A first for everything...

Hello!

First time on the playmat

First walk around the neighborhood

First trip to restaurant

First bath in my whale tub

It is so fun to experience all of these firsts with Avery. We are having fun settling into a routine at home and introducing Avery to all of these things. She had her first pediatrician appointment yesterday and had a great report. She now weighs 7lbs 12oz, is 20 3/4 inches long. All of her fussiness and noises are all normal according to the pediatrician, which is great because I was worried that it was abnormal.

Avery loves her baths and loves riding in the car. We have been trying to keep her awake during the day so that she will sleep a bit more at night. Last night we got two 3 1/2 hour stents of sleep which is awesome! We actually felt like we slept! Hopefully this will continue....

More pics from the homecoming

Surprise!- We're Home!

In the carseat for the first time!

Leaving the hospital, look at all my stuff!

Getting my PICC line out!

Me with my nurse Erin

Me with my primary nurse Sara

Avery is back up to rockstar status! The past couple of days have been very eventful. On Wednesday evening the doctors decided that Avery didn't need to have the sleep study again, she hadn't shown any signs of decreased oxygen and was not showing any apnea, so they cancelled the study! She was doing so well with feeding, they let me exclusively breastfeed her on Thursday and if she gained weight, they would let her go home on Friday! So we ate and ate on Thursday to make sure that she gained weight. Well, when we weighed her she was actually .45 grams less, but she had just had a diaper that weighed .83 grams, so they gave her the go ahead to come on home! We left around 3 pm on Friday and it was so great! It was sad to leave the hospital, we have gotten so close with everyone there and they gave us a great send off.

Avery did very well with the car seat and ride home, she slept the whole way. I can't even begin to express how great it is to walk around the room holding her without any lines or tubes! We hung out on the couch all afternoon together and are just so excited to be home! Last night was actually better than in the hospital. She slept really well and only fussed a few times but it was only when it was time to eat. After she ate, she went right back to sleep. We are definitely feeling sleep deprived, waking up every 2-3 hours, I know all you parents know how that is. But, we are so happy to have her home and be parents to Avery. I still can't belive that she is here right next to me at home while I type this! Thanks to everyone for all the prayers and good thoughts, Avery says thanks too!

Egleston Day 25/26 - Full Feeds!

Enjoying some tunes during my hearing screen!

What your freezer looks like after 1 month of pumping!

Avery is now up to full feeds! She is taking 60 mls of milk now and loving it! She is alot less fussy now that her belly is full. We are also doing well with the breast feeding. We give her the bottle first to make sure that she gets at least 60mls then she latches on. I think the plan is for me to exclusively breastfeed beginning either today or tommorow, I will know the plan when I get to the hospital.

Avery passed her hearing screen! So that is one more thing to check off the list before home. She is also got taken off of her hyperal and lipids which was her nutrition before eating. She still has the PICC line with saline to keep it open, but she may get to lose that in a few days! Now that Avery is up to full feeds, the reflux is beginning to be a problem, so they started her on prevacid. It seems to help so far and hopefully this is the only intervention she will need for that. The only sad thing is that Avery has to have another sleep study done, not because they think anything is wrong, they just have to prove that the apnea problem is gone before she goes home. I am dreading this test, she hated it the last time and I hate that she has to go through it again. Maybe now it won't seem so bad now that she is eating, we'll see....

Egleston Day 23/24 - Unleashing the Beast!

Me in my Georgia Peach Hat

Snuggling with Daddy

Smiling at Mommy

Trying to work on holding my head up!

Avery continues to do really well with her feeding. She is now at 20 ml of milk a feeding and they are increasing her feeding to 25 ml overnight. She is no longer getting a suppository and is having stools on her own, which is outstanding.

The problem with this new found milk stuff is that Avery likes it and wants alot more of it! It is consistently taking us 30min-1hours to calm her down after her feeding because she wants more. A few days ago, we were able to trick her with the pacifier, but last night we saw a new side of our sweet baby girl! We are excited that she is eating so well and cannot wait for her to get to full feeds so she can calm down a bit.

The other really exciting thing is that we got to try breastfeeding today. I thought that it would be a few days more, but Avery is doing so good, they thought just give it a try. The lactation consultant was there and told me not to expect her to latch right away and that it might take several trials. Well, Avery latched right on and started going to town! The lactation consultant had to leave to go ask the doctor if it was ok if she kept eating, because we have no way of monitoring how much she was getting. So we fed for about 7 minutes or so and then Avery was really mad! I am so proud of her. My biggest fear was that she wasn't going to be able to breast feed and all of my pumping would have been for nothing, but my little trooper did awesome. We are going to try again for a few feeds tomorrow.

Egleston Day 22 - Milk Time!

Eating with Daddy!

First taste of milk ever!

What is this magical stuff, Mom?

Dad, stop messing with me!


Avery is back on track! She got to eat for the first time yesterday for the noon feeding. The doctors let her have 5 ml of milk for each feeding yesterday and she absolutely loved it! She gets this really cute glazed over look right after downing the bottle, it is so cute and exciting.

She has done so well with the 5 mls yesterday, they increased it to 10 mls for today. She is still holding the milk down and loving getting to eat the increased volume.

The other big step is that Avery was able to poop on her own. All the other times she has had a suppository to help her out, but today around noon she was able to do the job all on her own. This is great news, it means that everything is starting to process through just like it should without medicine, naturally! YEAH!

So the plan is to increase by 5 mls everyday until she has reached full feeds with the bottle. Then once she is gaining weight with bottle feeding, we get to try breast feeding. After a few days of productive breast feeding we may get to start looking at going home! We still think it will be about 3-4 more weeks, but we have been there 3 weeks already, so we are almost halfway there. Avery sends her love and thanks for all the prayers, she can't wait to meet everyone!

Egleston Day 20/21 - 3 weeks old!

Me without my tube! Yeah, I'm free!

Sleeping with Grandpa

We've had a great couple of days! Avery is doing really well, she has had a couple of really good poops, which means that her intestines are finally really waking up. She had to have another xray done to look at her lower intestines as things were still kinda green, but that came back looking great. Her fluid cleared, but there is still a large amount. However, they decided to pull her tube and see how she does. If she throws up then she gets the tube back, but (fingers crossed) as of 4 am this morning she hasn't thrown up. She may even get to eat today!

Avery also has become more and more alert and awake as the days go by. She is so fun to play with and is finally focusing on objects infront of her. She is also doing really well with her exercises... she is able to be on her belly and lift her head and turn it to the other side. Hard to believe that she is 3 weeks old already! Here's hoping to her getting some milk today!!!!