The doctors are trying another breathing experiment. Basically, they remove the CPAP from Chloe (which is pressing her nose back and giving her the piggy look) and the nose tube for one hour. This allows her parents to see her beautiful dark hair and also gives her greater flexibility to squirm around.
The only problem with removing the CPAP is that they have to put it back on. She does not like her CPAP and she will yell and scream the throw that temper tantrum. When she does this, I whisper "expensive wedding" in her ears hoping that she will associate the two as one common event (very bad for Chloe).
They will check her blood gases to see if it is working. If so then she
can continue this. If it is not so, then it really is not a big set back
(except her nose).
Chloe has loss some weight, but this is nothing to be alarmed with. She is
a squirmy kid, so she is exercising regularly. Also those tantrums take up
a lot of energy.
She has finally exceeded her birth weight by 0.6 oz. (she now weighs 1 lb 12 oz.), which means that she is growing quickly now. If Chloe was in the womb she would weigh over 3 lbs. and have more defined features (buttocks and the like), but her lungs and gut functions would not be nearly developed.
(Chloe with no CPAP)
Chloe is more alert, and now she will at least open her eyes for longer periods of time. She is definitely growing mentally and physically and is now downing 16 ml of food. That is a lot of food for her little tummy.
Day 25, Chloe is doing exceptionally well, her tummy is now filled to capacity, so now they are upping the calories that she is receiving. Weight gain is one of the major goals now for Chloe.
One of the problems that Chloe has is that she is a wiggle worm extraordinaire, which burns up precious calories needed for her growth. To solve this problem one of the nurses made a tiny size straight jacket out of a washcloth. Hopefully she will not be super active at a loss to her weight. Now I know, that some 20 odd years from now this will be a very foreign concept to her.
As we look back ,on the events of what happened a month ago today, (Sept.11,2001 ) and we see the progress that not only our daughter has made, but our country. We are continually amazed at the power of God ,and are eternally thankful for all that He has done for us and for our country.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Chloe all snuggled up)
Day 26, At 4:00 AM Chloe was taken off of her CPAP altogether. There was much rejoicing in all of the Lewis family. Not to mention that Chloe and her nose appreciates it too. This is great, because all she now has is her Nasal Canula (thin clear plastic tube to her nose bring oxygen).
She is now digesting 17 mm of formula every 3 hours. They also upped the calories in the formula to 28 cals.
Basically everything is going exceptionally well for Chloe. She is now on cruise control.
(Chloe with dad's wedding ring)
Day 27, Chloe is doing very well, her breathing, but as mom found out that the little one has those non-breathing moments. Cheryl experience two of them this day, but in each episode Chloe recovered and started to breath on her own. This is quite common among preemies, but with Chloe they are far fewer than preemies of 27 weeks. This is pretty amazing concidering that Cheryl did not get the injections (only one 6 hours before surgery) to tell Chloe to build those lungs.
Also, I have noticed that the nurses that are assigned to Chloe are
assigned to two other babies. This represents there confidence in
Chloe's health.
Chloe now weighs 1 lb. 14.3 oz. Go Chloe!
Day 28, Chloe is only having to be pricked once every two days for blood gasses and other tests. This is good news for mom and dad, knowing that their daughter has less painful episodes.
This day was the first day that we saw Chloe awake, alert and if you take away the size scaling factor you would believe that you were with a baby. We both spent time with our daughter -- touching her and talking to her. Cheryl read her a book and I started the mental conditioning of Elopement.
This day was a great day for mom and dad.