Grace had a rough first week of life, but by ten days old, she was finally stable enough to be held!
On her first day of life, Grace proved to be very vocal. Grace's nurse said she was a "pistol"! All of her crying probably didn't help her preemie lungs, which are stiffer than the lungs of a full-term newborn. By day two, Grace had a collapsed lung. She was intubated and put on a jet ventilator. Later on day two, Grace needed a chest tube to help get rid of the air that had collected around her lung. At 10:30 on the night I was discharged from the hospital, we got a call from the neonatologist advising us that there was air at the bottom of Grace's lung that the initial chest tube wasn't reaching. Grace needed a second chest tube to get rid of that air.
Like both of the boys, Grace had jaundice and needed to be under the phototherapy light. Those lights make it hard to take pictures of the baby, so we have a lot of pictures of the babies under the "spotlight", wearing little masks to protect their eyes from the light.
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| Grace (4 days old) |
After a day with two chest tubes, Grace was able to have the first chest tube removed. In the picture below, the little gauze pad on her chest is where the first chest tube used to be.
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| Grace (6 days old) |
Grace was very busy on her one-week "birthday"! Her second chest tube was removed and her umbilical cord IV was replaced with a PICC line in her arm. She was also extubated and put on a high-flow nasal cannula. Thanks to her nurse, Grace also got her first hair bow! We loved being able to finally see her sweet little face!
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| Grace (1 week old) |
Yesterday, Grace's breathing and heart rate were stable enough for me to hold her. I'm so thankful she was finally able to take this big step! She fusses when she gets messed with, so she wasn't too happy to be picked up at first. She settled down pretty quickly after I rested my hand on her head. She's a tough little lady -- the boys let you move their arms around without a fight, but she initially resisted me trying to move her hand away from her face!
The NICU provides preemie onesies for the babies to wear once they don't need phototherapy. Grace got to wear her first outfit yesterday too.
Thank you for your extra-special prayers for Grace. We are so encouraged by her progress!
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| Grace's first kangaroo care (10 days old) |
The NICU provides preemie onesies for the babies to wear once they don't need phototherapy. Grace got to wear her first outfit yesterday too.
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| Grace (10 days old) |
Thank you for your extra-special prayers for Grace. We are so encouraged by her progress!
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