29 Weeks!

Day 38

Emma has been doing wonderfully on her SiPAP.  She still is on very low oxygen support and hardly ever de-sats.  The long term plan, if she continues to do well, is to reduce the rate on her SiPAP, then change her to a CPAP, and then finally go to a nasal cannula.  The CPAP is similar to the SiPAP but has different rate settings for the amount and type of pressure that's given to her.  The cannula just provides oxygen, but I don't believe it gives any pressure of air into her lungs.  The doctors were discussing lowering her rate on the SiPAP today but decided to give her another day, so hopefully tomorrow they'll bring it down!  It all depends on how she does at each of the steps before moving on to the next one - it could be days or weeks at each step.  But for now, we are just thrilled with how she is doing on the SiPAP this time around and not trying to get too ahead of ourselves. 

Everything else has also seemed to level out for Emma now that she's on the SiPAP.  Her sodium and glucose levels are the best they have been.  She had previously been given sodium supplements to keep her levels up, and they have reduced the frequency of these due to her recent improvements.  In addition, she has been started on multivitamins just to get some more nutrients, as well as iron supplements.  Hopefully the iron supplements will increase her hermatocrit levels and reduce her needs for the frequent blood transfusions. 

She was given a vision test yesterday, but the results were pretty inconclusive and the doctor just said her eyes are still immature.  One of the reasons we are so concerned with the levels of oxygen she's given is that preemies are very much at risk for "retinopathy of prematurity" ("ROP"), which basically is vision damage due to being born before the eyes are fully developed.  However, high oxygen levels given over a long period can also cause damage, so it's something they try to prevent by keeping her oxygen levels at the lowest possible settings.  Her next eye test will be in a couple weeks. 

Emma gained 10 grams last night and is up to 740 grams.  It may seem like a small gain, but we are very excited that she is gaining while on the SiPAP since she is working harder to breathe.  We're very happy that she is able to give her lungs a break and continue to grow at the same time.  Although, it seems that she was more active last night and today, so we think she's getting stronger and getting used to being off the vent. 

She was measured for length yesterday and is now 34 cm, which is about 13.4 inches (compared to 11.6 inches at birth).  So almost two inches in a little over a month!  Lots of good things these days!


Our first time seeing Emma without anything on her face (except a couple small stickers for her SiPAP):

Emma did not want to talk to Mommy today.