Growing right along

Today is day 49 of Willa's stay in the NICU and actually it is going by quickly.  I'm so proud of her and the progress she has made lately.  Her feeding tube has been moved to her nose so that she can now start trying to take feeds from a nipple.  This hasn't been introduced yet since she is still pretty small.  The nurses said she is about 500 grams (a little over a pound) under what a baby of her gestation should weigh.  She is now 15 3/4 inches long and up to 2 lbs 11 oz!  She has been gaining around an ounce a day since she hit the 2 lb mark.  Willa's bradys and desats have been very few lately which is great.  Her red blood cell count was low with the last lab that was done.  The lab also shows that her body is trying to reproduce those red blood cells.  They are going to let her try to get those counts up on her own before they give her any extra help.   If she can get her red blood cell count up, it is likely that she can get completely weaned off the nasal cannula to where she is completely breathing on her own.  She had a follow up exam on her eyes to check for ROP - an eye disease that can develop after being on oxygen for extended periods of time.  There were no signs of any problems with her eyes and the doctor was impressed with that!  Here are some new photos of her.

A new sign the nurses made for her.  She is wearing the little outfit my cousins Trevor, Lela and Haddie Arnoldy got for her.  It's so cute!

Sleeping beauty :)