As you know, we had limited time to prepare, so things may be rough around the edges for awhile. We wanted to set up a place so all the people who love Natasha would be able to see how she's doing.
For now, this will likely have a lot of medical whatnot, but will soon hold pictures of her first smile, her first ice cream cone, and her first date (with daddy and friends sitting on the front porch polishing guns.. it's all planned)Natasha Rose Neumansky decided to show up early to the party. She was born at 1:53 am on April 6, 2009. She was 4lbs 9oz, and 17 3/4 inches tall.
Because she was so early (she wasn't supposed to arrive until May 24), she needs some special care and won't be home from the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) for a little while. We don't know how long.
Here's what we know:
Her lungs are STRONG. She was screaming in the delivery room and breathing on her own from the beginning. This was fabulous news, as one of the biggest concerns was whether her lungs were developed enough to support her. I received a couple shots of betamethasone, a steroid administered when preterm labor is imminent to quickly mature the baby's lungs. It seems likely these shots did their job, as she surprised everyone with how well she did.
She has jaundice, which is not uncommon at all in newborns, even less so in babies born prematurely, so she is being treated with phototherapy. This is why she gets the raver goggles and the disco lights, and is why we can't hold her much. The light helps break down the bilirubin in her blood, which is a yellow pigment that is a byproduct of the body breaking down red blood cells. In short, when her bilirubin levels go down and stay down, she gets to come out of the light and we get to hold her.She is currently on an IV of hyperalimentation and lipids (essentially, electrolytes/vitamins and fat). On Wednesday, they added a feeding tube to get some real food to her stomach. As of yesterday they're starting to ramp up the amount of milk she gets by 3MLs every other feeding and ramp down the flow of the IV. If she tolerates the food, she'll be able to come off the IV. So far so good, she's up to 23 MLs per feeding and the IV is down to 4 MLs/hour. If things continue to progress well she may be off the IV as early as tomorrow. Because her veins are so small they need to keep moving the IV, so just about every day it's in a different spot. It will be wonderful to have her not have to go through that anymore.
She has a sensor on her foot checking the levels of oxygen in her blood, and a sensor on her chest monitoring her heart and breath rates. One fun thing preterm babies do is randomly slow waaay down their heart rate and sometimes need to be reminded to pick back up. It's called bradycardia, or brady for short. Natasha is no exception, but she's very good about starting back up on her own. There's an alarm that goes off if she starts to brady (one of the myriad alarms that seem to be constantly sounding in the NICU), and the nurses are good about calmly coming to check. Usually by the time their hands are reaching in she's already started picking her breathing back up, which is very good and very normal. Can't really say the same for us.. It's incredibly hard to be calm and not reach in immediately Her oxygenation has been very good all along, which is another indicator of how well she's breathing.
Like all newborns, she lost some weight in the first few days, but is gaining slowly and steadily. As of this morning, she weighs 4lbs 7.4 oz
And that's all we know. Will post more soon
She's just getting used to the night life...and club lighting. ;) We'll all have to watch out for this one - I have a feeling she'll be stronger and smarter than any one of us and will keep us all on our toes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this
wow, I can not believe you've managed to put this together a mere four days after Natasha's birth! You guys are very brave. Aurora spend two weeks in the hospital (a couple of those days in the PICU) last month with pneumonia. She had surgery to drain her lung. The monitors, the alarms, the constantly changing IV's is all very familiar. Not a fun time and I really sympathize. But it sounds like Natasha is doing great, and it'll be no time before she's home and you have no time for blogging!
ReplyDeleteI love the blog -- and of course reading about my granddaughter. Hope she's home soon.
ReplyDeleteRecreational feeding... !
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you all and thank you SO MUCH for posting this blog. Please know that I am thinking of you all the time but not calling so as not to disturb you. Your description of what was/is happening with Natasha is awesome and medically accurate in all respects. I'm very glad the betamethasone worked and she did not need surfactant and/or a ventilator to breathe. If it hadn't worked and her lungs were not developed enough to breathe on her own, she would have been given the current animal-derived surfactant on the market. Please note the irony in the fact that (and everyone reading this who is so inclined please say a prayer that) the FDA will hopefully approve the synthetic surfactant that Natasha's great-aunt (me) co-invented on its PDUFA date of April 17, 11 days after her premature arrival. This synthetic surfactant, if approved, will become available to premature babies in third-world countries and many places around the world where betamethasone and/or animal-derived surfactants are not available or not able to be given before a premature birth. Sorry if this sounds like an advertisement or a PR release; it's not meant to. Looking forward to hearing more about Natasha's progress and hope she gets to go home soon!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait until she's home and there's no time for anything else!! :D
ReplyDeleteAunt Sue,we know how very lucky we've been in the quality of care Natasha is getting and how well she's responding to it.. there are a LOT of people who aren't as lucky, and anything that could help others in the way we're being helped is a very good thing.