November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Thanksgiving is for the birds" screamed Charlotte.

"Ok, maybe this isn't so bad"

A few things we're thankful for this year: Charlotte, our family and friends, our jobs, Michigan Tech's Aetna health insurance, NICU staff, and the snow waiting until we were home (and still waiting).

We had planned to spend Thanksgiving with our friends Michelle and Chris but about 30 minutes before dinner they called to say Michelle was in labor. They made the turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie cheesecake and were kind enough to let us have some even though they weren't able to come over. The food was delicious and we hope their baby arrives healthy and soon!

It's safe to say we love having our baby home. And she seems ok with it, too.

She's gotten some quality tummy time:


And even got to talk with G&G Russell via Skype:


We're still working on her feeds, but haven't seen much change since we left the hospital. Below are her stats for the percentage of her feeds taken by mouth daily. A speech therapist is visiting us weekly, but I just think it's going to take time. This particular therapist hasn't had an infant referral in over a year, which means she's not as familiar with infants as the children-focused speech therapist who saw Charlotte in Milwaukee. That said, we're grateful she's trying new things. She introduced a medium-flow nipple on the 25th, but as you can see, it didn't help. The nipple was much firmer than the slow-flow we've been using so she had to suck much harder for the same reward.
11/12: 26.7%
11/13: 20.4%
11/14: 22.9%
11/15: 32.9%
11/16: 20.6%
11/17: 26.5%
11/18: 24.5%
11/19: 22.0%
11/20: 14.1%
11/21: 15.9%
11/22: 17.7%
11/23: 19.8%
11/24: 24.8%
11/25: 16.9%
11/26 @ 3 p.m.: 24.2%