One Month

Yesterday marked Farrah's one month birthday! We visited her in the afternoon and reflected back on how far she has come already. Her feeds are going up, and right now the plan is to get her up to full feeds on straight breast milk before trying another fortifier. It looks like she is doing ok with her weight gain. I had mentioned in my previous post that they suspected she was retaining extra fluid, but they did not end up giving her lasix and don't think that is the case for now. It looks like solid weight gain! When we look at her, we can see that her face, arms, and legs are starting to fill out. She is getting closer and closer to the three pound mark. She still has the breathing tube in, but they have been lowering her settings lately. They are holding off on putting a PICC line back in for now. She has a working IV line that is providing the extra nutrition and lipids that she needs. They may still want a PICC line in, but there is no order for that today. They did try to put a PICC line in two days ago, but the procedure was not successful due to hitting a valve. That same thing happened to me when my nurse attempted a new IV in my arm.

Farrah had a 30 day head ultrasound this morning and we are waiting to hear the results of that. She does not have any symptoms to indicate any problems, and the ultrasound is strictly protocol. Tomorrow, she has her first eye exam. Preemies sometimes have a condition called retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) that many of them grow out of. The eye exam is to see if Farrah has any signs of it. They will keep examining her eyes throughout her NICU stay and then at doctors' appointments afterwards to see if she has ROP.

Farrah still has more hurdles to overcome before she can leave the NICU, but she is well on her way. Please keep up the cheers, good thoughts, and prayers!!!