Cuddle Bug!

On November 5th, when Makenna was 25 days old, we were allowed to hold her for the first time!  I know holding your baby for the first time is always an incredible experience, but when you've had a "look but don't hold" policy for 25 days, it is 25x more exciting!!! 

Holding her was just perfect and I was so thrilled to discover that she enjoyed it as much as I did!  It was definitely extra special to be able to look down and see her cute little face and big alert eyes staring back at me.  But I also did my share of staring at her too.  I spent about 6 hours rocking her, just staring in awe at the miracle in my arms.  I always knew in my heart we would get to this point, but with her rocky start and critical condition, it wasn't always a guarantee.  Words can't describe how good it feels to know that my baby is getting better.  Now it isn't a matter of IF she will come home, but when.  AMAZING. 

 

The hard thing about having a critically sick child in the NICU is that they don't really under the concept of "mom" right away.  Even though I always felt connected to her, I don't think she felt that same connection to me.  I wasn't the first person she saw after birth, I never got to hold her or nurse her, and aside from changing a few diapers here or there I didn't get to do any of the usual "mom" things.  To her I was just another one of many people that talk to her throughout the day, sure I was there a lot, but so are her nurses...and they were able to hold her and interact more than I was. However, now that I can hold her I can tell that she is learning that I am someone special and this is such an amazing feeling! 


Other than being able to hold her, extubation has a few other fun perks!  She is know longer being sedated and it able to move around more!  As a result Makenna was able to get out of her "ECMO bed" and into a more safe big girl crib!  She looked so big in the ECMO bed, but now that she is in the crib she is back to being my little 7.01 pound baby!  

She put her arm around her bear all by herself!

Also, with the ventilator gone they could remove the arterial line from her arm.  This meant that she was finally able to wear clothes!  It was so fun dressing her for the first time.  :)  She wore this really cute "bubble" onesie with hearts.  It was a size 3 months (8-12lb), so it was slightly big on my skinny little girl, but it was OH SO CUTE!  It is amazing how getting rid of a vent, putting her in a crib, and dressing her in clothes can make her look so much more healthy and strong.  It is just a great reminder as to how far she has come in the last 26 days!  I know I saw it a lot...but my daughter is amazing.  Absolutely amazing. 

Staring at me!

 

Shows how small she really is!