Kangaroo Care

We've had a GREAT couple of days!  I'm afraid of saying this because I don't want to jinx anything, but it seems like the news just gets better and better each day.  Lucy is now up to 21 mls every 3 hours, and they're increasing her feeds by 12 mls each day.  We feed her with a small bottle now.  She needs to get up to about 60 mls per feeding in order to go home.  She hasn't thrown up since the very first feed.  They also started giving her daily suppositories to help her poop, and they're working!  She pooped yesterday and again this morning.  And she weighs SIX whole pounds now!  

The surgeon changed the dressing over her closure yesterday and was very happy with what she saw.  New skin is forming and the hole is shrinking.  So we're pretty much out of the woods as far as surgery is concerned.  The surgeon said she would be shocked if she needed surgery to close the hole at this point.  I also asked her how she thinks Lucy is progressing and she said she thinks she is progressing faster than average!  It was music to my ears!!!  Things are going so well and I can just feel that she'll be home soon.  All things considered, the past three weeks have gone by faster than I expected.  Even if we have another three weeks left, I finally feel like I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

And now for the best news of the day.  Because the opening is healing so nicely the surgeon said we don't have to keep her lying flat and still anymore.  So Lucy and I were able to do "kangaroo care," or skin-to-skin contact, for the first time.  I held her against my bare chest for a couple of hours, and it was absolutely amazing.  We hadn't been that close to each other since I was pregnant.  It was odd how familiar of a feeling it was to have curled up against me.  She slept through most of it, but a couple times she woke up and lifted her head looking for my breast. She's no dummy, and she knew there was something there that she wanted.  I was also surprised to see that she's already strong enough to lift her head!  Unfortunately I can't breastfeed her yet because they need to carefully control how much she's eating.  But eventually we'll get there, and hopefully this is a promising sign that she'll figure it out quickly.  Here are some pics of our best day yet. :)

Our first day of kangaroo care