Baby Steps

My little one is two weeks old, everyday she seems to grow.

She smiles when she hears mommy and daddy's voices. According to her nurses she has already formed many preferences: she likes her pacifier, prefers sleeping on her right side even though the nurses are trying to keep her on her left to help out her right ear which is a bit folded, and pulls her feeding tube out any chance she gets. She is feisty they say. 

I am so amazed at her and at the technologies available that have helped her grow and have helped all her little Nicu friends. I am grateful for the prayer covering over her and my family as we continue forward. 

Being in the Nicu is funny because there are no definites everything is based on what the baby can handle; how much she gets to eat and how fast, when she gets iv's out, when she can go home... She came in the Nicu at 3.5lbs breathing on her own. Initially they gave her Cpap which is just air to help keep her lungs open. She was also put on iv's a vitamin mix that resembled Gatorade and a lipid. Initially they attempted to feed her but she wasn't digesting it so for about a week she was strictly on iv's. We rejoiced when we found out she ate 5cc (in one ounce is 30cc). She spent a couple days tanning under the bilirubin lights because her counts were high.

After about a week and a half she was moved to the 2nd level of the Nicu, which is one step closer to the door. She has regained her birth weight and is keeping her own temperature. They have started dressing her in cute little outfits (with her pic line they have been all off the shoulder). 

She is up to 26cc of milk every 3 hours and once per shift they are letting her eat from a bottle, she's beginning to get the hang of it. And as of yesterday no more IV! All in all she is just growing and eating waiting to come home. All of her meals need to be from a bottle and she needs to pass the car seat test where she stays in her car seat for an hour and a half to make sure she stays stable. Her eyes have been a bit icky too but they say it's a clogged tear duct we are praying it corrects itself as she grows. 

Some days her progress is baby steps and other days it's leaps and bounds! What a wonderful blessing she is. 

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." Psalm 127:3