Happy Two Week Birthday, Elise!

Tonight at 9:07pm Elise will officially be two weeks old. Time seems to both be flying and dragging at the same time. Last night while we were waiting to be let in at the NICU (they have shift change just before we arrive so there's usually a small group of parents waiting to get in a little before the change is over) we talked with two of the other couples with babies in the NICU. Ava was born at 32 weeks, and Anthony was born at, I believe, 36 weeks. It was good to spend those few minutes talking with other parents who are in the same place we are right now. We're all so vulnerable that having others there who understand is relieving. Talking with them gave me a little more courage to keep engaging with people while we have those few minutes of waiting every night...I get nervous and don't want to bother anyone so I tend not to say anything.

As you may have already seen on the sidebar, Ellie was up to 2 pounds, 12.4 ounces last night. We can definitely tell she's filling out. Tomorrow night we'll find out how much longer she's gotten.

Today's call from the doctor brought news of a possible infection in Ellie's nose. She has developed small white pustules in her nose that were most likely caused by the CPAP. They sent swabs from her nose off for testing to see if she has an infection; it takes about 72 hours to hear the results. In the meantime, they're putting antibiotic ointment in her nose every few hours (can't remember the exact frequency). They're also now treating her as if she has an infection as a part of routine infection control precautions. So she has a sign on her bed that indicates such, and all of the medical staff are now required to wear special gowns and gloves when working with Ellie. We don't have to wear the protection since she's not actually known to be infectious.

As a result of the pustules, they also took her off of the CPAP and replaced it with a nasal cannula for the time being. The nasal cannula doesn't provide as good of oxygen coverage as the CPAP, but it's keeping her levels up for now. (And for anyone who has watched the show The Pretender, she's looking like a smaller, hairier, much cuter version of Raines.)

They've increased her continuous feeding again so she's up to 6 cc every hour. She's now off of the fat emulsion and just has some form of IV fluids in addition to fortified milk. According to her nurse today, Marissa, they're working to get her to just milk soon.

Last night we brought in a pair of little preemie socks that Kit's mom bought for Ellie. We haven't brought in the clothes she and my mom bought quite yet since I'm a little apprehensive of having her leads covered with clothes (call me overprotective; it's ok - I'm a first time mom with a baby in the NICU so I'm allowed to be nervous). We haven't brought in any blankets either because the nurses have told us that occasionally personal blankets end up with the NICU washing and are never seen by the family again. I'll probably bring in some blankets that are okay to be lost at some point, but I'm not in a huge hurry since they have nice warm blankets in the NICU.

Back to the socks. Ellie's little feet are teensie tiny so they float in the socks, but she seemed to really enjoy having them on and still had them on when we visited her today. Here are photos of our little cutie from last night and this afternoon with her pink striped socks. There's also a video of her showing off her bright eyes and her socks.

Stretching out after long nap with one sock off and one sock on (diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John - anyone?).

Her precious little face, which we hadn't seen without at least nose tape or her "mustache" attached to for at least a couple of days.

Looking too cute with both her socks on. We got really excited at how cute she was, and then she opened her eyes and kept looking at us.

She can only see at about 6 inches away from her face, and even then it's just shadows. But she was still looking at us quite intently.

Her cute little leg today. You can see in her thigh and toes that she's definitely put on some weight.

Her nasal cannula. Because the cannula doesn't seal like her CPAP does, she technically didn't have to have the chin strap; however, she likes to sleep with her mouth open (like her mom) so they had to put the strap on to keep the oxygen from escaping.

She looks kind of like an adorable little Eskimo.

From March 20, 2009

Click on the picture above or the link below the picture to watch the video.