Day 36 (October 22, 2001), This was the first day that they tried to do "Kangarooing," which basically is a skin to skin contact between the parent (in this case mom) and Chloe. Unfortunately, Chloe's neck muscles were not strong enough for Chloe to support herself. Chloe like to touch her chin to her chest which tends to cut of the air to her body.
Kangaroo time is special for Chloe and parents, and I hope that it will happen soon.
Day 37 (October 23, 2001), Chloe is now at 985 grams which is almost 2 pounds 3 ounces. She is starting to loose her girlish figure and plumping up for the winter.
Dad did not visit her this day and I am sure that she will use this day to tell me how emotionally scared for life she is because of this day. This will usually be followed by a material thing to aid her in her emotional recovery. Dad will regret the day that he wrote this.
Day 39, Chloe lost a little weight today (1006 grams as opposed to 1015 grams) which even for Chloe is insignificant. Now that Chloe has past the 1000 grams mark the nurses are letting mommy do more with Chloe. One of the things is changing diapers. Mommy got to change Chloe's diaper today, luckily for mommy it wasn't a loaded one. This is one thing that mommy doesn't miss doing with Chloe. Mommy knows that there will be a lot more opportunities for changing in the future, and has been trying to train daddy in the fine art of "Diaper Changing". Wish her luck.
She had no apnea episodes today and she started back with alternating the nasal tube and CPAP. Chloe can now do some real breathing again and hopefully all will go well this time.
The other big news today is that Chloe is now starting to use the pacifier, and she keeps it in her mouth for long periods of time. This is really great considering that most preemies her age have a hard time breathing and sucking at the same time ,so far Chloe can do both. She needs this skill along with swallowing to survive. This is truly a great day for Chloe and a happy day for us.
Chloe is more alert to her surroundings and is like a scaled down version of a normal baby. Her parents could not be happier.
Day 41, Chloe is now 1056 grams (2 lbs. 5.25 ounces) in weight and is doing is looking more refined each day.
Chloe's big problem of the day was an extreme heart rate of over 200 beats per minute. Normally, her heart rate should be something around 145 beats per minute, but because of the medicine combination and time of them they are causing the heart rate to beat faster. To solve this problem they are now playing with the dosages and changing the timings.
They started a new drug that will help Chloe's body to begin to produce her own blood. We will know when it is successful when this happens, but we are told not to be disappointed if it does not happen soon.
Breathing wise, Chloe is back on the nasal tube for one hour and CPAP the next hour. The hours of feeding is generally the time they put her on the nasal tube and allow mom (and sometimes dad) to hold Chloe.
Chloe had no apnea episodes for this day. Go Chloe!!!!
Feeding wise, the only thing of note (other than the nasal tube) is that her food tube is now down her nose. They did this to allow her throat to heal.
Chloe's medicine did not kick in yet for her to develop her own blood and so they had to give her more blood. She was calm through the whole process and the nurse told me that this was common for a preemie.
Today was also Chloe's baby shower and there was lots of gifts for the girl in the plexiglass condo. Unfortunately she could not come to the shower.
Chloe is now 1090 grams (2 lbs. 6.5 ounces) which means that in the last five days Chloe has gained more than 10% of her body weight. Go Chloe!
