Thursday, August 12, 2010

3 weeks old!

Ruth is doing well, continuing to grow and mature. 3 weeks since her birth today, she is currently 34 weeks 4 days, in gestational age.




Since her last update:

She has made great progress over the last week with feeding, taking more and more of her feeds by breast or bottle.  She has even skipped a few ng feeds!  We are hoping to transition completely off the ng tube by early next week, but that may be wishful thinking.  She will need to be completely done with the ng feeds and gaining weight for a couple days before discharge.

We are still cathing her, although the volume has decreased so we are now cathing every 6 hours instead of every 3.  The VCUG (urodynamics study) shortly after discharge will tell us if we need to continue.

She has had very few apnea episodes, and none in the last couple days, so we are hoping she has outgrown these.  She will need to be clear of sleeping apnea for at least 5 days before discharge.

We are continuing to do physical therapy with her feet, a few minutes twice a day.  She had her hip ultrasound last week, and all was normal.

So far her head circumference has remained about the same, with normal growth. They did another head ultrasound on her today, showing continued ventricle stability. She will also have her MRI (as part of the MOMS study) on Monday.

She has continued to gain weight, and is currently at 4 lb 11 oz.

For discharge, we are still working on the same two issues.  (1) Apnea - which we are hopeful that we are now done with.  (2) Feeding.  She has made great progress, but will need to get 100% of her feeds by breast or bottle, with weight gain, at least a couple days before discharge.  They have her VCUG tenatively scheduled for next Friday, which she will have to be discharged to receive.  That doesn't mean much, other than the doctors are hopeful she will be ready by then.

I am updating the twitter account daily with any Ruth news. You can read the updates on the side bar of the blog (under “Twitter Updates”), or by going to the twitter website: http://twitter.com/ruthsstory

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers.
Love,

Sara

VIDEO: Ruth @ 3 weeks old