As requested, here are Esther's Stats!

Ok, she weighed 7 lbs 12 oz at birth and was 21 inches long.  As of 12:50 am tomorrow morning, she will be 5 weeks old.

Here she is in the hospital's swing - this garnered me a nice nap today!


When she came  to Children's Hospital she weighed 8 pounds even, and late last week, she still weighed 8 pounds.  This Wednesday morning she weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces, and this afternoon she weighed in at 8 pounds 7 ounces!

Yeah!  She's gaining weight!  And it looks like it's good weight too!  She's still off oxygen and staying high in her oxygen numbers.  Her breathing is still easy (she still retracts slightly, but that might be just the way she is until her muscles get stronger).

At her last measurement that I know of, she was still 21 inches long. So right now, she still weighs less than 4 of my other babies at birth!  But Elizabeth was smaller that Esther - at 6 weeks Elizabeth weighed just 7 pounds!  So Elizabeth still holds the prize as our "runt"!  LOL!

She's taking 20 ccs via bottle now (she graduated up from the binky trainer this morning) and we are trying out the Dr Brown's bottle - she's still swallowing a lot of air (like 20 cc of air swallowed during her last feed of 200ccs of milk).   This is where the doctor wanted her to when she went home - we don't want to push her too fast and compromise her delecate heart/lungs.  She is getting 60 ccs of fortified breast milk (or formula if I'm running behind) total every feeding, 20 ccs by bottle, 40 ccs by feeding tube.  The feeding time is spread out over 1 1/2 hours, so now she's off the pump for 1 1/2 hours.  We'll work our way down to 1 hour over the next week or so - but no hurry on this one.

Her respirations are still high - around 60 resperations per minute - but that's just going to be her average - she's not working to breath, and she's under 80, so she's safe to feed orally, and oxygenating well, so they are good with her rate for now.

So, I saved the best news for last!  We are going home!  The doctor said that if I was desparate to get home we could go home today, but he felt it would be safer to monitor her a little longer since she just went to using the bottle today, and it hasn't been long since we changed her feed from continuous drip, to feeding in 1 1/2 hours.  He said she would go home Monday for sure (baring anything unforseen of course) - he even had the hospital make an appointment with Esther's new pediatrician for Tuesday morning (they call me to change the time and let me know I had to arrive a half an hour early), he was so sure that she'd be home!

Daryl's coming down tomorrow, prepared to stay the night, so he can be present when they make "rounds" - and we are going to discuss taking her home on Sunday as that would mean one less round trip to Seattle, and that Daryl can be the one to take us home (he's ran out of vacation and sick time so he can't take any time off next week).

Going Home is starting to seem like a reality - it's been so long, nothing seems "real" anymore.  I will probably be really disoriented for a few days - and I'll probably have trouble sleeping in a dark, quiet place!  Esther too!  My bed right now, has 3 windows onto the hallway now and none of them have any light reducing covering, so I'm sleeping in a pretty bright room right now - but last night I slept really well, so it doesn't seem to bother me anymore!

My biggest challenge once home will be to keep all her medications straight and give them at the right time!  Here's her list (I asked for the nurse to give me the list so I can start to keep track of them):

Captopril - every 8 hours, on an empty stomach (this one's for her heart)

Lasix - every 8 hours (not on an empty stomach) (this one is to keep her from retaining fluids)

Lansoprazole - once a day at 8 am (this one helps her not to reflux)

Multi vitamin with iron - 8 am

sodium chloride - 8 am and 8 pm - this one is needed for the Lasix to work properly.

Plus on top of that she's supposed to start her feeds every 3 hours, and be taken off the pump when they are done after 1 1/2 hours.

See what I mean?  I've never had any child on this many meds, let alone ones that are so important!  At least I can give them easily through her feeding tube - no worries about her spitting them out!

Oh - one this about her feeding - she'll be on a continuous feed for 9 hours through the night to make my life easier (this was on my request as getting up to start her feed every 3 hours, and again half way between to stop them, would mean I would never get more than 1 hours sleep at a time! YUCK!).  This wasy I only have to get up every 4 or 5 hours to add more milk to her pump!  That will be more sleep than I've ever had with any of my babies!

Oh - and a few stats on me - I've now gone 5 entire days without stepping outside, 5 days without a visit from anyone from the outside world, 5 days without seeing my DH or children, 4 weeks and 5 days since sleeping in my own bed, 3 weeks since stepping foot in my own home, 5 weeks since having a home cooked meal, and 3  weeks since taking a bath or shower at home.

Lastly, I have one for you that beats all odds - check out this photo of an adorable outfit and matching blanket that Esther got to wear after her bath today:



The amazing thing about this blanket and suit, is that they were not purchased together - the outfit was a gift I got from my Aunt Marylin when Esther was just 2 days old, and the blanket I purchased here in Seattle when my sister-in-law took me shopping.  I found this blanket at Fred Meyers - and it was the only one of it's kind and there wasn't any matching outfits - I looked as the blanket was sooo cute, I wanted a matching outfit to go with it! So last night, I'm folding Esther's just-washed laundry, and as I fold this shirt and see the fuzzy sheep, I think "this matches the blanket that Esther's using right now - I'm sure of it!" - and sure enough, when I got down to her room, the outfit matches the blanket!  Amazing, eh???  And Ohhh Sooo Cute too!