Our beautiful Gabby 9/2 without the hood!

Here's our first picture of Gabby without the hood on... as you can see she has a tube in her nose (just so they can see how much food she's digesting) and leads for her heart rate and blood oxygen levels, but other than that she's free. Chris is at the hospital now, will provide a morning update when he's done but wanted to share our picture. I'm quite sure the gold bow is because she's a Deamon Deacon fan already!

c

Gabby update 9/2 at 10pm

Today was a good day for Gabby... (and mommy and daddy). I went in at about 2:30, and was able to hold her for the first time since right after she was born! I also fed her a bottle and was able to "kangaroo care" with her- basically skin to skin contact that has great positive effects for baby (and it feels wonderful for a mama too!). She is still working to digest food, Chris went back for the 9pm feeding, but it had to be delayed because she still had food in her stomach from the 6pm feeding. We're hoping that she catches on to the food thing soon and know it's just a matter of patience!

New pics to come tomorrow- I'm too tired to download tonight!
c and c

Gabby Update 9/2 at 10am

Great news!

Chris went to see Gabby this morning, and she is breathing room air! She's done with her tanning treatment, apparently the bililights worked and so he was able to get a lot better access to her face and give her kisses, etc.

We are thrilled! I will go later today, and they will actually let me hold her!
Stay tuned for more pictures!
c and c

Gabby Update 9/1 at 10pm

Things were a little rough tonight for Gabby (and for mommy and daddy). We got there, and she was turned on her belly to let the bili lights get to her back, and she was definitely NOT comfortable. It is really hard to see your daughter uncomfortable, and not be able to hold her. The nurses were able to get her comfortable, however.
In terms of her breathing, she is still trying to adjust to the 30% oxygenation in the hood. They tried to feed her through her nose tube again at 2:30, but she was not able to process the food, so they have discontinued feedings at the moment. Chris is going to the hospital this morning, and we're hoping to get some clarity about when those feedings might commence again. From what we've been told, this is not a major issue, just that her body isn't quite ready for focusing on processing food, it's still spending all its energy breathing.
Pray for patience, she will be ready when she's ready, but this mama can't have her home soon enough.
c and c

Gabby update 9/1 3pm

Well, as you can see Gabby has upped her "spa treatment" at Children's Hospital. In addition to the facial she's getting from the oxygen hood, she's also now added a tanning treatment. She's under the billy lights, her billyrubin levels were 10.6, just a little above the 10.5 where they turn the lights on. Hence her very fashionable glasses and the blue glow. She is still holding her own. Here's where things stand:
- she's currently under a hood at around 30% oxygenation, so they've been able to reduce it another 5% since last post

- she still has some retraction when she breathes, and she had one slight apnea episode, where she held her breath for a little bit, but she started breathing again

- they've taken out the line in her throat, and put one in her nose. With that, they've been able to start providing her the milk I've been pumping, which is a huge developmental step for her.

While we were there, they drew new blood oxygen levels, which were not as high as the past had been. They went back down to 68%. They did not, however, increase the oxygen in the hood, they just kept it constant and will check back at 6pm.

We'll write more when we know.

c and c

Gabby update 9/1 10am

Gabby is continuing to improve. Her arterial blood gases continue to be really good, and they have been able to reduce the concentration of oxygen in the hood to about 35- 40%, down from 50%. We will update more when we know more. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers!
C and C

Update as of 10pm August 31st

We had great news tonight. As of Gabby's 10pm arterial oxygen saturation reading (may be the right term, may not) it is up to 81%, significantly better than the 68% at 6pm. Our nurse, Nancy, said if she can hold that at her 4am reading, they may be able to start trying to turn down the oxygen in her hood!

c and c