Last week was a week full of surprises. First was there the helmet that she was allowed to take off, and all the other good news, and then we got to hear on Thursday that they wanted to try for the first time to let her drink from the bottle (the breast would be too heavy for her)! They didn’t expect that she would drink a lot, it was more to give her the taste of the milk, but unexpectedly she still drank a bit (4ml). She gets 28ml every three hours, so the rest was given to her through her feeding tube. Michelle was the one who gave her the milk:

The day after, on Friday, it was my turn. The nurse said that she didn’t think she would drink much as it was only the second time she tried to drink, a few ml would be all according to her. But what do you think? That little one drank 19ml of the 28, a lot more than expected. Isabella was really awake at that time, so this probably helped, but still, it was great to see her doing so well.

It was Michelle’s turn on Saturday again, and the nurse that was there at that time asked how it went on the days before Saturday. She said, after she heard how things went, that she expected it to end up somewhere between the 4ml and 19ml. But what do you think? She drank 27ml, almost everything that she had to drink at that time! Unbelievable, right? And that was not everything on that day, they also took out the tube that was up her nose for the extra air, so even that backup was not needed any more. That was another pleasant surprise for us, but not the last one haha.

Tonight, Sunday evening, we were at the NICU again, and on the moment we opened the door, we looked into the direction of Isabella’s isolette, but.. we saw the following:

An empty isolette? We didn’t know what happened, so we got kind of scared, but quickly the nurse told us what happened. They lowered the temperature of the isolette today, and that went pretty well, so well that Isabella now is allowed to lay in an open crib next to the isolette, without any extra heater. This means that Isabella now probably has no problems to keep herself warm. They do frequently check up on her now, to see if her temperature is still ok, and the isolette is still next to the crib, just in case she is cooling down, but still, it gives us some new hope that she can come home soon.. for now it all looks well.

Of course she had to drink again, she came up until 25ml, so the other three were given to her through the tube, but this was not really weird (and again it was above expectation) because, not long before she got this bottle, she also received 15ml through a bottle from a nurse. So in total she drank more than before. She is doing a bit better everyday, before you know it, she can come out of the hospital.

Tags: Family, Isabella, Marriage, Medical, Photos

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