A First Time For Everything

Today was a big day! Russell and I went to see Emma in the NICU around noon, and the nurse was just about to give her her first bottle! Most parents get to see their kids eat for the first time, but it's not quite that straightforward for us. Emma has been fed through an IV, as well as through a feeding tube in her nose. But today they wanted to try her on a bottle; she ate about a third of that bottle but then was so tired that she had to go back to sleep, and they fed her the rest through the tube. Well, she was very tired, plus the cutest hiccups I've ever heard in my life prohibited her from really being able to drink anymore. She slept the rest of the day because this was all very exhausting. She wouldn't wake up enough for the bottle again, but that's ok - baby steps.



Dr. Troup came to see her and was pleased with how her incision was healing. He noticed that the skin on her scalp was very tight where the fluid is built up, but he wasn't really concerned. He'll be back to see her on Sunday. Russell and I will be going home tomorrow (Saturday), but I'd much rather stay here as long as Emma is here. We only live 15 minutes from the hospital, but that's just too far!

We have little baby mittens on Emma so that she won't scratch her face with her long fingernails. We can cut them or file them, but I don't want to make her uncomfortable and squirmy while her incision is still really delicate. She keeps trying to put her whole mittened hand in her mouth, so we think she might be a thumb-sucker. Every time we pull her hand away from her mouth, she pulls it back. Here's the video of our stubborn rascal, if you're interested. BE WARNED: you can see her incision, so if you think it'll bother you, just don't watch it. Actually, just ignore the incision because you'll miss the point of the video! Those are Russell's big hands at the end - it makes her look tiny, but she's one of the biggest kids in the NICU. If you turn your sound up, you can hear some of her baby noises, too.