Lily the wonderbaby

Lily update: 7weeks old, 49 days & 32 weeks gestation

After a huge week last week, Lily has managed to stay off her tube for the entire week. A super positive week for the T household with Little Miss proving her strength and determination once again. 

Lily has been having treatments over the last seven weeks to close what they call her PDA. Patent Ductus Arteriosus. When big term babies are born, this duct closes itself with a big cry and seals it off forever so that the blood can be directed to where it is needed. With an open PDA blood is diverted away from the lungs and back into the heart, some blood does not get oxygenated, creating a lack of oxygen delivery to the rest of the body and a corresponding increase in carbon dioxide levels. In addition, the amount of blood supplying other vital organs may also be reduced. The heart may enlarge in order to increase blood flow. A severe PDA may increase blood pressure in the lungs and cause weakness in the left ventricle of the heart. This in turn may create pulmonary edema, which is fluid build-up in the lungs, which will make breathing very difficult.

This has been Lily’s achilles heel…Lily was given a few medications to assist in the closure, the first two, ibuprofen & indomethacin didn’t work for Lily, but the last course of paracetamol has had some effect…yay!!! Her duct is now much smaller and her left side of her heart has gone back to a normal size. We could see these changes reflected in her oxygen saturations and respirations as she has been sitting much higher and more stable the last few days. 

We have had Granny Fe and Papa Vic visiting over the weekend, so Lily has had special visitors and more cuddles for Mummy T and Daddy T too. We think she is going to be Daddy’s little girl, Mr T has a very calming ad soothing effect. His cuddles and voice make her very settled and content. 

Lily is growing big and strong, and I can feel the power and strength of our little one, when we change her nappy and do her cares. She is on 10mls per hour of feeds which are full feeds for her weight, she is so, so close to 1.5kg now, and will be there any day now as she is currently 1.48kg. 

I can’t believe how big she is growing, if I had doubled my weight in seven weeks, I would be very concerned…so when I think about it that way her growth has been very fast. All that growing equates to more use of her bowels, and she swapped houses yesterday as the other one needed a good clean, and was getting a bit too stinky. There was a rather terrible pooing incident the other day; involving multiple nappies, wipes and the cleaning down of the windows in her house…

Since having her tubes removed from her throat, we have heard a few tiny squeaks from Lily, but nothing big yet. Her tubes were placed either side of her vocal chords, so her throat is a bot hoarse and dry, but with time she will recover and hopefully we’ll hear a fully blown scream one day soon, I can’t wait!

Lily has now been in the NICU for 50 days, and we have seen so many other babies visit in the spot next to Lily. Going from strength to strength at the moment, as she grows and gets bigger, she copes better with the big wide world she arrived to early into.