Day 6 Still looking good

Not a lot of news today. I met with her cardiologist, Dr Dadlani. He said her PDA is still open about 1mm so they are going to do another Echo tomorrow to see if it closed. More than likely she will not have to have surgery Tuesday. They are going to wait 4-6 weeks then. They are going to talk about her in the conference they have on Monday night. At this point, it shouldn't effect her aorta when it closes. It usually take 2-3 days to close and today was day 3.

She is also on what they call ad-lib feed, meaning she can eat as much as she wants, when she wants. Earlier, the neonatologist Dr. Germaine said she could eat 2 ounces every 3 hours or 3 ounces every 4 hours. Then Dr. Dadlani the cardiologist said she can ad-lib her feeds. We think they are doing this as a test because too much food can cause excess fluid in her lungs and cause her trouble, so they are doing it before she is discharged so we don't run into a problem at home.

I really am not nervous about her coming home before surgery, I know that they would not send her home if she wasn't strong enough to handle it. Dr. Dadlani said that we would treat her at home as a normal newborn. They can't wait like six months to do the surgery, but the 4-6 weeks would be beneficial.

I spoke with the nurse a little while ago. She went 5 hours from the feed I gave her at 12:30 and another 4 hours after that one. Eating more milk is definitely filling her up and helping her get more sleep. She is 4 grams shy of 8lbs, which is about an ounce a day growth since she arrived there. That is pretty close to what normal newborns gain. She also had a bath because she was sweaty, which could either be from normal heat from sleep or that cardiac babies tend to be more warm. The nurse Holly said she was pretty mad afterwards, because she just wanted to eat. She had definitely become a little piggy and loves her bottle. I am pumping, but right now they have to supplement with formula. I am not producing enough milk for her yet. The amount she drinks has jumped rapidly in the last few days and my supply has adjusted yet.

I spoke with the blood bank today and still need to make another phone call. They are unsure of how to go about receiving donations in her name that wouldn't be directly for her. We are pretty sure the surgery is going to be put off, and the blood she needs has to be less than 5 days old, so I am waiting to set it up. I will be in contact with them next week to see what we can do. The man I spoke with today thinks that they can accept donations in her name from anywhere, but they don't have a credit system set up. They may be able to set one up in this situation though. I will let you know when I know more about it. Thank you for all you interest in donating for Ashlyn!

Thanks again for all the support, prayers and thoughts. They continue to help her everyday and it is comforting to know how many people out there truly care, even the ones who don't know us personally. I never thought I would be going through something like this, and it is great knowing how much people care and want to help.