19 Days Old

       Charlotte is still doing amazing and wowing everyone in NICU.  There is not a whole lot to update with today, except to say that she just continues to get cuter.  She did get her center line removed, which means the only cords that she has left now are her little monitors for her heart rate and breathing and her NG tube.  She still likes to pull that NG tube out of her nose! She can be quite the trouble maker! 

       The only thing we are currently working on is getting Charlotte to take full feeds.  Full feeds for Charlotte is about 56 mLs.  We are working on this being a joint effort from breast feeding along with supplementing with bottle.  We do not want to use the NG tube at all anymore in order to get her home! In order for her to be considering getting "full feeds" while breast feeding she has to eat for 15 to 20 minutes each time she eats which is at least 8 times a day.  She has eaten for over 15 minutes only a handful of times and the rest of the time we are supplementing with bottles.  When she doesn't finish her half or whole feed from the bottle she then still needs to be pushed feed through her NG tube.  Charlotte gets so comfortable while breast feeding that she often falls asleep and does not want to be woken back up. We are trying every trick in the book to keep her awake, such as feeding her naked, tickling her while she is eating, burping her and changing her diaper as breaks during breast feeding. They only sometimes work.  The doctors are not too worried about it yet.  They continue to remind us, mostly me, that she just had major surgery involving all those digestive organs and a lot of times it just takes time for these babies to get the hang of the eating thing. It definitely helps to hear that it is not just me or something else making this whole process more challenging for her.  As soon as she gets a hang of this eating thing and is no longer needing to be supplemented feed through her NG tube then we will be able to take her home!! This is the only step left for her to conquer! 

       We can't say enough amazing things about all of Charlotte's amazing doctors and nurses here at Cook's.  This truly is an amazing place with incredible people.  I always knew nursing was a calling much like teaching but I haven't experienced how incredibly called and devoted these individuals are.  Charlotte is so blessed to have such wonderful people that are caring for her in these early days.  I love them all so much and only wish I could give them as much as they have given us in these 19 days of little Charlotte's life. 

Love, Brittany, Christopher and Charlotte