Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Polar bears??

Hello it’s Abby again. A few days ago a good friend of mine stopped by to visit. She brought good tidings, gossip and the first season of LOST. Not knowing what I was starting I innocently put the first DVD in the player and thought I will just watch one episode to see what it is like. Ok, so now it is two days later, 5 DVDs later and… I am willing to admit it, I have a problem.

It is the best show ever! You can’t look away because there are so many little things going on at all times. This works well for me because Ellie is in a stage where she wants to be held all the time and feels that the best place to sleep is on me. So I have a few hours every day where I have to hold still and just let Ellie sleep.

For the past 2 days she has been getting 1ml of breast milk every hour and doing very well. We have changed more poopy diapers in the past two days than we have in her entire life. Today she is going up to 2mls per hour. She is getting the milk through her G tube and during the 4 hours that she is off the TPN we also take her off the milk pump and give her the milk by bottle.

She is such a rock star that she hasn’t forgotten what to do with a bottle. We are only offering her 4mls today, but when it is gone, she wants more. Hopefully this is a pattern that we can keep to with at least one bottle everyday to keep her mouth doing what it was made to do.

I believe that the milk is making her more comfortable, because when she does sleep she is starting to dream. Other things she is starting to do; smile, flirt, coo and speak baby language, grab at your shirt with her hands and sadly she is starting to recognize the nurses and cries when they get too close. She is also getting much bigger today she weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces much bigger than her 6 pounds at birth.

2 comments:

Barbara Krause said...

What a wonderful post! Thanks, Abby, for chiming in. I love to hear both of your "voices" on the blog.

Saw Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band Monday evening. Ellie's Grandma Martha would have loved Bruce singing Pete. Fabulous rendition of "We Shall Overcome" with quite a touching intro from Springsteen describing his reaction when someone urged him to do the song. How do you do a legendary song that has meant so much to so many generations??

Anyway, it occurred to me that you have all overcome so much. "Deep in my heart, I do believe..." that you will continue to overcome all challenges.


Love,
Barbara

Stephany said...

Alright Abby for getting on the Lost bandwagon! If you think Season one is good, wait until you see Season 2!!!

Glad to hear Ellie is doing well and eating like a pro!

My best to you all - stay cool in this heat!