No more tube

Today was a pretty good day. She did a little bit better on the amount of formula that she was getting at each feeding. This evening, Dr. McGowan decided that we would see what would happen if she was able to be on her own schedule, so for tonight... she is what's called ad lib on demand. This means that she gets to eat what she wants when she wants. So basically instead of them having her on a three hour eating schedule, she gets to make her own schedule and eat as little or as much as she wants to each time. SO... they have taken her tube out for now we are going to see how she does. The main thing is that she continues to gain weight. For some reason this evening she lost some weight, but she hasn't been on her own schedule to say that's what caused it. Tonight she weighed 7 lbs 13.6 oz. So tomorrow night when she gets weighed, lets hope that it's up. As long as she continues to gain weight she's getting enough calories in her feedings.

Here's a picture of her without her tube for this evening. It's not the greatest picture, but it'll do.

Our nurse tonight, let us file her fingernails. For some reason the day nurse for the last couple of days wouldn't let us do it, but tonight's nurse was glad to let us and even gave us a file because the one that we had was in our room. We were hoping that filing her nails would wake her up a little bit so that she would eat just a little more, like 4 ml's, but it didn't work. She didn't seem to care that I was messing with her.

Getting Chubbier

Once again... another day of weight gain. She gained close to 2 1/2 ounces today, she's up to 7 lbs 15 oz. She'll be breaking 8 lbs tomorrow. =) We actually thought that her weight gain today would have been less because they waited until later to weigh her last night, but I guess that we were wrong. That's the most that she has gained in one day. If we could only get her to eat more from the bottle at every feeding we would be doing so much better. From what we understand she is going to have to consistantly eat all of her feedings with the bottle before we can go home, so that's what we are working on.

She likes to sleep on Daddy's chest

I thought that this was funny because she was sleeping with her ruffles up in the air when I laid her down tonight.

Birth Weight

She's back up to her birth weight. We found out this morning that she weighed 7 lbs 12.6 oz last night. YAY!!! She's still gaining. We're excited about that. I think that we have determined that she is not a morning person because she doesn't do well with her morning feedings. She seems to be good at the 8:30 and 11:30 pm feedings, so her personality is starting to show. =)

Daddy is back from work for the day, and Emilee looks oh so comfortable

Two week old!

Emilee is Two weeks old today. Our night nurse wasn't sure if maybe she would eat a little better if they didn't give her her bath first, so we didn't get to find out how much she weighed tonight. She will probably get weighed at one of the early morning feedings, so we'll have to wait until in the morning to find out. That's ok... I'm pretty sure that she will be back up to her birth weight tonight. So that's good. The change in feeding for today didn't go any better, so Dr. McGowan put her back on her other schedule which I like better anyways. So she's back to getting 3/4's of her food in the bottle for us to try and get her to take. She's getting better, just slower than we would like, but that's ok... Her tongue seems to be coming much further forward which is really good. Daddy will be back tomorrow morning for her feedings, so maybe he'll mean serious business and she'll do really well for him. =)

She just looks so comfortable when she sleeps you hate to have to wake her up

We tried to get a good one for her two weeks picture before she fell asleep while eating. Not sure what the weird light shadow is across her forehead.

As always, the middle of her feeding she is OUT, but then when it's time to put her back in her bed she wakes up. She's got something backwards. Dad saws that she has a switch in her butt that is an instant off switch.

So Close

She almost made it back up to her birth weight. Tonight she weighed 7 lbs 11.8 oz. That's a little over an ounce from last night. They have kind of changed her orders up for her feeding. Instead of every three hours, they are letting her wake up on her own when she's hungry but she can't go past 4 hours, so maybe she'll get to where she is actually hungry enough to stay awake for the whole bottle feeding. They have also up'd her intake, so we'll see how it goes. Chance has to go back to work in Lake Conroe tomorrow, so we are going to miss him.

She really gets comfy in the bouncy seat. I don't know how she is breathing, but sleeping like this her O2 saturation was still at 96% so that's good

In between feedings today, Chance and I took a walk and found a little garden at the hospital, so we decided to take a picture

She is suppose to be eating, but this is what she is doing... snoring!

Still Gaining

Another good night of weight gain. She had a rough day with feedings because she seemed to be tired, but she still gained some more weight. She's up to 7lbs 10.6oz. Another ounce and a half from yesterday. They have increased her bottle amount. She's now getting about 3/4 of her food in the bottle. She doesn't get all of it down, but we are working on it. She's getting stronger and working hard at it. Not only did she get to sit in her bouncy seat this morning... she was nice and awake for a while this afternoon so the nurses let her sit in a swing. They said she was in it for about an hour and did great. They also said that she sat in it for about twenty minutes before finally falling back asleep. We got into the nursery just in time to give her a bath tonight. She is still kind of getting a sponge bath, but that's ok, at least we got to do it. She doesn't seem to mind her baths, she's starting to like them.

I wish that we could let her sleep on her back... doesn't she just look so relaxed???

Daddy didn't want to be in the picture, so it's just Emilee and Mom. We caught the picture right as she was about to yawn.

Snoring

If you listen really closely behind all the background noise, you can hear her snoring

It's Gone

I forgot to say yesterday that Emilee's umbilical cord fell off yesterday afternoon.

Up Up Up

Another day of weight gain... She's up to 7lbs 9oz!! We had a pretty good day of bottle feeding. Mom was able to get a whole 30 ml's down at one of the feedings, so I was happy. Granny Katie came up for the 2:30 feeding while we headed out to Cut-N-Shoot for Josh's birthday party. Granny Katie was able to get the whole 60 ml's out of the bottle which is great. Hopefully Miss Emilee keeps it up and is able to stay awake for her feedings so she can get more and more from the bottle, which means more and more weight gain. =)

She was sleeping really well on Daddy!!! I just couldn't wake her up for the picture

Had to get a picture of the ruffles on her butt

Quick Video

Just a quick video from yesterday. It's another video of her eating, we don't get to see her do much else, so we'll have to cherish these for now.

Gained Weight Again!

Today went well. Mom still isn't all that good at the bottle feeding, but I'm still working on it. Daddy is a pro. She gained some more weight today... Last night she was 7lbs 6.2oz and tonight she is up to 7lbs 7.8oz. That's a little over an ounce and a half. YAY!!

She got to sit in her bouncy seat again this morning

Mommy getting some cuddling time

Daddy trying to get a burp... His face is because he means business when it comes to feeding time

Just one more


Last night about 11 o'clock, we got moved to a smaller room. We kinda knew that it was going to happen when they needed to big room that we were in, but we didn't know it would be in the middle of the night. But that's ok, because a smaller room is better than no room at all. We'll take whatever they give us. Since the room is so much smaller, there is only a reclining chair that Chance's feet hang off of, so we made a run to Walmart and got an air mattress. He's getting his bed ready. I keep trying to get him to sleep in the hospital bed one night, but he won't. Now that he has the air mattess, he might sleep better than me. We'll see.

Who does she look like???

So what does everyone think??? Who does she look like???

Up Again

Up Again! Today she gained almost an ounce and a half. Up from 7 lbs 4.8 oz to 7 lbs 6.2. That's good. Once again, my feeding didn't go well, but we'll see how the rest of the night goes.

As always, sleeping while she is suppose to be eating. She only does this to Mom. She stays awake for everyone else.

Bouncy Seat

She got a challange this morning. They are giving her new "challanges" everyday. This morning, her challenge for today was a bouncy seat. She sat in it for about two and a half hours. They left her in it for the entire time between feedings. She did so good. Her O2 saturation stayed up really well and she even got to turn on the vibrating part. She'll get to sit in it again after her 2:30 feeding.

YAY!

Well, we didn't really have a good nursing session, but we did get a bath and a change of clothes, so maybe it was just because we were all tired out by the time we got to eat. That's ok though because WE GAINED WEIGHT!!! She gained a whole ounce. She's up to 7 lbs 4.8 oz. Yay!

Her cute little feet, just for Cousin Renee =)

All tired out

We love to watch her smile

We had a Good Day today

We had a pretty good day this morning. Grammy T got to go for the first feeding this morning and did a great job. I had two nursing sessions with the lactation consultant. We have been trying to figure out something that we can do so that Emilee can nurse due to her jaw. It's been hard but hopefully we'll be able to figure something out. If not we are ok with having to bottle feed her at each feeding. She also had a hearing test this afternoon and passed that, so that's was some good news that we just got at the last feeding. We'll find out in a couple of hours what her new weight was. Here are a few pics from today.

She just looks so peaceful when she is sleeping well

She wet all the way through her diaper and her blankets, so she got her bed changed and a new outfit for the afternoon


I was able to hold and just rock with her for about 45 mintues today. The nurses said that she had been awake and since she is a term baby she probably wants to be awake and held a little longer now. SO I TOOK ADVANTAGE OF IT!

She's out like a light after her bottle feeding with Daddy

Holding Daddy's thumb

After Daddy put her down for her nap, she made him so proud

Smile

Well, we didn't have a good feeding this evening, but we had a good time. She only nursed for about 5 minutes and that's not going to work, but we got a few smiles. Another good thing for the day is that she gained some weight. She's now at 7lbs 3.8oz. That up 6/10's of an ounce. I'll take anything that goes up. =-)

We got a smile one time out of her, because she burped and blew it in my face, Chance said "that's daddy's girl" and she smiled. It was cute. It made our evening. =)

One week old!

ONE WEEK OLD!!!

I can't believe that she's a week old. Our days have been running together so it's hard to keep up. Tannie and Sydney came by to visit yesterday and said that she was a week old, I didn't even realize it had been that long. A week old and a week in the NICU. But she's doing great. She has her own clothes and blankets, and Daddy got all of her feeding down with the bottle again. He's so good. =)

Getting ready to eat

A full belly!! In this picture, she's letting everyone know... look at her finger. One week!