Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Oh my goodness. We still have not had to use the OG to feed Morgan Kate. Ahhh! I can hardly believe it. Please, please, please let this be the end of our OG days.

We have also found a new nipple for Morgan Kate's bottles. It kind of happened by chance, but it happened. Around midnight last night I was trying to promote "positive feelings" around MK's mouth. So I was using this pacifier that we got from the NICU. It's not just any paci, it's an awesome "wee soothie" and we only have two of them. (Mental note: We cannot lose these, because this size is not sold in stores.) Anyway, this particular paci has a hole in the center because we were experimenting with formula one day at the doctor's office and Dr. G poke a hole in it. I was allowing MK to suck on the paci and I was squirting formula through the hole with a syringe. I noticed that she was really into it and not fighting it at all. The hole in the paci is a lot bigger than the hole in the old nipple. Lightbulb moment! I went in the kitchen and started digging through some other nipples that we had - Dr. Brown's level 1 nipple to be exact. I popped it on a bottle and she finished the entire thing in fifteen minutes. She didn't fight it, she didn't grunt, and we both actually got to cuddle some. Watch out bottle world, here comes Miss Morgan Kate! We have fed her with that nipple all day today and she has done fabulous. What a good awesome day! I am praying hard that this is not just a "good for today" kind of fix. I hope it's much, much more permanent. 

On another happy note - Morgan Kate has been smiling like crazy for two days now. It's beautiful! She has smiled before. She's actually been smiling for quite sometime. But just in the past two days she's been smiling so much and actually seems to be smiling at us, or at least that's what we are hoping for. 

Tomorrow begins our first day of appointments for the week. Tomorrow morning we our having the apnea monitor read. Remember, this particular device monitors her breathing and heart rate. If her heart rate drops or gets too high we can't actually see the number it just makes a red light. (Well actually we can see how low or high it gets because we also have the pulse ox, but most people with apnea monitors can't see. Hope that makes sense.) So tomorrow we will read the information and decide how much longer she has to "wear" that particular monitor. The alarms have gone off, but I think they were all false alarms because each time the alarm has gone off she looks perfectly fine and the pulse ox reads fine too. So we will see. We have another appointment with Dr. G on Thursday and then an appointment with the pulmonologist on Friday. 

I have been meaning to post about this for the longest time, but keep forgetting. Not only did Morgan Kate get TONS of Christmas presents, but she also had two of her own Christmas trees. How neat is that? Thanks to the Ingrams and the Burleson's for the beautiful trees. Oh, and did I mention that these trees were "handmade"? They were not bought like this. So creative. These trees are very special to us and definitely added some much needed Christmas cheer. We can't wait for Morgan Kate to really see them next year. 

From the Ingrams


From the Burlesons

10 comments:

Hollie Heming said...

OH! Happy Day!!! I will pray for continued progress in the bottle department. I have some Dr. Brown bottles and nipples that we never used because we went with the Playtex drop ins...I'll leave them on your porch sometime this week. Love you!

Terry Sowell said...

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! I am so excited Morgan Kate is drinking her bottle! We are praying that it continues. The trees are beautiful! What special gifts. Hope everything goes well at your doctors' visits. Love to all! Aunt Terry

Anonymous said...

That is wonderful news about the bottle feedings, I know that is an answered prayer. I pray that it will contine. I'll also be praying for her doctor visits this week.
PS. Although I can't see her, I know she's smiling at her FABULOUS parents. She's thinking she can't wait to be able to tell you guys how lucky she is to have you as her mommy and daddy, but for now she has to just smile and melt your heart. Enjoy. Love ya!!

Anonymous said...

Everybody will tell you something different on the bottles, but we swore by the Dr Brown bottles. Megan was not a big spitter upper and I guess we can attribute the Dr Brown's for that to some degree. We may have some Dr Brown's items that we did not use...I am thinking we have a sterilizer as well. Just holler at us next time you see us or call.

Keith, Melinda, and Megan

Anonymous said...

Yay!! So happy to hear the great feeding progress!
I hope you get good results from the apnea monitor read. Caroline still wears hers at night, but I think we're almost done. What a great day that will be!

The Leviners said...

Yeah for the feedings by bottle!! I hope its permanent too!
Love,
Melissa

Anonymous said...

That is FABULOUS news. I am so thankful for her,you and Travis. She is learning so fast. I know she is melting yours and Travis' hearts when she smiles. We have some goodies for you, Travis and Morgan Kate for Christmas. Sorry we have not gotten them to you yet. But It is nice to open presents still. I will call you before I come so that you can get them off the porch. Some of it is food goodies. We will be praying that things go well at the M.D. appointments. We send love, hugs and kisses to all of you. Until we see you again....

Love,
Aunt Jan and MaMa

Anonymous said...

This is such wonderful news! I just thanked God for answering more of my prayers!
Keep it up Morgan Kate, I am looking forward to hearing how wonderful you keep doing!

Anonymous said...

My first was not a paci girl so when my little man was one I was lost. I have about 20 paci's. I am horrible so when I saw your post about your's I went looking. Not sure if this is what she uses but hopefully it is and you can get a few more to stock up on. Morgan Kate, you and your family continue to be in my prayers.

http://www.tinylittleclothes.com/cgi-bin/showItem.pl?id=CBPC

http://www.babylinq.com/weesoothiepreemiepacifier.aspx

http://www.thefind.com/family/browse-Preemie-Pacifier

If it is easier that I email these to you send me an email and will reply back: bob_shaneylynde@hotmail.com

Deni said...

Hey Heather, I am so glad to see Morgan Kate doing so well. I wanted to let you know that I nominated you for an award on my blog, go over and check it out when you can! Love you guys!