Hi Everyone,

Today Sunday January 27th has been a great day for Lorena. When we called in around 5 AM the nurse told us she had her fussy time in the night again. So the nurse sat and held her for a bit. She also had digested her night feeds very well.

When we came in she was still on the 38 ml bolus feeds but the news was great. We would get to feed her the first bottle. So she could finally learn to swallow. She did very well for her first bottle of 45 ml milk around 12 noon. She drank 30 ml of it and did not spit up. She was however so content after this there was no way she was going to put in more effort for the rest of the bottle. So the nurse put the rest of the milk into her tummy through the tube.

Her 3 o'clock feeding seemed to go well too and she drank about 3/4 of her bottle and was swallowing well. Again she dozed off thinking she had enough. So when we tried to wake her a little for the rest of the bottle by changing her diaper she ended up spitting up most of the portion she had just drank. This was to bad as she so needs this nourishment.

The 6 o'clock bottle went a little better. She did not spit any of it up but after drinking a small half of the bottle she again fell asleep and there was no way she was interested in more. So again the nurse had to run the rest down the tube through her nose to her stomach.

We took turns holding her all day again and she slept most of the day away again in our arms. It was a very quiet and relaxing day and for the 1st time no visitors came today so I was able to get in a nap again today.

Lorena is doing so exceptionally well that even the nurses are surprised how well she is doing and how quick her feeds have been going up. If her bottle feeds go well over night then I may start to nurse her tomorrow. This is wonderful as I am no longer able to keep up with Lorena for pumping enough milk. There will be enough until midnight and then they will need to feed her formula the next 3 feeds until I come in the morning with more milk. Nursing will hopefully bring in more milk for Lorena or else I may still need to add a bit of formula feeding. You can well imagine how I look forward to tomorrow. Who wants to pump when you can nurse?

Lorena is still on 1/8 of oxygen. They tried to turn that off today but her breathing was not good enough yet without the oxygen so she is back on it again.

We are so thankful for this little miracle and  are so enjoying her progress every step of the way. We continue to thank ouir Lord for her and the wonderful progress she is making in her recovery.

With Love

Lodewyk, Rena, Janita, Jeremy & Lorena