An Update on Finley

On Thursday, Finley had her nasal canula removed and they switched her to a long-term feeding tube that went through her nose, which would allow her to bottle feed more easily. Unfortunately breathing without any assistance proved to be too difficult for Finley and she had 11 episodes of apneas that afternoon and so she was put back on her nasal canula. She just wasn't quite ready to do it all on her own yet. The doctors think they'll try taking Finley off of the canula again in a week or so. Hopefully next time she'll be strong enough to handle breathing on her own. It's hard for Andrew and me to remember but we're not in a race to get Finley home. We just want her to come home when she's ready and healthy.

Finley's feeds are up to 25 cc every three hours and in order to help her gain weight, the doctors have added Human Milk Fortifier to her breastmilk at each feeding. She's up to 2 lbs 10 oz but the doctors want her to be gaining 1/2 - 1 oz everyday so they're doubling the amount of HMF that she had been receiving. We're crossing our fingers that she starts to put on the chub now!

I might be a little biased, but I think our daughter is pretty amazing. She likes to lie on her tummy and she pushes up a lot with her arms and legs. This week she started to lift up with her arms and turn her head from one direction to another. Impressive! Finley's also learned about camera flashes (we must take too many pictures!) and as soon as the first light comes on she squishes her eyes closed until the flashing is over. The first picture above is an example of that! It's getting harder and harder to get pictures with her eyes open, so you'll just have to trust us that she has beautiful blue eyes. All in all, Andrew and I are totally in love with our precious little miracle!