Hospital Update- 4/2/2013

Email sent to family and friends on 4/2/2013:

We had a very low-key day today back in the NICU, and Evin slept most of the day!  Things will probably be a little slower from here until we go home because we are basically just working on feeding.

-Evin got rid of 2 more tubes today- the stickers that were on her forehead and on her back.  I bet she is much more comfortable with them gone!

-An occupational therapist came to work with Evin a little bit today.  She was impressed with her ability to turn her head both ways and turn her head in order to listen to Mommy and Daddy talk across the room.  She said Evin is developing very well!

-The speech therapist came to give Evin a bottle and watch how she eats.  She said she was looking to see that she had a 1-to-1 suck to swallow ratio, that her vital signs stayed within a certain range and she wasn’t showing signs of stress.  It can be hard work for heart babies to eat, so she wants to make sure Evin is taking in more calories than she is burning.  Evin took the bottle well and kept almost all of it down.  We were proud of our girl!  We should get to give her a bottle tonight and then the doctors will evaluate how she did in the morning.  A decision should be made as to whether or not we will continue doing a few feeds with the bottle, or if we can move on to breastfeeding.

-Evin has been holding strong at her birth weight of 6 pounds 14 ounces.  We hope she will start to gain soon!

We are thankful for another good day and that Little Miss continues to make progress!

Mitch & Kori

Mitch getting some hands on time with Evin.  The occupational therapist suggested we do modified tummy time with Evin up on our shoulder.  This will begin to strengthen her neck muscles until she can do regular tummy time at home.

SO happy that we can now scoop up our little girl and hold her anytime we want!

Working on bottle feeding.

I adore this picture.  Resting so peacefully!

We are finally able to put Evin in some of her clothes.  Gowns are the easiest because the wires from her monitors can hang right out of the bottom and we can quickly change her diaper.

I caught a sleepy smile!  Must have been a good dream.  :)