Fingers Crossed
Going home on Wednesday
“Click”-ish
They kept saying that it would “click,” and I guess this weekend was that time. Both girls had good days on Friday and were climbing. Their 24-hour numbers Saturday morning weren’t quite 80%, but they were heading the right direction. It wasn’t really overnight, but it did happen over a few short days
Saturday, both girls did really well. Aspen was doing more complete bottles and ended her 24 hours pretty strong into 80% territory. Elizabeth hit 78%, so not quite there.
However, Sunday Aspen continued to have great feeds. We were told that she took all except 12 mls over the whole day shift, and that was likely because the nurse was torn between both girls and couldn’t give her enough attention to finish that bottle.
She did so well, in fact, that at rounds Sunday night, the NP moved her to adlib at about 9 PM. Even with that, they aren’t going to discharge her at night so her 48 hours adlib will still not get her out until Wednesday. They also said that as long as Elizabeth did well overnight, and despite having only gotten 78% on Saturday, they would move her to adlib in the morning. That would mean that both girls could go home at the same time.
Adlib
We left last night (Sunday) with high hopes for this morning. We expected that Aspen would do well (she did), but were a little more timid on Elizabeth.
However, when we arrived at our normal 7:30-ish this morning, they had both been moved to adlib! Assuming they both keep up well, that means they come home at the same time!!!
So far, Aspen has taken every bottle to completion and Elizabeth is doing well. The mark we’re hoping for is 140 ml/kg/day. Their previous feeds were done at 150 ml/kg/day, partly to keep their weight up and to make sure they’re still hungry three hours later. This 140 number is to make sure their eating enough.
It is hard to know if they’re taking enough throughout the day, though. We can do the math to know what the “average” should be, but it’s hard over time.
Aspen will hit that number with ease. She’ll likely exceed the 140 number by quite a bit. We’re filling her bottle with some extra and she’s finishing them.
Elizabeth is doing well, and has even finished an extra full bottle, but hasn’t been super consistent.
Checklist
There are a number of things that have to be done before the girls can be discharged. Things like a hearing check and car seat trial.
They’ve both already passed their hearing tests (today). We had to watch an infant CPR video and practice a little on a CPR baby dummy, completed today. I’m not sure what else.
The big one that can be a problem is the car seat test. They have to be able to sit safely for 90 minutes without any intervention. This is something that everyone we’ve talked to says is something the parents won’t want to be there for. If they’re fussing and you go reposition them or anything, they have to start over. They’ll get that test tonight, hopefully it will go well.
Pictures
