The little chunky monkey! Just look at those cheeks, couldn’t you just *pinch* them? She gained yet another ounce – wow. She is 3 pounds 12 ounces, and you can really see that beautiful layer of baby fat now… just what she needs for temperature regulation. She was in a very sweet and lazy comfy mood tonight so we just kangarooed for an hour. Oh, I almost forgot to share this: nurse Kitty picked out Ava’s outfit for tonight and thought she was so *cute* in it she couldn’t stand it – she took off all of Ava’s monitors and took her for a walk around the NICU to show everyone how cute her charge was tonight! It was Ava’s first “walk” 🙂 All the babies are treated little princes and princesses, but tonight was certainly Ava’s night! Nurse Catherine has matched Ava with the two handsomest boys in the NICU – she says Ava has to keep in touch with them when she leaves, because either one will make a good matche for her, LOL.
5 weeks old today! Congratulations munchkin! 🙂 My time has come: I get to bid a fond adieu to my cozy 8-hour nights… I’m going in at 3 am for 1-2 hours of kangarooing/breast feeding from now on. I’m looking forward to it, though, just me and my girl snuggling together! 🙂 Ava is doing great today, the doctor said she will have an occupational therapist (huh?) come in a week, to evaluate her sucking ability and see if they can’t start to reduce her naso-gastric feeds, and slowly move to exclusively breast feeding. We are still a ways away from that, though, but I thought you might be as excited about this as I am 🙂
Whoa, Ava gained *three* ounces today… she weighs 3 lbs. 11 oz. – wow! She is getting downright chubby (not really!), it is so nice to see this layer of baby fat on her, she really needs it for temperature regulation. We kangarooed three times today, and they were loooooong kangaroos, she was very alert yet calm, and enjoying them very much. The more we kangaroo, the quicker she’ll be able to get healthy, so I might lobby for adding one more on tomorrow – this one will be the 3 am one (!) but I do not mind that, I am right across the street from her and can just brush teeth and throw hair in a ponytail and GO! 🙂 There are other signs of her growing maturity – she is looking more and more like a “newborn”… amongst other things, her ears and not soft and “flappy” anymore (starting to grow cartilege) and she has the start of tiny nipples (she didn’t have nipples a week or two ago, TMI?) – all showing that she is progressing nicely indeed. I am so proud of her, and so is her daddy, he follows her progress eagerly…
4 weeks, 6 days old
April 29, 2005
OOPS, I missed my opportunity to take photos of Ava this morning, I was mesmerized by her and chatting with the nurses at the same time and lost track of my duty to you all 🙂 – I will get one this afternoon, I promise! She is wearing yellow today – she looks beautiful in yellow, it really goes well with her skin tone. Ava gained 10 grams yesterday – she is still 3.5 pounds exactly. She had no spells (apnea and bradychardia) overnight, but did have quite a few yesterday… remember, she needs to have *none* for a week before she can be discharged. Ava was moved from cubby “S” to cubby “B”… the move is only marginally significant – she is now “half way” to the very back (where the “growers and feeders” are), but she was only moved because her new roommate (a beautiful 2 pound, 25 week girl) might have to be intubated (put on a ventilator). Ava now has a cubby to herself (it is a “single”), and except the phone ringing outside her cubby, it is a lot quieter. Mama has her padded rocking chair in there, her boppy pillow, her book… everything she needs to keep Ava company. Patti is Ava’s nurse today, she remarked on how much Ava grew while she was on vacation last week… she is right, she put on almost 2/3 pound in that short time! Ava is in a good mood today… (now, 2 days ago was a different story entirely). She enjoyed the kangarooing this morning and really worked hard at the breast feeding – I estimate she might have been able to swallow a teaspoon or so? Her suck-swallow-breathe coordination is markedly improved today…
afternoon visit
April 28, 2005
Munckin had two visitors this afternoon during her 40 minute kangarooing… both mummies (below is Jenelle looking lovingly at Ava)! Her feedings were increased to 32 cc/ml every 3 hours (about a 6.6% increase), which is just over an ounce. She got the okay to kangaroo with mommy a lot more, as long as her body temps stay even. A good day!!! 🙂
4 weeks, 5 days old
April 28, 2005
Ava gained yet *another* ounce! She is at 3 1/2 pounds now; she gained almost a pound in 2 1/2 weeks, way to go Ava! We kangarooed for 1 hour 40 minutes this morning – she napped lazily 🙂 Did I mention that when Ava reached 1500 grams a few days ago, she would have been switched to formula? The donated breast milk is only generally given until this weight is reached (or if the baby is very sick). But Ava is a very, very lucky girl – both mommies want only the absolute BEST for her, so because Ava still cannot nurse exclusively from mama Barbie (too young for full reflex coordination of suck-swallow-breathe), birthmom Jenelle began pumping and baby girl is continuing on 100% breast milk, with no formula getting in the way 🙂 Thank you mommy Jenelle, you are the best and your love for Ava shows so much!!! Also, Ava whispered in my ear to wish a Happy Birthday to nana Patrice today!!! Here is a picture of her this morning, just before we changed her into her white “Daddy’s Little Girl” outfit, which mama is laundering often because she is convinced it is Ava’s favorite outfit because daddy bought it for her 🙂
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April 26, 2005
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