4 weeks & 4 pounds!

For those of you keeping score at home, today Sophie is 4 weeks old.  Stephanie and I were saying how much has happened in that time and how much our daughter has been through.  Even though I would have to say things have gone about as well as we could have ever hoped, it has still been very difficult and scary.  But we have gotten so many messages, comments, phone calls, cards, etc from everyone and it's really been heartwarming.  So thank you all for that.  Each and every one is appreciated.

I know I have been a little slow in posting lately.  For a few days there, nothing really changed.  In fact, things are slowing down and getting in a groove.  As our neonatologist told us, sometimes when you're in the NICU, it is a good thing to be the baby that there's no news about.  So going forth if you don't hear anything for a day or two, don't panic, just think "Yay, nothing's changed!"  :-)

There are a couple of milestones, however.  In addition to now having been bringing us joy for 4 weeks now, Sophie is also 4 pounds 1.5oz today.  It's taken a few days to get over that 4lb hurdle.  She is getting the diuretic meds again (and also the digoxin, which slows her heartbeats and makes them stronger, but we're told that's not unusual.  In fact, some babies go home while still on these medications.)  So that made her lose weight for a day or so as her fluid levels went back down.  But now it looks like she's cleared 4lbs and is 1857 grams, so nearing the 2kg mark.  When she hits that, the cardio docs will take another look at her and assess how she's handling things.

But the biggest thing to happen lately is that yesterday she drank an entire bottle for the first time!  This is great to see.  She started trying bottles a few days ago and is still trying to get the hang of it.  She frequently falls asleep during bottle feeding and of course much of it ends up on her napkin, but yesterday was her first meal that wasn't through her feeding tube.  Today wasn't as easy, but it just takes time.  She gets to try a bottle twice a day.  When she successfully takes both of those, then they'll give her 3 a day, then 2 during the day and 2 at night, then every other feeding, etc until she's eating entirely from the bottle.  Then, she should be ready to go home!  How long this is going to take is pretty much up to her.  We would love for it to be soon, but we realize that it'll probably still be a couple of weeks.