Day's 38 & 39- Avery's First Turkey Day!

Check out those neck rolls... cute!

She was not cooperating with the photo op... her onesie says she loves Mommy!

Giving Thanks to God on Thanksgiving!

Check out the turkey she made with her hand behind her

She has a very cynical look on her face

Daddy and our little Turkey's 1st Thanksgiving picture

The past 2 days have been such a whirlwind. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!! Hope it was lovely and amazing and great time spent with family. We so wish we had been able to do so with our respective families, but we wanted to spend the majority of the day with our sweet girl. Next year will be awesome, we promise! I can't believe this time next year, she'll be a year old!! I know time will fly...it already has. We have a very busy day today (Friday the 25th) so I wanted to hop on here and share the past two days as best I can. 

On Wednesday, Avery started off the day with a bang. Took her whole bottle in 9 minutes. She was sleepy while she was eating, but wide awake after. CJ and I were waffling back and forth whether or not we should take her tube out. Jessica our nurse and CJ really thought she would be fine without it; I, on the otherhand, thought it wise for my emotional well being to leave it in until she was consistently taking 8 bottles for a day or two. I spoke with Nita (another lovely nurse) on the way out and she said that in her experience, when babies are sucking down their whole bottles in under 10 minutes, they typically don't regress back to where Avery did. If anything, she might go back to 6 bottles a day, but not back down to 4. I will say that I've noticed her coordination and pacing is so much better. She gulps down a mouthful of milk, takes a breath, gulp, breathe, gulp, breath. It's the most wonderful sound in the entire world : )

Lo and behold, when I came back at 2:30, her tube was already out! Dr. T (the wonderful neonatologist) had walked by and saw that "Avery must have pulled her tube out again. Oh well, better just leave it out". In reality, they knew that baby girl would be fine without it, but didn't want to directly go against Mom's wishes. This was their way of pushing me into the right decision. She took 50 cc's in 13 minutes at 11:30 and the doc said that he just wanted to watch her volume intake over the next few days. She has to eat at least 40 cc's per feeding, on average. So if Miss Piggy sucks down 55 one feeding, she only has to eat 25 the next one and so on. 

I was informed at her 2:30 feeding time that in general at this age, babies never really keep their eyes completely open, and that doesn't mean that she is asleep and eating. Since she was sleepy (I could tell by body language) and had her eyes closed, I had to pay extra attention to if she was choking. She took her bottle plus bottle/vitamins in 12 minutes... I am so impressed with AG!

She then took 52 cc's in 8 and a half minutes at 8:30 and weighed in at about 5 lbs 2 oz!! As you can clearly see, I am getting my wish for a fat baby. And I couldn't be happier!! At 11:30 she ate and pooped a lot, then at 2:30 she ate 50 cc's in 7 minutes and at 5:30 she got down a whopping 57 cc's in 10 minutes! The girl is on fire!! We were praising God all day long for this. 

On our very first Turkey Day as a family, Avery was a little snot nose piglet. Since babies cannot breathe from their mouths yet, if they are stuffy, they can't eat. No airflow passing through the nasal canals. So this was the case at 8:30, and she only got down about 35 cc's. As you might possibly imagine, I thought for sure this was a sign that she wasn't ready to come home. Although the nurses assured me this was not the case, I had to momentarily speculate. Did we go and do it again? Was she tiring out on me once more? I literally only let myself wonder in the length of time it took you to read those sentences. I was gently reminded by the Lord that He was in control of this and if it was meant to happen this way, then there was nothing I could do about it. Worrying was not going to solve anything or make her better or worse. So SHOCKINGLY, I just breathed deep, I relaxed, I trusted, I smiled and I knew that everything was going to be okay. 

She was back to being a superstar at 11:30, and took 55 cc's AFTER her bath in 8 and a half minutes. It was during this feeding that Dr. T came over and said the most beautiful words I've ever heard (to date). "So we'll plan on rooming in tomorrow and going home around lunchtime on Saturday." 

I.DIE.

I just looked at him and smiled. Before when he told us that we were ready, I was remember being struck by fear. Are you sure?? I don't know if I'm ready! I don't know if she's ready! Can I really get up every 2 and half hours and feed her and make sure her bottles are the right temperature and that she safe in her crib and that she's not too cold/too hot and that she is happy?!?!? So many thoughts dashed madly through my mind. I remember it vividly (ya know, since it was only a little more than a week ago). I wanted her home so badly, but something inside of me knew it wasn't all the way right. Mainly because even though I was telling everyone I was ready, I wasn't. But when Dr. T made these plans for us, I felt more peace and at calm than I ever had before. Yes, we can bring her home and I won't break her. Yes, I can feed her and know that she is still breathing. Yes, I can swaddle her and rock her and sanitize her bottles and read to her and kiss her and love her. Yes, I'm ready to be a full time Mom now. How good it feels to say and believe that. 

She had her "professional pictures" done before her next touch time and she was so sleepy, it was a little tough to get the whole bottle down. She still did so in 15 minutes. Grandma came to hold her for the last time in the hospital! Everyone was very excited about that. Regarding the pictures... so it has occurred to me (and my husband, mom, step mom, etc) that my child is... well, less than photogenic. Don't get me wrong, cutest sucker you've ever seen in the flesh. But she's keen on scrunching up her face, grunting, snorting, bearing down until she turns purple, and making the possibly most unattractive baby faces known to man. And this is not only for pictures. She does it fairly frequently in her every day life. So I don't know why I thought maybe she would make an exception for Mama this one time so we could get a photo in time for a Christmas card. I got her a cute preemie outfit, a bow headband, a huge stocking to put her in. I had dreams of the sleeping baby photos, with her sweet face so docile and serene. And this, my friends, is what Avery decided to give us: http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=6cb703bd-7b08-4b59-b6fd-3ead1df65f25&utm_source=wnshare&utm_medium=email&utm_content=wnshare_mom_babylink&utm_campaign=wnshare_button

She also got her first RSV shot, so that is good and out of the way. She is officially 5 lbs 3 oz!! She continued to take 50-55 cc's in under 12 minutes the rest of the evening. 

And that takes us to now. We have about 5 more hours of Avery-free home life and I am so overwhelmed, overjoyed, amazed and downright excited to bring my sweet girl home finally tomorrow. We will room in at the hospital tonight starting at 7:30 and have her all to ourselves with no wires or monitors all evening. The doctor will come look at her tomorrow morning after 9 and barring no issues, we'll be released. I plan on bringing the computer up the hospital tonight so I can write exactly what I'm feeling and how thankful I am to the Lord that this is finally happening. There are truly no words. God is so good, He is so faithful, we are so blessed. 

It's almost time, folks! Keep those prayers coming for a peaceful and perfect overnight stay! Thank you!! xox