Since my last post, we've had some changes and some small improvements.
We had a great pediatrician fro 4 whole days! He really thought through Esther's needs and situation, and that resulted in switching from a nasal feeding tube, to an oral (through the mouth) feeding tube - this immediately reduced her need for oxygen (her nostrils are sooo tiny and the smaller one won't accept any tubing at all, so her only "good" nostril was compromised by the feeding tube, making it difficult for her to get good airflow). She's again at the lowest level of oxygen! We tried her with the oxygen off last night and very quickly her oxygen saturation dropped from 95% to 80% and her lips turned blue, so she's not ready to go off oxygen yet. Please pray that her lungs will grow stronger and that she'll start to breath with deeper breaths so she can be free of the oxygen soon (this is the key for her going home)
The new bottle has also really paid off - she was averaging 12 cc's per feeding with the old nipple/bottle, and for the first couple of days with the Haberman bottle, she was averaging 15 cc's per feeding. But starting late Saturday, she took 32 cc's and all day Sunday she was averaging 22 cc's.  Then on her last feed last night she did 27 ccs! This is really a big step in the right direction for her! She gets the remainder of her 65 cc's via the feeding tube, and with the new oral feeding tube (which is larger), it is so much quicker! So please pray that she will continue to increase her strength so she can work up to taking all her feedings through the bottle!
Now that she's not having to work so hard to nurse from the bottle, she's also staying awake so much more - yesterday she had two times when she was awake and alert for 2 hours! This is such a precious time as we have great talks and she holds eye contact so well - this is serious bonding time, that's for sure!
I'm doing so much better - my energy is up, my color is so much better, my feet are getting better, and I'm sleeping better. I can't believe we are still here, and if anyone had told me at the beginning of this adventure, that we'd be here for over 2 weeks I would have not handled that information very well.
So here we are starting week 3, with really no idea how much longer we'll be here. I just concentrate on what I need to do for Esther, and leave the rest to God, that's all I can do.
On the lighter side, there are two other moms in the nursery and we have become quite close - funny thing is that we are all about the same height, all are brunettes with about the same length of hair (especially if we have out hair in pony tails), and we all have girls! We are hoping to do a photo shoot today even! We were discussing yesteray that they should do a sit com on TV about moms in a special care nursery - as reality is just a little strange in there - we get excited about things that would be just strange in the scope of normal life - like getting excited because we pumped more milk than every before, that our baby pooped today, that the diapers weighed enough and things like that! But I think the average family just wouldn't "catch" the humor like moms who have been in this situation - but it was really fun coming up with scenarios - got us laughing and that is the best thing for us moms!
Thanks so much for all the prayers and words of encouragement - it helps me more that you can amagine!
Special thanks to:
Heather for 3 gallons of water
Pastor Mark, for my favorite salad
Sandy, for a surprise tea party
Kathy, for fluffy "spoil me" socks that are keeping my tootsies warm today!
Uncle Vern and Aunt Marilyn, for keeping an open door policy for me so when i don'thave a camping room, I have a home away from home that keeps me close to Esther!
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