Blondes have more fun!

This hair is post bath! So, what do you think? Blonde? Strawberry? I'm thinkin' it kinda looks like Patrick's hair when he was born...so, we will see!! Ava still insists that it's red! (PS- the blog title was courtesy of Patrick)!

Bella is still doing pretty well. She's remained just about the same over the past 24 hours and is generally stable. I'll try to explain everything as best as I can without getting into too many medical terms. As you know, she's no longer on the CPAP and has been on the nasal cannula for a little over 24 hours now. She does pretty well on that, but she still has times of desaturation (low blood oxygen) and lowered heart rate/respiratory rate (think apnea). She's been having these "episodes" on and off since switching to the cannula (currently 2 liters, room air). We talked with the neonatologist (her main doc) yesterday about different options if her breathing was to continue this way.

So, this morning, after a day and night of several "episodes" of apneic activity, they decided to start her on something called "caffeine treatment." In short, this basically stimulates her central nervous system (CNS) and helps her to remember to breath during times of rest. This treatment will continue for about 2 weeks, at which point they'll take her off the caffeine and monitor her for about a week to see how she does without it. Hopefully, that's all she'll need.

Bella has been tolerating her feedings very well so far; she is now on 10cc of breast milk every 3 hours (almost 3oz/24hr), given via a tube to her stomach (O.G. tube). I've already started to make lots of milk, and I don't think I'll have any problem providing her all of the breast milk she will need! Her weight has been pretty good. She's been losing a little each day, which is expected since her kidneys have kicked in and are getting rid of all the extra fluid from her IV's and such.

Day one (0 hours) weight: 4 lbs 1 oz.

Day two (24 hours) weight: 3 lbs 15 oz.
Day three (48 hours) weight: 3 lbs 11 oz.

This is to be expected (up to 10% of her birth weight) and should plateau in the next few days, after which she should slowly start to gain weight again.

Here are some pics to enjoy: Big Sister Ava got to visit...no holding yet, though. She wanted to sing Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer. Of course, she wanted me to sing with her, and then when we started, she decided she'd sang enough and wanted me to finish by myself. :)

Grandpa Mike also got a sneak peak. :)

Ava walking with Daddy to visit Bella in the NICU. Ava's job was to bring the little breastmilk bottle. She was very careful and did a great job!

Mommy and Bella having some cuddle time. :)All snug in her little incubator. :) One of the nurses found this cute little preemie onesie.

We would like to extend a big thank you to everybody for all of their support. There is no way to talk/text to everybody, so please feel free to send this blog to anybody asking about us. We will try to keep it updated daily.