Bottle Time!

Saturday has been a great day for baby Stella, and for us. Our wonderful friends and family gave us an awesome baby shower filled with much-needed things!! Thank you, thank you to all who came!!! We are so fortunate to have you in our lives and support us through this time!

Now to baby Stella, first she did have a heart rate drop yesterday, friday, at 10:50 am but that has been her last as of right now, remember 4 days after her last heart rate drop they start a countdown home so we are very prayful that this was her last one. Last night and today we were able to watch her being fed with a bottle!! We can't do this yet because she is just learning, once she gets the hang of it we will be able to feed her. She is able to get 2 a day only right now because fear of her burning off to many calories. So she typically has one in the morning and one at night and her other feedings are through the feeding tube, which is now down her nose to her stomach. Friday she took about half of both bottles in 20 minutes, which is about 15 cc's. Jared and I were nervous because yesterday we thought....this could be a really long process of her catching on but today we were amazed!! At her 5:30 bottle feeding she took all 33 cc's out of the bottle in 10 minutes!!! We couldn't believe the progress that had happened overnight! Of course this can only be explained by God's mighty hand. So bottle feedings are moving right along! We are anxious to watch her again tomorrow, it was very exciting to see our baby eating on her own! Probably starting Monday they will give her 3 bottles a day and then so on throughout the week until as last all her feedings are by bottle, this is also the only way she can go home as well. She is tolerating the feedings so good, and keeping all the formula down so we are thinking she is really hungry and ready to be home too! Her jaundice count is still normal so the lights are still out. Her weight is slowly BUT surely going up, she now weighs 3 pds 14.6 ounces. And really I told Jared tonight, just that little bit of gain is starting to fill out her face. We really hope by Monday she can be close to if not 4 pds!! She is still breathing just fine on her own and oxygen levels are staying just how they should! Other than that all she is doing right now is eating and sleeping, just what she should be doing the nurses say!

On a side note, we heard some nurses talking today about an NICU party and we said, wait they really have that? And the nurse said that every Christmas they have an NICU party for the babies that have been there the past year and they invite them back so the nurses can see them and see how they have been doing and growing. We thought this was major cool. You really do get attached to these wonderful nurses who take care of your baby everyday. So needless to say, we are super pumped about the party and can't wait to show off God's creation and miracle at the Christmas NICU 2009 party!!!

We posted pictures of the shower and big sister, and the bottle feeding and Stella trying to burb!!! (which she did by the way)

Love-Kristen