Paige is still stable on the conventional ventilator, but she is pretty temperamental. Anytime she gets touched or handled her blood oxygen saturation will fall. I guess that's her way saying leave me alone. Also, all of her routine labs except blood gases (every 6 hours) have been reduced to once daily.
One of Paige's doctors, Dr Javier, spoke with us about possibly starting to give her breast milk tomorrow, as well as starting skin-to-skin contact (kangaroo care) in a day or two if she continues to be stable. At this stage of development Paige is not able to swallow correctly without choking on the liquid (not to mention she also has an endotracheal tube for breathing), so another tube would be sent down her esophagus into her stomach. She would then be fed a few drops of milk over a few hours. This is done not so much for nourishment, but to get her digestive tract ready for a milk diet in the future.
Andrea and I are both excited at the possibility of skin to skin contact. Even though we look at both girls and know they are our children, I think we would have a stronger bond with them if we were able to hold them. It's an odd feeling knowing that we've had Aubrey and Paige for 11 days, and still have not been able to hold them.
Not much happened with Aubrey on Day 11. The X-rays of her lungs have slowly been improving. She's still on the oscillating ventilator. Here's a video what the oscillator does to her. I shot it in HD using a camera, so sorry if it takes forever to load.
Her PDA (heart murmur discussed in previous posts) is still being treated by fluid restriction. Her BNP levels, the chemical that indirectly indicates how bad the murmur is, is still low (low is good).
Other than that, not much happened. My parents flew home today, and they really enjoyed being able to see the newest additions to their growing clan of grandkids. I'll try to get more pictures up tomorrow.
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