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!