Goals for Today

We just had a long update with one of Melanie's Dr.s during rounds. He's great and was actually her Dr. in the delivery room. It was wonderful for me to get caught up a little bit on what all is going on. Jeff is amazing, he is quickly learning all the numbers, beeps, and tones. I have a long way to go yet.

They are going to start feedings with Melanie today at noon if all stays the same. This will be the beginning of a very long process. She will start with 2 ml's at each feeding and will have one feeding every 3 hours. To put this into perspective, there are 5ml in a teaspoon, so at each feeding she will be getting less than 1/2 a teaspoon. The will give her the feeding through a tube they have yet to insert. Before her next feeding, they will back draw what's in the tube to see if she ate it, digested it, etc. If not, they may just give that milk right back to her. She is still getting her nutrients through one of the lines going into her umbilical cord. The reason to start these milk feedings is to prime her tummy and get it used to eating.

Another big thing for today is they may try to take her off from the ventilator again. Her gas levels all look wonderful, she is breathing the same percentage oxygen as we are, and is taking breathes on her own. So they are wanting to try again. They believe the reason she wasn't successful the first time was because she was still very relaxed from the Magnesium they gave me to stop contractions before she was born. All her levels look great, she's feisty, and they hope to give it a try later today....if all stays the same.