Slow, Steady, and Santa

This week Madden has two pretty basic goals: The first goal is to continue to increase the amount of food she is taking by bottle.  She is currently at 40ml and needs to be at 60ml (2oz) each feeding to be considered at full feeds.  Madden is able to take most of her 40ml by bottle, but occasionally she grows tired in which case they use the feeding tube to finish it off.  The feeding tube will not be removed until she is consistently taking 60ml by bottle every 3 hours.

The second goal is to continue to decrease the amount of oxygen flow through her nose.  She started out at 3 liters of flow and is now down to 2 liters.  So far today she is very comfortable on the reduced rate.  The ideal situation would be to have her weaned completely off, but if necessary they can send us home with oxygen once she drops to a flow rate of 0.25 liters or less.

So, in order to take Madden home with us, she needs to get the feeding tube out and the breathing machines reduced.  Sounds pretty simple!  :)  There are some surgical options if Madden is unable to meet either of the two goals, but we are very prayerful that we will not need to go that route.  The best thing we have noticed is that Madden's temperament has made a complete 180 degree change.  Madden is now a content and happy little baby.  She hardly ever cries any more and she just takes everything in with her big blue eyes.  The fewer tubes she has, the happier she becomes. :)