All Sorts of Good Stuff

It's been quite a day at the NICU today, with all sorts of amazing little things happening.

Madeline is now doing "sprints" on a nasal cannula once per shift. She did so well on her 30-60 minute sprint regimen, her doctor has now ordered 1-2 hour sprints each shift as tolerated. Maddy's nurses, Annette and Janet, treated Maddy to a day of beauty and got some great pictures of her today while on her cannula (see below). Maddy was awake and alert and was even looking around to see who was talking. She also started looking at her own hands. Not only do the sprints give her a nice break from the CPAP, but we also get to see the little sprout all uncovered!

By the way, Maddy's poor little nostrils are so prominent because of the CPAP mask that she normally has to wear. The CPAP prongs are kept in place by a strap attached to a little hat (see previous pictures) that forces her nose back. Once Maddy is on the cannula permanently, her little schnoz will return to it's normal shape.

Because Madeline is able to use the cannula, we can also do what's known as "recreational breastfeeding" - a strange name for sure. Basically, Maddy gets to give breastfeeding a whirl using whatever instincts she's developed so far, but we don't expect her to get much milk or nutrition out of it. It's basic training for when her muscle tone and breathing-sucking-swallowing reflexes are better coordinated. She did pretty well for her first try and it was really cool for Mom, too. Maddy will probably start doing the real thing in several weeks.

Milo is doing very well after his surgery. He was already awake and semi-alert for a bit today, and has been on standard pain relief. Maddy was in a much tougher spot at this point after her surgery and needed an extra piggy back dose of morphine every 4 hours. Milo is pretty puffy from retaining fluid, but that's a normal after effect of his surgery. There's been a dramatic difference between Milo's and Maddy's experiences with the PDA ligation. Just goes to show the difference a pound of weight and an extra 25 days of maturity makes.

Above: Pudgy little Milo just before his surgery yesterday. The band aide on Milo's right side is holding a chest tube in place.