17 days old

17 days old/days in the NICU

Weight: 2 lbs 15.5 oz 

Another excellent day at the NICU! Ella is doing so well on her cannula! She needs a bit more oxygen but that's totally normal for babies switching from the vent to the cannula. She lost another 2 ounces and is just a few ounces from her birth weight. I asked her nurse today (Mary, whom I love) if it was possible she won't get down to her birth weight since she's eating 4.5 ml an hour (3.5 oz a day) and she said it's definitely possible that will happen. 

Today I did K-care with Ella and I put her near my breast to get her to start nuzzling to see what she would do with my nipple. I started by just resting her against the top of my breast to calm her down (she doesn't like being moved around and gets fussy). Then I moved her to my breast and just let the nipple be near her mouth to see what she would do. She definitely enjoyed it and actually latched on and suckled a few times!! I was SO excited! I actually cried when she first brought it into her mouth. It was definitely a weak suck and I had to pull it out because she destated a bit but we're definitely on the road to breastfeeding!! Right now we're just practicing but around 34 weeks is when babies are generally able to do the suck swallow breathe and able to breastfeed. I'm pretty confident based on today that she'll be able to successfully breastfeed soon!! :)