Our Micro-Preemie

As Anna is quickly approaching her 50th day in the NICU, it's hard not to sit back and reminisce about her days there since she was born. She has developed so much and it's been such a joy to see her gain strength and to watch our little frail girl become such a strong little baby. Looking back at these videos is hard, we feel so terrible for her that she had to endure all of this. I speak in past tense, knowing that she still has a long road to travel down before she comes home to us. Nevertheless, she is more than halfway there and we are so grateful that things turned out so well for her!

We got the results of her eye exam earlier and nothing has changed so she is doing great! She is still a stage 0 out of 5 (0 being the best) so we are really happy to hear that. We're not sure of her weight from tonight but the nurse did mention earlier today that she will try Anna off of the si-pap for 8 hours from 12-8am this morning. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, she was supposed to try her off last night for 8 hours but Anna had a couple of desaturations, most likely from the stress of the eye exam so the nurse didn't want to push her. So lets hope all goes well for her tonight and she is able to make that big step to 8 hours off the si-pap.

Here's a little video of her from her early days when she just started on si-pap:



Again, it's just so hard to watch because she's so frail. You can tell how small she was then because they couldn't even do up her Newborn size diaper, she is just lying on it. Her skin was still red and shiny and I distinctly remember how sticky it used to be. Her fingers would stick together as if she had dipped her hand in glue. Her skin was extremely translucent and she could barely open her eyes. But it was all a part of just being born merely days before, she wasn't supposed to be outside of the womb yet. So although she came incredibly early, in a sense, we are blessed to be able to see how she would grow.

And here's a video from her more recent days...you can tell she has grown so much:




Her skin is a nice whiter shade of pale :) Like both her Mommy and Daddy. She is also much more active now and has much time off the si-pap to enjoy her surroundings. Her skin is not sticky anymore and her Newborn diaper fits her much better. Her tiny fingers are becoming more chubbier and her cheeks are finally pinch-able! Not to mention how long her hair has become. She is business in the front and party in the back! :)

In any case, she has definitely come such a long way. I can't wait to be able to compare her 50th day in the NICU with her 1st day at home!

Marta & Arthur