6 days old

Had a nice visit yesterday.  Alice is hanging in there.  She's having problems breathing so her oxygen levels have been increased as well as her caffeine jolts (I'm thinking it's like a shot of Red Bull she gets to remind her to breathe).  The breathing is the toughest thing for these little ones - it tires them out so much that they just forget.

She also had her 5 day scan on her brain to see what it was doing - and there's a grade 2 bleed on the left side.  From what we've been told this is nothing to worry about - there are four levels (grade 1, 2, 3 and 4), so this being a grade 2 is okay.  Kids born at full term can also have these bleeds.  She will get another scan at 10-14 days old. 

The nurse had to change her hat yesterday so got to see her head - which has a full head of dark hair (just like when Max was born).  Also got to see a diaper change (very teeny tiny diapers).

The phone rang at 9:30 last night (call display said it was the hospital).  One of the doctor's was calling to say they had intubated Alice.  Which means they have put the tube back in her mouth, down to her lungs to help her breathe.  This is a big relief (we were expecting it to happen, just didn't know when) so now she will breathe with much more ease.  Her oxygen levels have now decreased from 42% to 24%  - another good sign that she is doing better with the assisted breathing.  The doc said she's a strong little girl!

That's the update for now.