Waiting...

This week Lily is 38 weeks old (gestationally). She is 4 lbs. 11 oz. It has been 10 weeks since she was born. I can't help but think I should have been very pregnant about this time and anxiously awaiting Lily to be born. Indeed it definitely didn't work out as we had planned. Nevertheless, we are still waiting on Lily. We are waiting for her to learn to eat (bottle feed and nurse). She needs to be able to eat her entire feeding from a bottle for all her feedings to be able to go home. Currently she's pretty inconsistent. She will eat half her feeding maybe a couple times of day. So...we wait. I believe she just needs to get a little bigger and a little stronger. Today I looked back at a bunch of photos of Lily. It really is amazing to see how she has grown - she was 'so' tiny when she was born. Go Lily...go. We will wait sweetheart.

Sweet pink polka-dot girl

Lily getting weighed - 4 lbs 11.6 oz

Lily asleep in her crib - see my Elephant

Blanket Grammy Sue and Grandpa John!

4 lbs

Lily is 4 lbs 5 oz today. Everything else is pretty standard - she's eating 42 mls every feeding, she's still on a bit of oxygen, and she's still working on learning to suck/swallow/breath. They did move her to an open air crib last weekend, so she keeps pretty bundled up to help her temperature.

family moments...

Here are a couple of pictures taken on September 2 - we headed up into the mountains, had a short hike, threw a bunch of rocks in the river, and had a picnic lunch with Grandma Gini and Grandpa Dan.

We gave Lily her weekly Bath today. She's 3 lbs. 11 oz (probably a bit more tonight - we'll see). She's up to 35 ml per feeding and they've taken her pulse-ox (not sure how you spell it) off. They will check her pulse-ox on Monday and Thursday - but she's stable enough that she doesn't need it monitored constantly. Here are a few pictures I finally downloaded from my camera.

big yawn...

checkin out mama (her cheeks area little red from taking off the adhesives that hold her oxygen in place.

snugglin with papa and suckin away on her pacifier...

sweet girl...

just love that hat...all cozy for another nap...

Growing...

Lily continues to grow. She is now 3 lbs. 8 oz (wow - 3 and a half pounds!). She's on just a little bit of oxygen. She receives 34 ml at each feeding. And she has begun trying to take a bottle once a day. The first time Daniel gave her a bottle, she drank 2/3 of her feeding (22 ml) - since then she's only taken about 11 mls -- but she's learning. She's also learning to nurse. It's a bit of a slow process, but she's getting there. little by little...

3 lbs 3 oz

Lily is 3 whole pounds and doing well (3 lbs. 3 oz to be exact). The nurses have begun to dress her in tiny little onsies - she looks adorable. She continues to do well on her breathing. Just yesterday, they took her off of the high flow cannula and switched her to a regular flow cannula. She's getting over an ounce of milk (32 ml) at each feeding and she's begun to try and breast feed (a little). It'll take her a little while to get the hang of it, but we're working on it.

Jude visited Lily again with us yesterday. He even got to hold Lily with Papa's help - he did very well. We were not able to get a picture of Jude holding Lily (shoot) - but we took this video just after (Lily 6 Weeks Old).

fall...

Not too much to report today. That's probably a good thing. Lily is doing really well. Her breathing is good, all her blood counts are good, she's slowly gaining weight, and she had a bath today. She's up to 2 lbs. 11 oz. Grandma and Grandpa Herron are in town and having been helping us out immensely with cooking and taking care of Jude.

I am feeling much better (seemed to have kicked this cold). Mostly...I've been anxious for and have been thinking about fall. I love fall. It is most definitely my favorite time of year. I love it when football starts (even if the broncos are a sorry excuse for a team this year -- we'll see). I love sweatshirt weather. I love it when the leaves change color and the sun shines a little less... and I love to sip a grande decaf single pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. There just seems to be something about fall that allows me to ... take a really deep breath. There's only one thing missing ... one thing that would make it perfect ... Lily. I long to be able to take a walk in my blue hooded sweatshirt with Lily snug at my chest wrapped in a sling. That will be a good day -- having Lily always close by.