So In Love

Yes, our entire family is totally in love with baby Ava who is 2 weeks old today. Jason and I brought our sweet baby girl home on Monday and I've spent the week just taking her in. After 10 days in the NICU/NICU2/Intermediate Nursery, she has been receiving lots of hugs and kisses from all of us.

Ava is such a good baby. She rarely cries and I have to wake her up to eat. Since we brought her home, she's been sleeping in her crib. She has "awake time" about twice a day which lasts for about an hour. During this time, she's content to lounge in my arms or kick her legs while laying on a blanket. She eats every 3 hours via both bottle and breast. Because of her size, nursing is a huge chore for her. She's actually very good at nursing but gets tired easily so we follow up with a bottle of breast milk. I can't get over how easy going she is! We went to see Dr. Goza (pediatrician) on Wednesday and she had gained 4oz since coming home on Monday. We're almost back to her birth weight which is extremely impressive since she lost a total of 10oz during the first 5 days in the NICU.

I promise to post more pictures soon, but we're heading up to the hospital today to pick up my short term disability paperwork. Since we'll be right across the street from the Viking Store, we'll pop in to see how the Central Services Holiday Outing is going.

BTW - Both the birthmark on her forehead and under her nose will go away within her first year. Ayden had the exact same birthmark on his forehead!

Have a great weekend!

Feed Me!

It's been a couple of eventful days in the NICU for Ava. Yesterday I was able to hold my baby for the first time since after her delivery last Friday. It felt so good to hold her, to touch her and to kiss her as much as I wanted...well for at least 45 minutes. Ava's jaundice level increased slightly so they were trying to keep her under the Bily Light as much as possible. The doctor had also doubled the amount of breast milk they were feeding her through the line in her mouth. All great progress! Last night when Jason called to check in on her, she was still doing great.

I went in for my usual noon visit today to find the Bily Light gone. Ava's color looked great and they had been waiting for me to come in for her very first bottle. This was a huge deal! We were about to see if she could handle taking in food on her own. Because they were worried about the choking potential, Ava's nurse was going to give her the bottle. Ava looked like a little bird waiting in the nest for mom to bring back food. Her mouth was wide open...like she just new what was coming. She downed an ounce with passion, only choking a few times. Both times she gave a little cough and took care of the matter on her own. Very impressive! We got many good burps as well. After her bottle was gone, it was snuggle time. Ava immediately fell asleep in my arms, comfortable with mommy and content with a full belly. I couldn't put her down and luckily our nurse is very accommodating.

Yummy! Give me more!!

Burp, burp, burp

Hmmm....a full belly feels so good!

A good nap was definitely in order after sucking down that bottle.

See the line going into her belly button and the one going into her mouth? They both should be gone when I go visit our angle tomorrow at noon!

Shortly before leaving I found out that Ava was being moved to NICU2 at 2:30pm. Once there, I'll be able to hold her and feed her much more. But the best news of all was that if she continues to do well with her feedings, our baby girl might be home before the end of the weekend! Keep your fingers crossed!!

Ava Update

Last night before going to bed, I called the NICU to check on Ava one last time. We received a bit of good news. Her oxygen level was down to 27% from the 36% it had been during my noon visit. The doctor in the NICU yesterday told me that on average, it takes about 96 hours for a baby's oxygen level to stabilize (21% is the target). Once it's stable, the oxygen hood can be removed. Jason and I went to bed very excited about Ava's progress.

Today I walked into the NICU for my noon visit to find the oxygen hood removed from Ava's bed. I assumed it was because they were changing her diaper or drawing some blood. Imagine my excitement when today's doctor informed me that they were "experimenting". Ava's oxygen level had dropped low enough and remained stable throughout the night so they had decided to remove the hood and see how she would do without it. Without the plastic covering her, I was able to touch her. I was able to caress her cheeks and give kisses. We can't hold her yet, but after 3 days of only being able to touch her toes I was more than happy with the gift I had just been given. Then the nurse came back with a little syringe with about a tablespoon of my breast milk in it and asked if I wanted to "feed" my daughter. The syringe was inserted into the small tube going into her mouth and I simply held it up so my milk would go down through the tube. I guess it wasn't your typical feeding, but again I was excited to be part of this first feeding. They didn't stick with the normal 15 minutes of touch time today. I spent over an hour in the NICU today! With any luck, Ava will remain stable without the oxygen hood and they'll move her to the intermediate nursery tomorrow. I can't wait to hold my baby girl again!