Another step forward!

From Ryan's email sent at midnight:

Thursday was another good day for Abby. She did very well on the CPAP respirator all day. The CPAP is a giant tube that goes right under her nose and has two little prongs that go into her nostrils. The tube then wraps around her head and is secured to her head by a velcro head band deal. So her cute little face is once again obstructed by some kind of breathing aparatus; but that's alright. Even with this tube we can still see her cute eyes, nose and mouth. Even better, now that she doesn't have the tube that goes down her throat, she yawns, gets the hiccups, and sticks her tongue out and everything. It's adorable!

One problem today was that her lungs still looked a little "wet" in the x - ray, which means there was some fluid in them. So the nurse gave her Lasex, which is diaretic that makes her urinate any excess fluids in her body, hopefully including the fluid in her lungs. We'll find out Friday morning if it worked after she gets another x-ray of the lungs. The docs aren't too concerned on this just yet simply because of how well Abby is doing on the CPAP machine. In fact, one Respiratory Therapist said that he could not believe how well she was doing given her age. They were sure that Abby would get tired of having to breathe so much on her own but so far she hasn't.

Another minor set back is that Abby still isn't tolerating her feedings so we're holding off on giving her more breast milk until her stomach is able to digest the milk that is currently there. Also, just to be on the safe side, she did get an utrasound of her stomach today because there was some concern that she might have some "blah blah blah itus" or something, but she doesn't. Phew! For now we'll just check her stomach a few times a day to see if she has begun to digest what's in there... and once she has, we'll start her back on mommy's milk.

Finally, the best part of the day is that DADDY GOT TO HOLD HIS BABY FOR THE 1ST TIME!!! It wasn't the skin to skin kangaroo care situation, but it was amazing. Keep in mind we have to look at Abby through the glass in the isolet so being able to hold her close and hear her breathe and cry up close was fantastic!