Jaylie - Q & A

Kristina's sister Amy sent me a couple of questions several people asked her. They are good questions so I am posting the questions and answers in this post:

How does Jaylie stay nourished?

There is a tube the Dr's inserted in through the nub ("nub" is a nate term for the little piece of umbilical cord left after they cut the cord which then shrivels up and becomes your belly button) of the umbilical cord into Jaylie's stomach a couple of minutes after she was born. They send her nourishment through this tube inserted. All the vitamin's, protein and fat's she needs is sent through the tube inserted.

Why can't you hold her?

There are a couple of reasons as to why physical touch is limited for babies this small. One is to try and regulate Jaylie's stress level's.The way I understand it is this, Jaylie only has so much energy to expend. What the Dr's are trying to do is focus that energy on growth and healing. The care and environment constructed is focused on putting Jaylie in the best position to promote growth and recovery. One of the the elements that detract from growth and recovery is stress. If Jaylie is stressed out, she then is expending her energy managing stress opposed to being relaxed and growing/healing. The Dr's have advised physical touch, loud noises and light, among other things, cause babies in Jaylie's condition high levels of stress which is not good. They limit the amount of light, noise, touch, ect Jaylie is subjected to to manage the amount of stress she is put under. With that said, there are certain periods of time we are able to come in and touch/interact with Jaylie. These times are called 'care times'. Right now they last about 1hr every 8hrs. During these 'care times' we can gently interact and touch Jaylie. We cannot physically hold Jaylie yet due to they way touch affects her and due to the fact that she is hooked up to several IV's and ventilation tubes which makes taking her out of her incubator impossible. The question was asked again today when we would be able to hold Jaylie and Jaylie's primary nurse advised she would do her best to try to make that happen within the next couple of weeks.

How long will Jaylie be in the hospital?

They have advised Jaylie will most-likely be hospitalized until her full term due date of Feb 12th. This date is a good rule of thumb -- Jaylie could be there a bit longer or a bit shorter all depending on how she progresses from day to day.