***For those confused, at the bottom of each post, the author is listed. By admin= Kevin, by Brittany= Brittany.***

Ella is now one week old and in celebration, I got to hold her. Kevin had called Sunday night telling me I should be jealous, because he was finally getting to hold her. I was. But I was also so glad she was finally able to get some love. When I got there last night, after all her stats were taken, they put her in my arms. Finally! She was sucking so hard on her binki just before, so the nurse was getting her food. Once she was in my arms, she no longer cared and just sat staring at me.

   

Then it was my turn to call Kevin and tell him to be jealous. I got to feed her a bottle. She is getting 10cc which is half an ounce. She drank half her bottle, including her blue juice (morphine) and the rest was given to her through her feeding tube. Once she got all her food, she snuggled in close and was content.

They let me hold her for about an hour, before she needed to go back under the lights. I told them next time to turn the lights and we both can tan while I hold her. She’s under the lights, because her jaundice level jumped to over 16. Hopefully, with some food to get her liver working, those levels will come down. Just before I was going to leave she got a little upset.

She was getting hungry, but the nurse had taken her feeding tube out. The tape was starting to wear, and it was sliding around. She put a smaller tube back in, but put it through her nose instead. She said it’s actually more comfortable through the nose than mouth. Ella was not a happy camper about that one. She still had the oxygen, so there was a few things going into her nose. Katherine, the respiratory nurse, didn’t think she would need the oxygen much longer. She was looking so good. We finally got her calmed down enough to give her the milk through her feeding tube. Once she got some food in her stomach, she fell back asleep.

P.S. The nurses call her mittens her boxing gloves. Every time they try and do anything she fights them off.