Picture Perfect

Miss Avery is making progress! She is up to 3 lbs 14 ozs. Only 2 more ounces to 4 lbs! I noticed yesterday when I was changing her diaper that there was actuall a fat roll on her thigh- how great is that!

When she hits 4 lbs they will take her out of her condo and put her in a crib. It will be really strange seeing her in a crib since we are so use to that condo, but we are very excited because that means one more step closer to coming home.

She is now being fed 32 ccs per feeding. That is over an ounce a feeding! 30 ccs = 1 oz. That is a long way from the 2.2 ccs per feeding she started out with.

As of yesterday they took her off her diuretics. Now all she really has left is to be taken off her caffeine. Once she is off her caffeine it will be car seat trial and be for you know it home! It won't be long now...which is why as of last night her nursery is finished! We of course went with a nice beachy theme for our future beach baby.

Last Saturday we had another picture day and DW got some GREAT shots! We have made sure that Ms. DW doesn't think she will be getting rid of us when she discharges Miss Avery. Nope, DW is a keeper and Miss Avery needs to grow up knowing the woman that has gone above and beyond for her. I have said it before and I'll say it again, we are very fortunate to have her in our lives.

Movin on Up

Miss Avery is growing up!! On Wednesday (June 3rd) Avery was given her 2 month immunizations. Poor DW got the lucky job of giving her those shots. Then on Thursday (June 4th) Avery began receiving 3 bottles a day. And on Friday Avery had her cannula removed (June 5th). And Aunt Tammy got to hold Avery for the first time. How is that for a busy week! She has handled it all like a champ.

She is moving forward so fast that it won't be long before she gets to come home. This means Mom and Dad better get ready, which we are. The hospital requires that we take an infant CPR class and a homeward bound class prior to bringing her home. We took both those classes this week.

Look how much Miss Avery has changed in one week...

Here she is yesterday:

and then here she is May 30th:

The difference in her face is amazing to me. Every day she just looks more and more like a term baby. And to really apreciate her progress, here is Miss Avery during her first days, just 2 months ago:

It is just amazing to me to see how far she has come and how now she is just taking off. Right now she weighs 3 lbs 7 ozs, but if she keeps gaining and growing like she has been in another week or so she will be 4 lbs! That is more than double her birth weight of 1 lb 15 ozs.

Second Time Around

So today Miss Avery had her second bottle and she seemed to enjoy it more than the first! Tonight was Daddy's turn and she took the entire bottle, however Daddy did get some help from her nurse.

Pat and I are new to this whole bottle feeding and burping thing so she had to show us how a pro does it. Seemed to work because Miss Avery downed the whole bottle in no time. After she finished the bottle she looked stuffed, but she kept looking around acting like she was looking for more.

She seemed pretty happy after having her bottle....

They gave her a "caffeine" pick me up today so she was very alert the entire time we were there. She would close her eyes for a second and then before you know it they were back open.

It is amazing how fast she is changing. She was up to 3 lbs 4 ozs as of last night! She is finally averaging a gain of about an once a day. At this rate she will be at 4 lbs in no time!

First Bottle

Miss Avery is up to 3 lbs 3 ozs! She is gaining about an once a day. She is not only getting chubby cheeks but chubby little legs too! She is really filling out and getting cuter and cuter by the minute.

Today was a big day for Miss Avery she got to try something new. She got to try drinking from a bottle for the first time ever! She did very well with it. Her nurse over the weekend started dipping her passy into the milk to give Avery a taste of what she has been missing and Avery seemed to really like it. So today her nurse decided it was time to try the bottle. We were told to only expect her to drink a few ccs but Avery decided to drink 8 ccs. Which is a third of her feeding, so that was pretty good for a first try. I was surprised how she took right too it. The second it was put in her mouth she started going to town. I think she might like drinking from a bottle almost as much as she likes having her hair washed.

TV Debut

Today Miss Avery had her TV Debut. Every year the Children's Miracle Network has a telethon to raise money for USA Children's and Women's Hospital. During the telethon they have the local news people at the NICU interviewing nurses, doctors, and parents. They walk around and show the various babies and the equipment that is used to take care of these babies. This is how Miss Avery ended up on TV. While we were visiting today they came and talked to us and of course we got to show off little Miss Avery. Miss Avery's grandma caught her inverview and said Avery was just looking around the whole time. Of course that wasn't the case when I tried to get some pictures...

It was pretty interesting to hear just how much the equipment costs. The monitors which display Miss Avery's good grades, as we call it, costs about $30,000. That is just one of the pieces of equipment used on babies there. As they were going through the costs of equipment I think I roughly calculated Avery had on average $100,000 worth of equipment on her. This includes the isolett, cpap machine, heart monitor machine, etc. Right now she would be using less since she doesn't have the cpap machine any more.

Another one of the statistics we heard today was that 30 years ago 90% of babies under 2 lbs did not survive. Today 96% of babies under 2 lbs do survive. It is astounding to think about how far the knowledge and technology necessary to help a baby like Avery has come and it is comforting to know there are organizations like Children's Miracle Network to help keep this good work going. Children's Miracle Network donates 100% of donations to local hospitals. Around here that hospital is USA Children's and Women's. And I have to say I feel very fortunate to have access to a hospital like USA and even more fortunate that it is so close.

3 Pounds!

Miss Avery hit 3 lbs yesterday! Her official weight was 3 lbs 0.3ozs. She likes to squeak by on those milestone weights. She did the same thing when she hit 2 lbs. Yesterday her nurse dressed her up to celebrate being 3 lbs. She put her in party clothes. It was pretty funny because the outfit swallowed her. She looked pretty cute though.

It is just amazing how fast she is growing. She is starting to get little chunky cheeks which are super cute, has a bigger passy, and is now wearing bigger diapers (as of yesterday). She is on the 3rd size of diapers! I think these are the official preemie sized diapers. The other diapers she wore were so small you couldn't even buy them at the store.

She is getting close to being able to try a bottle and she is so close to being tried off her cannula.
At the rate she is going now it won't be long before we will be bring her home. There are still several things she needs to do, but pending no serious setbacks we are moving forward at a good pace.

Growing

Ok so Miss Avery hasn't been doing much other than growing, which is good. She is up to 2 lbs 14.4 ozs as of this morning. She should hit 3 lbs by the end of the weekend! Other than that no changes. She is still on her cannula and still doing well with her every 3 hour feedings of 21 ccs. Pretty soon they should be trying her off the cannula and also should be trying her out on a bottle. I was told they develop the ability to breath, suck, and swallow around 34 weeks. She is at week 33. She will be 34 this upcoming Sunday.

So for now no news is good news!

Here are some pictures taken by DW from last friday royal treatment: