around 15 so they ordered up some more caffeine. Yay for caffeine!
I keep having really odd dreams and I don’t know why. The other day it was the hockey dream. Last night it was really weird.
I found myself working for a former employer in Lubbock, TX (the employer shall remain nameless). My job was customer service for a certain cable company that likes to throttle its users’ bit torrent traffic (read between the lines, its fantastic!). It went something like this:
*ding*
“Thank you for calling AT&T wireless… whoops, I mean Fantastic, how can I help you?” (In my mind I was all oops, I screwed that up, I didn’t give the caller my name)
“My name is Bob and I’d like to cancel my service. Who am I speaking to?”
“I’m sorry about that Bob, My name is Cobalt. I’m sorry to hear that you want to cancel your service. Will you tell me why you’d like to do that?”
“Well with gas prices being so high and money being tight I just can’t afford this fantastic HD service.”
“I understand that Bob, and I’m sorry you have to cancel your service. May I place you on hold so I can gather some information?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks Bob, I’ll be right back.”
*put the customer on hold*
I pop up like a gopher popping up out of a hole to find someone to help me.
“Pssst, hey! I got a guy who wants to cancel his service and I’m new and I don’t know how to do it. Can you help me?”
“I’m busy, I have my own customer on the line, you’re going to have to go find someone to help you.”
“Ok thanks.”
I get up and I walk halfway across the building picturing everything perfectly as if I was there. Then I ran into someone who I knew from working there before.
“Oh my gosh. Is that you cobalt?”
“Yeah its me Suzy.”
“You’re back?!?”
“For a little while.”
“How long?”
“About three weeks.”
And then I woke up and thought what the h-e-double hockey sticks was that? I looked at the clock and it said 2am. I just groaned and rolled over trying to go back to sleep. I haven’t been sleeping very well the last few days and I’m not sure whats up with that. I think I’m stressed out over some things going on here that I won’t get into because its not the proper place or method. I’m hoping those things will be resolved soon so I can get some semi normal rest.
Movin’ on up and weird rubber biscuit dreams
The hospital staff has told us not to get our hopes up high, but there’s a chance (albeit somewhat small) that Pip Squeak might be ready to come home in two weeks. We’ll be ecstatic if it happens that fast and if it doesn’t, it won’t be that big of a deal because we will get to bring her home at some point. Of course, this potential early home coming throws all sorts of things into the forefront. The sorts of things like we need a bigger bed, an amby baby, to rearrange the bedroom, a rocker, etc. We always thought we would have a little bit more time but its becoming more and more apparent that we’ll need these things sooner rather than later.
One of the things holding Pip Squeak back from coming home is eating from a bottle. Today, they decided to let Pip Squeak try some food from a bottle. She ate about 13ccs from a bottle with little or no trouble thanks to the pacing efforts by the SU. After she had finished that, they fed the rest of her food to her in the feeding tube. The SU was able to get the Pip Squeak to burp twice after she was done with the bottle. (Looks like she’s taking after her father, giving compliments to the chef!) We’re up to 3lbs 13 ounces or thereabouts (she hasn’t pooped in a couple of days so she’s carrying some extra weight). She has also grown to 16 3/4 inches long.
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On a side track here, I had a rather odd hockey dream this morning. It probably won’t make any sense to anyone but me but here goes anyway. In this dream I had the Dallas Stars were playing the Pittsburgh Penguins but the Pens were wearing red for some strange reason. They lined up for the faceoff and the puck was dropped. There was a big scrum and Dallas finally got control of the puck and forced it into the Pens end. Once there, there was a shot and a big scrum in front of the net. A goal was scored during all of this and then all of a sudden all hell breaks loose. There’s a full on line brawl and the pens goalie races over to help one of his teammates who was at a disadvantage for some reason. The next thing I know, the Dallas goalie is flying down the ice looking for a dance partner. The Pittsburgh goalies lets go of the guy he was tangling with and drops his glove and his helmet and squares off with the Dallas goalie. The Pittsburgh goalie takes a swing at the Dallas goalie and completely misses. The Dallas goalie returns fire and connects a huge right and the Pens goalie falls flat on the ice knocked out cold.
I woke up shortly after that and thought it was odd. I tried explaining it to the SU but she didn’t seem to get it. Either way, it reminded me of one of my favorite hockey fights of all time (and is similar in many ways): Enjoy!
Pip Squeak and other things
So the SU here, the post won’t be as entertaining as Cobalt.
Pip Squeak was moved into a cradle today! It took teeth pulling, but we got her in. Our nurse has had her for the past three days now, and in morning rounds, the Dr. wanted to know why they hadn’t moved her into a cradle yet. The nurse said she didn’t feel very comfortable. I come in this morning hoping to find my baby in a cradle. I asked the nurse when she thought they would put her in one. She gave me a huge SIGH and just rolled her eyes and then told me what happened in rounds.
Let me tell you, when Pip Squeak poops, it sinks in a major way. I opened her isolette and I almost gagged it smelled so bad. So when I got her out to do Kangaroo Cares, they wiped her isolette down and took everything out. Well, her primary (the one nurse who is always suppose to have her when working) was charge nurse today and came in and saw that her isolette was all apart, and she brought in a cradle! She said she was overriding our nurse for today!
So I’m excited, Cobalt is excited, the Gamer and the Artist is excited and guess who isn’t? That’s right, my mother… What if someone comes in and snatches her? I mean she is in an OPEN crib! Oh the HORROR! I told my mother that no one was going to come in and snatch her.
She is up to 32ccs an hour. That’s just a little over an ounce now and she weighs as of last night 3lbs, 9oz. I haven’t called tonight to get her new weight. She is however gaining a steady ounce a day.
In other news…
The Artist: Mom, can you put on Spiderwick? (The Spiderwick Chronicles) I was playing webkins on the computer but then this sign came up, blah blah blah, send or don’t send. So I clicked the don’t send button.
SU: Which program were you using? Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox?
The Artist: Oh, Mozzarella Firefox…
SU; *snickering*
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The Gamer: Mom, can I go and read in your bed?
SU: You sure can.
The Gamer: Thanks mom, my butt hurts and can only get better in your bed.
SU: Whaaaa?
Pip Squeak rocking the house!
All Hail Pip Squeak!
She’s up to 30ccs on her feeds (30ccs is 1 ounce). We think they might be starting to try and feed her from a bottle soon. Either this week or next week. The doctor we met with yesterday seemed to think it wouldn’t happen for another week or two so we’ll see. The Pip Squeak is holding her temperatures up and is down to 28.3 degrees Celsius in her isolette. At 28 degrees, she gets moved to a crib. We think that should happen this week maybe by Wednesday or Thursday because she has to be a certain weight (I can’t remember what it is, 1500 grams I believe). She’s getting pretty close though. Speaking of weight, she’s up to 3lb 2.9 ounces.
On the downside, we’re starting to see more bradycardias than we have in the past with Pip Squeak. It is typical of a 32 weeker to have them. The staff drew some blood from her last night to check her blood gases and her caffeine levels. We’re hoping her caffeine levels are a little low and that’s what is causing the bradys. I joked with the SU last night that we should feed Pip Squeak an iced cappuccino *beavis laughing here*.
The Pip Squeak is regularly smiling now when she gets fed and its extremely cute. We’ve tried to catch it in pictures but we haven’t been lucky enough yet. Pip Squeak is pooping on a regular basis, (yay for poop!). I equate her bowel movements to lava flowing slowly out of the side of a volcano (not the explosive stuff, the slow moving lava.) Now that I’ve seared that image into your brain, I’m going to laugh.
We’re playing a waiting game now. Waiting for her grow, gain weight, and learn to eat from a bottle. Once she does all of those things (and doesn’t have anymore brady’s) she’ll be ready to come home. We’re hoping we’ll be able to bring her home by the end of July.
Go baby, go!
I didn’t update over the weekend because I spent it working from home. It’s the end of the quarter and its crunchtime. Thankfully, I was able to get most of everything completed yesterday.
The Pip Squeak is doing awesome right now. They moved her off of cpap and onto nasal canulas at 3/4 of a liter (they tried 1/2 but she didn’t do very well) and she’s not needing any extra oxygen. Her feeds have been upped to 19ccs every three hours and they’ve stopped giving her the fat emulsions. I believe by Thursday she’ll be able to come off of the TPN as well since she should be getting enough calories through her feeds. When that happens, it means she won’t have an IV anymore. Pip Squeak hit the 3lb mark yesterday (newborns typically lose weight right after birth), so she’s gained about 4 ounces in the last 4 days. We think she’s also gotten a little bigger although she’s still so tiny.
The SU reports that the Pip Squeak is coming into her own personality now. The Pip Squeak has gained quite the reputation for having an attitude in the NICU. She fusses and screams when they change her, move her, and almost right on cue when its time for food. The SU says she wakes up just about every three hours and starts to fuss and as soon as she feels the food hitting her tummy she quits fussing. We were also informed yesterday that Pip Squeak is holding her temperature up but that they won’t even consider putting her into a crib until she hits at least 4 pounds.
Looks to us like we’re on the gain, grow, learn to eat from a bottle holding pattern for now.
Guess what I got to do yesterday?
I got to hold the Pip Squeak yesterday! And, she did great! The nurse put her on nasal canulas (think oxygen tubes in your nose) but didn’t give her any extra oxygen, just forced air. Pip Squeak didn’t have any brady’s (apneas) while I was holding her.
It was a relief to finally get to hold her. I never did get to hold the Miracle very much. I think maybe three times was all. I wasn’t sure what to expect or how I would feel but all I can say is that there’s nothing like holding your very own child that you helped create. I was a little sad when they made me put her back into the isolette especially because she started crying when I gave her back to the nurse. I find it a little funny that she cried when I put her back but she didn’t when the SU had to put her back. Pip Squeak also had an apnea when the SU was holding her too. What can I say? It looks like she already favors her daddy.
Pip Squeak is at 9ccs every three hours for her feeds (unless they’ve changed it again today) and we think within a few days she might be off of the TPN (trophamine) and fat emulsions. If she continues to do this well she’ll be one of the babies that just has to “grow and gain” before we can take her home.
I’ve been debating the last few days about writing up tips for parents with children in the NICU for the first time. I remember how overwhelmed and intimidated I felt when we were in there with the Miracle. I’ll mull it over a few more days and see what ideas I can come up with.
I didn’t want that thing in my mouth anyway!
Pip Squeak was finally successful at removing her breathing tube after multiple attempts. Unfortunately, Pip Squeak also ripped some skin off of her cheek where the tube was taped to her face and now she has a nice little scab from that. The nurse was able to remove the rest of tape without damaging any of Pip Squeak’s skin.
We’re back on c-pap for now and on *drum roll please* ROOM AIR! That’s right, no extra oxygen. The doctor ordered some blood work because he thinks Pip Squeak might have an infection and he started another round of antibiotics just to be on the safe side.
Edit: I forgot to add that they upped her feeds to 5ccs every three hours. I am hopeful that Pip Squeak will grow into being a piggy. Pip Squeak also had a bowel movement yesterday for the first time. Currently, she’s under the bili lights because she’s not quite pooping enough just yet. We think that with her feeds going up and with her being able to keep them down that she should be having regular BMs soon. Pip Squeak has lost a little bit of weight and is down to 2lbs 12oz from her birthweight of 3lbs 1oz. The UVA line that had been put in was removed this afternoon and we’re hoping that maybe later on tonight we’ll be able to hold her for a while. Pip Squeak is on some Trophamine and fat emulsions to supplement her nutrition.
