A WELL- RESTED NIGHT !!!

     This past Wednesday Emma had an appointment to see the Pulmonologist (lung doctor). She visits with them about every other week for them to check on how well her lungs are doing. I remember many nights in the NICU where the topic of conversation was about the growth of her lungs.This seemed to be most important to the docs, because the last organ to completely grow is the lungs. So since she was born so premature, her lungs never had time to grow therefore she will be faced with problems in the future with breathing.
       After Emma finished a bottle and I burped her for 30 minutes, I laid down for my first nap of the night around 12:30 a.m. On a typical night, she generally wakes up every three hours, but this night was different. When I woke up to the pleasant hungry grunts and coos coming from Emma, I looked at the clock and it was 5:00 a.m. This has been the first time since I've slept for anything over three hours at a time since I've been with her full-time. I was overwhelmed with joy and I just knew that I had an eventful day ahead of me.
       I started getting her ready around 9:30 a.m to try to stay ahead of the game for her appointment at 12:30 p.m. After cleaning the dishes in the sink and all of the bottles from the night before, mixed with some tummy time for Emma and some much- needed coffee for me, the time started to creep. Before I knew it was time to set off for the doctors, and I hadn't even taken the dog out for her afternoon walk. I loaded up the stroller with the necessities and brought the dog along for the ride, figured I'll kill two birds with one stone. When we saw the doctor, she took a couple of listens to her lungs and asked a couple of questions, she seemed to be happy with her health. She downloaded the information off Emma's apnea monitor and was very pleased with the amount of episodes she was having which was almost down to none at all.
       Early on in the NICU while her brain functions were still developing, she would  forget to breath so they had her hooked up to an apnea monitor. This alarm went off every time her heart rate would drop significantly and the nurses would have to go in and stimulate her to wake her up. When she was discharged from the NICU she was sent home with this monitor since she was prone to having these episodes. The only episodes she is having now are caused from reflux after eating, which causes her lungs to close so the acid doesn't spill over into them. This is a good sign and shows us that she is on her way to not having any monitors at all. They tried testing her off of her oxygen for about 20 minutes while she was feeding, to possibly go without it during the day but confirmed she wasn't quite ready yet. With every day that passes her lungs will grow stronger and we know that eventually she will be off the oxygen as well.
        When we got home around 2:45 p.m the intense cries were apparent, she was HAAAANGRY! After getting the little monster fed and put down for a 15 minute naps she insists taking during the day, I realized the day had flown by. I had a couple of things left to do before my wife got home at 6:00 p.m which included: boiling water and making formula, vacuuming the living room, and figuring out what the adults were having for dinner tonight. Not believing I had it in me, I was able to get things accomplished as mom was walking through the door. Now it's the time I wait for all day when all of us can spend time together as a family.