june 13

she may actually get her picc line out as soon as 1 week!!! (because that’s where she gets her IV nutrition now- and they expect her to be on tube feedings of breast milk exclusively.) they also took out an IV yesterday. nothing going to it... but they don’t take them out until they go bad. just in case they need them.(as you can imagine it’s challenging to find them on tiny little babies!) her bilirubin levels are down to .9. so she was able to get off the light therapy again. I really like seeing her eyes- so I’m always glad when they take those shades off her. my kangaroo time was a bit spotty. she weened right away to only 24% oxygen-which is great! she still does better being held than not. we left the hospital yesterday. it was hard- but not as hard as I thought it would be. but it was definitely but had to go back up to 29%. she also had a little episode of bradycardia (brady- low heart rate) it was a little discouraging- but overall normal. We left the hospital yesterday. I miss it. It was comforting to be right down the hall from her. We’re just going to have to get on some sort of schedule. It’s really inconvenient to store your baby across town and only visit a few times a day!!! the doctor gave me a talking to about what I need to do as far as diet. apparently I have to cut back on dairy almost completely! when a lactating woman eats/drinks dairy it actually takes the place of our own milky goodness in our milk, and cows milk/goats milk/milk of other species.. isn’t designed for us... it’s not actually good for us, and wouldn’t offer any benefits to baby. I’d really like to make some breast milk cheese- but I heard it won’t work... better google it. :) did I mention I love cheese??? but I’ll do anything for wren! I’m also supposed to take omega 3 derived from algea. not sure why flax wouldn’t be ok. he said no fish oils because of possible mercury . I took Nordic naturals prenatal dha- it’s molecularly distilled and 3rd party tested without any trace of heavy metals or dioxins.. it’s a good brand and I trust that product. I also have to take vitamin d- about 1000mg/day. apparently the way that the bones grow in babies is totally different in the womb. preemies are at a high risk for thin bones... vitamin d helps. also, lots of fruits and vegetables. I’m NEVER gonna hear the end of this one from thadd... but isn’t breastmilk made from a diet of cheesy puffs and coke still good? :)