Birthday Bubbles! 2/6/13
Melissa
Hattie had an exciting day for her one month birthday! Our big girl is up to three pounds! She weighs 1,369 grams, or 3 pounds, .2 ounces.
I can't remember life without Hattie. What did we used to do with all of our free time when we weren't sleep deprived, spending hours and hours every day at the hospital or driving up and down the 408? We are fortunate God chose us to be Hattie's parents. I feel like I love life more and everything in my life is better because Hattie is in it. Having children does change your life; mine has changed in a hundred ways over the last month and every single change is worth it. Every single one.
Dr. Palma saw Hattie today and told me he wants to steal her from Dr. Alexander and take her as his own patient! He said she has had an excellent start to her life and we should keep praying hard for her because it's working!
Hattie will have her eye exam on Monday. A nurse who works with the neonatal ophthalmologist met with me and provided more information. The exam does not test for vision, it tests to ensure her retinas are attached properly. The nurse said the exam takes about two minutes but the babies scream because they don't like their eyes being pried open, the bright light or the dilation medicine. She recommended I be here to help comfort Hattie after the exam because the medicine can make her act fussy the rest of the day.
Today was a big day in the feeding by mouth department. Hattie and I nuzzled for the first time during one of her feeds. Nuzzling is like practice breast feeding and it helps her associate the position and motion with eating. She is still learning how to suck, swallow and breathe all at the same time but she did latch on a few times and sucked. In the next few weeks we will introduce nipple feeding by bottle or breast once per day until eventually Hattie is taking all of her feeds by mouth. Hattie pulled her feeding tube out twice today. Do you think she's telling us she's ready to eat by mouth?
Hattie had a bubble bath tonight. She loved it and we loved seeing our girl with no wires attached to her! We also dressed her in preemie clothes for the first time so we could get a photo for her one month birthday!
Happy one month birthday baby girl!
While Chris kangarooed, our friends Marc and Linda stopped by tonight and brought birthday cards their three boys made for Hattie. We prayed together and celebrated our amazing baby girl.
We stayed later than usual while waiting for Dr. Alexander to make his rounds. We wanted to ask him a few questions about pediatricians, daycare and what to expect during the rest of our time in the NICU. (Cue the planners in us!) Dr. A has such an incredible way of really listening to us and calming our fears. We are very, very thankful to have him as Hattie's doctor.
