April 16th

The doctors have decided to let Ella take more milk by mouth and if she does well they are thinking they might try to get her off the tube. Right now she is taking 20cc by bottle and 30cc by tube. She did very well yesterday with 15cc so we hope that she won't tire out to quickly as they increase how much she eats. They are still adding thickener to the breast milk to help her learn to eat at the right pace and not to choke, but that means she will not be able to breast feed for another couple of weeks. I am starting to feel like a cow with all of this pumping but plan to stick it out for miss Ella. If all her feedings continues to go well the plan for her to come home is still looking like this weekend!! We can't wait to have her here but are willing to wait to make sure she eats well. The doctors have not decided if Ella needs the swallow test. They feel like she is doing well with the thick milk and might redo the test in a few weeks instead of leaving her on the tube and doing it in a few weeks. Exciting news is that Ella is now free of IV's and is only taking in milk. She looks so great! Ella had her car seat test yesterday and did well. She had to sit in her car seat for an hour to see if she could keep her oxygen level up and she did great. I thought she was going to cry the whole time but didn't mind it and took a little nap while we waited.

Here are some pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/carr.ab/Ella403