Feeder, Grower!

Big news! Caili is now 4 pounds and has been officially promoted to “feeder, grower” status, meaning that those two things are what she has to concentrate on in order to come home to us! That status is reflected in her posh new crib:

Here's a picture of her enjoying a little daddy time tonight:

And here she is as we left her tonight (Wednesday), surrounded in comfort by her beloved "Zaky's":
She’s doing great on the eating front, working toward eating on her own rather than relying on the tube in her stomach. The doctors had limited her to one feeding attempt a day to keep her from over-exerting herself, and for the first few days days she ate fairly small amounts. However on Monday she decided she'd had enough of the tube feeding and ate the entire amount they normally give her via the tube and then some--a total of over 50 cc's! She did the same again yesterday, but today was a little too tuckered out to eat quite that much.

The eating effort really does wear her out; when I got there on Monday evening after the first time she ate her full feed she was totally pooped, and could barely open her eyes. She did so only long enough to express her extreme displeasure at my taking her temperature, which we do by placing the thermometer under her armpit--her least favorite parental interaction.

But she's building strength and stamina, and her ability to deal with the stress of feeding is amazing. She gets out of breath like a sprinter, and simply stops, rests, and when she's ready, resumes eating. I'm sure full-term babies do the same thing, but with her sick lungs it seems like quite an accomplishment to us!

One sad note; Caili's friend Christopher is having an extremely tough time after seeming to have turned the corner for the better. I know many of you already do so, but we'd be grateful if you'd add him and his loving family to your prayers.