Tidbits

I love how she looks like she just passed out.

She had just finished eating a huge meal and she was wiped out. We picked

up her arms and legs and she just let them flop back down. She was "milk drunk". :)

She is so cute with her little body pillow.

Her first day in a big girl bed! She was finally able to keep herself warm.

Tidbits...

When Avella was born she had swallowed some of the blood from the placenta detaching. Scary. They told me she came out crying and kicking.

I didn't get to see her until the evening of the 6th.

I first saw her open her eyes on the 8th. I think this was also the first day that she cried (since the day she was born). She was finally able to because she didn't have the breathing tube down her mouth, it was on her nose instead.

I got to hold her for the first time on my birthday the 9th. Finally I got the moment with her that I was expecting to having right at birth. It was the perfect birthday present. I could have held her all day, but they only let me for half an hour. Poor Ryan didn't get to hold her until the next day. What a nice hubby to let me hog her all to myself.

I changed her diaper for the first time on the 11th. Ryan thought I was crazy for doing it. I explained to him that I would gladly take any "normal" moment with my daughter. I still love doing it because I feel like it is one of the few "normal" things I get to do.

The 12th was the first time we were all together as a family. It was just for a couple of minutes while my boys were able to help wheel Avella up to the second floor nursery, but it was a wonderful moment.

She got taken off of oxygen on the 16th. She was off oxygen for one week. She got put back on it again, which is totally normal. They actually had warned me this would probably happen. When preemies start working hard at feeding sometimes they need extra help breathing. She got taken off again today and only needs it when she eats.

On the 19th Avella was wide awake and looked right at me for the first time. Sigh. :)

As of the 20th she had gained 5 ounces. On the 23rd she had officially gained one pound since birth. Yea! She ended up gaining a lot in those three days. She hit 5 pounds on March 8th. She looks so much bigger!

I have learned that I need to ask questions all of the time and keep asking what the next step is. I was asking the nurse when we would start weighing her before and after feedings to see how much she got. The nurse said I can ask to have it done. It wasn't ordered because they didn't want me getting discouraged that she wasn't getting a lot nursing. Of course I knew she was amazing and was doing better than they thought. :)

Then I asked to have her weighed after the next couple of feedings. They were so impressed with how well she did that they put it in her orders to be weighed each time I nursed her. After a couple of days she had a huge feeding where she nursed and got 52 ml, even though she was only being fed 37 ml through her feeding tube! I think she just wanted to show everyone what she was really capable of. Everyone was amazed. It was definitely a proud mommy moment.

She started off being able to nurse her once a day on the 13th, a non nutritive feed (meaning I pump first and then let her practice nursing), Then we went up to four feedings a day. Now all of her feedings are nursing or a bottle. It is so good to look back and see how much she has progressed, even though sometimes it feels like it is going so slowly. It is exciting to think of what amazing things she will do the next week. And one week we will get the news that she will get to come home!

Thank you again to everyone for all of your prayers and service. Avella is a healthy little girl and we are grateful for that. We can't wait for all of you to meet her!