I guess we owe you a few updates. We did an overnight oxymetry on Saturday night. The machine employs a flawed technology. Each time she moved, wiggled or scooted, the machine registered a false reading. Unfortunately, Mikaila is a very wiggly sleeper so the data is a bit messy. If they are unable to affectively scrub the data, we may have to do it again. We kept the other monitor going simultaneously and of course she was satting in the high 90's the entire time. The reality is she has been off of oxygen for almost 2 weeks now. We just want the monitor to go away so that we might get a bit of sleep.
The other nugget of info you may be anxiously awaiting word on relates to Mikaila's hearing screen. If you will recall, Mikaila flagged her hearing screen at the NICU. She had a scheduled re-screening today at 3 back at Albany Med. Her left ear passed very quickly. The right ear was a bit more of a challenge. The monitor had gone through roughly 7500 iterations when the person admistering the test went to find the audiologist. Before she left she indicated that Mikaila was likely to fail the test with her right ear and that she wanted the audiologist present to explain the implications. However, while she was gone, Mikiala passed the test. It took over 10,000 iterations (she passed on her left with just 1000) but she passed. One more worry to cross off of the list.
Before we left we decided to pay a visit to our friends at the NICU. Nurse Amy had just left but we did get a chance say hello to Dr. Rios. He was very please with Mikaila's progress and had no doubt that she would continue on what he said was a remarkable course. Nurse Lanette, one of our favorite nurses, was there as was Katherine. They were excited to see little Mikaila and couldn't believe her size. We will have to make another appearance to allow Amy to get a peek at Mikaila.
That's about it. There is a scheduled outage in a few minutes so I will have to end this post.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
No more Oxygen... I think.
Sorry again for yet another lapse in posts. I often find it difficult to find the time and energy to collect my thoughts and recount her recent activity. I will again vow to TRY to do a better job of updating this blog. I know that Mikaila has many fans that like to know what is going on with her day to day.
Mikaila has been off of oxygen for 9 days now. I’ll take a moment for you to internalize that information, disseminate to those within earshot, and engage in whatever celebration ritual endemic to your heritage. I’ve always been partial to the Jig but the Icky Shuffle is a close second. Ok, we’re back. Dr. Schroeder, her pulmonologist, ordered an overnight oxymetry. If all goes well, and we fully expect it will, her oxygen tanks and monitor will be a thing of the past. The folks that provide the equipment should arrive at the house in the next hour or so to deliver the special oxymeter.
The early intervention people paid a visit this morning to plan a course of action for the next 6 months. They were astounded by some of Mikaila’s abilities and accomplishments. For instance, Mikaila, when placed on her activity mat, will try to crawl toward, and reach for some of the objects attached to the mat. The reaching apparently is a 6 month skill. For the record, Mikaila’s corrected age is one month as her due date was exactly one month ago. They were very please with her overall progress and indicated that there really wasn’t anything that needed monitoring. However, given her birth and medical history, all aspects of her development should be systematically reviewed. We will have a monthly visit from a physical therapist and have access to specialists should any issues arise. They won’t.
About 20 minutes after the early intervention folks left the house, Mikaila executed another maneuver that is truly remarkable. Kim had placed Mikaila in her pack and play on her stomach. Moments later, Kim heard Mikaila fussing and looked over only to see Mikaila now lying on her back. Again, she is not supposed to be able to do this.
That’s about all I have for now. Kim uploaded a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Mikaila has been off of oxygen for 9 days now. I’ll take a moment for you to internalize that information, disseminate to those within earshot, and engage in whatever celebration ritual endemic to your heritage. I’ve always been partial to the Jig but the Icky Shuffle is a close second. Ok, we’re back. Dr. Schroeder, her pulmonologist, ordered an overnight oxymetry. If all goes well, and we fully expect it will, her oxygen tanks and monitor will be a thing of the past. The folks that provide the equipment should arrive at the house in the next hour or so to deliver the special oxymeter.
The early intervention people paid a visit this morning to plan a course of action for the next 6 months. They were astounded by some of Mikaila’s abilities and accomplishments. For instance, Mikaila, when placed on her activity mat, will try to crawl toward, and reach for some of the objects attached to the mat. The reaching apparently is a 6 month skill. For the record, Mikaila’s corrected age is one month as her due date was exactly one month ago. They were very please with her overall progress and indicated that there really wasn’t anything that needed monitoring. However, given her birth and medical history, all aspects of her development should be systematically reviewed. We will have a monthly visit from a physical therapist and have access to specialists should any issues arise. They won’t.
About 20 minutes after the early intervention folks left the house, Mikaila executed another maneuver that is truly remarkable. Kim had placed Mikaila in her pack and play on her stomach. Moments later, Kim heard Mikaila fussing and looked over only to see Mikaila now lying on her back. Again, she is not supposed to be able to do this.
That’s about all I have for now. Kim uploaded a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Mikaila has been off of oxygen for five days now. We haven't placed the canula in her nose for even a moment since mid day on Wednesday. I spoke with the lung doctor and he was quite pleased. He suggested we do an overnight oxymetry and ordered the device. We should have it either tomorrow or Wednesday. If successful, the monitor and oxygen tank should be out of the house in short order.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Quick Update
Mikaila is progressing well. Her canula remains off for most of the day- we keep the oxygen tank on at its lowest setting and have the canula at the ready to avoid severe desats. At this point, Mikaila really only desats during a diaper change. However, even in those instances, she recovers very quickly. I have a call in to the lung specialist to see when we can get rid of the oximeter, canula and tank.
Mikaila has had a number of split-ups of late but her growth remains fairly consistent so we are chalking it up to what we know to be an immutable fact: sometimes, babies spit up.
That’s all I have for now. I will try to get back on the horse and post more frequently.
Mikaila has had a number of split-ups of late but her growth remains fairly consistent so we are chalking it up to what we know to be an immutable fact: sometimes, babies spit up.
That’s all I have for now. I will try to get back on the horse and post more frequently.
Friday, July 4, 2008
7 lbs 1 ounce
We weighed Mikaila prior to her 8pm feed and she registered 7 lbs 1 ounce. Her pace slowed in the last 10 days or so creating a close contest. Congratulations to Diane. When I have the bottle in hand, I can either send it or bring it with me on my next trip to Rochester. I tend to come to town at least once a month. Enjoy.
Happy 4th of July!
Happy 4th of July everyone! Mikaila may get a chance to see her very first Alplaus 4th of July Parade as it proceeds at a snails pace past our house; the route is not at all surprising given Alplaus’ designation as the smallest population in a zip code within the continental US. It is hard to get around Alplaus without passing our house at some point.
Today we celebrate our declaration of independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. However, from this point forward, for the folks that frequent this blog, the 4th of July will hold another, perhaps less important significance. This evening, we will weigh Mikaila to conclude our little contest. We haven’t weighed her in a number of days so at this point, at least as far as we know, the winning number is still up in the air. We will weigh her in the buff after a diaper change and before her meal at 8pm.
I’ll do a quick update on Mikaila’s oxygen requirements. At this point, we can keep the oxygen off when she is sleeping comfortably. To be specific, if she is fairly comfortable following a feed, we can turn the oxygen off until she needs to be changed prior to her next feed. She always desats during changing; even when the oxygen is on. She doesn’t care for it. Frankly, it isn’t my favorite pastime either. She has gotten to the point where we can feed her without the need for supplemental oxygen fairly frequently. We are close. I can’t imagine her needing the oxygen beyond next week but I should reiterate that progress in this regard is far from linear.
I broke out the camcorder this morning that we bought for our wedding 2 ½ years ago. We bought this device in the place of hiring a videographer thinking we would use it later in life. To this point, it has been collecting dust in the hutch. The short videos we have posted on the blog have come from our camera. Our camcorder was fairly bleeding edge when we bought it; I believe it was the first camcorder to feature a hard drive as its storage format. I took a short clip this morning of Mikaila sleeping on my mother but before I post it, I will have to figure out how to convert it into a usable format. It records to a .pgi file- a format I have never come across.
More later. Enjoy your day.
Today we celebrate our declaration of independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. However, from this point forward, for the folks that frequent this blog, the 4th of July will hold another, perhaps less important significance. This evening, we will weigh Mikaila to conclude our little contest. We haven’t weighed her in a number of days so at this point, at least as far as we know, the winning number is still up in the air. We will weigh her in the buff after a diaper change and before her meal at 8pm.
I’ll do a quick update on Mikaila’s oxygen requirements. At this point, we can keep the oxygen off when she is sleeping comfortably. To be specific, if she is fairly comfortable following a feed, we can turn the oxygen off until she needs to be changed prior to her next feed. She always desats during changing; even when the oxygen is on. She doesn’t care for it. Frankly, it isn’t my favorite pastime either. She has gotten to the point where we can feed her without the need for supplemental oxygen fairly frequently. We are close. I can’t imagine her needing the oxygen beyond next week but I should reiterate that progress in this regard is far from linear.
I broke out the camcorder this morning that we bought for our wedding 2 ½ years ago. We bought this device in the place of hiring a videographer thinking we would use it later in life. To this point, it has been collecting dust in the hutch. The short videos we have posted on the blog have come from our camera. Our camcorder was fairly bleeding edge when we bought it; I believe it was the first camcorder to feature a hard drive as its storage format. I took a short clip this morning of Mikaila sleeping on my mother but before I post it, I will have to figure out how to convert it into a usable format. It records to a .pgi file- a format I have never come across.
More later. Enjoy your day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
