Mellow

Today was great! Not only am I feeling 100% improved, I got to hold and feed my baby! She is on a schedule down in NICU now and I can go during feeding times anytime I want to hold her, feed her, love on her. I swear she gets more beautiful every time I look at her!She is supposed to eat an ounce and a half every 3 hours and so far she's been keeping up with it. Soon, she won't need her IV fluids any more. When I went in this last time at 8pm, I noticed they had her wearing preemie diapers (??) and the poor thing had red marks on her chubby little leg. Mommy spoke to the nurse and we fixed that right away!!

You may be able to see the IV tube in the top of her head in some of the pics. This looks scary, but is pretty normal for babies to have to get an IV there. Babies don't tend to be able to keep an IV spot for too very long and so periodically they need a new one and the head is a good place to put one since the veins there are a decent size. Still, I will be so glad when they remove it!

Also, she has the most mellow personality.  Seriously. She hardly ever cries. And this was before she was groggy from pain meds. Even the nurses comment on how sweet she is, just relaxin and waitin for her next bottle. She has realized now that when somebody picks her up she will be fed, and she immediately starts to open and close her little mouth to show she wants the bottle. Of course, she then makes you work to actually get the nipple in her mouth, and she will fall asleep while feeding, but she is so cute and happy, keeping her beautiful blues open more and more, watching our faces as we feed her.

Bj has gone twice for me to give her the bottle when I was too exhausted to go. He is such a natural with her. When he's there, I never worry! Such a precious family I have!!!!

As for a medical update, she is still doing awesome. Her feet are still moving after surgery. Her head size is measuring well and no fluid is building up. The special bandage in still on her back and won't be removed for another day or two so I can't see how long the scar is or how its healing, but I hear from the nurses who heard from the surgery team that it looks GREAT!  The geneticist has yet to stop by but is still on her schedule so maybe he'll see her on Monday and I can follow up with anything/testing for us as parents he recommends. Everything from this point is a waiting game till we can bring our baby home. I can't believe I will have to leave her tomorrow when I'm discharged. I know I will still see her every day but it won't be as often. Hopefully, she will eventually be able to be moved out of NICU and into her own room that way I can just stay with her there.

I suppose that my only other spot of sadness on the sheer joy I have as a new mom is that my milk hasn't come in yet. They tell me that its not unusual and that most women start making milk for real on day 3 or 4.  I certainly hope so. A nurse almost walked in on me earlier when I was giving my boobs a pep talk.  Fortunately she didn't realize I was speaking to my mammary glands and I avoided an awkward moment, but still, they need to get busy already!!!  A baby as perfect as Evangeline deserves only the best I can provide, not just some synthetic formula!