Bottle Feeding

I can not believe we have been in NICU over a month. The nurses and doctos are beginning to feel like family. We are spending hours on end getting to know these people. NICU people really are a special kind a of person! I have to say I will be a little bit sad to not so see these amazing people after we go home. But that release day can not get here fast enough.

Brooklyn is doing AMAZING! She now weights 4 lbs 10 oz. she is getting bigger every day. Over the weekend. She took her first bottle. When my son was born we didn't think twice about sticking a  bottle in his mouth or nursing him. Oh my, how things are different with a preemie. There are so many things to watch for. It is a little nerve racking to feed her right now. On Saturaday the doctor finally said we could try a bottle. Brook has been showing feeding cues for a while, but she is so young and has had other issues going on. The nurse was so helpful, she stood beside us the whole feeding to make sure we were holding Brook just right and making sure she tolerated the feeding. Brook did awesome. She took almost half. We were very excited with how we'll she did. For now, we are just doing one bottle a day until she can learn how to eat better. We do not want to overstimulate her with feelings. The therapy team will be in later today to work with us on techniques to help with feeding. It is just crazy how different it is than feeding a full term baby. Taking full feeding is one of the last major mile stones to accomplish before we go home. We still have a few weeks left, but we are starting it see an end to this extended stay.

Now that there is an end in sight we are starting to prepare to bring Brook home. Before I was admitted to the hospital, we had done NOTHING to prepare for this baby. Week days are crazy. There is almost no time at home. That leaves us with a couple of weekends to juggle feeding and preparing a nursery. We we working hard to have things ready. We have finally picked out a paint color and will be painting this week. I will post pictures as things come together.

One month old!

I can not believe my sweet Brooklyn Grace is already one month old. It is crazy, I feel like time flies, but when looking at the future it seems to go so slow. She is now weighing in at 4 lbs 3 oz. This is right at a pound above birth rate. She is growing daily! Brook is even starting to get chubby cheeks. Brook is still tube feeding. I hope that we will start bottle feeding next week. That is our next big mile stone we are looking forward to. Right now Brook is still on oxygen. She is breathing room air with a little bit of a push. I think that it is her security. Any time the doctor even talks about taking her off, then she starts to struggle. Her blood count is still a little low. We are hoping that she starts producing blood at a higher rate soon. If she continues to decrease she will have to get a blood transfusion. The eye doctor came to do an eye exam today. (I hear it is very common for preemies to have eye issues and increased risk for blindness) everything looked great. He does not want to follow up for one year.

Our family is doing better. We are in our little routine now. NICU visits have become part of our daily schedule. There is still not much time left for "real life" after all the visits, but we are managing. We are still going to all the feeding (every three hours) except the midnight and 3:00 am. Other than that, Austin and I take turns going. Colten is doing much better. I am still unsure how much he understand. I don't think he realizes that at some point, a baby will really come to live in our house. He is very involved in everything baby. Colten loves to help me fold Brooks's clothes or wash pump pieces. I know I will look back on this part of my life and it will seem like nothing. Everything we have been through has made me treasure every moment I have with my family! Thank you for all the prayers and support. I am quite sure the prayers are what is keeping me sane.

Our First Set Back

Happy new year!! It is crazy how time an go by so fast but so slow at the same time. We are coming to the end of our third week as a NICU family. I am amazed at the care we are recieving. The nurses and doctors are amazing. When we first got here we were prepare for a rough stay. We were told there would be many set backs and not to get discouraged. Well, for the most part things have been great. Brook is progressing better than expected. Early this week we were moved out of our isolation room. This good news for Brook. We we now in a general room with lots of babies. Brook is weighing in at 3 pounds 6 ounces. This is 4 ounces above birth rate. We are still about 2 or 3 weeks away from bottle feeding. We need to make sure she is mature enough and ready before we try. We are also about 2 weeks away from wearing clothing.  Brook still requires minimal stimulation for her to grow and develop. She is continuing to grow daily. This last week we have had our first "set back" that we had been warned about. Brook's heart rate was a little bit high an her oxygen saturation was pretty low. After monitoring her all day the doctor decided to put her back on oxygen and run some test. Brooks's blood count came back at the low end of normal. Her counts are trending down so we are watching closley to make sure she does not need a tranfusion. She will contine to be on oxygen until her stats look a little better. All along, this little girl has done so amazing, and now she is showing her age. The doctors are not super concerned. They just think she is still so small and acting her age. This is just a set back. I know this strong baby an over come it.

It is crazy how racing back and forth from home to the hospital has become a way of life for us. We have gotten in a little routine now. Thank goodnes for daycare! Colten going to day care has been a big help for us. B is still very confused about his baby sissy. He is not real sure where she is or when she is coming home.