| Day 98 (December 23, 2001) Chloe has gone two
days without oxygen (other than the oxygen supplied by the room air).
This is significant and we are both very proud of our daughter. Chloe is
now slightly under 6 lbs and growing fast She looks so cute and
hopefully she will go home soon. |
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| Day 99 (December 24, 2001) Cheryl and I got
fantastic news today. Since Chloe is now off oxygen and is doing so
well they moved her to the step down room (the high school of preemies)
where she is now with the big kids.. She is still under 6 lbs (5 lbs
15.9 oz) but she is active and alert -- in fact too alert. Now the really good news; Cheryl and I were told that we need to spend a day in the parent's room with Chloe. We were told that it must be soon like Wednesday December 26. What that means is that Chloe is ready to come home and now they need to have the parents adjust to Chloe before they send her home. In other words it looks like this weekend or sometime next week that Chloe will be home.
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| Day 100 (December 25, 2001 -- Christmas Day)
Cheryl and I spent most of the day with Chloe. She was very cheerful
and fun to be with. We were told by the nurses that the Apnea people
need to contact us to see if we are to have the all nighter with Chloe on
the 26th. When we went home, I did a little work on Chloe's changing table and dresser (mainly crying over cutting 5 boards 1/4" too short). Cheryl made the best dinner I had in such a long time and for what I hear it will probably be the only dinner for quite some time. Chloe is doing very well and we look forward to her coming home, hopefully it will be this weekend but we have received no word yet.
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| Day 101 (December 26, 2001) Cheryl finally got a hold
of the people who handle the Apnea monitor and they told us that the
training will be Friday and we will have to stay at the hospital Friday
night.
We also learn that because of the holidays Chloe will not be coming home until the January 2nd. There is a special girl whose name just happens to be Elizabeth and she was born on the 2nd of January. I wonder if I would of given Chloe a different middle name like someone who had a birthday earlier than the January 2nd, she would of come home then. Well, it is worth the thought. Chloe was fussy today, but that was due to lots of hiccups and fugitive emissions. Anyway she does not look like her two weeks ago. One thing that is happening as I predicted is that there will be new parents to take the place of the three parents who have been there so long. Sure enough they are now appearing and they will be in our prayers. After meeting the parents, all I can say is that their kids are truly blessed and I pray that their kids will figure it out.
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Day 102 (December 27, 2001) We got the car seat installed and we got everything ready for the parent's day with Chloe on the 28th. Chloe's Diaper rash is all gone and now she can rest in comfort. Chloe was cranky all day, just like babies get some days. She is doing exceptionally well, much better than we hoped and all I can say is thank you God.
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| Day 103 (December 28, 2001) Cheryl and I received our
Apnea monitor training and we were excited to spend 12 hours with Chloe.
This was one of the big events that both of us knew as one step closer to
getting Chloe home.
After the training Cheryl and I went back to the NICU only to be told that Chloe was having a bad day. She was exhibiting symptoms of either medicines not adjusted properly or a possible infection. You cannot imagine how depressed we were that day. We decided not to do our twelve hour stay this day because Chloe's health
was/is the goal not her coming home, besides the doctor would put her foot
down and she would be correct. |
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| Day 104 (December 29, 2001) We were told that Chloe's
problem of the day before was due to her medicine needing to be recalibrated
to her weight. Cheryl and I were both happy, because an infection
would be bad -- very bad. Cheryl and I spent thirteen hours with Chloe in a small cramped room with a super sensitive monitor that ding constantly. The good news is that Cheryl and I are still married through this ordeal. The bad news is that Chloe will require Oxygen during her feedings when she comes home. Chloe was great and did all that babies do. The worse experience of the day was the hospital sensor going off constantly. These sensors were designed in the days of tell the nurses and doctors everything that doesn't matter (like turning over) and produce many dings. It was only in the last hour that they told us that we could suppress the ding machine. |
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