Monica - Week 5
Monica is continuing to do really well... especially in the eating department. She how weighs in at a huge 2.065Kg (4 lbs 8 oz)!! She has overtaken many of the other little ones in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU), and once she is able to feed without the tube we think they will start talking about letting her come home. Although Monica now feels quite big to Marie and I (and certainly a lot less fragile), her photos do still make her look much bigger than she is in real life.
After Monica was moved to a cot she got a bit of a cold so had the sniffles for a few days. As a result she was desaturating and having quite a few bradycardic episodes. She had to have an oxygen tube connected and go onto a very small amount of oxygen on and off for 24 hours. A couple of days later though and it is clear she is feeling much better.... she is certainly much more alert and is completely off the oxygen (apart from the odd episode during feeding). She is opening her eyes much more frequently and smiling a lot more. She is back to just the NG (Nasogastric) Tube for feeding, which is just as well as she has now learnt to move her head from side to side (after a lot of huffing and puffing and psyching herself up for it it would seem) so she'll get a lot less upset when doing so. She has also learnt to grab and hold a finger when it is waved in front of her, which I'm mightily impressed with (given that she shouldn't even be born yet let alone opening her eyes and having decent coordination)!! I'd have to say she has also developed a great sense of humour, especially during nappy changes, but only when her dad is doing the honours!
Monica had the oxygen tubes attached for around 24 hours. She didn't much care for them and so tried to remove them a number of times (and very nearly succeeded).
Monica on Day 35 with her delighted mummy.
Monica cuddling mum on Day 36.
Monica has been weighed again and now weights 2.22Kg which is 4 lbs and 14 oz !!
Monica just loves showing her hands off and gets really stressed when the nurses try to put her hands under the blankets.
A very proud dad with a sleeping Monica (after having another 50ml of milk).
Continue to Week 6