Day 25: Big Bows in Derby Town

Yes I'm from Kentucky, no, I've never been to the Kentucky Derby, and never knew how much stuff went on in Louisville prior to the Derby....2 weeks of non-stop activites leading up to the Derby, many of which require blocking off downtown streets near the hosptial...grrrr! Today was the parade, which its course is 2 blocks from the hospital! Thankfully Churchill Downs is not anywhere near the hospital! If I had nothing else to do it would be fun to camp out at the airport and see the "stars" who have come into town for Derby.

So, on to today's activities.

Bean passed her hearing test, which it was pretty obvious to me that she could hear, but the test also determined that!

We also got back her echocardiogram results. Nothing major and what they expected. One little valve isn't quite closing as much as it should, but it should fix itself as she gets older, sounds similar to my hear murmur and then something about some veins in her back to her lungs being small, but again, nothing that shouldn't fix itself as she grows. They want to recheck her in 6 months and if they thought it was very serious they would be checking her every month, so nothing to worry about, just more parts of being a preemie.

She continues to eat well. We did have the lactation consultant come by and work with me on breast feeding and to weigh her to see how much she is getting.

Good thing: I figured out the best ways to hold her while feeding that is most comfortable for her and me.

Bad thing: She ate off and on for roughly 30 minutes and according to the scale she only ingested about 12cc....not great considering she is supposed to be taking 50-70cc per feeding now.

So, she basically has to get stronger to breast feed better, so we can attempt to breast feed for about 15 minutes and then just give her what she wants via bottle for now. So, she still gets the breast milk, but it will be awhile before she will be able to truly breast feed.

But, at least we know and I'm not going to be starving my child!

Some lady brought by baby headband/bows for all the little girls, which I find very funny since we've had the conversation with Ben's dad as to how ridiculous he thinks these big bows are on babies, so of course, I had to stick it on her and take a picture! I prefer smaller bows, but I couldn't resist. She's so darn cute regardless of what she's wearing or has on her head, but here's a few, you can judge for yourself! I'm thinking it will work well for her big, gaudy, derby hat for Saturday, LOL!




Mallory gained more today, up to 4 lb 13 oz!!

They are also letting her eat what she wants at each feeding, kinda like she would at home. If she can eat as much as she wants eat time and still gain weight, the feeding tube will come out and we are much closer to coming home!! We are basically going through the checklist of things that must be done before she can go home now, so we are getting closer!

Here's another picture of Bean minus the bow, LOL!