Ray holding Farrah for the first time

Ray held Farrah for the first time yesterday. I have posted a few photos of that wonderful time below. The last photo includes Ray's sister, Jessi.

Farrah seems to be handling the change to the nasal cannula ok. Her oxygen levels still need to be set fairly high, but the nurses assure us that it is common for that to occur when the changes are made. Farrah's feeding were increased from 1 cc every three hours to 3 ccs every three hours since she has been tolerating her feedings ok. Her blood sugar numbers have been a little elevated at certain points during the day. The nurses will adjust her IV nutrition based on blood test results. It is interesting to see that they mix a certain nutritional IV supplement based on exactly what Farrah needs each day hoping to control all of her electrolyte numbers, blood sugar, etc.

During a baby's NICU stay, it is recommended that parents identify a few nurses that they would like to have as "primary" nurses. These nurses will be assigned to the babies as their schedule permits and will follow the babies throughout this NICU stay. We have been advised to identify four primary nurses that we would like to work with: a weekday day-time primary nurse, weekday night time primary nurse, weekend day time primary nurse, and weekend night time primary nurse. We felt very comfortable with yesterday's day time nurse, April, and loved how she handled Farrah and encouraged kangaroo care. We asked her if she would be willing to be Farrah's primacy nurse during the days when she works. She said that she is finishing up with another patient who should be discharged within the next week or two, and after that, she would love to be one of Farrah's primary nurses. We are carefully considering what other nurses to talk to about becoming primary nurses.

I've added a few more recent photos of Farrah below.