Wow, what a week. Aisling wore her first outfit last Monday and of course looked fabulous! She also tried her first bottle with 5 cc's of breast milk. This is definitely a work in progress for her, as her muscles are still not that strong and it takes up a lot of her energy. So, when she is showing signs and is alert we will continue to work on her with this new skill. We talked with her doctor and decided to alternate her feedings with breast milk and fortified formula in order to boost her weight gain. As of last night she weighed 3lbs 7.3 oz. We hope as she gains weight she will have more energy for bottle feedings and this will also help her to maintain her own body temperature and hasten her move to an open air crib!
She also had an echo done on her heart, so we are waiting on the results of this to determine there are no problems with her heart; the doctor thought she heard something, but she is optimistic it is nothing to worry about.
Aisling was full of smiles for her daddy, she really enjoys the sound of his voice and bad jokes!

As for me, I finally had knee surgery, so I am somewhat immobile once again and in pain, but it is a relief to have it out of the way and hopefully I will be moving about on my own again very soon. I too had an echo recently and my heart is looking great!

Once again, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers

Love,
Ger & Chuck

Super Trooper!

Well, since the last post, Aisling has been doing very well. They have taken her off oxygen and she is now breathing room air with no assistance. She is also at full feeds (25cc's!!) and is off of the I.V. She is strictly on milk now, and hopefully in the next week or so, she will be able to start oral feedings. It is quite refreshing seeing her without so many tubes attached to her little face. She is really enjoying sucking on her pacifier as well.

They have also lowered the temperature inside of her incubator and she is able to maintain her body temperature quite well. The next step will be to place her in an open air crib, but in order to do that, she needs to be at around 4lbs. She is still at 2lbs. 15oz. as of today. Throughout the week, she lost a little weight. Ger and I feel that this is because she is working so hard to breath, feed, and maintain her body temp and is burning a lot of calories. To counteract this, the doctors have added calories to her milk. With the boost in calories, we hope that she starts packing on the ounces.

All in all, things are looking up and we hope that this trend continues. Check back later in the week for more updates.

Chuck and Geraldine

32 days and counting...

We are happy to report that day by day, Aisling is getting back to her normal self. She is off of all antibiotics and is doing well so far. They have increased her feeding every day by 1cc and she is now up to 8cc's and tolerating it so far. She has grown 2 inches in length and is now a whopping 15 inches! Along with the growth in length, she has put on some weight. As of this afternoon, she was weighing in at 2lbs 15 oz. GO CHAMP!!

She has also been moved into what has been refered to as the "Penthouse Suite" of the NICU. This area was just opened on New Years Eve and is working well for the entire family.

Please continue to send your good thoughts and prayers her way.

Chuck and Geraldine

January 10th

Things are starting to look up for our little girl. Over the past few days, many tests were conducted and the results have shown that as of right now, she just has an infection from her "central line" IV. Therefore, they have removed that and replaced it in another location. They had her on about 4 antibiotics and she is now down to just 1. Her respiratory tests all came back negative showing no signs of respiratory infections. They also did a spinal tap to test for meningitis, which also came back negative. The doctors are still testing and monitoring her for signs of NEC (Necrotizing Enterocolitis), an intestinal infection, which we are praying is not the case. On Thursday, they stopped all feedings and put her on an IV for nutrients. Today, they began feedings again with 3cc's of milk. They will continue to monitor her ability to digest the milk and will increase feedings accordingly.
Aisling was very stressed out by being back on the respirator, she cried a great deal the last few days and she was constantly pulling at her tubes. Today when we saw her we were pleasantly surprised to see the respirator had been removed and she is now on a high flow nasal tube. She was also sleeping peacefully with no crying at all. We were finally able to do Kangaroo care with her today, which she loves, as do we.
So, we are cautiously optimistic that she is on the mend and will get back to the job of growing.

Thank you for all your prayers and good wishes,
Chuck and Ger

Setback

Today we were awoken before 5:00am by a phone call from the hospital. Aisling has had a major setback! Her breathing dropped drastically over night and she appeared pale in color, among other things. The doctors immediately moved her back into the intensive care unit and put her back on the respirator to help her breath. They say that she may possibly have an infection and are conducting many tests. This morning she had to have a blood transfusion and a spinal tap. They are not exactly sure what is happening but will let us know as soon as they find out.

We are trying our best to stay positive and keep up our strength for our little girl. We spent the day with her this and she seemed to be stable with the assistance of the respirator and medications. It was apparent that she was exhausted and slept a great deal. She is a fighter and has been through a lot over the first few weeks of her life. We are hopeful that she will continue to fight and get through this.

Please continue to send your thoughts and prayers her way.
Chuck and Ger

Great Weekend

Hello and thanks for checking in. We had a great weekend with Aisling! When we walked in on Saturday morning we were surprised to see that she was no longer using the tubes in her nose for breathing!! Our baby girl was breathing room air with no assistance! She also no longer had a tube in her mouth. We are proud to say that she is now creating "dirty" diapers. This is demonstrating that she has the ability to digest the milk. On Saturday, she was up to 13cc's of milk. Sunday, she was up to 14cc's. By her next feeding tonight, she should be up to 16cc's. With the increased milk intake, the weight should start to increase significantly. As of yesterday, she weighed 2lbs. 6oz.

She still continues to have dips in her heart rate, which is quite normal for preemies. This is something that they will continue to monitor closely. Ger and I have been providing "Kangaroo Care" and she is thriving off of it. When she is on our chests, she is completely content and happy. She often flashes her game winning smile. Her lungs appear to be quite strong, because she sure can belt out a good cry every now and then. All in all, she is on an upward trend and we hope that this continues, so that we can bring her home strong and healthy.

On the style front, she has been modeling new hats over the past few days. We must admit she wears them well. We hope she can wear one of these fabulous hats home.

Thanks for your good wishes,
Chuck & Ger

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everybody!!

Well, 2009 finished on a high note and continued into 2010 for the Brewsters. We were able to ring in the new year with Aisling and have good news to share. First, Aisling has gained more weight! She is now at 1000 grams (approx. 2lbs. 3oz.). We met with the developmental specialist and she told us that Aisling has been showing great signs of self regulation skills for calming herself. She is still breathing room air with a CPAP (slight push of the room air oxygen into her nose). Since Aisling has shown increased stability and progress, she has been moved from the intensive care unit to the intermediate care unit, which is where we hope she'll stay until it's time for her discharge. However, there is still more for her to learn in regards to regulating herself when transitioned from being held, to the incubator, and to feeding. She still has a few drops in her heart rate when she forgets to breath normally. This is all challenging for her and requires a great deal of effort on her part. We, along with the staff, will continue to help her develop these skills so that she can do this independently.

Yesterday, after mommy changed her diaper and while she was feeding, she showed us a tremendous SMILE!!! She has also been opening her eyes more and checking us out. She seems to recognize our voices, touch, and smells and often shows signs of great comfort when we are present.

We wish you all the best in 2010. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers.

Chuck and Geraldine