Progress, progress, progress

Addison has continued to progress this week and is doing really well on her oxygen and feeds. Our nurse Deb has been able to ween her down to 10 % on her oxygen, and Addison is still saturating well. We attempted to "sprint" with Addison off her oxygen completely the other day, but she was not fooled. After approximately 2 hours she noticed the oxygen was gone and had a bradycardia spell. She obviously still needs it so we will try and try again in a few days. Deb laughs as she said that the oxygen she is getting is next to nothing, but after being on it so long these little munchkins sometimes have a hard time letting go of it. We understand, she has put up a good fight and we will continue to let her go at her own pace. Addison continues to do well with her feeds and we have gotten her down now to where she is receiving a 3 hour volume feed over 1 hour. This is great, the next step is to get her down to a true bolus feed of a 3 hour volume feed over an 1/2 hour. She is already starting to wake up prior to her next tube feeding and is showing real interest in rooting and waking up hungry. We actually attempted some breast latching the other day, which she did not to bad on. It was such a great feeling to know after all of this hard work pumping to keep up my milk, that I may actually get truly feed my little girl soon. Makes you feel like a real mom finally. As you can see the new cooler we purchased for the breastmilk is full, Greg is wondering what the heck we are going to do with more milk!!! Poor guy. Well the milk is doing Addison well, her last weigh in yesterday was 2195 grams or 4lbs and 13 oz. She is growing strong. Doctors have finally removed her from her diurectic; Aldactazide as they feel that she has done well to rid her body of the extra fluid. There was also concerns that her calcium levels had increased and sodium levels had decreased because of the medication, so it was time to remove her. Bloodwork was completed today and Addison levels for her calcium and sodium had come back to normal, and her platelet and hemoglobin levels were all great results. Addison still continues to struggle with her reflux, and needs to be watched when she has a cough or starts her feed. Mom and dad try to stimulate her to keep breathing through these episodes to avoid her heart rate or saturation levels to drop. They are getting pretty good at noticing this and helping Addison fight through it, so her recovery is much better and done on her own without extra oxygen assistance.

We have really started to notice changes in Addison, she really is turning into quite the cute little lady. All of the nursing staff tease us that she is one spoiled little girl, but we don't mind, we are going to continue to shower our little girl with love. She deserves it. The nurses spoil her too, which is great to see. They always have fun picking out her next outfit from her repetoire of clothes from all the wonderful gifts she has received already. Pink seems to be the hit colour, including this fav Pink Kimono wrap from Andrea (she has two boys so I am sure she had fun shopping for this one, Thanks Andrea). We are frequently getting comments that Addison really looks like her daddy, with a few features from mom, including the long eyelashes, even though Addy's are blonde. Her hair has really turned quite fair, with a touch of redness to it from the Baker side of the family. Hee Hee. She continues to amaze us everyday, showing us a new smile, letting out a new "coo", and acting so much more alert and attentive to us talking to her. We are soaking it all in and proud of her continued progress. We fall in love with her more and more each day, it truly is amazing how these little wonders can steal your heart.

Mom and dad have been working hard at home and have almost completed Addison's room. There are a few last minute touches, including getting Addison home to fill the room with baby!! We have noticed that there are a few more things we will have to complete that we had been putting off, but because of Addison's chronic lung disease they will need to be done. We cannot keep the old carpet in downstairs because of old dust, etc, so our next project is ripping that up and cleaning up the front room, to make it as clean as possible for her little lungs to remain healthy. But whatever is necessary, will be done.