Moo...!!!

Darrell says all I've talked about for the last 48 hours is milk, milk, milk. I guess my life has been sort of consumed with pumping - it's amazing how much harder it is to pump full time than it is to nurse a real-live baby full time! But we're getting there...now if I could just remember to actually TAKE the milk from the freezer with me to the hospital, that would be a good thing. I forgot it when I went earlier today, so now I have to go back later - it's a 50-mile round trip. First thing I did when I got home was make a sign for the garage door reminding myself to take the milk!

Mackenzie continues to amaze us with how strong she is. She is taking 13 cc per feeding now - still mostly tube feedings, but she gets one breast and/or bottle feeding per shift. She breastfed for the first time yesterday, and again today, and I am amazed at how successful she's been in spite of her lip and palate. Her routine antibiotics have been discontinued, and she's only getting a tiny amount of fluid through her IV, so the nurse said it will probably be discontinued soon. She is gaining weight now, which is awesome.

Makayla is also continuing to improve. She has been able to stay off the CPAP, and just gets oxygen through the nasal canula. She gets albuterol breathing treatments every 6 hours. She is having spells of tachypnea (breathing too fast), so they are keeping an eye on that. She's having less episodes of the irregular heartbeat and slow heart rate. Her CRP is basically zero, which means her infection is clearing and the antibiotics are helping. Her bilirubin is down to 8.1, so today is probably the last day she'll have to be under the lights. She has been losing weight, but fortunately they started her on tube feeds yesterday. She's only getting 6 cc per feed now, but they are increasing it by 1 cc with each feeding. Hopefully she'll get to try breastfeeding in the next couple days. I finally got to hold her again today, for only the second time since she was born - it was wonderful. She snuggled right up against my chest.

I'm going to try to post some more pics and a video.