Good news!

We got unexpected good news today! First of all, they took Katie off of her oscillating ventilator. That's the machine that gave her rapid puffs of air. It was really loud and jiggled her around a lot. I can't remember the name of the machine she's on now, but it lets her breathe as much as she can on her own, then helps her when she needs it. Her respiratory therapist says she's on low oxygen and doing most of the work by herself. This is extremely good news! Next, we found out that her PDA valve closed already. (That's the valve between her heart and lungs.) It only took 1 round of meds to close it. This means we get to avoid surgery. Since the valve closed, she got to go on and get her first feeding today. She's only "eating" 1cc of milk every 3 hours, but it's a big step. She will eat through a tube for a while. Several of the other moms I've met have told me that once they start on milk, they grow fast. I'm ready! Oh--when the nurse fed her, she warned that Katie probably wouldn't finish digesting the milk by time for the next feeding. Well, she's got her momma's appetite. All of the milk was gone from her tummy by time for her next feeding. Our last bit of news is that she can open both eyes now.

Several people have asked about going to the hospital to visit. Kevin is taking vacation for this coming week, so we'll be at the hospital most of the time. If you're interested in coming, call before you drive out there. (Nobody can go back to visit without Kevin or me.) The NICU nurse has mentioned that people have come by looking for us when we weren't there. We can't have the cell phones on at all while we're with Katie, but we check them when we take breaks.