Progress Report - NICU Day 11

Lela and I had a nice visit in the NICU this morning. She sucked down her bottle like a champ and even spent some time gnawing on my breast after the bottle was empty. Even more encouraging, though, are her other developments: Miss Lela is now up to 3 lbs 13 oz. and she seems to be making steady weight gain progress. Also, the NICU staff has been weaning her off the heated isolette for the last several days and she is doing a good job of regulating her own body temperature. In the beginning, Lela had a thermometer probe pasted to her chest, and the isolette would adjust the heat level depending on her body temp. Now, the isolette is on manual temp adjust and the nurses are steadily turning down the temp. As compensation, Lela now spends her time in the isolette wearing clothes and a swaddle blanket, whereas she used to hang out in only her diaper and hat (how European!). (BTW - the 0-3 month side-snap t-shirt is hilariously HUGE on her - I'll try to get a picture later today.)

Even more encouraging is the conversation I had with her nurse this morning. Jenny the NICU nurse was very positive about Lela's growth and development and mentioned that babies are typically moved to an open-air crib once they successfully spend 24-36 hours with the isolette temp at 27.5 degrees Celsius (where Lela's is right now). Of course, sometimes a baby may move out of the isolette only to be moved back in she doesn't tolerate the open air very well, but moving into open-air is a very good step in the right direction. Jenny also told me that Lela is doing so well that we may want to mentally prepare to bring her home sooner than originally expected. She suggested that Babak and I start lining up the things we need to take care of prior to bringing her home, like taking the free infant CPR class the hospital recommends for all preemie parents and getting our carseat installed and doing the carseat test at the hospital, etc.

Now, all of this is merely a nurse's conjecture and not a doctor's prognosis, and of course it is all subject to change at any time based on Lela's development, but I am encouraged by her comments all the same. And now I'm off to attack my to-do list with renewed vigor - the possibility of Lela coming home soon is a powerful motivator!!!

(PS - This pic is actually from yesterday or the day before. It's next to impossible for me to take pictures when I go to NICU alone without Babak - it is true what they say about mother's needing extra hands!)