Cutest.Baby.Ever.- Day 12

Baby Girl in her very first item of clothing!!

Hi there! I am actually posting on today about today! What a concept : ) I can't believe how busy I feel for not being able to really do much. Today, I had an appt with my OB to check on my incision from the C-Section. She took off the tape and started to squeeze pus from the incision (TMI, I'm sorry people, I'm nothing if not honest) and told me that my left side looked red and irritated. She ended up seeing that it had opened up a little from the outside (Thank you Lord it looks like the inside is still closed) and she was able to poke a Q tip into the space. She thinks she popped either a blood clot or a pus pocket and that it needs to drain in order to heal correctly. Just to be on the safe side, I have to be on antibiotics for about a week or so. 15 different people have assured me this is safe for Avery (through my milk) so I'll be starting that today. I'm actually kinda scared it won't heal right or will develop an infection or open up more, so if you wouldn't mind throwing up a quick prayer for Mom when you pray for Avery, I would SUPER DUPER appreciate it! I'm in a lot of pain, and still perpetually exhausted, and don't want this to be anything major.

Back to Baby!!
8:30 AM- She had .8 mL residual and no poop. I noticed and confirmed that she hadn't had any Brady incidents in probably 3-4 days (pretty awesome!!) Avery was very alert (and very beautiful in her new pink onesise!!) but promptly fell asleep as per usual when she got fed.
11:30 AM- The doctor upped her feeds again to 20 mL (Big Girl Alert!!) and this time she had no residuals from the 8:30 feed. Her doctor came by and said our girl was doing so good, and they were confident at this rate of acceleration on her feeds/tolerance that she would be off the IV by this weekend. I'm thinking Sunday/Monday will probably be D Day, and when I say I'm absolutely THRILLED, I think you know I mean it!! She will keep her feeding tube in even when she gets to bottle feed, but it will be inserted thru her nose at that point. This won't come completely out until she's almost ready to go home. Their reasoning is better to have it in "just in case" than have to reinsert it if she doesn't take to the bottle right away. Which I've been warned is by far the hardest part of the NICU. The first few days/week are "scary" but the feeding by bottle is the "toughest". Mainly because preemies struggle so much with the suck,swallow, breathe combo. So when the time comes, we will DEF be praying our hearts out for success in that area. Also, once she hits 1800 grams and is tolerating her feeds completely and at the max level for her weight (which I think is around 25 or so) she will get moved into an open air crib bed! Will be sooo nice to not have her be in the isolette anymore. It just doesn't feel very inviting.... but I know she does love the peace and quiet in there and I do want that for Little Miss. All in God's time! It just excites me to know we are so close to both things occuring.
2:30 PM- She had no residuals at 20 mL (GO Baby, Go, Go, Go, Baby, YEAH!) And like yesterday around this time, she projectile pooped on me again. I love it. No complaints here, folks! If we have a standing daily date of poop at 2:30, I'll be a happy camper. I got to hold her swaddled for about an hour, and she was looking right at me most of the time : ) I seriously and truly fall deeper in love with this child every time she looks at me. It's such a feeling that I can never aptly put into words (and no one could do so for me either), but suffice it to say it's beyond the best feeling you've ever experienced is an understatement. We just talked and prayed until she fell into her milk coma and then I watched her sleep for about another half hour. She is such a peaceful sleeper, I could watch her for hours (and I'm quite sure I will soon here at home!)
5:30 PM- No residuals and no poop- Mom was fast asleep right about now!
8:30 PM- Baby Girl pooped twice while Mom was changing her diaper tonight! The nurse said eventually, breastfed babies will poop every diaper change, so this is good news to me that she has started to stool more than once a day. I wasn't sure exactly how much is "normal". And dangit, clearly Avery has my bowels, so more than once day is definitely an act of God! We weighed her right after I changed her diaper in the open air scale. This said that she had lost about 39 grams. Immediately, I was on the defense. I need her to be gaining, not losing weight! The nurse (not a normal night nurse, the one we had tonight was a PRN (as needed) nurse and did not do things we've done before which was a little ehhh) explained that that amount is normal to lose b/c she's pooped a lot today and one diaper weighed about 40 grams. But I know that we normally weigh Avery in her bed (that has a scale built in) so that is the one I wanted to weigh her in now, if she could be so kind as to oblige my request. Cue inner Mom-crazy-pants beginning to emerge. She clearly didn't think was necessary and called another nurse (who does work nights normally) over to ask her some obvious questions about weighing her that I could have answered. So once this was done, she determined that Avery had gained only about 14 grams for the day. Which is fine. All I'm asking is to keep going forward in her progress, and if we have to weigh her 8 times to make absolutely sure she's on the right track, then we will. She got a new pink onesie tonight with some flowery pants! I'm loving these wardrobe changes, she's like a Hollywood star or something! We had great kangaroo care time, Dad surprised us and came to sit with us and Avery nestled down in my jacket pretty quickly and fell asleep. She also had no residuals this time around... SuperBaby rides again!!
11:30 PM- I called to check on her while I was up at 1 to pump. Sweet girl had another poopy diaper and no residuals! Praise the Lord for all He's doing in our baby's tummy!

Today was such a beautiful day in so many ways. There is another girl baby in the NICU who I overhear updates on every now and then (they don't even like you to look at other babies in the NICU for HIPAA purposes) and I know that she is more premature than Avery. I think she is having some of the same issues our girl was having initially and I think she might also have an infection of some sort. If we could lift this baby up in prayer tonight for complete and total healing, I would appreciate it. We can let her have some of Avery's prayers : ) Let's agree to ask God to lay healing hands on this baby, so that her infection is cleared up quickly and she begins to eat more so that she can gain weight and go home with her Mommy and Daddy. I pray for comfort and peace for her parents, as I know how frustrating and scary this time is. God is in control, and He is the Ultimate Deliverer! He shows up when no one else can. I trust this 100% and take comfort in the fact of that also. When all human interventions fail, God is gonna show up. In one way or another. If I've learned anything the past 7-8 weeks, its that God DOES answer prayers, but never in the way you think! But if He brings you to it, He will bring you through it. I promise!

Please Lord, let Avery Grace continue to stay healthy and infection free. I pray that she gains healthy weight, every day, and stay on the forward track to complete health and healing (and Fat Baby Syndrome!) The doctor even said today that he would not re-test her jaundice levels b/c it is clear they are continuing to go down by the emergence of "normal" skin tone in her! Praise God! I'm all for not having to stick my baby again to test this, and again, another prayer answered. God is so gracious and we are thankful beyond all measure.

Tomorrow is a new day, full of possibilities for our sweet girl, and I can't wait to take part in that. Thank you for joining us in her journey; we love and appreciate every single one of you. xox