Day 39

Alice has surpassed the 1400 gram mark (by one gram). She's really putting on the weight now, and quite consistently. She now needs to figure out the breathing - which will come in time. She's been bratty lately and forgetting how to breathe. Sunday was a bad day, but she's been doing better since. The docs had an x-ray done of her chest today to see how her lungs are fairing - and they are doing well - which means we don't need to be taking any backwards steps at this time.

Someone asked me today how Alice gets an x-ray. She stays in her incubator and lies on her back. Thee x-ray plate (I'm not sure what it's called) is put on top of her incubator and a portable x-ray machine is wheeled up beside her incubator and an arm reaches over the incubator on top of the "plate" and a button is pushed on the x-ray machine and the picture is taken. All of the files are then digitized so the doctor's can view the files from any computer in the hospital.

Another question from the other day was where is her feeding tube - and the feeding tube goes directly into her mouth right into her tummy. If she was still extubated, the feeding tube would be in her nose going to her tummy.

Third question was about skin to skin cuddles (for those who watch Grey's Anatomy) and yes, we do skin to skin cuddles. The hospital really recommends it as the babies can hear the heart beat, get to know your smell, their body heat and your body heat become in sync and they get into a deep sleep while cuddling. The recommended time for a cuddle is at least one hour so that the babies have one full sleep cycles while cuddling.

She is continuing with her continuous feeds (eating all the time) and this seems to be helping with everything so she only has to concentrate on breathing.

At this time, there's not too much to report on.