Saturday, May 26, 2007

Nyla is learning to eat from a bottle

Nyla is continuing to do well, however, now is the waiting game. She needs to be able to maintain her breathing at a slow rate. Right now she fluctuates between 70 and 80. A "normal" infants breathing rate is about 20 to 40. They are happy if she is under 70.
Yesterday Nyla was at 66 right before her feeding and the nurse said she was doing well enough that we could feed her with a bottle! The nurse fed her a little bit first to make sure she didnt aspirate any of it (swallow it into her lungs) and then mommy got to feed her! Our nurse Deloros fed her about 10 CCs (2 TBLS) and then Mommy got to feed her about 25 CCs. She ate just over an ounce total with the bottle. She did a great job by keeping her breathing slowed down and pausing when she needed to swallow. She needs to eat about 70 CCs each feeding so the rest was fed to her through her gavage tube. She was so comfortable that she fell asleep in Mommy's arms.
This morning, our nurse fed her again with a bottle because she was under 70 again, but we havent been able to yet again today because she is still breathing just a bit to quickly. We dont want to push her before she is ready.
Her oxygen level is up and down, depending on what her needs are. Mommy and Daddy want to bring home their daughter very badly but she'll let us know when she is ready. We dont want to push her and get her home just to have to bring her back.
Nyla is happy to have gotten to meet her aunts, uncles and grandparents. We want to say thank you again for your thoughts and prayers for Nyla and for Mommy and Daddy. We are tired but happy to have been blessed with such a beautiful little baby and a great family who is so supportive.
Love,
Ben, Jen and Nyla

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