Day 6

Yesterday was a rough day. Little Angel started to get really dehydrated. She was getting weak and didn't have much strength to even nurse. I weighed her and she was back down to 105 grams. She was fading. I syringe fed her and got 1cc in of esibilac. Then I syringe fed .5 cc of pedialyte. She wanted to just sleep after that. I made a sort of incubator. I started with a heating pad on the bottom, then a small hospital bucket on top of that. I then put a warm wet washcloth (for humidity) in the bottom of the bucket. On top of the washcloth I put a hot water bottle. Covered that with a towel. Then added her. I then covered the whole thing loosely with a blanket.

I had Jessica stay with her so I could run to the store and try to find a preemie playtex bottle. In all of my research I have found that most puppies will not take the pet nursers they sell in stores. (Nice time to find that out, now) But, most all puppies will take a preemie playtex bottle. The kind with the button type nipple. So off I went. I figured Wal-mart must have what I am looking for. Of course baby stuff is all the way in the back of the store. I go all the way back. No preemie bottles. Not of any brand. Nothing that I could see would be small enough. Apparently they don't even make the Playtex bottle with the button type nipple anymore. I went to every store here in Tooele Utah that might carry baby supplies. I guess no one here in my town has premature babies because I could not find any preemie nipples. I was in a hurry to get home too. So it was a mad dash in the store back to baby supplies and back out to the car to head to the next store. I also wanted to run to the vets office before they closed for the evening to pick up a back of Lactated Ringer's. Basically it is a bag of IV fluid. So I made it there and got the fluids and some syringes. I knew that with her getting so dehydrated I would have to Sub-Q fluids. That means that I had to inject fluids under the skin at the back of the neck. This will form a large bubble of fluid under the skin. The quicker it is gone the more dehydrated she is. The first dose I used was a full 3cc needle. That made a huge bubble on her little body. However that whole bubble was gone in less then an hour. She started to get better almost right away though. When I got back from my baby bottle hunt Jessica reported that my incubator did not work very well and the only way to keep her quiet was to hold her close and keep her warm. One thing is for sure she is not lacking in the Love department here at my house.

Last night Callie and I both slept right next to the box again. I did not keep her in the box though. I held her right against my chest and neck under the blankets and kept her as warm as possible with my body heat. She did so good though. After a few doses of the Sub-Q fluids it was time for the bedtime feeding. She actually drank 2.7cc's of formula. She had great suction too. Then she went to sleep and slept for 3 hours straight. It was really nice. When she woke up again I let her feed this time on Callie. I let her get as much as she can from her but Callie does not have much to give. I have milked her myself to see how much is actually there and it is not even 1cc from all four bottom nipples. So after half an hour of feeding with Callie I supplemented her the rest, and did another 2cc of sub-q fluid. She slept another 3 hours. My body was not sure how to take this sleep thing again. So in the morning I weighed her and she was back up to 109 grams. She still did not seem to be warm enough in her box even with the heating pad. So I planned on spending the day in the closet with her just holding in my arms under blankets. But then I got a call from a woman named Gabrielle. She is with Eulenburg Cavaliers. (Her web address is www.angasstar.com) On her site she has the story of one of her puppies that was born 10 days early. She also offers her e-mail address for anyone needing help with preemie puppies. I sent her an e-mail and she was getting back to me. She is actually on vacation with her family and took the time to call and talk with me. She said that it sounded like I was doing everything right. She did have a great idea for an incubator. So into my bra Little Angel went and off to Wal-mart to get the things we needed to build this Incubator. It has been great. Her temperature has to be kept at between 90 and 100 degrees. It also needs to be pretty humid to help avoid dehydration.

So here she is in her little incubator. Yes it is just a Rubbermaid bucket. Inside there is a smaller tupperware dish filled with hot water. There are holes all around the top of this to let the steam out and into the rest of the box. There is also a heating pad in half. I needed to make it so she could get away from the heat source. There is some "siblings" in there to cuddle with as well. I do keep a thermometer inside. You can see in the photo that it is 93 degrees and 39 percent humidity. The greatest thing about this box is that it is portable!! I have rejoined my family. I have been sitting on the couch with laundry to fold and actually able to watch all the season finalies from TV this week. Tonight I think I will set up the box next to my bed and actually sleep in my bed. She really has made a turn for the better. She is still getting sub-q fluids every 3 hours but the bubble is staying longer now. Maybe later tonight or tomorrow I can cut back on that. Her weight is up again today too. She is now weighing 116 grams. So here's to a good night and an even better tomorrow.