The next day when we went to the NICU to visit her, we saw that the CPAP had been put back on. Apparently her breathing had become laboured during the night so they thought it would be safer. Another bump in her recovery, just when you think you have taken two steps forward, you go one step back !
Her diet by then was about 12 ml/hour and she was being weighed daily. On an average a weight gain of about 20 gms a day is decent. For Krisha some days it is as high as 40 and others she lost a couple of grams, so it was very slow progress. Also they couldn't increase the fluid intake to the body so the dieticians were trying to give her maximum nutrition and calories in the limited fluid quantity. She was being fed special formula for low birth babies called 'Neoshore' and topping it up with calories through a powder called 'carborie'. The CPAP continued to be very bothersome to her and even we learnt to put off the alarm everytime it went off.
Since Krisha had been lying down in one position for over a month she had developed a bed sore on the back of her head and in the NICU we discovered that she also had a diaper rash ! The last thing she needed was such discomfort! We were a bit upset as to how she could get a diaper rash in the first place - not sure why it happened.
It was finally day 45 when we were able to pick her up and hold her! The first time since we held her at birth! We were so tentative and extra careful because of the feeding tube but reaaaally happy.They had also started to slowly wean her off the CPAP so they were keeping it off for an hour every 3 hours and slowly widening the gap. She looked much more comfortable and relaxed without it but seemed to cry with the bed sore on her head. It was finally on day 48 that they removed the CPAP completely. What a relief! She had crossed her birth weight finally and seemed to be gaining weight slowly but steadily. She was being fed through the NG tube which basically takes the feed directly to her intestine to be digested easily. The next step would be for it to be changed to a tube that goes directly to the stomach and then finally when she should be able to take the feed through her mouth.
By day 51 we could pick her up and hold her when we visited which made our visits so much more meaningful. She seemed to like it when we held and talked to her, really stared at you as if she understood what we are babbling. It was more difficult to leave her though coz she cried when you put her down. So we started visiting her twice a day. I would pick up DK at work and carry his lunch which he would eat in the car. Then we would try and make it back at night. All this was only possible because my mom was there to take care of Kaira so we were not worried about her.
We could finally make her wear home clothes instead of the white vest the hospital provides. Seem to be such minor things but at this stage every small thing becomes so important and you feel that you are doing something for her. So I bought the Chinese style vests for her, all whites with small baby prints and matching mittens and socks. She looked so cute and all the colours suited her so much, adding little colour to her life.
