She’s beautiful. You’re both still in my thoughts, and I hope all is going well.
I GOT TO HOLD HER TODAY!!!
ahem
Sorry for shouting, but I’m so very excited.
It was so amazing and unexpected, and I nearly (but didn’t) cried and it was just…awesome. In the true and literal meaning of the word; Inspiring Awe.
We had been told it might be a couple of weeks before we could hold her, and then today the nurse mentioned that if I felt like staying longer, Caileigh was having a great day and we could try holding her in “Kangaroo Care” which is chest to chest skin contact which really helps premies to relax and grow.
So I of course stayed, and got to hold her and it was, I may have mentioned somewhere else, AMAZING! She’s so little, and she started sucking on her vent a few minutes after she was placed on my chest. I’ve never seen her suck on the vent before. I wonder if she smelled milk and reflexes kicked in. She was so much calmer and quieter on me than in her bed. When I spoke, she’d sort of wriggle contendedly, but there was none of the flailing of her arms and legs she likes to do in her isolette.
It looks like she might open her eyes soon (they’re still sealed shut). Both the nurse and my mother in law said they saw a sliver of blue as she was trying to open them. I’m having trouble imagining her with her eyes open!
We won’t be able to hold her everyday until she’s 1 kilogram (about 2.2 poinds), but the nurse said to ask again on Monday. If she’s stable and having a good day, we can hold her again. I’m going to be so jealous when WhyDad takes his turn! 
Congratulations! You’re in my thoughts, and so is Caleigh.
happy thoughts and good wishes toy Whybaby and Why Family
YAY!
Isn’t is a wonderful feeling the first time you get to hold your baby? The more you can do it the more it will help the both of you (dad as well), especially skin to skin.
She knows your voice from being inside and will quickly learn your smell.
Keep up the great work.
You are all definitely in my thoughts.
Best wishes to all of you.
Another chime for if you need a chat, vent or whatever, drop me a line at washte@gmail.com
Well, we’re off again! I’d just started posting on the Dope when we all watched Emma win her fight. Now it’s Caileigh’s turn.
This place is amazing. Your little one is already part of a community that will love her, pray for her and send out whatever vibes/spells/ thoughts/ waves/etc. they believe in. She is surrounded by goodness.
I’d start working on her Doper name. Thirteen years goes by awful fast. 
Love, prayer, and hugs,
zoogirl
Good thoughts headed your way.
She is beautiful, thank you for linking the pics for us.
WhyNot, if it had been me, I would have cried! (My emotions are so close to the surface, I cry at long traffic lights, lol). It’s so wonderful that you got to hold her!
(This smilie added at the request of my 5-year-old and should in no way be considered to reflect the feelings of the poster). 
(This post added at the request of her best friend, who spent the night last night). 
Well, I was afraid that if I started, I would quickly enter a crying jag, and I didn’t want to upset her, either energetically or physically. Bouncing her around on my chest as I heaved and choked didn’t seem like the first impression I wanted to leave!
So I remembered all those childhood lessons taught so well by my family and crammed all that emotion way deep inside, to be released at some later inopportune moment, like when I can’t get a jar of pasta sauce open and start sobbing for no apparent reason.
Oh dear.
Good thoughts coming your way for your daughter.
Keep pumping around the clock even though you’ll feel like it’s doing you in.
Brava!
I had a preemie too, albeit at 30 weeks so a whole different ball game, but he did have brain bleeding. It was grade 1 resolving, though, and at age 2 he’s perfectly fine and normal. Not the same scenario, I know, but bleeds can and do resolve.
And you’re lucky she was a girl!
Also, yo can get a book called Preemies on Amazon. It’s encyclopedia style, written by a team of neonatologists, and it’s a wonderful, wonderful resource.
Keeping the good vibes coming…
Caileigh! Caileigh! Caileigh!
Congrats on holding her! I will be following this thread for a long time. You are all in my thoughts.
My prayers and best wishes for healing are going out to little Caileigh Morgan. I’m also praying for all who love her to have strength, and sending healing energy for all of you.
Did you see the news story last week about the smallest surviving premie going home? She was only eight ounces when she was born, but they think she’ll be fine. Here’s to hoping WhyBaby is just as fortunate
An attractive 15 year old girl was on local TV yesterday. She too was a preemie at 23 weeks. Story not found on web this morning.
Caileigh Morgan could be another survivor!
Any thing is possible with God’s help!
Many SDMB’rs will be praying for Caileigh Morgan.
She’s had three really excellent days in a row now, which makes me breathe a little tiny sigh of relief (while still knowing that she’s not out of the woods yet.) Her dad got to hold her yesterday. I found that nearly as moving as holding her myself.
Her bilirubin’s coming down again. They turned off her phototherapy lights yesterday, so we’ll see if it stays down. (Last time they turned them off, they had to go back on the next day when her numbers started climbing again.) She’s been on 21-29% oxygen, bouncing up and down and keeping the nurses on their toes. Her infection seems to have cleared up.
Still no sign of brain bleed.
She’s “eating” 1cc of breastmilk every four hours. It goes through a tube in her nose. This is the best she’s tolerated feeds. They’ve tried them several times and had to stop them again. This time she seems to be taking them ok.
And her left eye opened yesterday! The right one was still sealed shut, but looks ready to open really soon.
My milk is slowly starting to increase. It’s been a real challenge. Although, when I think of it, it’s amazing that my body saw fit to make milk at all, having her born so early. I mean, as far as my monkey body goes, there’s no reason to think I have a live infant out of all this. Yet there’s the milk anyway. Just a little bit at first (about 5 mL every two hours). Now it’s up to between 10-20 mL every two hours. Not even an ounce. But, as the nurse said yesterday, since she can only consume 6 mL in 24 hours right now, that’s OK.
I do have a question about the Medela Symphony breastpump over in GQ if anyone knows how one works.
Thanks again and continually for all your compassion and support and prayers and simple interest. It’s nice to be able to “talk” about all this.
Fabulous news! I peeked in here to see how Calleigh was doing. Her pic is beautiful.
I love the rap song…
Here’s to her continued success and more–lots more–Kangaroo Care!
I’m happy to hear of your pumping success. There has been some indication that the breastmilk produced following a preterm delivery has a different composition than term breastmilk and may offer added benefits to the baby in terms of eyes, lungs and brain.
I started with a slow production also, but still had 16 gallons (!- in tiny 4 oz packages!) frozen when he was discharged from the hospital.
I’m jealous of your holding her so soon- mine was 40 days old when I held him. Then he lived on my chest pretty much for the next year. ::insert smiley here::
:eek: Oh, my goodness!
We ordered a small chest freezer to store milk, as the freezer on top of our fridge is a teeny apartment sized one, and we’ve already filled her allocated freezer at the hospital. There’s four days of pumpings in ours and it’s half full already! The chest freezer will be arriving in a few hours - now I just have to figure out where to put it!
The chest freezer certainly won’t hold 16 gallons in 20 mL increments in these hard bottles. But my mom has a large deep freeze at her place about an hour away, so when we need more room, we’ll trundle a bunch of milk over to her place.
He he…I filled up my freezer, then both grandma’s, then Unclviny’s bachelor friends’ (I understand he had alot of fun with that), then wound up buying a deep freeze myself. In the end, I had to contact the Denver Mother’s Milk Bank because we didn’t have one in my city. Once the hospital ran out and called me. I threw some packages in my bra and drove there- they were just right when I arrived!
My son is 7. It’s all a fading memory now, although I do wish I had kept a journal then. I did write in his baby book, though.
My wife stores hers in little plastic milk bags that various “baby supply” companies make - Avent, Evenflo and Gerber make them, and so do a lot of companies if those two aren’t available locally. She has to pour the milk from the jar to the bag when she finishes pumping, that minor hassle means that a three month supply of milk can be stacked in a relatively small area as the bags can be laid flat and frozen…very stackable. She also uses some jars which I hate because they take up so much room in the freezer there’s no room for our food…and the lids are hard to remove without spilling the milk after they’ve been frozen shut for a couple of months.
And by the way, congratulations - it sounds like everything is going very well (as these things go) and you should have a happy, healthy little girl in no time at all. She looks so fragile in the photos, but that’ll pass soon. Before long, you’ll have to “baby proof” your home so she can’t get herself into any extra trouble when she’s able to get around on her own - she’s gonna drive you nuts and make you more proud than you’ve ever been.