Two-Month Milestones

Little Rebekah has made so much progress this past week!  She was taken off oxygen and is now breathing completely on her own.  She also began feeding from a bottle!  She's currently being bottle-fed twice per shift but still has a feeding tube leading to her little belly until she's ready to be fed solely from a bottle.  The tube is inserted through her nose instead of her mouth to make it easier for her to take the bottle.  We love being able to see more of her precious little face now! 

Wednesday I was allowed to feed her for the first time and she ate like a champ.  The nurse was very impressed. Afterwards Rebekah laid on my chest, staring at me intently.  It was a sweet moment filled with such love and happiness for me, and I hope for Rebekah as well.  I think she knows who Billy and I are even though we only see her for 2 hours each day.

Rebekah is still on contact precautions for MRSA. Thankfully we are still allowed to do Kangaroo Care, otherwise she would have no skin-to-skin contact at all. She also reached a whopping 4 pounds this week!  While we had been under the impression she needed to weigh 5 lbs. before coming home, the nurse last night told me weight is not a requirement for being released from the hospital.  She just needs to be breathing on her own, taking all feeds from a bottle, and needs to be able to regulate her own body temperature.  Yesterday they began turning down the temperature in her isolette to make it closer to room temperature to see how her body adjusts. 

Last night I also learned that Rebekah's gestational age is somewhat older than we previously thought.  Instead of being 24 weeks at birth,  Rebekah was probably closer to 28 weeks.  This would certainly explain why she's been doing so well.  It also means she could be coming home sooner than we thought - possibly by Christmas!  What a gift that would be!

I think she agrees!

(Ok, so this was really just a mid-sleep gas smile.  Adorable nonetheless!)