Bottles Up!

The first time Steve gave Stevie a bath all by himself!

Stevie Stats:
6 lbs 9.5 oz

Stevie is doing great today. We have been on the bottle roller-coaster since Friday. Friday I had reported Stevie was taking 7 of 8 bottles. I updated the blog in the morning before going to the hospital where they told me later that they were keeping her at 6 of 8 bottles. (see how quickly things change).

So, Friday we stayed at 6 of 8 bottles, Saturday it was 6 of 8 bottles, and today they are trying to get her to take all 8 of 8 bottles. They are keeping her feeding tube in because if she is too tired they'll give her feed through this.

SO we wait for Stevie now to be alert enough to feed 8 times a day by bottle. Also the last thing she needs to pass is the car seat test. When Steve and I walked into see her today another tiny patient was in the middle of their car-seat test. The baby passed. I told Stevie that she had a little competition! They won't do the car seat test until tomorrow night we hope. Pray she passes.

Today they also ran a CBC blood test on Stevie. They wanted to check her red blood cell count, and make sure she had no signs of infections, etc. All looked good. They said it appears Stevie is now making her own red blood cells, which is great.

They also said they heard a little murmur again. They said it was nothing to worry about, and probably indicates a directional change in blood flow now that she is getting older. They told us to have the pediatrician follow it, and not to be concerned. The nurse practitioner said the majority of babies she sends home have murmurs. Big Steve has a murmur and he's okay. Pray that continues to be nothing for Stevie.

We hope you had a great weekend. I am going to call and check the progress of contributions this week to The Christopher and Stevie Hickman Fund for "CAMP CHRISTOPHER". I'll keep you all posted on the progress. What a great project!

Love,
Erin & Steve