3/4 Update

Madeline had a very ho-hum day yesterday. Because she's so stable at the moment, there aren't very many tests and the few tests that she does have (still doing a blood gas every 12 hours), she nails 'em. The only update on her status that we have is that there was some disagreement among the doctors regarding the size of her pneumo and if it had resolved yet. Her weekend doctor thought it was completely resolved and started upping her feeding amounts. Unfortunately, her primary doctor was back yesterday and indicated that he still barely saw it on one of the scans. There's a tiny chance that the feedings can exacerbate the pneumo and cause complications. With him being the most conservative of the three doctors, she had her feedings brought down a little bit and she'll be delayed getting her to the full feeding amount by a few days. This is in no way bad news and while Kristen and I are both extraordinarily impatient, a few extra days for our little one to finish recovering is fine by us. She graduated from her light that helps prevent jaundice and her respiratory treatments continue to be decreased. Next steps are for her to completely resolve the pneumo and get to the feeding.

For Kristen and I, yesterday's treat was that our nurse swaddled her up enabling us to hold her in our arms rather than going skin to skin letting us see her eyes and all of her tiny facial expressions. A completely different experience than the kangaroo care and in my opinion, a little better. It was the first time that she started feeling like a normal baby for me and that I was getting a normal Dad experience. With all of the chaos over the past week and a half, it was a nice, quiet relief to relax and hold my daughter for a few hours while she slept in my arms.