Miraculous and speedy recovery

As Petra wrote below, Olivia decided to turn a 180 for good this weekend. It is amazing. We kept getting better and better news for the previous few days, but then on Sunday we showed up to find her breathing machine removed. She is now down to an oxygen tube in her nose and a couple IV's in one arm. Besides that and the sensors glued to her chest and foot, she is on her own. I just can’t get over how well she is suddenly. Four-weeks was an optimistic prediction of when she would be released. Now we are looking at two. They won’t tell us when they will actually release her, but her antibiotics run out on Thursday and those are the only drugs se is on anymore besides the sedatives (being weaned) and the anticoagulant because of the IV. They already told us that they will send us home with an oxygen tank if needed instead of holding her there longer as long as she was breathing on her own (which she is).

It has been so nice to be able to hold Olivia. Petra was able to hold her twice (Saturday and Sunday), and I was so jealous that I went back to the hospital on Sunday night at 11:00 PM with Grandma Poe and we both got a turn. Olivia is so attentive and alert. I just wish she was off of her sedatives because I can’t help but to wonder if she is tripping out instead of focusing. They are weaning her, but can’t just eliminate them without creating withdrawals. Today was ½ the amount of yesterday on each of them (she takes 2), so hopefully one can be eliminated tomorrow or at least they can go to a “use as needed” order instead of a routine.

Her face is starting to change as you can see from the pics. At first I thought she looked a lot like Julia, but now I don’t think she looks anything like her. Olivia’s skin is much lighter, and the face shape is different. For some reason I think she looks similar to our Finnish friends’ baby, Alissa. If the timing worked out, I would go have a talk with Jarkko! Anyway, she is really pretty and so far very even tempered. Even with all that is going on, she does not cry much (and when she does it is totally muffled from trauma to her vocal cords from the breathing tube that was there for). A lot of the babies in the NICU cry a lot, so we are grateful.

Another item of great news for the day is that Olivia latched on to Petra tonight and had a full feeding. She tried and did a little at 5:00, but Petra went back for the 8:00 feeding and had great success. Petra said that she stopped counting sucks after 100, so that is a ton more milk that she has ever gotten (they started feeding her milk though a feeding tube, then a bottle but only up to 15 cc’s or so). After Olivia was done they tried to give her a bottle in case she needed more and just tired of breastfeeding, but apparently she drank herself into a “milk coma” (like after 3 rounds at Thanksgiving) and couldn’t move though she was side awake and bright eyed.

Oh, a funny note. She has these really long monkey toes. She keeps using them to grab her wires and tubes and trying to yank them out. She succeeds at least every hour at removing the wires glued to her chest. As soon as her machine starts beeping, we can un-swaddle her to find a heap of cords firmly held between her opposable big toe and the one next to it. She will sometimes stretch them out and can spread all her toes out like a hand. I keep trying to mimic her and can’t come close.

Julia is doing great. She did come to the realization yesterday after her first visit to the baby that this was the same thing that was inside of Mommy. She got freaked out and had to sit in Petra’s lap and talk it through for a few minutes. Other than that brief episode, she has been completely doting on Olivia. She keeps begging to hold her and to go see her. When we have let her in, she constantly kisses and hugs her and talks about all the baby’s parts and how they are like her’s. She asked me today if she could “pet” her. Oh, she also keeps calling Olivia her baby and tells everybody about her. Even strangers at the hospital, in the elevator, and the store clerks…