Oh the bittersweet week…

This week our sweet Lilly reached her due date. October 6th. A month ago, my husband and I thought that maybe our little baby girl would come home before this dreaded day.

When the day was getting close and she didn’t progress as fast as we wanted, we realized she would not be coming home yet. This realization was hard and heavy on our hearts. I was getting frustrated with “the system”. I was thinking maybe we were failing her.

They say that things get worse before they get better. Boy, are they right.

The ICN, as explained by the nurses, is a unit that is usually used as an overflow when they have too many babies to care for, and not enough space. When that census dropped, they decided to move those babies back to the NICU. This includes our little wiggle worm.

We packed our belongings and pushed her hospital crib all the way back to that long hallway. This time the room assigned to her is closer to the entrance so we don’t have to go through the dreaded hallway to get to her. It’s nice.

Lilly has progressed in her eating technique; she has mastered the mature suck. She is able to suck, swallow, and breathe in a coordinated matter. She has been taking half of her feeds and has also been more alert in the past week.

Breastfeeding has been tough since my breast have developed faster than she has, making it difficult for her to receive such a big supply so fast. I am working with Lactation nurses to help Lilly latch and learn to manage my fast letdown and ample amount of milk.

She is gaining weight as espected and getting cuter by the minute.

Besides all the good things, there are some others that have kept us from going home. The biggest reason has been Lilly’s nutrition and learning to eat WITHOUT having events (i.e. choking/ coughing, desating, bradicardic dips). She has been having some more than usual, and it’s kept us from moving forward. We just have to keep working on it!

Until next week, keep on moving.. even if its only one inch at a time. Progress is progress.