October 19-Nov 4

Quick updates to catch us up....
 Oct 19
 The Doctors removed Carissa from the ventilator and she is breathing on her own, Adina and Dennis got to hold her for the first time.  
oct 20
Carissa pooped for the first time, this is exciting because it means that there are no obstructions in her bowels or kinks. That means no more surgery, unless they develop later. She is so far ahead of where we even dared to hope for. A true miracle and blessing.

Oct 21

the turned off the suction on her nose tube and switched it to a straight drain

Oct 22

They clamped the tube draining her stomach, and she tolerated it without many spits. 

oct 23

Carissa got her first feeds. She received 3 mls of milk every three hours. They removed the stomach draining tube and replaced it with a feeding tube. It was the first time I had seen her face without tubes, and they gave me a few moments to take a picture. She constanlty surprises us by how well she is doing. . She is getting all her nutrion via intravenous for now while her bowels are healing.
We praise and thank God for such an incredible blessing and miracle,
and we love her to bits.

Oct 24

The doctors decided to try increasing her feeds quickly, and increased by 3 mls every 3 hours, she got up to 15mls by 9:00 pm, then had to cut back to 6mls because she was spitting green too much, this means the food wasn't going through.   She is well enough to move into a crib, this was a great step because it means we are allowed to hold her whenever we want now, family is also allowed to hold her when they visit. 

Oct 25

they decreased feeds to 3mls since she was still spitting

Oct 26

Carissa got her first "bottle" feeds. since she is still at 3ml every 3 hours they didn't put the bottle on, but just put the milk into the nipple. She loves it! the first time she just played with it, till a drop came out, then she started drinking fast. A feed takes less the 30 seconds, then we need to hold her without moving too much for about 20 min so she doesn't spit. She pulled her feeding tube out and since we weren't using it we enjoyed seeing her without tubes all day

Oct 27Since Carissa had too many spit ups and is not pooping on her own they stopped all feeds  she is not impressed she loves her milk and enjoyed every drop they gave her. They checked with -rays to see if there are any obstructions or kinks in her bowels but they can't find any so they figure they just need to slow down and give her more time. Had it worked she would have been able to go home very quickly, but that was not happening. A bit of a setback but she's been running since the moment she was born, a step back now and then is to be expected.  Oct 28they put Carissa back on the suction drainage nose tube since she was still spitting.Oct 29 today the amount they were draining has slowed down (and changed from dark green to light green/clearish) so they could turn off the suction and just drain her every diaper change with the syringe. She is still off her feeds, and will be at least till the drainage tube comes out. She hates it, and spent the night crying, and only calms down when I hold her.
Oct 30
they clamped Carissa's stomach drain tube, and she didn't spit at all.
She passed her birth-weight(4lbs 12.5 oz) and is at 4 lbs 14.5 oz
Oct 31

Carissa was able to begin feeds again! Her stomach fluids had cleared and she stopped spitting up so doctors oked it. She is receiving 3mls by mouth every three hours and the will slowly increase this as time goes on. The important word here is slowly. They tried aggressively and it back fired so now they will proceed more slowly. Her nose tube has been removed and she looks much more comfortable.

All in all much reason for thankfulness

Nov 1

Carissa is up to 6 ml every three hours-so far its going well. If she keeps doing well with no spits they are hoping to increase each feed by 3 ml every 12 hours starting tomorrow at 9 am. 
She passed her birth-weight on wed at 4 lbs 14.5 oz, today she is 5 lbs 4 oz

Nov 2

feeds of 9mls and 12 mls, some white milky bubbles with burps, but no green spit.

Nov 3 

feeds of 15 mls and 18 mls, weight is 5lbs 7 oz

Nov 4 

They have been having a hard time with her PICC lines and IV's. her veins are very spidery, and every time they try to replace them they try about 6 times before being successful. they also fail regularly and she doesn't have many more places they can try. Because they don't have many more more options they want to try increasing her feeds faster to get her to full feeds (aprox 45 mls for her weight) before the IV they put in today falls out. They decided to increase by 3 mls every 6 hours. Her feeds today were at 21mls, 24 mls and 27 mls.