7 pounds, but back on C-PAP.

Well we've got good news, and bad news. The good news is Riley has made it over 7 pounds! As of last night, was 3217g, about 7lb 1.5oz. But the bad news, she went back on the C-PAP Wednesday night, right about the time I was posting that last entry on the blog. She made it a little over 12 hours before starting to struggle breathing, and had a few more bad de-sats. And then yesterday it was turned back up to 5. So, now we are back to where we were last week, trying to get her lungs strengthened to be able to start breathing on her own. It can be a bit frustrating, now that she's been in there 83 days, and we've seen quite a few babies come and go. But we know this will all be over soon, and we'll have her home - just wish it would come a little quicker! She's a week away from her due date, and there's really no chance she'll be home by then. At this point, we're shooting to have her home by Labor Day, but not sure if that will happen either. Her O2 needs are doing very well, hovering around 21-25 most of the time (21 is the lowest it will go - that is equivalent to "room air"). So with that being so good, just need to get her lungs strong enough to not need the pressure of the C-PAP. Hopefully they'll be able to try it again by the end of the week - and we'll pray that 3rd time is a charm.

I missed out on seeing Riley on Thursday, due to some work obligations out of town. I've now missed two of Riley's 83 days. I guess that's not bad, but still hard to be away from her. I got a nice treat when I saw her again last night though. When we arrived and I held her, she was VERY awake and alert. I've never seen her eyes so open and looking around. Here's a picture of her, looking so big!

She's also not helping things when she gets her hands out and starts pulling on her tubes. She has pulled her NG (feeding) tube out multiple times, and seems to get her C-PAP out of her nose at least once a day. So last night after it happening twice in an hour, they found a way to keep her from getting a grip on them...check out the socks on her hands. Funny!