Play Day

They've been bumping her up on her feeds every day now instead of every other. This makes for lots of throwing up and crying. The daytime seems especially hard because the nurse she's had the past few days is strict about sticking to the schedule, even if the previous feed finished only an hour before. 

But despite the stress we've had fun these past few days. You've seen the shadow puppets and the Halloween party. Today we had Batman and Batwoman stop in and she couldn't keep her eyes off of Batman. 

Is this for real?

You're the hero Gotham needs. 

Batman touched me! *fangirl swoon*

Then earlier tonight she was just fussy as can be until...

And I'll leave you on this note:

Happy Halloween from the Wonder Women

Her haul. Pretty good for a three month old. 

Shadow Puppets

Now that she is free of the TPN, she is much easier to walk around with. Her nurse today encouraged me to take her out to the courtyard/playground during the day and it was nice out. But it was too bright for her so I sat in the entrance of one of the tunnels so we could be in the shade. 

Well daddy got his turn when he arrived only it was dark and chilly. So he wrapped her up in the hem of his shirt and did shadow puppets in the tunnel. She watched for a little bit, but then dozed off. For the first time it felt like a normal family moment, as if we were out camping and playing with a flashlight instead of in a hospital. It was the best feeling. 

Spot the Difference

I love crosswords, puzzles, and brain teasers. So today you can join the fun and try to spot what's missing in this picture. 

Here's a hint. Something is not illuminated like usual. 

Something's not connected. 

Something is gone that she's had since she was three days old!

Yup! No more TPN and lipids. She came off them for (hopefully) the last time. Yay! When they aren't gavaging a feed I can carry her all over the room without having the drag a heavy pole around. So nice!

Horsin' Around

Today was the day mama has been waiting for. They brought in a mini horse!

This is Buddy the pony. And check out the shoes!

Build-a-bear makes them. 

Honestly, she was so tired that I think I enjoyed the horse more than she did. But it was fun to have it come visit.

She did open her eyes a little bit, and the lady exclaimed that she got her therapy for the day, seeing how cute she was. I agree, I love horses but I think Elizabeth gives them a run for their money.

Oh, and...

Yesterday she passed her hearing test with flying colors! She even got this. 

Fancy!

Photo Menagerie

Sling technology. This helps her to be in bed at a higher angle to try and cut down on her reflux. But if she does throw up, it will keep her from choking on it. 

Remember a few days ago when I said she had pulled her tube out? Um yeah, it happened twice that day. Had to get a picture of her tube-free though.  

Daddy reading to her. We miss him already. And the next few pictures below were all during the same nap. 

Fell asleep while trying to look at her mobile. 

Hands up, don't poke!

Because I can. 

Some of the creative tape jobs trying to keep her tube in place. 

Practice Makes Perfect

This morning a lady from the lactation team came by to see if we could get Elizabeth to feed. We didn't have much luck which is unusual for the morning. She was a little pushy with her, but we did learn a new feeding position. 

The next feed we tried the bottle to no avail. After that we went and finally got a car seat for her and some lunch so we missed her next feed. But for her evening feed I decided to try one more time to breastfeed. I tried the new position I had learned. 

15 minutes total!!!!!! 

I was stunned! She did 7 minutes, took a power nap, then 8 more! I know, lots of exclamation points, but I'm so happy about this. :D Now we just need to get her to do this more often. If we can keep this up then hopefully we won't have to put a g-tube into her stomach. 

Here's hoping. 

Ruby

When I came in this morning, she was sleeping peacefully. A little too peacefully… The tape on her face looked strange so I walked around her bed and I noticed that she had once again pulled her tube out. Little turkey. On a lighter note, here's last Sunday when Lizzy got to meet Ruby. 

Hi Ruby!

Whoa! What is that???

Woot!

Getting ever closer to 8 pounds!

We Did It

Yesterday was a tough day. She was sleeping peacefully when I came in and I sat in a chair by her bed for once, instead of the couch. Lucky I did because a few minutes later, she threw up but then started choking on it and flailing her arms. I immediately got her sitting up which helped her vomit out the rest, then called out her door for help. 

She was fine after that, but it just seemed to set the tone for the day. Every feed just seemed to go wrong, she was just so frustrated. And each time they gavaged, she would throw up a little, even if she was in her inclined nest. I would let her sleep on my chest so she could be upright and not throw up. 

This morning I woke up a little early and prayed on my way in, that I could approach this day with a good attitude. I got here and took some pictures for her 3 month mark, and just enjoyed playing with her. All was going great until the nurse told me that the resident wanted me to only try breast-feeding for 10 minutes because before with the 30 minutes she would lose calories from trying so hard to latch. 

This upset me a great deal because it was not nearly enough time to really give it a good try in my opinion, but the nurse said the order had not been approved by the doctor yet so I could still try the half hour if I wanted to. We also clarified that they meant if she can't latch within 10 minutes then we have to give up. But if she does latch then she can keep feeding for as long as she wants. This made me feel better and I calmed myself down before I sat with her and she latched the first try almost every single time during that feed!

12 minutes total! Her highest record to date!

Sometimes I wish I had a bug band that followed me around and played a joyful ditty every time I do something awesome. Who knows if the next feed will go as well, but we had a great morning and that's all that matters.

Today...

I sent Justin a message.

Said hi to Ronald who looks ready for Halloween. 

Loved on my bright-eyed baby. 

Saw her get weighed. 

Breast-fed for ten minutes, collectively on her first feed, and seven on her second.

 

Gave her a bath and let her sleep while I waited for Justin to slip down for the night. :D 

Picture Dump

I feel kind of bad not blogging every day like I used to. But at the same time it's kind of nice to realize that she is so stable, that there is no need. They had put her on 30 mL of milk every three hours during the day, and then a slow drip all through the night. She then got bumped up to 35 for a few days, and was kind of off and on with her feeds. Well, today they are now doing 46 mL every three hours and then through the night she will have an actual feeding schedule instead of the slow drip. I can't even begin to describe it though.

Her incision is doing well, it looks a little better every time. But since that's as much as I really have to update you guys on, I figured I would put a bunch of pictures from the past few days on here. Enjoy!

Trying a different Binky. It was gone by the time we came in the next day, don't know what happened to it. She seemed to like it, but she couldn't keep the good grip on it.

I was so amazed at how well she was focusing on the pages of the book. Really awesome!