March 1, 2012

Last night was a pretty good night for miss Harli.  She did have four episodes throughout the night, two of those required stem and two did not.  She continues to sleep well throughout the night.

Today was a better day for Harli.  She only had a couple episodes, which not all of them required stem.  The doctor and nurse practitioner did not make any changes, so she remains on the one liter of vapotherm and 32ml of milk.  They have continued to keep her wrapped in blankets since they have the heat turned down in her bed.  When they have her wrapped up in the blankets there is not much movement since her arms and legs are all bundled up.

Today Blair got to do non nutritive feeding again, which Harli handled great.  She is getting closer everyday to be breast feeding.  It is amazing to see how much Blair enjoyed it!  Both of my girls are doing so great, and I am so thankful.

I got the chance to kangaroo Harli tonight for almost two hours.  During our kangaroo session Harli's vitals remained perfect until the very end.  She had an episode that was a little longer, but with a little bit of stimulation she took back off.

Harli weighed in at 1790 grams, or 3lbs 15.5ozs.  She is very close to the magical 1800 grams.  Once she hits 1800 grams they will raise the top off her bed to see how her body temperature maintains on room temperature. If her body temperature maintains they will consider moving her into a crib.

"I will never leave you or abandon you."  Hebrews 13:5

February 29, 2012

Last night was another wonderful night for our little angel.  She only had one episode around nine, and then she fell asleep and stayed asleep until five this morning.  I had to thank our nurse this morning for teaching our daughter how to sleep through the whole night. 

Today was an eventful day for both Blair and Harli.  Harli had four episodes throughout the day which is a little more than she has been having.  This could just have a little to do with the fact that she is having to work a little harder for each breath.  The nurse said that with two of her episodes she was able to recover on her own, but the other two required a little bit of stimulation. 

Today Blair was going to get to do something that we have been waiting on for a long time.  She was going to get the chance to do non-nutritive breast feeding.  This is when Blair goes and pumps and when it is time for Harli's normal feeding time they put Harli with Blair to see if she tries to breast feed.  I guess things went better than any of the doctors or nurses thought it would go.  So hopefully with this news it wont be long before she is actually able to start breast feeding.

Our precious angel weighed in today at 1760 grams or 3lbs 14ozs.  Harli has now gained two pounds since she was born.  It is amazing how everyday she continues to impress Blair and I with her strength, we serve an amazing God.  She is possibly just a few ounces away from being put into a crib, wow what a step and change that will be for everyone.

"Jesus told him I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one can come to the father except through me."

February 28, 2012

Harli had a good night again last night.  She made it through the whole night without an episode.  She continues to have bowel movements, and is continuing to keep her body temperature up as they lower the temperature in her bed.

Today was another good day for Harli.  The doctor and nurse practitioners made a few changes for today.  They have raised her feedings to match with the weight gain she has been having.  They also lowered her vapotherm machine down to one liter.  This is the lowest she has been to date, and if everything goes smoothly there is a chance by the end of the weekend to just be on straight oxygen.  They changed her vapotherm today around one, and when we left tonight at eight she had only one episode, which she brought up herself.

They lowered her bed temperature down to 26.5ºC, once they get her bed down to 26ºC and can keep her body temperature up then she will just be waiting on her weight gain to graduate to a crib.  They had her wrapped in a blanket today to help her keep her weight up, but apparently she has a little to much of my blood in her body because her temperature was at 37.4ºC.  Her body temperature normally runs at 36.5ºC so she was a little warm.  Once they unwrapped her and just put a blanket over her she had no problems.

Today Harli weighed in at 1730 grams, or 3lbs 13ozs.  If everyone remembers the doctors will start considering putting her in a crib at 1800-2000 grams.  Once again this is totally up to Harli and I'm sure she will tell us when she is ready to make that change.  The nurse practitioner told Blair today that when Harli reaches thirty-four weeks they will start the breast feeding and bottle feeding.  It is truly amazing at how well our daughter is doing, but Blair and I both understand that none of this would be possible if it weren't for our amazing God.  Everyone following our families roller coaster ride has given so much support through prayer which has made all of this possible.  We would like to thank everyone for every prayer they are praying.

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me."  Psalm 138:7

February 27, 2012

Last night was another great night for Harli.  She did not have any episodes and slept for almost the entire night.

Today was another good day for Harli, but not as good as last night.  She had one episode today, which she corrected herself.  She continues to have bowel movements.  The doctor and nurse practitioner decided not to make a change on her vapotherm machine since she only had one twenty four hour period without an episode.  I guess this morning Harli was in a very energetic mood because I guess she did not hold still all morning.  She then spent most of the afternoon sleeping.  Early this morning they did more blood work on Harli and she is starting to low on blood again.  I doubt they will give her blood anytime soon though since she is not having much trouble.  Hopefully soon our daughter will be able to start producing her own blood.

Harli gained another ten grams today putting her at 1690 grams, or 3lbs 11.5 ozs.  She continues to get bigger each day, which the bigger she gets hopefully the less episodes she will have. 

"You can know and depend on the love I have for you." 1 John 4:16

February 26, 2012

Last night was a very good night for Harli, she only had one episode which she corrected herself.

Today was a first for little miss Harli.  She made it through the whole day without an episode.  This is a very big step for her, and hopefully we can keep the trend going. Other than not having any episodes it was a pretty quiet day here at Riley. She continued to handle her 29ml of milk nicely and everything continues to move through her body correctly.  Blair stayed in the room today with a runny nose and did not want to take any chances.  Since Blair had the runny nose I chose not to kangaroo just to be on the safe side.

Depending on how tonight transpires they might try turning down her vapotherm machine tomorrow.  That will be another milestone for Harli, meaning it will be the lowest that it has ever been.  They continue to turn down the heat in her bed to see if she can control her body temperature on her own. So far that has been working out pretty well.

Today they measured Harli and she is at 16.25" long meaning she grew three quarters of an inch since last Sunday.  Harli continues to gain weight putting her at 1680 grams, or 3lbs 11ozs.  I hope tomorrow in rounds they tell Blair how much she has gained for the week because I'm sure its a decent amount.  Our little girl continues to take steps in the right direction, and we continue to ask for prayers in support for our family.

"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Matthew 19:26

February 25, 2012

Harli once again had a good night last night.  She still only had one episode throughout the night, and handled all her feedings well.

Today was not much different.  Throughout the whole day she had one episode, which she corrected on her own. They raised her feedings from 27ml to 29mls, and she has responded well by taking all the milk. Harli remains on two liters on the vapotherm machine at twenty-five percent oxygen.  We are still waiting on the first dirty diaper since last night though, but I think from the way she was acting that it is not far away.

Tonight I got to kangaroo Harli for almost two hours.  She did have a couple times tonight where her vitals were not the strongest.  Her heart rate only dropped once, but her blood oxygen continued to keep going up and down.  Once we put her back in her bed she seemed to settle down a little.  I do know while I was holding her she seemed to be getting a little bit of water through her oxygen tube which might have caused some of the breathing problems.

Harli gained ten grams today putting her at 1640 grams, or 3lbs 10ozs.  She has had good weight gain throughout this whole week and I can't wait until tomorrow when they measure her to see if she has grown in length.

February 24, 2012

Last night was another great night for Harli, she only had one episodes.  So in a twenty for hour period she had four episodes, which means they left her on the vapotherm machine at two liters.

Today was another good day for Harli.  She only had two episodes, so apparently raising her caffeine has helped stimulate her.  She still remains at two liters on the vapotherm machine, which is running around twenty-five percent oxygen.  She is continuing to handle her feeds nicely and continues to have bowel movements frequently.  Today though she did have mucus coming out of her nose.  The doctor and nurse practitioner said this could be from different things.  One is that the vapotherm machine going into her nose lets a little bit of water through every now and then which could just be loosening things up.  It could also be because she is getting a cold.  The reason they think it is from the vapotherm machine is because her breathing remains strong.

Today Blair got to kangaroo for two and a half hours.  I was planning on kangarooing Harli tonight when I arrived, but instead I was able to hold Harli like a normal new born for the first time.  Kangarooing is pretty amazing, but this feeling topped that.  During both, Harli's vitals remained perfect and it seems like she is breathing a little better.

Tonight our nurse and Blair surprised me with Harli's outfit.  She had a green bow in her hair and had on John Deere socks.  They also retrofitted her outfit to make it look like a John Deere outfit, which looked very nice with her blanket.

Standing with the two most beautiful women!

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens." Psalm 68:19