Milestones

Wow! What a day! We weighed in at 4lb 1oz, we have gone to bottle feeding everyother feed, eating 36ml and we got moved to a big girl crib! We are well on our way to coming home. Mom and Dad better get busy on that room!

We've been focusing on getting there rest of the house finished so now we are feeling a little pressed to get the nursery done, but it will all be fine. She at least has a bed to sleep in and beautiful bedding to go with it. The bedding that Melinda has made is absolutely fabulous! I'll take a picture for the next post.

New Pictures

After my last post I went up to feed Bella her 3:00 feeding and decided I couldn't have a day's post that didn't have pictures so here are some I took.

Also, she took 27ml at her feeding! That's the most, by far, we've been able to get her to take since we went to 3 bottle feeds a day. Right when I would think she was finished she'd start rooting around for more. She even woke herself up when it was time to eat!

No New Pictures

Sorry, I don't have any new pictures, but I can tell you that we are now 3lb 9oz! We're getting to be quite a "big" little girl! :)

Feedings are going well according to the doctor, Bella is eating about 20ml of her 32ml three times a day. She was eating all 32 when it was twice a day, but the doctor said it was like working out we want to push her as far as she can go so she can build up to the final goal. They have also started introducing formula to her and she does NOT like it!! They were giving her the formula every other feeding, but she just let it drool out of her mouth and wasn't swallowing much so now they are mixing the donor breast milk and the formula every time and that seems to be better, but she's still not thrilled.

Mom and Dad are good, but tired from the big move this last weekend. We still have a few things to finish up at the camp, but for the most part we are completely moved into the new house. Grant of course has all of his stuff unpacked and organized. I on the other hand have quite a few piles to find a place for, but I'll get there. I can't imagine trying to do all this with Bella home!

Back and Forth and Lots of Help

It seems that we make head way in some areas and then have little set backs in others. Last night Bella weighed 3lb 7oz, but tonight she weighed 3lb 5oz. Last night she was taking 30ml at every feeding with 2 of those feeds being with a bottle. Today they increased her bottle feeding to 3 times a day. She has grown to 17in. from the 15in she was when she was born.

In the mean time we have moved into our new house thanks to our AMAZING family and friends! We are mostly unpacked just waiting on me to sift through my stuff and find places for it all. While Gran Harris was making our house beautiful Grandpa Garvin was happy as a clam setting up the furniture for the nursery and hanging the beautiful clothes we have been given.

Both Gran and Grandpa always make time to ooh and aah over our Lady Isabella. Don't they look so content?! Bella does too! :)

Life is Crazy!

Wow! Could life get any crazier?! Bella is doing great! She's up to 3lb 4oz. She gained 3oz in a day! She is also trying to bottle feed twice a day. Some feedings are more successful than others. This A.M. all I could get her to take was 10ml. Tonight she took 29ml of her 30ml.

They will be screening her for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). They say that if a baby is born prematurely, the normal blood vessels in the retina continue to grow but they do not grow in a normal way. They become very large and easy to break and bleed. This would cause heavy scar tissue to grow and it pulls the retina away from the back of the eye. Let me stress that they are simply screening her for this they do not think she will have a problem.

To add to the craziness we are moving the rest of our stuff into the new house. We are definitely going to have to down size our stuff!

Enjoy the pics!

So Much to Tell

So much has been happening I have been falling behind on my posts! First info on Bella...We have actually met the 3lb mark she is now 3lb and 1oz and 41 cm long (haven't converted that to inches yet). She is taking one bottle feed a day. Monday when we tried it she probably spit out as much as she got in, but yesterday she took in 22 ml and it all went down. Now they will gradually increase her bottle feeds until she is being totally fed by bottle. The reason they don't want to go to it completely right now is that they don't want her to loose too many calories trying to eat.

Bella is also wearing clothes now as you can see in some of the pictures. They have adjusted her bed so that it keeps a constant temperature and her body is supposed to regulate itself. So far she's doing well. I had to laugh at the Cook Children's t-shirt on her. That is a normal newborn size t-shirt and as you can see it swallows her up. The Preemie clothes work better, but even they can be a little big at times.

In addition to all of the Bella news we have great news on the house. The floors are in and we moved in our bedroom furniture so we slept in our new house for the first time last night! Yippee!!!! We also have a lot of our kitchen stuff, but I'm procrastinating on putting in the shelf paper. :)

Milestones

Bella has reached some important milestones. Friday we finally got her to start sucking on a pacifier while she was feeding to simulate drinking from a bottle. She's still not bottle ready, but this is a good sign that we are on our way. Then last night we found out she has finally reached the 3lb mark! Yippee! I don't think there is a set weight that she has to hit before she goes home, but this is definately heading in the right direction.

We are so amazed at how well Bella is able to tune out the distractions around her. There is always a baby crying or an alarm going off, but she just sleeps right through it like it's nothing. Even out of her Giraffe bed. She is not going to be able to sleep in her quiet room, we are going to have to play some cds or something to make a little noise for her.