Packing On The Ounces

   

           Aug. 29,2012 26 days old and weighs in at 4.5 lbs. Olivia has had a great week she has been tolerating her feedings and is up to the full amount for her weight, 36 cc's. She has really been packing on the ounces with her increased feeding amount and is even starting to develop a little double chin. After i posted the blog "daddy's Girl" she was taken off the nasal cannula and did great breathing room air all on her own, for about 24 hours and then was showing signs of being tired and was put back on. I have been told this is totally normal and at 34 weeks and 5 days (gestational age) now it is nothing to be concerned about they will let her have what she likes. However at 36 weeks they will start pushing her to come totally off what they refer to as flow.

      As the nurses have been bumping up her feedings I have had a bit of trouble keeping up with the production of breast milk, my OB wasn't lying when she said breast feeding is the hardest job i will ever have. Olivia's bottles have been supplemented  and every feeding she is getting about 1/3 breast milk combined with her formula. The increase in her feedings has made her tummy really work hard and it is pretty funny watching her bare down and grunt. You can tell she is really working hard to get those poops out.

     We have a few very exciting experiences in the last week and a half. Last Tuesday Olivia had her first bath with water rather than just baby wipes, Gary and I got to give it to her. The bath is referred to as a swaddle bath and basically it is a sponge bath.  Gary wiped her down on body part at a time with warm soapy water while the rest of her remained wrapped to help maintain her body temperature.

                      Here she is all clean in a little hat one of her night nurses Patty made for her.

On Saturday Olivia turned 34 weeks which in the NICU means she is the appropriate age to start nippling. It is one of the skills she is required to have before she can go home and although sucking is something that comes natural to babies as a preemie the coordination needed to suck, swallow and breathe all at the same needs to be practiced repeatedly. It is very tiring for her and they only allow babies of her age to practice for 30 minutes, after that she will be burning more calories than taking in.  She will have to prove her skills by taking her feedings for 48 hours straight by bottle before they will send her home.

The nurses also have the babies practice with the use of pacifiers. She loves her and has become quite a good little sucker

 As she has put on weight she has bumped up to the next size of diaper and blood pressure cuff. Here are the sizes she began with. Have you ever seen a blood pressure cuff that tiny?

                                 

 
                  I apologize for the delay between updates and will try my hardest to keep you informed more frequently.


Here are a couple more of my favorite shots of our little nugget. We are so proud of her and Thank You all so much for your continued prayers and support.