Baby girl, strong and big....

Still loving the Zaky 'hands', very comforting for Danielle when we can't be there to hold her.


Daddy calls both kids his little monkey's, so this outfit is very appropriate!

Danielle is now 8 pounds 14 ounces. She is just almost 9 pounds and getting so big! She is now wearing newborn to size 3 month outfits, she is just cruising thru these sizes which is great!

Today she had an eye exam. Today's exam looked better and like the ROP may be 'regressing' a little bit. She does not really need an exam for 2 weeks, her current eye doctor will be gone next week. But Dylan's current eye doctor, the one who literally saved his eyes, will be covering next week the NICU patients. Because of this I have requested that Danielle have an eye exam next week by him, Dr. Olson. We really really like the quality of care he gives, Danielle will be followed by him once discharged but while an inpatient she has to see this other doctor. So it will be great to get almost like an 'second opinion' from Dr. Olson next week about Danielle's eyes. We are very happy that things are going in the positive direction.

So because of this eye exam today we are waiting to see if they will go down on her settings tomorrow. It will really depend on how the eye doctor wrote the results of her exam and what the NICU docs think. We are hoping for the best!!

Danielle is doing pretty good with her bottles. A Speech Therapist came up to evaluate her and see if he could offer any suggestions for bottle feeding. This Speech Therapist comes up and evaluates every preemie now either before they start bottle feeding or shortly after. This is a new procedure since Dylans NICU stay. He suggested a different kind of nipple for her bottle, but she doesn't like this new nipple much at all. She also seems to very consistently take all of her morning bottles for her mommy. This baffles the nurses and docs, but I am thinking she just either knows her mommy and the way I feed her and its consistent, or she is just telling them that she wants to come home!! So they are offering the bottle every time now for feedings. She also does much better for nurses who have had her consistently, which is completely understandable. I use the original nipple and most nurses do also, the new nipple isn't working much. But she is doing great and eating 1/2 to full feedings every time out of a bottle.

We are going to possibly have a Family Care Conference next week with the current Staff NICU doctor and team to discuss Danielle and discharge. We are hoping that this is a great conference and that she will be home soon. As of now, no date or time frame has been given. But as with Dylan we are expecting a very short notice when we find out we get to bring Danielle home.

We just keep praying and believing that our little girl will be home soon, happy and healthy as ever! We've just gotta keep believing.~