Sweet Maria

Maria found her thumb yesterday for the first time! We are so proud of her!



Even though she is back in her isolette, we still bundle her up. The isolette is only a couple degrees warmer than room air. This small temperature change goes a long way in helping her to conserve calories while she continues to work on keeping herself warm.

Dr. Balsan decreased her food's caloric density. She gained 140 grams over two days, and that's a bit much. One of the NPs is sure Maria is showing some edema (swelling), but Balsan disagrees. I guess the compromise was to decrease calories.

Maria's alert times are more frequent and are lasting longer. We can hold her as much as we want. She is now able to try the bottle every other feeding, and Dr. Balsan thinks that in a couple of days, we will try to nipple every feeding. I think she could nipple exclusively now. She roots at every feeding that I am there, and she gets cranky waiting for the pump to feed the formula through her NG tube over 30mins, as opposed to her sucking it all down in 12 minutes (at which she's become a true proficient)!

She has two new roommates in the NICU. We talked this morning about sharing the nurses attention, and she'll try not to hog it. Funny thing, though, when the second baby was admitted last night, the nurse said that Maria started to alarm more - she just wants everyone to continue to be at her beck and call! I told Maria that it wasn't nice, and that all sick babies need attention, not just her. We'll see how she takes her first lesson in sharing.