Happy due date!
pump…pump…pump…pump…


How many mother’s know their baby drank 15.8 oz today and they pumped 19.67?
Upcoming appts Tues or Wed (because of the holiday, we couldn’t even make the appts yet):
Lactation Consultant… breast is not what Kayley prefers in her mouth at all!
Dentist… looks like she also has a tongue tie- though it seems less of a problem than the boys had it. She also has a tooth- hahaha! Upper, her right side.
Pediatrician… who hasn’t even seen her yet since she went directly to the NICU.
And to round things out… OB 2 wk follow-up is on Thursday.

After 10 days in the NICU- she’s home!!!!!!


Andy bolted from the room and Brendan had big googly eyes and took awhile to even touch her hand, haha. Kayley is currently in her car seat on the table and is being watched over by two grandmas eager to hold her.
She latched on fairly well this afternoon and more or less nursed for 45 minutes. I had to use a nipple shield and I am sooo curious how much she got. I really don’t think a whole lot despite how well she did because she sucked down 2 2/3 ounces by bottle about half an hour later. Lil piggy!
I’m gonna be up all night, I just know it!

She is off the nasal cannula!!!!! Nothing mars her pretty little face now!
Kayley might come home tomorrow!! BFing ranges from nada nada limonada (nothing doing) to 10 min and from sucko latch to not too bad and with or without a breast shield and with or without sneaking drips of BM to her via oral syringe. I pretty much left in hysterics (you should see all the NICU people that come out of the woodwork when you attempt to leave crying- no way are you getting out of there! Ha!) last night but feel better about it today. Just get her home….
Think positive thoughts for continued good breathing and a weight gain….

Plugged ducts. Ugh!!! I felt achy all over last night and yesterday afternoon… not a good sign. I may have to pay another visit to the Lactation Consultants. We have really good ones here.
Kayley got moved up to 52 cc last night. Little peanut is back to her low of 6-9 again. She was still on the highest cannula settings despite having perfect respiration rates and oxygens sats all day. The night nurse wasn’t one who felt like she could change the settings though. She said the dr would probably do it in the morning.
We also ought to find out if her c-reactive proteins come back still elevated or if the infection scare is done with. So far cultures have revealed nothing.
Evening update:
Well… they didn’t do the c-reactive protein test… hmmpf. But according to our calculations, she should have finished up her 7 days of antibiotics today… so perhaps she’ll be IVless tomorrow!
Nasal cannula set one point lower… now at power level 4. Slow going but it’s moving down. Kayley looks great and is breathing great so I anticipate it being lowered tomorrow. Despite having her feeds upped to 55, she lost another ounce today. My lil peanut weighs 6 lb 8 oz now.
She’s not yet in clothes… but the nurse tonight said she might put her in something after her bath. Maybe we’ll have a cute picture tomorrow night?
Kayley can be amazingly alert! She seems to sleep just as soundly too! I finally feel she is getting to know me… distinguishing me from all the other people.
Still no BFing but the plugged ducts are a little better. I never got a fever so OB didn’t prescribe antibiotics. I’m also watching a red line that has appeared about my incision… might be infection or blood that has collected under the skin. I was told to trace it with a marker and see if it gets bigger.
The pump and I are duking it out. I seem to be on the sucker (har har) all the time. I did not increase in supply very much today. I am hoping for better results tomorrow. After this pumping I will have made about 1 oz more today than she took in.

I took a pumping break and went 5 hours without last night. Does the mind and spirit good! I made my first 2.5 oz full bottle this morning! I’m ahead of her now! She’s at 1 1/3 oz per feeding.
Just getting impatient for her to be off cpap and get a little more interactive with her!
I could use some positive thoughts for a good first breastfeeding, whether it be today or tomorrow.
Some answers to questions I’ve been asked…
I guessed 8-5 and the OB, as I was on the OR table, guessed 8 1/2. LOL! You should have seen the fountain of amniotic fluid though- it went straight up!
The boys are fine- now that I am mostly home- but they were showing stress, definitely.
Note to self- 4 adults (our parents and 1 aunt) who aren’t used to each other in one house is a baaaad idea. Just sayin’.
I’ve had one breakdown (when I heard about the automatic 7 day stay) and a couple teary moments (like when Kayley got her cpap mask adjusted and was clawing her face to get it off). DH also has had one breakdown moment… he’s mortified, lol. I was in the shower when the OB came to visit and asked how we were doing. He sobbed out the story to her… apparently for the entire 10 min I was in the shower. Poor guy.
Evening Update:
CPAP is off! But I just found out the nasal cannula might take several days to wean her from. Opinions differ but general consensus seems to be cannula + BFing is not a good idea. She might breathe in milk. I wonder if they’ll let her off the cannula when it is set lower when it’s time to eat or I’ll have to wait until she’s weaned from it too… or what? She is still fed by OG tube (mouth to stomach). She’s now taking 48 cc every 8 hours. Such a challenge keeping up. I might make 70 cc 2x at night but the other pumpings are anywhere from 40 cc to 48 cc. 8x a day is so hard. 7 is easier… but 7 may just not be enough.
Sigh. I’m tired. But Kayley looks pretty darn good! I held her the entire time we were there today! She has very alert times and is a wiggler, lol.

PAK- pumping at keyboard! 😉
Thankfully this evening’s visit was a terrific one! Our favorite nurse was on duty and Kayley was doing well. She was at 32% oxygen this morning (21% is room air), 28% when we got there this evening and it was turned down to 25% while we were there and it didn’t phase her one bit. It’d be even better if she was ready for less pressure but I’ll take less oxygen for now. Her breathing was slower too so we had a happy visit. I didn’t ask to hold her but I got to do simple things like change her diaper, take her temperature, hold her up while they zeroed out the scale (the bed she is in does amazing things!), hold her feeding tube as the breastmilk moved down the tube and then I spent a lot of time just holding her pacifier in her mouth since she was awake and rooting around. She loves to suck- it is really comforting to her. We spent 10 minutes getting her positioned *just so* so her hand was holding her pacifier in her mouth before she drifted off to sleep and we left. It was peaceful.
She is taking 30cc breastmilk/formula every 3 hours and on this she gained weight today- yay! She weighed 6 lb 9 oz last night and 6 lb 11 oz tonight. I pump 8x a day and I don’t quite make what she takes yet but I often come close- today I pumped 27 cc’s twice and 26 once… very close! If she stays at 30 cc’s tomorrow I just might overtake her, haha. Gives me a challenge! I am pumping now and it looks like a good one!
Trend for her is to have great evening and poor mornings though so we kind of grimace as we walk in there for the first time every day. Fingers crossed that tomorrow she will tolerste less pressure with the c-pap and maybe she’ll wean off of it by the following day. I can hope. I really want to hold her without gloves or headgear- neither which has happened yet. And to breastfeed her would be so wonderful! She has to maintain slow breathing so that she can breath and suck and not be at risk for inhaling the milk.
ETA: I pumped 43 cc’s!!! Holy cow… mooo! LOL.
3 and a half days old…

Kayley is Bee-utiful!!! Not a birthmark on her from what I can tell and has a fair good amount of dark hair. She was born breech! She peed and pooped before her head was delivered- haha!
Unfortunately even though I am now home, she is not. She has been in the NICU since leaving the OR. She has lung issues (collapsing, air leaks, rapid breathing, etc.) AND a mystery infection where tests indicate infection of some sort but cultures so far have come back negative so we don’t have any idea what kind or where. She has been on antibiotics since day 1 but this test result = a minimum 7 day NICU stay. We wonder whether her lung issues or her infection will clear up first. Sigh.
It was so hard to leave her there. It is hard to not hold her- I have only 2x and both times she was asleep and had breathing gear on (specifically c-pap). Sometimes she is agitated and we really can’t touch her. Sometimes she is doing well and looks right at me while I talk to her.
Hard also to pump pump pump. I’ve never breastfed her and I wonder if the transition will be soon and be smooth or not… I am pumping fairly well though I never seem to be quite what she is eating. She takes all her feeds by a tiny tube that goes down her mouth and into her stomach. It is kinda cool because they can pull whatever is left in her stomach out again later and look at it- to see if she digested it and more. Haha.
Amazingly, Miss Kayley is a tiny peanut. She started out 7-1 and now is down to 6-9. She is just precious and I hope the next few days are mostly good progress and few setbacks.
Kayley just born…

1 day old…

2 days old…

Eeeeeeeeeeepppppppppppp!!!!!!

Official weight gain… 10 lbs. Largely influenced by the fact that my swelling is almost nonexistent right now. I have no idea why this time was different. With Andy my ankles flowed over my socks, lol, and I gained 6 lbs in the last week alone. A definite difference from my typical 25 pounds but I’m not complaining!
Blood pressure higher… 130/90 and +1 for protein again. I think that would have gotten a 24 hour jug o’ pee test if it wasn’t for the imminent delivery.
I had a NST and she passed with flying colors. Wish I could make her move like she did when I’m worried about it.
Tick tock… I’ll be in the hospital in less than 60 hours! It’s nearly showtime!

The Baby Expo was today. This is the end result of 4 hours of walking… minus all the papers and booklets to read. Just the loot! OMG I’m tired!!! LOL. Click it.