A light at the end of the tunnel

STATS:

73 days old; 34 weeks 1 day adjusted

4 pounds, 7 ounces

There is a light at the end of the tunnel friends! On Friday, at 33 weeks, 6 days, little miss Anamaria took her first bottle from her Papi.

Her nurse warned him that she probably wouldn’t take the whole thing, and that she may have a few spells as she tried to coordinate breathing, sucking and swallowing. She even had a nursing assistant and a resident with her as a part of their training. Once again, Ana has surprised us!

Ana took the bottle like she knew exactly what she supposed to do, and she drank THE WHOLE THING! If you have a preemie, you know what a HUGE deal this is. Sometimes it can take preemies weeks to learn to eat and to be able to eat without spelling constantly. Especially when you are born at 23 weeks, sucking and swallowing does not usually come so easily. With Ana it is like she has been waiting for us to let her do this the whole time. She’s amazing. We are so in awe of her determined spirit and unexpected strength. God is so good to us.

One of the nurses said to us–“It’s like you know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel finally! She’s going to come home!” When you have a baby who is eating by mouth, it is so much easier to imagine that she will go home with you. We simply cannot wait for that day!

Since then, Ana has taken one bottle each day, and has breastfed a couple more times throughout each day. Usually when she nurses she will only get half of her feeding gavaged through her feeding tube, but today she nursed for 25 minutes and so she didn’t need anything through the tube! A whole meal breastfeeding! This is a big deal! And this, friends, is how we feel about breastfeeding…

In terms of her respiratory situation, Ana has remained off of her oxygen since last Sunday. She had a few days where she was drifting quite a bit in her oxygen saturation levels and having several spells a day. This was also around the time that she had her vaccines and eye exam, so that may have been the culprit. During the past couple of days, Ana has not been drifting or spelling at all.

      

Thank you for your continued love and prayers! Keep them coming, as we get closer to the time when we will be a “real family of four.”