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:

Little Princess

Well yesterday instead of the rock star treatment she got the royal treatment. She had her spa treatment, which she loves, and of course had her every other friday photo shoot. Avery seems to really like her baths and really likes having her hair washed. It was really cute.

Miss Avery is up to 2 lbs and 10.6 ozs or 1205 grams.

Now that she reached 1200 grams that means she can now move to the next and final progressive care room. The one she is in now (annex) is the room babies go to grow. Once they reach 1200 grams they can then go into the regular progressive care room which is where they get the babies ready to go home! It will still be several weeks before she is ready to go home because she has quite a bit more growing to go, but she is getting closer and closer!!

Clothes

Miss Avery Kate is getting to wear clothes now! It is super cute! The preemie clothes are still a little big, but very cute! It was quite a challenge getting her into her outfit around her wires and through the little port holes we get to stick our hands into. Avery didn't seem to mind it. Avery actually seems to like wearing clothes.

Avery being able to wear clothes means she is doing pretty well at holding her own temperature. This is another step forward!