Three Months: October 23

About a week and half ago (October 23) Miss June turned three months. I had been holding off on taking her three month pictures because of the new accessory she has on her face, but with the possibility of surgery on tomorrow morning looming, we took her three month pictures this past Friday. At three months, June is 10 pounds, 3 ounces (putting her at almost the 15th percentile). 

                                       

June loves watching her animals (lion, elephant and monkey) on her mobile. She watches one go around until it floats out of view, and then follows the next one. While she watches her animals, she kicks and seems almost ready to talk.

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This week started off with one last attempt to get the hole in June's stomach to heal. June first started off with a repoggle that was threaded down into her stomach by her mouth. She absolutely hated it. June's esophagus is narrow where it was stretched and repaired, so she has a pocket of secretions that sit above the narrowing. With a tube down her throat, it made it difficult for her to swallow, and she started choking on her saliva.

After June woke up from her afternoon nap, they moved the repoggle to her nose. The repoggle is to take the place of the wound vac. The surgeons think the wound vac may be sucking on the hole in June's stomach too much and not allowing it to close. After the repoggle was placed, they removed the wound vac on Wednesday. They change the dressing on June's stomach every couple hours so her stomach bile doesn't eat away at her skin. The plan was to watch for more drainage from the hole. If June's stomach continues to leak throughout the week and weekend (which it has), June will head back into surgery on Monday.

On Friday, October 30, we "celebrated" June's 100th day in the NICU. (Surprisingly, Jason and I are still somewhat sane :)) This little girl is definitely a trooper.

June continues to grow. As of today, she is 10 pounds, 6 ounces. While we are happy she is gaining weight, there is some concern. When June reaches five kilograms (11 pounds, 1 ounce), she has to move to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) or PIC (Pediatric Intermediate Care). Most likely, June will move to PIC because she is stable enough. The reason June would need to move is because the NICU doesn't have the medication and supplies needed to resuscitate her if she were to code.

While this still isn't a definite (it's possible this is the last surgery June will need before she can go home), it will be a big change - especially for us. We had an emotional end to the week, and I really cannot talk about it without tearing up. Moving to PIC means losing our entire team that has cared for June since she has been here. The people that are watching over our beautiful baby girl when we cannot be there won't be her nurses anymore. We will get new nurses, doctors (except the specialists and surgeons), care managers and a case manager. The setup and team structure is completely different in PIC.

As I mentioned earlier, this move is not definite. It depends on quite a few variables: if there are beds, babies that need to move before June, weight loss from surgery, and success of surgery. There is one or two babies that are bigger than June, so they would need to move first. Also, if the PIC is full or if another child comes in around the time June is going to transfer, June would stay in the NICU because they know she is being taken care of. June will lose some weight with surgery (because she won't be eating for a couple days) and any weight gain will be water weight that won't be counted. Lastly, if June recovers from surgery quickly and is at a point where she can go home (with a lot of support at home), she might not have to move.

The managers of the NICU know how well we like to be prepared, so they started having the "moving to PIC" conversation with us now. We got a tour of the PIC on Friday, and as/if we get closer to being moved to PIC, we will meet with some of the doctors. Hopefully, this exercise is all for not. (The PIC seems like a wonderful place full of terrific people, but maybe it's a place we can visit at a later date. :))