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New Year's Eve Homecoming

Katen is HOME! Her Neonatologist cleared her for discharge this morning and we just got her home and settled. She's got some vitamins to take and thinks they're pretty yucky. That was pretty clear. Oh the faces they make. lol!
I plan to try actual nursing this evening so we'll see how that goes. She's spent almost 10 days on either a tube or a bottle so I'm crossing my fingers that she's not picky. If she is, I'll just keep pumping.

December 29th

It looks like tonight is Mike and my last night alone. (YAY!!!) Miss Katen is still on track to come home tomorrow. She passed her carseat check, hasn't had any measurable episodes, and had her IV removed completely today. She's weighing in at about 5.5lbs and will go home in her preemie clothes that we ran out and bought after seeing her swim in newborn sizes. So cute! She did have a major regurgitation last night and spit up about 50ml of formula. (The entire bottle) but she ate really well for us all day and has really caught the hang of opening her mouth and sucking on the bottle. She looks like a hungry little bird straining her neck and opening her mouth for that bottle. I can't tell you how precious it is and what relief it brings me. lol!

December 28

Guess what! We're preparing to bring Katen home!
We're still on our countdown to 5 consecutive days without Bradycardia or Apneic episodes and so far so good! Katen has taken her bottle like a champ for two days now and is making it almost all the way through before tiring out. We could not be more thrilled!!!! Her IV is coming out tomorrow and glucose was stopped today. Her blood sugar levels looked great after that so we just need to continue without episodes tomorrow and complete our carseat test and then we can take her home on Sunday. Katen will wear a Respisense monitor at home when she sleeps to monitor her breathing. That will at least give me some peace of mind that she won't stop breathing while I sleep.
We are going to ring in the new year with our Daughter at HOME! (or we're pretty sure anyway.) We feel so blessed.

December 27

What a great day! Katen has had her feeding tube removed and now only the IV and vitals lines remain. They're going to allow her to eat as much breast milk as she'll take as well. If that works for all feedings today then they'll continue but if she starts regurgitating it then they'll go back to limiting feedings to an ounce. There were no Apneic episodes or Bradycardia last night so we're still on the count down to taking her home. Her last episode was December 25 so if she continues without any more we can look at taking her home on New Years Eve. If she does have another then the 5 day countdown starts over and she'll have to stay longer. She was very sleepy today during her 3pm feeding and we had a hard time getting her to eat all of her bottle but you know what? She's sucking on a bottle which is good and she kept it down which is also good so I'm definitely calling today a win. :) Hopefully at some point she'll be able to nurse. One thing at a time though. I feel kind of like a Dairy cow right now using the pump but if it doesn't work out that's fine too. I'm just glad she's getting what I can give her. It doesn't really matter how.