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| Sleepy girl loves her paci! |
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| Hangin out after her wardrobe change |
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| Getting long! Up to 16.5 inches now |
8:30 AM- Had 1 cc of residual and Dad got to hold her this morning. She took her pacifier the whole time! She really does love that thing and we are so happy b/c it eases the process of taking an actual bottle. Which is doing so well at! The nurses said she had a great night : )
11:30 AM- I had a meeting with a lactation consultant who answered a lot of my questions and helped me breastfeed Avery. At first, since she was really sleepy, she just laid there latched on but didn't suck. Intermittently, she would suck for a couple seconds and then stop, so I thought for sure this was going to be a bust. As the lactation lady and I sat and talked about getting me on a schedule where I didn't produce as much or pump as often (she estimates I already have close to 6 month supply for Avery already) so that I can sleep a little better and work (when that time comes), I all of the sudden noticed that Avery was sucking away!! For a good 15-20 minutes, this girl was hungry! I could have cried with relief. I know they always say don't put so much emotion into every single event, but it is so hard when this is effectively your whole life. It's impossible not to get emotionally invested 100%. I was so proud of her! Unfortunately, since she sucked on and off, we couldn't really tell how much milk she got. Plus she needed the extra calories they are fortifying her feeds with. So the rule is, if she sucks for 10+ minutes, she gets half a feed. If less, then a whole feed on top of whatever she took. Well, the nurse decided to go ahead and give her a full feed, and I could tell immediately it was too much. She spit up a little bit and was fussing a lot and wriggling around like she was so uncomfortable. My heart broke for her. I pretty much decided right then to only feed her bottles w/ my milk + calories in them until she is older and bigger and out of the NICU. Since she's not losing any nutrition if she feeds from the bottle as opposed to my breast, I think this is the best option, and also when she is a little older, she will be able to suck easier/better. Depending on how this reduction in pumping goes, I might also donate a lot of my breastmilk to a milk bank, but they think Avery has to be out of the NICU for them to accept it. If I get the blessing of the lactation nurse and she thinks my supply is still ample when Avery leaves the NICU, I really feel called to do this for other sick babies and mom's that aren't as blessed as I have been. I never complain about having too much, and I think God has given me this "gift" for a reason!
2:30 PM- She had 4 cc's residual this time around and very large poop (according to the nurse when we called). She was a sleepy girl since the breastfeeding wore her out!
5:30 PM- She had no residuals and no poop this time. We changed her bedding and got to talk with her awhile since we didn't want to hold her in abundance today. One of the nurses said that instead of scheduling her bottle feeds when we can be there (even though they really want the parents involved), if she is awake and acting like she's hungry when we aren't there, they asked for our permission to go ahead and feed her with the bottle. They watch for her "cues" (making sucking noises, chewing on hands, etc). We've noticed she's been doing this more and more the past few days. She said, "She'll get out of here a lot faster that way". SCORE!! Of course we said yes, go ahead, do whatever to get her home faster.
11:30 PM- We missed the 8:30 due to dinner plans, but came up for this touch time to bottle feed her. Dad did the dirty work this time and he was great! It takes getting used to of how to hold her and the bottle, it's not any positions I've seen term babies held during this process, but we are both learning. Dad really enjoyed being able to help with this and they were so cute. It took a lot for me not to grab her and tweak what he was doing! Argh for my OCD! But really, he was awesome. She took 17 out of 35 cc's!! SuperBaby!! She only had 1 cc of residual as well. She's digesting so well. She also burped really good! It didn't take much patting to get them out of here. Sign is she definitely our child?? Probably. And for the grand finale.... she officially weighs 3 lbs and 13.6 oz!! We were in shock and obviously over the moon! We hope she continues to overcome any obstacles in shattering that 1800 g mark and move into an open air crib soon. She is currently 1745. Pray, pray, pray for no weight loss and continued healthy weight gain!! God is busy answering prayers, people!! Let's not stop now!
It seems like lately everytime I get in the car, I hear a song that has got me thinking more and more about the awesome power of God. It's called "Overcome" by the Desperation Band. The lyrics specifically that touch my heart are these: Savior, worthy of honor and glory, worthy of all of our praise....You overcame. Jesus, awesome in power forever, awesome and great is Your name... You overcame.
And then later on in the song: We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb, And the word of our testimony, everyone overcomes.
I truly love this song and connect so deeply with what its message is. When I pray with Avery, I always pray and say to God, "We give you all honor, and all glory and all praise." And isn't He so worthy and deserving of that? Jesus died so that my sweet girl could live, could be raised by us, could enjoy life to the fullest, and He is watching over and blessing her everyday and helping her overcome the obstacles that seek to hinder her from growing, from leaving the NICU. But she is saved because of everything Jesus overcame so long ago. How can I ever thank Him enough? There doesn't seem to be any ample and tangible anything to offer Him as a thanks for that. But that's where the last part of the song rings so true. My testimony and what we all have overcome with God's grace is my thanks. We are saved and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and as a parent, to know that Avery is safe in God's hands is a relief in which I can't possibly put into words. Trials and tribulation are a part of life. No one wishes for or desires these two events, but they happen every day. Not all of my direct and specific prayers are going to be answered for Avery, although I have faith that Jesus is working for Avery and is blessing her in ways I will never fully understand or even see. What my point is- God is awesome and should be praised on a daily basis for everything He has overcome in our names. This song reminds me of that and gives me so much courage to face every day in the NICU with Avery.
Let's continue to pray that she takes her bottles well, and that she eats more and more! They'll see how much she's eating at 2 bottles/day and then go up from there if all is well. Let's pray for continued healthy weight gain for our girl and that she is digesting and absorbing all of my milk to the nourishment of her growing body! We want no residuals, we want no spit up, we want no Brady episodes. We desire Avery to be a healthy, happy, sick and infection free baby! Praise the Lord that all of these things are already in place and just have to continue on track.
Tomorrow is her 3 week birthday! Thanks to everyone whose been following us along. I sincerely and truly hope this blog in some way blesses your life as your prayers and positive thoughts have blessed ours. xox
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