Day 53: Queen of Wean

Viv's last regular dose of morphine was administered at 6:00am today! She'd been doing so well since they switched her to the 12 hour schedule that the doctors decided that it was time to start the last phase in her weaning schedule, which is to provide half-doses when necessary until she doesn't need them anymore. The nurse practitioner stopped by in the afternoon and told us that they'd give us a discharge date on Monday, so the end of our NICU/Ronald McDonald House days are in sight!

Most of the day was pretty normal. She's doing OK with the bottle but isn't anywhere close to where she'll need to be before we can get rid of the feeding tube. Fortunately, I passed my feeding tube removal and replacement test this afternoon. The hardest part was getting the layer of tape that goes over the tube into place after you've threaded the tube through her nose and down into her stomach. Allison held her down while the nurse talked me through it. Afterwards I think we were all a little worn out.

No more white tape mustache!

The nurse practitioner informed us that they are switching Viv's reflux medicine from Zantac to Prilosec based on the results of her GI study. Prilosec is usually more effective, so we're hopeful that it will help further reduce her reflux symptoms. Everything else with regard to Viv's upper GI function and structure looked normal.

Around 7:00 Viv started to get really fussy. She would have received her morphine at 6:00 on her old schedule and by 8:00 it was pretty clear that she needed a rescue. She didn't meltdown but she wasn't happy and her heart rate was a lot higher than normal. After the rescue, Allison and I traded off bobbing, rocking, swinging, and bouncing her for about 45 minutes until she got calm. Then Allison held her for another hour before she was ready to go back in her crib so that we could leave. A week ago this sort of thing was pretty upsetting for Allison and I but now that we're so close to the finish line and are used to the weaning process it isn't as bad.

We're expecting a rough day tomorrow (day two after a wean is usually the worst), but we are excited to keep moving forward!

Another look at her beautiful face without all of the silly tape that the NICU nurses love to use.