[glasscandie]

Julia's doing GREAT. Her temperature's been stable for the past two days; the pediatrician thinks it was b/c her capilaries were open or dialated or whatever it's called, and she was releasing too much heat (adults do it too, like when you sweat, but she didn't have all that much heat to begin with in the first place!). He prescribed her some cream which shrinks them down, and it's AMAZING how much a difference it makes. She's still under the heater thingy, but we can hold her and whatnot for longer periods of time now, b/c she doesn't get so cold anymore.

She opened her eyes WIDE for the first time today!!! They're bright blue! Which I'm sure will change to brown at some point, but for now it's cool to say she has blue eyes, b/c no one in our family does lol She's eating a LOT, too - close to 2 ounces at every feeding, and is gaining weigh rapidly. At this rate, we're expecting to be able to bring her home on Thursday or Friday, so everyone keep their fingers crossed for us

The only thing that ISN'T going great, is nursing. We're having such a hard time!!! All the nurses say it's b/c she shouldn't even be born yet, and her sucking reflex isn't developed enough. She latched on a couple times, and had two really great nursing sessions (one yesterday and one the day before), but since then, I haven't been able to get her to do it. We're using the Haberman bottle, so it helps make her mouth muscles stronger (she has to really work to get the milk out), and everyone says it shouldn't have an effect on her ability to nurse, so we'll see. I guess I'm just a little disappointed that she can't right now. But I'm not giving up! I've been pumping every 2-3 hours, which is gigantically exhausting (especially at 3am when the alarm goes off to do it lol), and my milk came in already, so at least she's getting the benefits.

OK, gotta run - pumping time again, then back to the hospital. I hope everyone's doing well either baking their babies or taking care of their newborns! I promise to be around more once she's home!!

[baccalynnwv]

congrats! I was wondering where you were the other day since I hadn't seen any posts from you.

Glad everything is going well. I pray that she continues to get stronger and stronger and that you can get the feeding thing down! Can't wait to see pictures!

[#5in2005]

It's great to get an update on both of you. I hope she catches on to nursing soon, and keeps growing fast. I had to pump for 5 weeks after my last baby because she was early, and I came to detest my "milk machine" towards the end. But it's terrific that your milk has come in, a pump is not always good at getting that going. Anyways, I hope everything keeps going well, and update us again sometime when you get a chance.

[AlaynasMommy]

I thought the sucking reflex came in around 29/30 weeks? I could be wrong!! I'm so glad she's doing well and I can't wait to see more pictures of her. She's so precious and you must be so proud!! I'm still baking Alayna, but we'll see what's going on Thursday!! I hope you can bring her home soon!! I'll pray for you guys!!

[Madeline410]

Congrats Courtney.. I'm glad you gave us an update!! Good luck with nursing, don't give up!!

[crystalclear]

That's wonderful that she's doing so well! Yay, Julia! Hope you get to bring her home soon, Courtney. The bottle sounds neat. I had not heard of that before now. I really hope it gets her in the swing of things quickly.

[~Cupcake~]

Glad to hear you are doing well! And sending along some "come home baby vibes"~~~~~~~~~~ I hope the week goes quickly and she is home before you know it!

[stephie1012]

glad everything is going well, besides the feedings, ur angel will be home soon how exciting

stephanie

[cindymat]

I'm glad you are able to hold her for longer periods of time!! It really stinks to not be able to hold them, or to only be able to hold for a few minutes. I will keep my fingers crossed for you that she comes home quick! It will be nice to not have to go to the hospital every day, wont it?

[little_hunnyb]

Congrats!!! I didn't even know you had her...so happy for you...

[Frelle]

congratulations again, and I am glad to ehar she is doing so well! And that youa re using the haberman bottle. I look forward to hearing that she has taken to nursing soon!

[LisaLisaBoBisa]

i feel ya girly Ariana was born at 36 weeks and has problems latching on too so im pumping and feeding her what i pump. Its hard to pump every 3 hours and have to feed her afterwards so throught he night im up for over an hour to pump, then feed her and change her and put her back to sleep. Hope Julia comes home soon i got my fingers crossed

[Mod-Karen]

Glad to hear she's doing well. Im a September mum but my baby came early (only a week) but she only weighed 4lbs 6oz due to a plancenta problem, she also had trouble keeping warm and was kept in SCBU (Special care baby unit) for a couple of days. She also had trouble latching on and i couldnt get to the SCBU for every feeding as i had a emergency c section, I pumped and pumped but wasnt getting much out so i put her on the bottle as she was so hungry and got so frustrated with my boob. Good luck with it hun. Keep determined and before you know it she'll be latching on like a champ. Oh and im sure she'll soon put on weight too, Small babies tend to play catch up and put on loads at first. Alyssa was a month old yesterday and weighs 6 and a half pounds!

[toby]

So glad to hear that both of you are doing well! Hang in there! She'll be home before you know it!

[Mary Beth]

I'm glad to hear that she's making good progress. Its really wonderful that you managed to bring your milk in with the pump -- that doesn't always work well. Its doubly good since mothers of preemies make special milk that's different than full-term milk and specially suited to a preemie's needs.

I hope that she continues to learn to latch-on. You've got extra challenges at the moment, but you seem to be getting the help you need to cope.