No Transfer...Yet

We found out today that Lauren will not be transferred to Salem...yet anyway. She had her eye exam this morning and her right eye stayed the same at Stage 1 Retinopathy of Prematurity, but her left eye has moved on to early stage 2 ROP. The eye doctor wants to do weekly checks from now on to make sure it does not progress. The doctor said that if we were determined to have her in Salem she would support us and have her moved. After much thought and deliberation by Adam & I, we figured it would be best to leave Lauren at St. V's for now. Salem is able to check her eyes for more ROP, but they use a camera and then have to send the images to a doctor at OHSU, so getting results takes a bit longer. St. V's has an eye doctor that actually does the exam at the bedside, therefore having immediate results. If Lauren's left eye continues to progress to stage 3 ROP, she will probably need laser treatment and that would be done at St. V's. So if we moved her to Salem now, she could potentially be right back at St. V's for treatment. Our plan is to see what next Tuesday's eye exam shows and if it has not worsened, we will see if St. V's will still pay for the transfer to Salem. We are bummed about her not being moved now, but are keeping in mind what is best for our daughter.

Lauren is still on the high flow oxygen and is still quite sensitive when overstimulated. Most preemies that are 36 weeks are on low flow oxygen by now, so we are hopeful that Lauren's respiratory status will improve fairly soon. The nurses and doctors are always telling us to look at how far she has come for being born at 25 weeks. She is doing well, but again, it's hard having your child go through this. She has not had an infection and they say she has pretty much hit all the bumps in the road they expect for an ex-25 weeker. The PDA ligation, ROP, lung disease--all expected.

Lauren weighed in at 4lbs 10oz last night! She is taking almost every other feeding by a bottle. It depends on how awake she is.

I (Jami) am hitting a wall I think. I want so badly for her to improve and be able to come home. I want to take care of my child. I want to hold her without having her hooked up to all sorts of monitors. I want to feed her without a tube in her nose. I want to see her napping on Adam's chest as he naps too. I want to be the one to bathe her all the time. I want to be the one to always comfort her when she cries. I want to change all her messy diapers. I'm exhausted and I don't even have her home yet. The stress of having her in the NICU for 11 weeks as of tomorrow is finally really starting to hit me. I can't wait until the day she is able to come home with us. I am so thankful for having Adam be so supportive. He constantly reminds me that she will be okay and will come home when she is ready.

The top picture is from last week and I forgot to post it then. After she got put back to bed, she put her little hands together and fell fast asleep. It was too cute to not get a picture of. :)