Feeding Frenzy 6-4-08

Hi Everyone!

We have some big news. Maddie was able to take her first bottle! She loved it and did very well. She took 11ml yesterday and 15 today. Today they stopped her continuous flow of feeds and started her on an 3 hour schedule. She is allowed 1 bottle a day and tomorrow she is going to get 1 bottle and 1 breastfeeding session! WOOOHOOOO! I can't wait. This feels like the biggest step towards coming home so far. They will work her up to breastfeeding while I'm there and bottle feeding when I'm not over the next week or two depending on how she tolerates this. She heard the nurse and nurse practitioner talking and when they said something about her pulling her own NJ tube (feeding tube in the small intestine) out she gets to start eating and she did it less than 30 minutes later! So smart.... So we got to start this sooner than expected. She's not quite up to the 1.7kg I had mentioned earlier. She has grown a little more, 3lbs 9oz, but I suspect she will be growing even more after we get this feeding thing going good.

She had another eye exam today. She didn't pass this one with flying colors though. She has stage 1 ROP in one eye and stage 2 in the other. Now, the doctor said that this is nothing to worry about yet. There is a 75% chance that it will clear up on its own. If it does not clear up or gets worse she may have to have laser surgery. Please pray this doesn't happen. We would love for it to clear up all by itself. I don't really understand the ROP thing, so I will read up on it and post more later after her next eye exam next week.