NICU - Day 56

Date: January 17th
Gestational Age: 36 weeks 1 day
Weight: 2255 grams (3 grams shy of 5 lbs!)

Madelyn is EIGHT weeks old today! Where has all this time gone? She is also very close to hitting 5 pounds and I am VERY proud!

Grandma Ann was able to come and visit today after work. Maddie enjoyed cuddling with her. The speech therapist came by to evaluate Maddie today but Maddie refused to talk to him. Actually, he came to evaluate her sucking reflex. She displayed that she can, in fact, suck on a pacifier but also showed him that she was not a fan of him sticking his gloved finger in her mouth. He recommended that we put breast milk on her pacifier several times a day so that she will get the taste of the milk as well as the filling aspect of her feeding tube. We have actually been doing this for a really long time, but just not several times a day. He also mentioned that he was going to talk to her GI and NICU teams to see if we could start giving her a little bit of milk in a bottle. He mentioned that this may not happen until after her surgery.

Maddie has been getting really good at getting her ostomy bag off. Today was the first time since she started wearing clothes that I came in and she was wearing the same outfit from the night before. She made up for this by needing her bag changed at her 2 pm and 10 pm re-feedings. If she weren't so cute, I don't think the nurses would be so nice about it. Also, Maddie's re-feedings went up to 12 ccs every 4 hours.

Totally relaxed.

It seems Maddie will be wide awake and then as soon as Dan or I start to hold her, she falls asleep. She is also very talkative, looking at us and babbling about her day. I have been improving on my ability to remove Maddie from her bed by myself. The nurse helped us re-do some of her tubes and cords to make this easier for me. It seems like every time we pull her out, her cords are more messed up than the time before.

Tummy time on Daddy's chest.