Nana and Grampa visit

My mom was nice enough to bring my dad (see Abuelo's visit). With all that has gone on in the last two weeks, she has really help out a lot. For all of you that are not aware it is good 35-45 mins between the house and the hospital.... So multiple trips is hard.

Anyways Nana and Grampa had some time to visit with Brin today and I am grateful....because all the friendly voices she can hear helps her in so many ways.

Abuelo's first visit

My dad was really scared for me when I told him about Brinson. Now after he visited with her....he is not as scared and thinks she is really cute. My dad spoke to her mostly in the Spanish something I really hope he practices with her.

Look at the machines...not so scary anymore!

I thought this picture might help you see what it takes for a preemie to be in this world.

The first time I saw this I was scared.....now I totally get it and the beeps and lights don't even bother me.

Brinson getting prepped for surgery

It was like a fire drill in there. Everyone swoopes in and then at the last minute the doctor comes in to talk to us about the surgery.....gets consent and shoos us out the door.

Here they are prepping the area for the surgery. The PDA surgery is done threw her left side....







After the area is cleared, this stirs her up a bit so Lisa and I hold her in place. Take a look at her feet on my hand. You really can get a sense out how small she is.

Brinson sucking her finger

This happens a lot inutero, so we should not be so surprised. But we are and I quickly capture the moment before she quickly changes her mind about which finger to suck on.

Temperature 98.6

Lisa got to take Brin's temperature this evening. Turns out she is doing much better with her temperature. Well see if that hold true after the surgery. Here is a quick shot of Lisa with Brin.

This is her second time doing it. What a pro...is she a good mommie or what?

The temp is taken under the arm and unlike adults where you add 1 degree....with preemies you don't.

PDA

Brin has PDA and they did the surgery. Everything is fine. we are eating and waiting for shift change.

Should get to see her soon. will add lots of pictures this evening.

Grandfather and Grammy visit Brin

Today Elliot and Marion visit Brin....the report is she is doing fine and still very feisty.

I spoke with Dr. Gee one the Neonatologists taking care of her and he said she was doing fine and we are waiting on the echo results to come. Likely the surgery is going to happen in the next 6 hours or so if the results come back.

We will visit this afternoon after shift change....we need to a disposable camera for NICU nurse's to use while we are not there.

More milk

Lisa is now producing more and more milk. This make her very happy because it is something she can do as a mother. We both feel helpless and anything we can do makes a difference with our sanity.

Anyways it is kinda weird, but very cool how it all works. A few times nothing and now every time is getting more and more. Just now, she got 18cc.

Morning after

We called this am about Brin .... she is now on dopamine for a her blood pressure and has received a blood transfusion. Very normal....remember she only has 45cc of blood and they are taking blood from her pretty regularly to ensure everything is ok.

She is done with photo therapy for now and the hood will probably come off. Her temperature is within the range but still low at 97.6.

The good news is she is still on room air with the respirator. So she is holding her own.

Today is another big day, she gets an echo to find out if she has PDA (patent ductus arteriosus). This is very normal to have and the surgery though scary is really quick. It is done right there in NICU and has been done as fast as 7 minutes.