Emilia is 9 weeks old

Wow, time certainly flies by, and in our case, it's a good thing.
Emilia is now 9 weeks old and 34 weeks and 5 days of gestation.

I remember when I first saw Emilia right after she was born, I was amazed by how complete a preemie's anatomy was. Her body had eveything I had, only in miniature. Her tiny hand with tiny fingers, round finger tips, knuckles, finger nails, ...
And it is even more amazing that her tiny finger nails did actually grow long since birth. I wonder if she would have been born with long finger nails. Perhaps her nails are growing because of all the nutrition she gets in her milk (and fortifier).
Any way, she was pinching and scratching herself a lot recently so I tried to file her nails with an emery board. Emilia got her first manicure treatment sans coloured nail polish.




As we all know by now, she was briefly on low flow oxygen this past week. I am hoping we can try it again soon and she outdoes what she showed us last time. Any progress would be good. I don't expect to see her completely off CPAP suddenly as a lot of 25 weekers do need respiratory assistance for longer periods.

Her weight has been pretty much stalled at 2 kg. I think it's mainly because she was trying so hard on low flow oxygen. Breathing alone is a hard exercise for her and she didn't gain any weight for 2 days. Last night she weighed at 2.1kg.

Emilia - first immunization shots!

Emilia got her first immunization shots today. I am told immunization is the only thing they go by the "actual" age, not "corrected" age. She's 60 days old so she got her 60-day immunization shots, one shot on each thigh. She was given sucrose and a soother, but when she got poked, she stopped sucking on the soother and cried. But as soon as the needle was out, she continued on sucking on the soother as if nothing had happened. It was so funny to see her reaction change in one second. Any way, she tolerated the shots really well. She's a big girl now.

Emilia on low flow oxygen - first try

Yesterday, the doctor decided to take Emilia off CPAP and put her on low flow. The nurse thought she wouldn't last more than an hour and go straight back to CPAP. I thought she would do much better than that, maybe because I am her mother and I think she's underestimated by many nurses.

At noon, she got the cannula on her nose and started on low flow oxygen. I was by her side all day long yesterday feeling terrified, not knowing what to expect. Was she going to be distressed because of the hard work of breathing without any CPAP air flow? Was she going to get tired and stop breathing? I felt Emilia was so vulnerable without the CPAP mask. Perhaps I have grown dependant on CPAP more than she has. The clock was ticking and as each hour passed, I was so glad to see her do well on low flow. She had 2 spells yesterday but the whole evening and night, she had no problem. I really enjoyed looking at her face without the dreadful prong mask, ties, and hat.






She continued on low flow into this afternoon, but at around 6pm, she had three apneic spells and the nurse thought it was an indication that Emilia was not ready to be off CPAP completely. So when I came back to NICU from dinner, I found her back on CPAP, which made me disappointed and sad because I had been all excited about giving her a real bath in a small bowl tonight. With CPAP, she can't get a real bath... only a sponge bath. I was told that Emilia was really mad when they had to put the CPAP mask and hat back on her. It saddens me to think that she had only a day of freedom from all these things that cling on her face and head but also I am very proud of her for breathing so hard for 30 hours. We are going to try to put her on low flow again in several days and see how she does. Hopefully with each try, she will grow and learn to breathe on her own.

Emilia is 8 weeks old

Emilia is now 8 weeks old. Corrected age, she is 33 weeks and 5 days.

She had her second ROP eye exam. The result is still good. She will get another exam in 2 weeks, which hopefully will be her last one. She tolerated the eye exam really well. Didn't fuss or cry.

She is still on the antibiotics for sepsis. I believe she will be off the medication on Friday. She needs to get a new IV every two or three days because the her veins don't last too long. Hopefully one more new IV site and she will be done with the meds.

Emilia weighs 2 kilos now. It has been a long way from her birth weight of 870g.
She is so chubby now, especially her face (double chin!) and toes.

Because she went through a lot this past week with all the infection tests, medication, IVs, tooth extraction and an eye exam, I am actually hoping the coming week will be an uneventful, boring one.

Tooth Fairy, where are you?

Emilia's tooth grew out to a full size baby tooth in just a few days. She kept pushing it forward with her tongue and when she did, I could see the tooth was moving - either the tooth and the gum were very flexible or very loose.

The NICU doctor called in a dentist (also from the hospital) and the dentist said the tooth needed to be pulled out. When the dentist tried to take a peek into her mouth, Emilia pulled up her lower lip to clench her mouth... her tiny mouth and lips, not letting it go and fighting the dentist's hand... it was one of the cutest things I had seen her do. Any way, she finally opened her mouth and the dentist was feeling the tooth - and there, the tooth was out in 2 seconds. The dentist pulled it out so quickly that I don't think Emilia even felt it. Her gum bled a bit but other than that, her very first dentist appointment went very smoothly and quickly. So many nurses (even the ones I don't know well and have not spoken to before) came by to ask how the appointment went. She is a famous star now. I guess not too many babies have had a tooth in the NICU. Even after her tooth was gone, she kept pushing her tongue out as if searching for the tooth. She must have gotten used to having something in her mouth.

So, Tooth Fairy, are you coming tonight to buy Emilia's very first tooth? I want $20... and I promise I will put it into her RESP and give the money to her when she grows up.