No major changes with Olivia. Her vent settings are the same. No word on when they may try and wean yet, just giving her more time on the current vent settings. She had an xray the other day, there wasn’t too much of a change with the haziness of her lungs. She had an echo done this morning and she still has a PFO and her PDA is still moderate. Monday is lab day. Most of her labs came back good, but her red blood cell count was low again. Because she is older, not on the jet ventilator, and more stable, they started to give her epogen. Epogen is used to treat anemia by helping the body create more red blood cells. She will get this treatment for 10 days and then with her labs we will see if she needs to be on it longer.
As I am typing this at her bedside, Dad is changing a very poopy diaper.
Today’s nurse highlight is our primary Courtney. You may remember me mentioning her because she surprised me getting to hold Olivia for a second time. Courtney loves sports. She grew up playing basketball, still plays in a rec league, and coaches high school girls. She loves the Broncos and the Giants. Both of our husband’s only love caesar salad. And she enjoys going out on the lake in their boat in the summertime. We connected with Courtney immediately. Like all of our nurses she has been such a strong advocate for our girl. She really shows that she cares and loves Livy. I am so appreciative of the way she communicates with us, helping us understand all of the medical jargon. Whenever she leaves for a few days, she always tells us she will be praying for Olivia and that means so much to us. We have a feeling she will be in our lives after our NICU stay 🙂
Our next cool NICU thing are the NICU Beads of Courage. Every two weeks we’re given a set of beads to string together. Each bead has a different meaning like red means blood transfusion, yellow means hospital stays, and the glass beads are for special milestones. The beads are a way to help families cope during a serious time. I have found that it is a good activity to do at Olivia’s bedside. It will be a cool momento for us to look back on this chapter and a visual reference for Olivia to learn about this time of her life.
Lil’ Liv’s Numbers:
- 71 days old
- Gestation: 35 weeks and 5 days
- Weight: 4lbs and 3.2oz
Until next time…
The One... 