Monday, June 30, 2008

A Great Night

Kirsten and I finally got to spend a night with our daughter last night. It wasn't in our ideal setting-- we were still in the hospital-- but it was really great. I know I posted last week that the overnight stay was scheduled for Monday night (tonight), but on Friday evening, another family requested the room for Monday night and we were able to move to this past night. Overall, the night was quite uneventful-- we bathed and weighed Madeleine at 9PM and also changed her colostomy bag-- our first time doing it alone. After the 9PM feeding, we held her for a while and then put her to sleep around 10:30. Madeleine was fully willing to sleep all night long-- a dream for most parents but not so much for us as she has to eat every three hours-- she needs to gain some weight. Outside of changing and feeding Madeleine every three hours, the rest of the night was pretty great. I was able to get a few hours of sleep-- Kirsten didn't sleep nearly as well. Its definitely going to be a challenge but its a challenge that all parents must face.

During the day time, Madeleine is doing great with bottle feeding-- she has taken the last two full feeds from the bottle from Kirsten today-- 50cc's. At night, she is just so worn out from the day time that she doesn't seem to recognize the need to feed and we end up putting the formula through her feeding tube. We think that as she continues to grow, she'll figure out the feeding during the night time and we'll be able to remove the feeding tube.

Overall, we feel quite confident that she will be released on Wednesday. She's still struggling a bit with breathing-- she's tachypnic every once in a while-- but it seems to be improving and we don't think it will set us back.

That's all for now. We'll let you know if anything further develops and hope to post a picture of Madeleine on Wednesday as she is leaving the NICU.

Brent and Kirsten

6 comments:

melissa said...

YAY!!! Wednesday is going to be a great day (my b-day also :) anyway, luc has BPD and spent time at home on O's, so if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! We are SO flippin' excited for you guys! spend the next 2 nights getting as much sleep as possible :)

Erika said...

Congratulations on a great night! I promise, they won't all be so uneventful so like Melissa said-Get Your Rest! You'll need it. :o) Love you all!

Anonymous said...

Way to Go! You two are gonna just ace this parent thing. Madeleine is so lucky to have you for parents. Hope to see you both (three) soon.
Love
Nancy Leport

Epicurious Cooking said...

Hi Guys,
Congrats on spending some real quality alone time with your daughter. I am sure it'll be easier and much more relaxing when she is in your own home!!! very soon! Who cares about sleep... you'll have the most perfect little girl to stare at when you are up feeding her at night! Remember, night time feedings don't last forever. Before you know it she'll be running around!
Enjoy these precious days, your baby girl has made it a long way!
We can't wait to see you.
Love Kellie, Sean and Louisa

Sarah Bushey said...

Can I just DITTO Kellie? It won't matter if it's every hour during the night that you're up with her - it's just that many more times that you get to look at her as you're holding her. When it's your child, what matters is the love. It's finally YOUR turn to be with her all the time. Walking across the hall, not driving, parking riding the ramp, signing in, washing hands, meeting the new nurse... enough! YOUR TURN!! You are the best parents - ANYONE reading this journal of the last 4 months can attest to that. Can't wait for the day - whether it's Wednesday or Tuesday or Thursday or next week. It's in God's hands, no matter what day it is. Love you guys, SO MUCH!
Oh, and we are going to church tomorrow morning because Natalie and Michael want to light a candle for you two and Madeleine. We didn't get to do it yesterday.

Love,
Sarah & Joe
Natalie, Michael & Kaytlin

Anonymous said...

Wonderful, wonderful news!!! You two have been through such trying times-you deserve many boring times ahead. Madeleine is so lucky to have such supporative and loving parents. We are so proud of both of you!

Love,
Barb and Mark