Well, Emma just keeps blowing through these important milestones! Yesterday was a GREAT day on the bottle front! Daddy got her to eat 12ml at lunch time, and she ate 9ml for Mommy at night time. She is definitely getting the idea that there is good stuff in there and she wants it. When we pick her up at meal times she starts to root around a little bit like a little bird. Yesterday was the most comfortable I have seen her so far, and it seems like it takes less effort for her to extract the milk. She still gets sleepy pretty fast, but at her gestational age, that is completely normal. We are so proud of her progress!!
Another HUGE development is that she has been moved OUT of the isolette that she was in and into an open air bed! This means she has been successfully regulating her own body temps! Way to go baby girl! They had been weaning down the temps in her box for the last few days until it hit standard room temp and monitoring her reaction to it. She handled it like a champ, so at 5am this morning she got moved to her new "big girl" bed. They will watch her pretty closely the next few hours especially to make sure that she continues to do well, but this is a major step in the right direction!
Since she got to the NICU she has been on a Lipids drip to help increase her body fat so she could bulk up a little bit. (Like her Daddy she was extra long and lean...great for him, not so much for a preemie.) Because she is getting almost 100% of her nutrition from my milk now, the Lipids and IV feeding solution will be going away in the next day or two! Gone with them will be the pic line in her arm in which it is delivered, so we are absolutely over the moon about that. All she would have left after that is her temp monitor and of course her vitals, but those are really minor. She still has the feeding tube in her nose because she is not finishing all her bottle orally, but everyday that she eats more from the bottle itself, she gets closer and closer to being able to lose that as well. Our daughter is just amazing! I think she wants to go home as much as we want to take her home! :)
Today Matt is going to go home to Incline to pick up the mail, make sure the pipes haven't burst with all this snow, etc, so it will just be me at the 2:30 and 8:30 feedings. We will miss Daddy but I have to admit I will enjoy getting the snuggles all to myself! :) She is so much more alert and awake now when we're there, when she looks up at you with those amazing blue eyes you can't help but feel so good. He will come back in time for the nighttime feeding on Monday. On Monday I also have my first post op doctors appointment to check my incision and make sure my blood pressure is still cooperating. They have me on BP medication to make sure it stays low, so we'll see how that is going. I still have some swelling in my feet which is annoying, but I'm sure he'll be able to give me a better idea about how things are going.
Thank you all again and again for your prayers and well wishes. They truly mean the world to us and I KNOW what a difference they are making. I can see it everyday in the progress that our baby is making. I am really looking forward to the day where we can introduce you all to our amazing daughter! We love you!
Love,
Matt, Sara and Emma
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