Minzy gets a respirator

2 July

I couldn't see 80% of Minzy today. the doctor told us that she would be changing to a respirator to train her to breathe through the nose, and that her breathing tubes would be removed. so nampyeon and i was kinda expecting her to cry a little and maybe we would be able to see more of her face. however, the sight that greeted us was so different. the respirator covered half of her face and she was sucking a pacifier, so even the bottom of her face couldn't be seen. and she looks like she has a turban on. why does this look more serious than having the breathing tubes...

curious, i asked the nurse how the feeding tube and pacifier works together and she took off her pacifier to show me. somehow minzy must have been super disturbed because she started struggling soooo much. but she was sticking out her tongue while struggling and it looked so cute. towards the eye she opened her eyes for just one second and that was it. i don't know how she could be disturbed so much and yet still keep struggling while sleeping!

In fact i get to see all kinds of things today even though Minzy didn't open her eyes at all. the nurses were cleaning her dung bag - this was done every 2-3 hours. the bag is only changed every 3 days. they used this syringe to suck out the shit. ahhh i really hope they tuck her intestines back in before discharging her..!! iam so afraid of hurting this baby!

her nappy was changed thereafter but i shall not show the video.

it seems that the respirator needed to be cleaned every 4 hours as there's mist build up inside. i was lucky i get to see the whole process. minzy immediately covered her nose once the respirator was removed. i can imagine how irritating the respirator must be... thank goodness she was breathing well, if not they would have to stick those tubes down her again, and keep repeating the whole process till she learns to breathe.

next she was pricked for blood sugar test. unfortunately it seems she has some platelets issue and her count kept dropping. the condition is Neonatal Thrombocytopenia and only blood transfusion can cure it. since it was still not very serious (i think), they started to use steroids to treat it, but the side effects were the sugar level that went up, so they have to do blood test to make sure it doesn't go too high. at the end i think she sneezed twice and there was a little sound made! the nurses did assure me that she could cry so that was all good. we were so worried about every test that she was going through - can she see? can she hear? can she cry? such simple things that we were born with... a premature baby cannot always have them all T_T

minzy yawning and twitching as usual... is it me or is it because the respirator is so heavy that she kept tilting to the side...

0ur mini minzy slept all the way when papa was visiting and so he didn't take any videos in the end. when she was finally about to wake up, the nurses chased nampyeon out saying she had to go through some other tests... poor nampyeon. since minzy didn't really open her eyes again, i wonder if she knew we were there?

Minzy looked so swelled up again, with all the rolls under her face. the nurses did say that it's because all the stuff on her face is pressing her thus causing the rolls but i'm sure it's a mix of both. she does look different every time i visit. i wonder why her face is always the first to bloat when she's under treatement. she's 790g today. hopefully she reaches 1kg when we see her next time. looking forward to how she changes next time... and i hope they take off the respirator soon since she is breathing well! it is pressing too much on her face. ouch...