Rootin'
Last night was perhaps one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Ellie's nurse for the past three nights has been this great gal, Lorna. We confirmed last night that Lorna has been a nurse as long as Kit has been alive (since 1979). She's great. And she'd noticed that Ellie was clearly trying to "root" when she was awake and would suck on Lorna's gloved finger quite excitedly. So she had the day nurse yesterday ask the doctor if it was okay for Ellie to come off CPAP for 15-20 minutes to try "rooting" on mommy. The doctor approved so that's what we got to do last night.
She only latched on a few times and only briefly, but she did a great job off CPAP (until she got hiccups at the end) and she was definitely exploring and figuring things out. It'll be a while before she gets the whole "suck, swallow, breath" thing down, which is when she'll be able to fully breastfeed but for now we're working on her suckling skills.
Tootin'
I'm sure Elise will love me for telling this story when she's older, but she is a super regular little gal. And we love it! She only really fusses when anyone is doing anything to her (i.e. changing her diaper, taking her temperature, doing her "facial," etc.) and then when she's working on clearing her bowels. It's precious because she'll fuss, kick and flail her arms a bit, and then you'll hear the most adorable little toot come from her little bum.
-------
In other news, as you can see from the weight tracker sidebar, Ellie's up to 2 pounds, 15.6 ounces as of last night! When we went to see her today, I could definitely see how much bigger she is now than a couple of weeks ago. And she's such a feisty little gal that everyone at the hospital says we're going to have quite a fun time when she comes home.
Also, Kit checked with the doctor yesterday on what their current estimated time frame for Ellie to come home. He said that we're currently looking at 5 1/2 weeks in a best case scenario. Please continue to pray for the Lord's will in our little girl's life and for her growth.
-------
Today Kit ended up taking me to the ER because I am having chest pains. When I called my OB about them yesterday, he suggested trying some antacid since I didn't have symptoms of anything super serious but said to go to the ER if they didn't help. They didn't really help, and I had a really difficult time sleeping last night. So this morning Kit called the doctor's office again, and they said to go to the ER to ensure it wasn't a pulmonary embolism.
So we went into the ER, and after having an IV put in, blood drawn and a chest x-ray, I was diagnosed with "chest wall pain." The blood test that can help in deciding whether a CT is needed to check for pulmonary embolism was negative despite the fact that post-surgical patients (like me) often have relatively high results (I didn't) so the nurse practitioner in the ER said that we can be fairly sure that I don't have an embolism. So I'm now on 600 mg of ibuprofen every eight hours. It seems to be helping a little, and we're glad to know that it doesn't appear to be anything too serious. Praise the Lord!
-------
Oh, and sorry that I didn't post yesterday. We went to most of church last night before going to the hospital, and it's right during my normal blogging time. Now on to some pictures of our beautiful little girl...
Our little cutie looking at daddy.
Rooting on Lorna's finger.
Rooting on daddy's finger.
Her beautiful little face with nothing but her feeding tube on after a "facial."
Wearing her pink socks with white flowers and a cute hospital-issue onesie.
Wearing her very own cute pink onesie and showing off her great kicking skills. (Aren't those toes precious?!?)
Another shot of her in her cute outfit.
11 comments:
So cute in her onesie! It made such a difference once we were finally able to dress our little one in clothes. It helped hide all the tubes and wires and made her look more like a regular (just tiny!) baby. That's great that she was wanting to root and latch on. My husband and I both started laughing at the phrase "suck, swallow and breathe" oh how important that little action is. Great news that you didn't need to be admitted to the hospital yourself. Hope the ibuprofen allows you to sleep better tonight!
What wonderful news that she was able to nurse some!! I love your enthusiasm and your positive spirit - she is so lucky to have you as her Mama!!!
She's getting so big! And still so beautiful. Hurray for fabulous nurses! Big high fives for Lorna! Congrats on your first nursing experience. That's such a big deal! There's really so much for a little one to do! Don't give up, she'll get the hang of it.
On the cusp of 3 pounds!! So exciting to see such a tiny little human doing all the things that bigger older babies do. Our God really is amazing!
Blessings, Brenda
glad to hear she is doing so well!! Who hoo almost to the 3 lbs mark, My little one was 3lbs at birth and it is amazing to now look back and see how far she has come.
and before you know it, you will be home with your little one and your new adventure will begin.
she looks so adorable in her outfits!
I will be praying for your health...that doesn't sound fun! =(
let me know if there is anything I can do to help you guys out!
blessings!
YAY! For ROOTIN' and TOOTIN' !! Good Job Ellie! Can't wait to see the post title "We're taking her home!" (or something like that..lol) Hugs to all!
Yahoo!! Grow Ellie Grow!!! We're praying for you guys! Glad to hear everything worked out well with the DR today Em!!!!
She is so cute ! great job, Elise, I hope you will improve and grow as well as our daughter Anaëlle (980 gr when she was born what means 2 pounds and 2.5 oz I think) ! She is now the tallest of all her friends (over the 97 th percentile) !!
Take care,
Joëlle from France
She is adorable! Glad to read that things are going well! Praying for a best case scenario!
Oh Emily, she's SO beautiful!! I loved that picture of her face with just the feeding tube in! I will continue to pray for her growth and development, I love hearing how she's doing each day! And that's great that she's beginning to root, I can't wait for the day that you're able to nurse her! I'll pray that it comes quickly! God Bless you all!
Post a Comment