Emilia moved to Level II Nursery

So, finally after 72 days in Level III NICU, Emilia finally graduated to Level II NICU. We are still waiting for a bed space at North York General Hospital but in the meantime, we are in Mount Sinai's Level II nursery, which is much much quieter and has a more relaxing atmosphere where parents are more actively involved in baby's care. The only thing I am not happy about is the nurse to baby ratio, which obviously is not as good as in NICU as babies are supposed to be very stable.
It's so quiet in there that I feel Emilia is the only baby setting off alarms all the time. Finally we are in a place where our ears are not hurting from all the noisy alarm bells and can feel less anxious.

Emilia is 10 weeks old

Yes, that is right. Emilia is 10 weeks old and we have been in Level III NICU for 70 days. She's 35 weeks and 5 days and is stable so right now they are trying to transfer us out to a Level II NICU. We are still waiting for a bed space to be available at NYGH.

In the meantime, she's just eating and growing. Her weight tonight was 2390g. Her ROP exams were so far good. She is still on low flow oxygen, though at times, she goes apneic and desaturates in oxygen. She seems to have a reflux problem so we are giving her some meds to help with that. We are still working on early breastfeeding. Our breastfeeding sessions rather look like a wrestling match. She and I struggle to find the right position and I try to force her to latch on while she just wants to lick milk. No wonder there are so many books on breastfeeding.

Here are some pictures from past few days:

Taking a "real" bath



Too bad there is that pink tape on every picture


Sleeping in the hospital crib

Transfer to Level 2 Nursery

Today we were going to be transferred to Level 2 nursery at North York General Hospital but because Emilia is due for a ROP exam tomorrow and NYGH is overbooked for their ROP exams, we had to stay in Level 3 NICU at Mount Sinai. Just a few days ago I was wondering why another baby with CPAP got transferred to a step-down unit and Emilia was staying in Level 3. I guess they were planning to transfer us to our local hospital's Level 2 nursery when a bedspace became available. Apparently NYGH's Level 2 nursery is a very very busy one and bedspace gets filled up very quickly, so there is no guarantee that we will be transferred tomorrow after Emilia's eye exam, although her nurse expected us to get transferred on Monday or Tuesday. We even said good-bye and exchanged email addresses but who knows...? We might still hang around there until her nurse comes back from her vacation.

First attempt at breastfeeding

Emilia (and Mom) got a taste of "real" breastfeeding today.
I pumped milk before sitting down with her so that Emilia does not panic with too much milk flowing into her mouth. At first, she didn't know what to do in front of the nipple. However when I hand-expressed a drop of milk and let her taste it, she was licking her lips and opened her mouth and went for the nipple. She latched on like a pro and was sucking for a while, taking breaks as usual. Her nurse told me that she did very well for a first-timer. We are going to continue this drill until she exclusively feeds from breast. Real breastfeeding is a completely different feeling from pumping with a piece of machinery. For the first time, I truly felt like I was being a mom to her. Though it is going to be a little bit of a struggle until both of us master breastfeeding, I have a good feeling that Emilia is quite smart and will learn pretty fast.

Emilia on Low Flow Oxygen - second try

Emilia has been on low flow oxygen since noon Friday, this one being her second attempt to be off CPAP. Last time she lasted 30 hours. So far she's been okay for 34 hours this time. I need to call in the NICU and get updated on how she's doing right now. She does have occasional shallow breathing problems, which cause her oxygen saturation level to drop and also her heart rate, which we call a "spell". She had quite a few spells today. Normally she gets zero to one spells, so definitely she's trying to adjust to the low flow... but it's not being too easy. I hope she can just continue on, even with a few spells a day, which I know will gradually disappear as time passes.

Few pictures of Emmy with low flow nasal prongs:
(Please imagine the pink tape is not there on her nose. The nurse had to put tape there because she keeps pulling the cannula out of her nose)

August 5


August 6

(얼짱포즈)

Emilia out of her incubator

Yesterday, we finally moved Emilia out of her incubator and put her in a crib. She looked so big in the incubator but looks so small in the large crib. She is old and big enough (35 weeks and over 1.8kg) to regulate her body temperature so we dressed her up (in a onesie), bundled her in blankets and put her in the hospital crib. It's easier to see and touch her now. I don't need to watch her through plexi glass any more.

I am just worried that she might feel cold, but so far her body temperature has been steady around 36.5'C. Her hands are always white and cold but the nurse told me I shouldn't put mitts on her because her hands should be free to touch her face.
I wasn't too keen on moving her to a crib as it is colder, noisier, and brighter but it's all about training her to the environment outside the incubator as she's close to term now. She's a real big girl now.