NICU pics and progress

Here's a few highlights of happenings in the NICU from this past week. On Wednesday, we got the green light to try and breastfeed for 3 feedings. We had some success, but it was exhausting to me. The awkwardness that was around just because we don't have this all down yet was compounded by wires, tubes and monitors. When we swung by for her 8:30 feeding, the nurse had already started to heat up some formula. I decided to take a break and instead, Eric held her and I held the food being administered through the tube.

On Thursday, we got the go ahead for all feedings to be given via breast (or bottle, if I wasn't there). They also reduced the amount of oxygen she was getting through her NG tube in the morning and removed it all together in the evening. So by the time we visited her that night, her head was starting to look almost normal! No more tubes coming out of her nose or mouth. The IV had already been removed from her head (she kept yanking it out of her hands and they were all bruised). All that was left was the protective tape on her face. Reminded me of a football player...

On Friday, they moved her from the NICU to the Special Care Nursery. What a downgrade! But it meant that she didn't need as much care and monitoring, which was definitely good. But man, was that a room cramped full of babies! I hung out with her there from the time we arrived at 11 am for a feeding, until later in the afternoon when we began our night of "rooming-in." This meant that they brought us to a room the size of a prison cell, so we could spend the night with her and they would be close-by if anything came up. It was a rough night because we near a noisy area and we didn't have any of the home amenities.