Nora Update

I an SO proud of Brian...he spent the whole night in the NICU with Nora, so he got to be there for every feeding, changed her diaper, and knows way more than I do about every little procedure. You should see how his talking about her or to her just lights him up. Oh how he loves being a daddy! I saw him around 1:30 a.m., and he came in at 6:30 a.m. again to give us the great news about how she did overnight, since we have big progress about our girl!

First of all, she's OFF the CPAP since they took her off when I was there yesterday eveniing -- so that means she's breathing on her own very well!

At her 9 p.m. feeding last night, instead of a tube, they were able to give her 5 cc's of food through a bottle! She was very tired from it, so she had it put in her tummy after that, but she did great and Brian got to be the one to feed her.

They measure the food in her tummy (pull it out with a syringe then put it back) so they can tell if she's started digesting, and up until 6 a.m., she hadn't digested anything and all her nutrition was coming from the IV. Well, when Brian changed her diapers this morning at 6 a.m., Nora made her very first POOP, AND she only had 5 ccs of the 20 she had put in her tummy in the past 24 hours, so that means she's started to digest too!

I've been trying to pump every three hours since 3:30 yesterday, and still haven't gotten anything. They gave me a big hospital industrial double pump, but aside from a drop there's nothing there yet. I'll talk to the nurse about what needs to be done other than practice!

It's late Tueday morning, and I just got back from a couple hours with Nora in NICU...

I got to change her diaper for the first time.

We sat "Kangaroo Style" (with her skin on skin to my chest), and the first thing she did was to go moving towards my breast. So we went head and let her go for it. She didn't get anything but the experience!

Then the nurse was going to put tube down to feed her and I asked if we could at least try the bottle since she seemed ok with sucking, and she got another bottle down.

Then after burping her she settle in to being held next to me skin-on-skin, we just sat together and napped for over an hour. She is just a little cuddly monkey!
This picture of her is from when Mom & Jill saw her the first time, I just love their smiles!

Her oxygen saturation is 100%, her BP was around 70/50 and her heart rate is right on about 130s, all where it needs to be. She's less swollen around her nose and face, so she's even cuter than she was yesterday! LOL

I just got back to the room so I could eat something, and get my catheter and IV out, take a shower.

Physically, I am doing VERY well. I'm shocked at how effective the drugs are, because it's relatively easy to get around. Of course it's no picnic, but not nearly as painful as I thought it would be. And now I'm heading back to spend the afternoon with our girl!

Thanks everyone, for all the well wishes...We are having the time of our lives!

Jules