Tiny bird flies solo

Oh this baby.  She never ceases to amaze me.  When I got to her bedside last night I stood there gazing at her, admiring how sweet she looked in her p.j.'s,  and how much she has changed in three weeks.  Then it hit me.  Something was different. The reason her nose was looking so cute was because there was nothing in it.  No nasal prongs.  So I looked up at the monitor to see how she was doing and her oxygen levels were the same as always.  She was breathing all by herself, and apparently had been free of any extra air-flow since noon.  Apparently they decided to give it a try because her nose was a bit irritated from the air blowing constantly and she was having lots of secretions (boogies) that were keeping her from taking big breaths.  I am fully expecting we will see her with nasal prongs again, it's a bit more work for her without the little whiff of air helping her out, but it was so nice to see more of that little face.

The nurse getting ready to assess Sadie.

Then, if that wasn't enough, her nurse decided to change the feeding tube so I got a full-face view.  She still has the little stickers that keep her tubes in place on her cheeks, but the rest of her was looking great.  The yellow tube behind her is a bit of extra oxygen for her while we were changing her and getting her new feeding tube in.  She tends to lose a bit of oxygen when she is mad!  Our next small victory was when we weighed her, and she is back above 2lbs, (916g) which hopefully means all of the goodies they have been adding to her milk are going to help her fatten up.

                                      

Sadie without tape moustache (a little grouchy).

Once her feeding tube had been re-positioned into her left nostril, the nurse had me sit in the comfy cuddle chair and we put her snuggled up to my breast as a little experiment.  Well that teeny tiny little girl knew just what to do.  I wasn't expecting anything but a cuddle, but she opened her mouth and we managed to get her latched on for a couple of small strong sucks.  As we were trying this new skill, the nurse fed her through her tube and we had a great cuddle.  She was so happy and her vitals on the monitor were better than ever.  There is a full page brochure that they have taped near her bed about the development of feeding behaviours.  We are just at the beginning of the process, and she is figuring out what's called "non-nutrititive" sucking, which basically means she will suck on a soother once in a while.  Over the next couple of weeks she is going to be able to coordinate breathing and sucking and swallowing so will be able to start bottle-feeding and nursing for real.  It was a really encouraging first step for us.  I was so proud and it felt like one of the first "normal" moments we've shared as mom and baby. She's so advanced for her age!

I got her dressed in a nice cozy sleeper and settled onto her new gel pillow (so her head doesn't get flat spots) and off I went with the picture of my smart, heavy, tubeless baby tucked in my pocket.