Slowly, I feel like we are starting to see progress. Elsie continues to gain weight. Last night she weighed 2 lbs 10 oz. Feedings are being slowly increased by one CC at a time. The last two days she has handled the increase well. One CC may not sound like much, but when you are only 2 lbs 10 oz....every CC counts! They are fortifying my breast milk with 24 calories to help her gain weight. Right now she is around 1170 grams. To begin weaning her off the CPAP she needs to be between 1250-1300 grams. Hopefully she will continue to gain at this rate, because people she HATES that CPAP. Have we talked about that? Yes, you say? Well let me tell you what my 32 week 6 day, 2 lbs 10 oz little girl did today.
Today it took us 45 minutes to get her settled on my chest for her 2:00 feeding she was fighting us so hard to NOT put the CPAP in her nose. First, I should say that the nurses are fantastic at somehow plugging and unplugging all the wires so I can hold Elsie, and at the same time keep an eye on her vital signs to be sure she is not in any sort of distress. They are amazing. I would lose my mind from all of the alarms going off.
So the nurse gets her out of her little house, and hands her to me. I get her on my chest and then we get her positioned to get the CPAP back on her nose. Elsie is not having it. She screams (a little mouse-y, high pitched scream) picks up the upper half of her body and moves her head to get away from the prongs that go into her nose. When we finally get them in her nose, and the tubes attached so the air is actually going into her lungs, she pushes the tubes so everything comes out of her nose. After much fighting, we get the tubes back on, and the prongs are in her nose. Success!
Then, I say to the nurse: "I don't know where her feeding tube is. Wait, it doesn't look like it is in her mouth." The nurse says in a disbelieving voice: "oh my goodness." So now that we have her calmed down and the CPAP successfully in her nose....the feeding tube is on the floor. Elsie pulled it out of her throat in all of the movement to get the CPAP back on. Just so you know, the feeding tube is taped to her face. It had to hurt to get it out of her throat and then completely off her face and onto the floor. It is well past the 2:00 feeding time, and we are only half way there.
So then the sweet nurse begins feeding a new tube down her throat. Elsie begins screaming again and fighting us to get the tube down her throat. She is arching her back, using her hands, anything to get away from the CPAP and the feeding tube. The taping on her face is re done and a new tube is fed down her throat. CPAP is on with me holding her head so she cannot get away from it.
It 45 minutes past feeding time, and her syringe is just now getting started.
I swear she knows that when you move her that it is an opportunity to get away from the CPAP and she seizes the moment. She gets really really mad when you are trying to do anything near her nose, or face. She just hates it all.
I told Elsie that if she cooperated and kept the feeding tube in, she could eat. Then she would gain weight and get the CPAP off. Let's hope she listens to her mama.
Love y'all,
Ellen
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