Amelia's News June 04, 2002

Vital Statistics as of today

Well, Amelia is doing soooooo good. She's made a lot of progress since her first day in the ICU nursery. As of this evening, she's completely off the oxygen. On the morning of the 3rd, they took her out of the oxygen hood and let her try breathing on her own. She did great until she tried to eat. The combination of trying to breathe and eat, just tired her out, so they decided to put a little oxygen tube in her nose to help her get oxygen while she was feeding. Today, however they took the tube out as she was no longer needing it. Also, she is eating enough that she no longer has to take fluid and nurishment through her IV. She is still hooked up so that they can administer antibiotics to her but that's all.

In other news, Cari left the hospital today. She's getting much better. She is able to get around more and is getting some good rest.

On to the Pictures!!

Here's Cari feeding Amelia. Both Cari and I have been delighted by the fact that we can now hold Amelia and feed her. Amelia is eating more and more every time she is fed. She started eating only about 20-30 cc of formula/Cari's milk and that with a lot of coaxing. Now she's up to 85 cc (about 3 ounces) all on her own.

Here's a shot of baby, Mom, and Grandma Draper. Who's who? You be the judge.

Here's a closeup of Amelia with a smile on her face. I think she's letting loose with the previous feeding, but that's just me. Regardless of the reason, THAT'S A CUTE BABY!!

Another close-up of Amelia. This was just too cute not to post. This is a good shot of the tube they put in her nose as well. I guess they shut off the oxygen early in the morning, but left the tube in just in case they needed to give her some air. They put down the yellow stuff first, then the tubes, and then some tape. The yellow stuff is sticky on both sides but is extra gentle on one side as to not irritate the skin.

Here's a typical face on Amelia she likes to have one eye open and one eye shut. Sometimes she has the left eye open and sometimes it's the right eye. Needless to say, 'One Eye' is quickly starting to stick as her first nick name (with Slim and Rusty in close contention).

Here's a shot of me holding my precious, my preeeecious (just kidding). I got to hold Amelia for about an hour after she fed this morning. It was fabulous. My favorite thing is to sing to her and tell her stories. I've almost got a song written for her and I've told her most of my secrets from when I was five. :)