Hospital Stay

Kaitlyn is home. Halelejah!!!! It was a long 3 1/2 days in which I did not get any sleep.

She is doing better. She is slowly recovering from her RSV and Pneumonia. It's been so surreal to me that she ended up with RSV. We had it drilled in our heads from the NICU and her Ped that she was high risk for getting it and we did everything we could do to prevent it and she still got it. I am glad that I have learned to trust my mommy instinct and got her in before it got really bad.

We got a suction machine to keep her clear and let her lungs heal. Even though she is home, she is not well yet.

She also came home on oxygen.

This is not RSV related. Her being in the hospital was a blessing in disguise. She has a problem with keeping her oxygen saturation up while she is asleep. I knew there was something going on with her and why she sleeps so horrible from the moment we brought her home from the NICU, why she sleeps noisily and gasps alot. The Ped. thinks it is preemie related and therefore we have no idea how long she will need the oxygen. She was monitered on a cardiac monitor the last 36 hours of her stay and they were able to determine that there isn't something drastically wrong. Good news! She is on a little flow of O2 when she is awake for now and then we turn it up when she is asleep because she needs more. In about 3-4 weeks we are going to wean her off while she is awake. The dr thinks it will be a few months of oxygen when she sleeps. If it goes longer than that, he will start ordering more tests. But for now both him and the other Ped thinks it is preemie issues that didn't get resolved or caught in the NICU. All I know is that she sleeps so much better now. I might actually get to catch up on some sleep soon and feel normal again. Yay!

She also had a Barium GI test done to check for abnomalities in her anatomy that might be causing all the vomiting and spit up. Everything came back normal with a diagnosis of severe reflux. We may or may not do further testing in the near future for that. We started adding Rice Cereal to her formula to thicken it and it's helped a tad bit.

THe only other news I have is that she is finally 8lb! She is 8lb 2 oz to be exact and just a smidge under 21 in. long.

We did get an appt with a pediatric opthalmalogist for next monday. There are alot of concerns with her eyes and if she can see well. I will update after that.

For now...here are some pictures of her from her hospital stay. Also a video at the end. Enjoy!