2 Days Old:)

Both looking a little less drugged.

She sleeps so much nicer after cuddles:)

Today was significantly better than yesterday. Yesterday was all magnesium and slowly being taken off of everything while trying to stay alert enough to know what was going on. I got up to the NICU after they unhooked me from everything and got us moved from L&D to a postpartum room. I was still woozy from the magnesium drip, but I got to hold my little girl for the first time:)
I've been trying to pump every couple of hours between naps and snacking/eating and check ups with nurses and doctors. No luck yet, but also not giving up. We got up to see Evelyn this afternoon for her 12:00 feeding, so I got to hold her again and tried to get her to latch on. It took a little work, but she was able to do it. She wasn't able to suck, which is OK since my milk hasn't come in yet anyway. The nurse had me hold her skin-to-skin while they gave her a tube feed, and I got to hold her there for awhile. It was nice--she was giving off some serious sleep-vibes. If they weren't so insistent that she only spend so much time outside the incubator, I could have napped in that chair with her all day:)
Her evening visit went even better (although the nurse was a little pushier because it was the end of her shift). Not only was Evelyn able to latch on, but she even opened her eyes and made some sucking and swallowing motions, which was encouraging:) They told us that she's digesting her food now and her intake is increased to 10ml per feeding. We held her during her evening feeding, then put her back to nap in her isolette.
The big news for today is that she has been downgraded from intensive care to intermediate care!! She's doing so well:) The nurses are going to start giving us more to do with her (changing her diapers, checking her temperatures, etc) so we can get accustomed to caring for such a little baby. Hopefully she keeps improving so we can bring her home soon:)

On my end of things, things are going well. The doctor is pleased with how my incision is healing, and I'm being encouraged to move around as much as I can to speed up recovery. I was able to take my first shower this morning, which felt good but was fairly uncomfortable to do. The magnesium is still working it's way out of my system, so I still get woozy. I'm on top of my pain medications now--not trying to be super mommy or anything, but I definitely start to notice if I fall a little behind on them. We're getting all of our questions answered and it looks like I'll be getting discharged tomorrow:)

We also want to say thanks to everyone who wrote, called, or left messages:) We appreciate all of your encouragement, patience, gifts, thoughts and prayers. We're taking things one day at a time and will do our best to keep everyone updated as things move forward. Thanks again! People who are only getting a couple hours of sleep at a stretch have to draw energy from somewhere;)