Mama Joe

This past weekend my grandmother, Mama Joe got to come and visit Mallani. Here are a few pictures of her holding her for the first time. Also, Susan Buckner made Mallani this fabulous blanket that matches her bedding. I had to put a picture of it on the blog.

Mallani is up to 4 pounds and 1 ounce this week. Even though we are super excited about her weight gain, we did have a small set back. The nurses were specifically told not to bottle feed Mallani and just focus on her gaining weight, well they did anyway. This caused her to get food in her lungs, so she is back on the nasal canula and has her oxygen increased to 27%. This is so frustrating considering she hasn't needed oxygen in the past two weeks. Hopefully this will all be over with soon though.

8 weeks old

Mallani turned 8 weeks old yesteray, 8/11/10. She now weighs 3lbs, 9oz. We're anticipating her being moved to the 2K unit within the next week. This is the final stop before she heads home. She needs to gain about 10 oz. before she can be moved to an open crib. Once she makes the move to 2K she'll have to learn to take a bottle and then she will be ready to come home. The nurses do not anticipate her having any problem with the bottle considering the way she's fallen in love with her pacifier. We talked to the doctor on Tuesday, and he said he thought she would be home in 3-4 weeks. He said that she is "doing amazingly well" and is "mature enough to go home now," but he wants her to gain more weight. Hopefully our little girl will be home soon. We'll keep you updated.

Big Girl

Mallani weighed in at 3 pounds 5 ounces last night. I will post pictures soon, but she is growing like a weed. Before we know it that baby girl will be coming home =)

Baby Shower

My dearest friends had Mallani a baby shower last weekend. They did an awesome job and everything was perfect. Mallani got some wonderful things. Jim's mom took tons of pictures but I refuse to put them up because I have gained so much weight. My liver doctor has me on some serious steroids and I look like a different person. But like everyone continues to remind me, I have been through a lot here recently and it will take awhile for things to get back to normal. Enough about me though, in addition to the wonderful shower last weekend, we also had Mallani's room painted and it looks so good. Hopefully everything will be completely done just in time for that sweet girl to come home. Hope everyone is having a great week!

7 weeks old!

Mallani is 7 weeks old today. There have been lots of changes recently. Mallani was moved to the step-down unit over a week ago. It's actually a step-up unit, but they call it step-down. Either way it means she's one step closer to coming home. Her new room is just across the hall from her previous room, but this room has a window. When she originally moved she was in a room that was setup to accommodate triplets. We had lots of room, and it was really nice. A couple of days later they moved a set of twins into the room with Mallani. Later that day Mallani was moved to her own room. It's much smaller, but it's really nice to be able to spend time with her without a bunch of other people around.

Since the big move Mallani has continued to gain weight. She's up to 2 lbs 13 oz. She also had her nasal cannula removed. For those that don't know, a nasal cannula is a device that delivers supplemental oxygen to a person that needs help breathing. So now our little girl is breathing on her own. That means it's time to start bottle feeding. She still has a feeding tube, but the bottle feeding process has begun. Lauren got to try bottle feeding her today. It didn't last long. Shortly after she started sucking her heart rate dropped. That's not unusual. She's still supposed to be in the womb where she would be 34 1/2 gestational weeks.

The bottle feeding process can take time for a preemie to master. Most babies have time to learn to suck and swallow in the womb. Obviously this is something Mallani will have to learn outside of the womb. Mallani loves her pacifier so sucking is not a problem. The problem is sucking and swallowing at the same time. She will learn to do it, but it will take a little time. At this point they try to bottle feed her once every 12 hours. The other feedings go through the feeding tube. Mallani dictates how long the bottle feedings last. It burns calories and energy so they don't push her.

Mallani is actually now eligible to move to the final unit which the nurses call 2K. She probably won't move until she gains a little more weight unless they need the room before that. Hopefully once she gains a little more weight she'll be able to be moved to an open crib. We're still not sure when we will get to bring our sweet little princess home. It all depends on how quickly she gains weight and learns to take the bottle. We're hoping that she will be home by the end of the month. Thanks again for all of the thoughts and prayers!

Jim