70 days

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated...been busy! Lauren is still doing well. Still periods of feeling like we are on the roller coaster, but for the most part everything is going well. Lauren still likes the sound of her monitor alarms. She is having less episodes of her oxygen level decreasing and when she does have them usually the Nurses don't have to do anything. They tell us that when they go off, all they have to do is start walking over and she comes back up and the monitor goes quiet again. Lauren must like giving them a hard time. :) She is still on the high flow nasal oxygen and is still slowly being turned down. Hopefully in the next week or two she will be able to go on the nasal cannula itself with low flow oxygen. We have to continually remind ourselves that she will show us when she is ready.

3lbs 13oz is her current weight. She almost looks chubby! Okay, not really, but she looks so much bigger than at birth. She has been holding her temperature very well for about a week or so and the next step is to put her in an open crib. They were considering doing this today, but Lauren has been very sensitive to sound (it makes her oxygen level decrease) so they are holding off for little longer.

Lauren has been showing more cues that she is feeling hungry. She will try and eat her hands and smack her lips and yes...CRY! It is so nice to see her be able to communicate in this way now. She feeds from a bottle occasionally and when I'm there we also work on nursing. She does get tired out and usually ends up having the rest of her food put down the feeding tube. There has been a couple times when she has taken the whole bottle though. She is getting just over an ounce every 3 hours now.

It seems like we get a different estimate every day about when Lauren might be able to come home. One doctor says 2 weeks, another says 3 and so on. We are looking into transfer to Salem now and we will see what the insurance's decision is. Hopefully it's a yes!

I can't believe that she might be home in less than a month...or a month...sometime fairly soon though. It's been 70 days that she has spent in the NICU as of today and she has come such a long way. From 1lb 3oz at birth to 3lbs 13oz now. This whole experience has been so crazy...a constant roller coaster. I know that Lauren will come home eventually, but sometimes I feel like is this ever going to end? Will I ever get to just have her at home and see her whenever I want and tend to all her needs instead of someone else doing it? There was another family in the NICU today that was fitting their lil' one for a car seat because they will be going home in a day or two and I couldn't help but watch them out of the corner of my eye. I was tearing up watching them because all I want is to be able to have that day soon too.

Okay okay...enough sappiness. Will try and update again soon