I realize it's been a few days since I last posted anything, and I'm sorry for that. I know you're all waiting quite impatiently for the latest news on little Emma. Well, as of last night, she's up to 3 pounds 5 ounces. She's gained an ounce a day for the last 3 days, so that's still right in line with where they want and expect her to be.
The breathing issues are still present though. Today when they listened to her lungs they sounded like they were filling with fluid again. Also, there was a little bit of swelling around her eyes. Because of this they decided to give her another dose of the diuretic today. This will help relieve some of the fluid build up in her little body. As a side effect, it will more than likely cause her to lose a little weight the next time they weigh her, as some of the weight gain was probably some water weight. So by releasing some of those fluids she will more than likely drop an ounce or so. It was explained to us today that they plan to give her the diuretic for 3 days, take 4 days off, and then do another 3 day dose. After that they will assess and see how she is doing. That's the plan at this point. As with everything else in a NICU, I'm sure it can change in a heartbeat. But for now, that's the course of action over the next week and a half.
Her red blood cell count was a little bit low today as well, but there's another count that they check when they check the red blood cells. This is the count of the new red blood cells that the body is producing, and it was very good. So for that reason they did not decide to give her a transfusion at this point. The body is a fickle thing. It knows that it needs to do certain things, such as produce red blood cells, and hers is producing new ones. But if they give her a transfusion, the body may stop producing them for a period of time. They want to train her body to produce them all on her own, and as such will not give her any blood unless it's absolutely necessary. But she's doing very well in that department as well.
She's still only had the one bottle feed last week, but she was going to town on a pacifier today when Brit was there with her. They gave it to her while she was getting her food through her feeding tube. So maybe she's gonna start showing the cues again and they may try another bottle soon. She'll be 36 weeks gestation tomorrow, so they definitely want her to start taking bottles sooner rather than later. They won't rush her if she's not ready, but they hope that she is ready pretty soon.
That's about all that's happened over the past few days. She's growing and progressing quite well. You never know what you're gonna hear when you call for that first update in the morning. The whole situation is exhausting, but at the same time, it's become our routine for the last 6 weeks. Hard to believe that she's 6 weeks old today! It seems just like yesterday that she was born, but at the same time, it seems like an eternity ago as well. So we're all hanging in there and doing the best we can. Thanks again to everyone for all of the prayers. And please, keep them coming.
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