Jenn: July 2008 Archives
Madeline had her first pediatrician appt today and she's gained nearly a pound since she was released from the hospital a week ago.
Madeline was released from the hospital at about 2pm today. She's now home and getting used to her new surroundings.
The nurse called today and said that hospital policy requires that they keep 34 weekers for 7 full days for apnea watch. I don't know why nobody seemed to know this back when they were trying to push her out the door on Friday, but it now looks like she won't be coming home until tomorrow. She's doing great though, so barring any sudden setback, today will be her last day in the hospital.
The nurse called this afternoon wondering if we had received the call from the doctor that Madeline was ready to come home. We checked our home and cell lines, and we never received a message. Since we have Matthew's birthday party tomorrow, we pushed back and said we weren't ready for her to come home. We're now scheduled to bring her home from the hospital tomorrow night.
The doctor's are saying Madeline can come home now, but I'm concerned about her still throwing up long after feeding her. If this happens at night while we're asleep, she could choke and we'd never know. They've agreed to keep her a couple more days to make sure she no longer does that.
Madeline was moved to an open crib at 10 this morning; since she seems to be maintaining her temperature just fine and she no longer needs phototherapy. She is still having problems keeping her food down though, so they've switched her to another type of formula to see if that helps and to determine if she has reflux. The doctor's are indicating that she could come home tomorrow if her bilirubin stays down and her labs come back normal.
The doctor's have stopped the antibiotics since her CRP stayed normal, so she no longer has an IV.
Madeline is still doing fairly well. She did not move to an open crib today. They tried to wean her from the isolette, but she wasn't quite ready. Her bilirubin levels are up, so they started her on the Neoblue phototherapy. This will bring her bilirubin levels down and make her look less jaundice. Her labs came back elevated, so they started her on 2 different IV antibiotics. She's been on and off receiving IV fluids because she can't seem to keep her food down. She keeps throwing up during, after and between feeds. She has more labs to be drawn in the morning, so that will tell us where we are at with all the treatments she is getting & whether or not we need to change things.
Matthew was really excited to see her. As soon as my mom brought him to the hospital he said, "C'mon mom, let's go see Madeline". I was quite surprised by his reaction. I think he is going to be a wonderful big brother.
