Inching Closer

Emma has had a pretty big week.  She officially blew past the 4 pound barrier, going from just under 4 pounds one night to 4 pounds 3 ounces the next.  She's still tolerating all of her feedings as well, which are now up to 33ml every 3 hours.  When she's awake and will take it, they are giving her a bottle.  They do want her to feed completely from a bottle, obviously because when she comes home she will no longer have a feeding tube.  So she has to be completely on bottles before she can come home.  She's hit or miss with those right now.  She's taking about 30% of her feeds through a bottle right now.  So she still has a long way to go before they'll even begin the discussion about her coming home, but she's making progress.

Another big development recently, today in fact, was the fact that they moved her out of her isolette and into a bassinet.  They'd previously told us that around 3 and a half pounds they try to put them into a bassinet or a crib, but they also have to have one available.  So once she hit the 4 pound mark, they went and found one and put her in it today.  She has to hold her temperature on her own completely now, and if she doesn't they'll have to put her back into the isolette.  But so far, so good.

Her breathing is still the same as it has been recently.  She's apparently reached the minimum level for her oxygen that she can tolerate at this point, as they tried a couple times to go below that and she didn't do very well.  So they're not going to push her any harder than she will let them.  But she's still on a much lower level than she was even a week ago, so everyone is definitely encouraged by her progress there.  She's not there yet, but she's getting there.

Emma turned 8 weeks old yesterday, and she is 38 weeks gestational age today.  She's been in the NICU now for 57 days.  She's received some incredible care from some of the most amazing people anyone could ever have the pleasure of meeting.  Hopefully she will continue improving and making good progress towards coming home at some point in the near future.  I know this, she's getting cuter each and every day!!  She's a lot like her big sister in that way.  But she's doing great.  Just please keep the prayers coming that she continues to improve!