32 weeks today!

Remember when I said that Tessa likes to make her own rules?

Most babies love skin to skin. Their respiratory rates go up, their heartbeat comes down. In general, the baby relaxes and does better.

Not my little Tessa girl.

The minute I take her out and place her on my chest, her oxygen saturation levels go crazy. After a while, she settles down....but then forgets to breathe. Twice in the last week they have had to give her oxygen while I was holding her.

As far as breathing, she is still on CPAP. A few days ago, the oxygen saturation limits were raised from 83 to 88 for her size, and she struggles to keep her saturation that high. I was told that eventually, her lungs will be strong enough to maintain without CPAP. Hopefully, that day will come sooner rather than later, as she hates that thing.

Sorry if this is too much information, but she is pooping like a champ. Makes mamma proud:-)

I can tell she is looking older, and she is far more grumpy when she is not getting her way. This, of course, presents new challenges, because it is not like I can pick her up and hold her if she is fussy. Usually just placing my hands on her belly does the trick. Very rarely, she will take a pacifier (which cracks me up as it is almost as big as her head).

Her next thing to master is a bottle. In the next week or so, they will start trying to feed her orally. So far, she has just been eating through a tube to her stomach. I have heard that this is the biggest challenge towards going home. It is hard to breathe, suck, and swallow all at the same time.

Thanks, as always, for praying for her! We are praying that she steers clear of NEC or any other nasty infection, starts taking a bottle well, gets off CPAP, and keeps gaining!