5 Days Old

Sorry I haven't posted the last couple of days. I've been busy with my new job as Momma and sitting in the NICU, learning as much as I can about taking care of such a teeny baby.

On Wednesday, I was discharged from the hospital. We spent about 4 hours with Evelyn in the NICU, learning to feed her, change her diapers, and just holding and interacting with her. Then we loaded up the car, filled out all our paperwork, and were on our way. The car ride home was tense...I could feel every bump and panicked a little every time the car in front of us stepped on their brakes because I was anticipating pain. I eventually just closed my eyes until we were home. We spent the evening sorting through everything we'd brought back with us, then went to sleep in our own bed, with no doctors or nurses to interrupt us:P

We were back at the hospital the next day to visit Evelyn in the NICU. We change diapers, take temperatures, and help with feedings. They've been steadily increasing her feeds by 5ml at a time. Every day she shows improvement. Her IV pump is being decreased, and that will hopefully be removed in a day or two. I have been pumping at home every 3 hours, so I bring in milk for them to feed her. When we're there at feeding times, they let us try to breast feed her, or we do what they call kangaroo care (skin-to-skin contact) while she has a tube feed. The nurses and lactation consultants are pleased with our progress, and have been very encouraging and supportive. They also have no problem with me sitting there with her all day, if that's what I want to do. Tim stayed yesterday until after we ate lunch, then he headed home to get the house straightened out. I stayed and helped with the 3:00 feeding, did some pumping, sat at her bedside and read information they gave us about safety, and stayed with her while she had her first visits with Mamaw and Papaw:) Mom came back and was able to hold her for awhile before Evelyn got bossy about it being feeding time:P I fed her, and then we all met Tim for dinner at Hoss's. It was the first time I'd eaten out in more than a month.

Proud Grandma:)

Baby sleeping face:P

This morning when we went in, she had just had a bottle and was being burped by a nurse. They told us she'd been increased to 35ml/feeding, but was having some trouble keeping all of it down. She now has her IV out, which is awesome:) Now we don't have to worry about knocking it and she can suck on whatever hand she wants to without getting angry:P It also means she's getting the fluids she needs other ways. So the only things she's hooked up to now are monitors for her heart rate, respiration, and oxygen levels. They are also beginning to wean her off of the isolette, so they've been decreasing the temperature inside gradually to make sure Evelyn can regulate her own temperature. Then she can be moved to a crib or a bassinet:) In other exciting news, today is the first day she's worn clothes! The nurses put her in cute little onesies (the first of which she spit up all over--go figure) and said we can bring in outfits for her to wear if we'd like.
Today's visitors were Gerry and Emily, who brought her a really cute pink giraffe:) Unfortunately, we had to keep their visits short, since we were getting a new neighbor who required a lot of doctors and nurses to give her attention.

And, look what was waiting for us at home:) It's a rocking chair with Evelyn's name painted on with a bunny who wraps around a blankie with her name embroidered on it. All courtesy of Tim's coworkers:)

And, after another long day in the NICU, and dinner at home, we headed to Kmart for Christmas cards, wrapping paper, and some other supplies. This was my first shopping trip in about a month!

Anyway, we're proud of our little girl:) She's doing so well and shows some progress every day--we're hoping to have her home with us soon. Because we really, really don't like leaving her at the hospital every time we get tired or hungry and have to go home:( We are thankful for all the visitors coming to meet her:) We've had someone lined up every day since I was sent home. And, of course we love that everyone already loves her enough to drive all this way, go through all the procedures, and visit her in the NICU. Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for all of your support:)