January 18 baby update

Well, we're nearing 48 hours of Jossie's birth. I'm feeling amazingly well today - all wires and tubes have been removed from me, and I've been up and walking around. Seriously, I've been given this infusion of power and strength - I feel great!

Now I can ably turn my attention to Jossie. She is small for her age of 33 weeks - they are running two tests to see if I might have had an infection while carrying her. This wouldn't necessarily lead to any treatment but would give them more information on why she's small. She was also tested for an assortment of infections common to all preemies and they have been watching a culture for the past 48 hours - I'm happy to report they have not found anything as of yet (we'll know for sure after midnight tonight). She was preemptively given antibiotics, so they will stop those tonight if all goes well.

They are constantly monitoring her heartbeat, oxygen levels and temperature. If she can go five days without an "episode" of any of these things, then that is one obstacle removed from her going home. She hasn't had any since birth - two days down, three days to go. Other factors she'll have to meet are eating well on her own through her mouth and meeting and maintaining a certain weight (roughly at least 4 pounds).

Jeremy and I spent a lot of time in the NICU today - we did a lot of kangaroo care (skin-to-skin touch between mother and child) and it was so good for both Jossie and me. She rested peacefully against me, and I loved hearing the sound of her breathing.

Speaking of breathing, she hasn't had any help with this since birth - which puts her "ahead of the curve" according to a baby doctor I spoke with today. She also has been eating since day 0, which impresses the doctors. She had a bit of a bloated tummy this morning but had a dirty diaper later in the day and all is well now (I'm chalking it up to kangaroo care!!).

And we talked about why I was put in here in the first place - her crazy heartbeat. The baby doctor is confident that it was the environment - a possible kink in the cord, something funky with the placenta, of course the low amniotic fluid levels - and nothing to do with her. PHEW!!!!

We talked about timing of her going home. We still have to take this day-by-day but the doctor said conservatively speaking, it would be her due date (March 7). Realistically speaking, the average stay time is four weeks, which would put us at Valentine's Day. And of course I'm hoping for an even shorter time - maybe two or three weeks for my girl.