Update

I can't believe so much time has gone by, Elly was one month on Friday! It seems the month went by fast, although the days seemed very long. Elly is doing well, she is currently up to 1lb 15oz, and is off the ventilator. The best part of her being off the ventilator is that she can make noise now. With the tubes how they have been, her vocal chords have been "temporarily paralyzed" but now that the tube is gone...we can hear her. She isn't loud yet, but even the little squeeks are nice. Oh and she has the cutest little sneeze ever! It makes me laugh. We have been able to start holding her, which has been nice. Although holding her, isn't what I tradtionally think of as holding a baby. You get positioned in a chair, then a RN and a RT work together to get her on your chest, then they tape all her tubes and wires in place, then they wrap you and her in a warm blanket, then you hold very still for the next 1-3 hours. The length of the hold depends on how she is adjusting to the change. She is so small it's hard to see her on you, so they give you a hand held mirror to use to see her. I got this video while she was awake during a hands on time. I love looking in her little eyes, although she is asleep most of the time, so I don't get to do it very often. The kids love this video because at the end she does a spastic strech, and they think she is waving to them. They are so excited to meet her. Today while we were decortating the Christmas tree, they were concerned she wouldn't have a tree. So we pulled out a little tree and they decorated it for her, it is now on the counter by her bedside. It will be nice when they finally get to meet her, only approximately 10 more weeks to go...it seems so LONG!