Night and Day

Ellie had an amazing night last night! She had only 10 desats all night and no A/B episodes ... and that was with being on her back all night. So she was doing much better on her back. She was also stooling well during the night. She has tolerated her feedings with no more than 1.5 residuals. She's also not spitting up. She was on her back all night to help round out her head and she did great. She was also waking up for feedings and was sucking on her pacifier hard enough to see it go back and forth and loud enough to hear. When we came in this morning Ellie was cute and smiley. Mom, dad and Aunt Wendy all got to see her smile big and show her teeth ... uh, gums. Meanwhile she started having desats and A/B episodes ... about 5 in a row. Ellen (Ellie's Nurse Practitioner) came in and told us that Ellie was looking a little pale in skin color - so a concern is anemia. They mentioned that some preemies have transfusions, but only when it is critically necessary. She is going to check blood work on Tuesday to further investigate the anemia, but it's far from an emergency. Ellen was going to turn down the O2, but with all of her A/B's this morning she decided to keep it where it was. Ellie, you were so close girl! But that's okay, we still have plenty of time. Ellen also decided to up her feedings to 30 mL. That's a whole ounce! (Okay, actually 28.3 mL is an ounce, but the hospital seems to just round it up to 30 mL.) If she tolerates two feedings at 30 mL they will further fortify mom's milk to 24 calories. We have our next care conference on Thursday after her labs come back. Please pray that Ellie will be able to produce her own red blood cells and won't need a blood tranfusion. Also continue to pray for mom and dad as we work our way through Ellie's ups and downs.