OK...I know it has been a LOOONG time since I have updated and I am sorry. It has been really hard to get a couple extra minutes without falling asleep. I am soooooo tired. I CANNOT believe that Azriel will be 4 weeks old tomorrow!

The 45 minute drive each way back and forth to the hospital is exhausting. But, I love spending time with Azriel so, the fortune we are spending on gas and food is worth it.

As of Saturday night at 9:00 Azriel weighed 4lbs 3.2oz. She is going to be as rollie pollie as her sisters were, which is ok by me, seeing as 2 weeks ago she was 2lbs 7oz. She is on nasal oxygen and will come home on that and an apnea monitor. She doesn't have apnea episodes as far as I know (Nurses don't tell you everything), but the monitor is standard when coming home on Oxygen.

Azriel's feedings are up to 32 cc's every 3 hours...this is just over an ounce at each feeding. She got her first bottle on Wednesday, Nov 1st. She did much better than we thought she would. Her nurse was very pleased. We started out with only 1/3 of an ounce in her bottle...figuring we would have to give her the other 2/3 oz in her feeding tube. She did really well with the bottle so we gave her the rest in her bottle too. So, now she gets one bottle feeding a day. As soon as she gets this down really well they will up it to 2 bottles a day and as she gets that down ok they will up it again and so on. Azriel has to be taking all her feeds by bottle or breast before she can come home.

Babies learn the sucking reflex at 32 to 34 weeks gestationally...Azriel will be 34 weeks Wednesday. She is a little immature for being almost 34 weeks but this is most likely because she had to fight so hard before she was born. As far as we are concerned she is doing everything perfectly for her!!!

I am ready for her to come home. I would like to be able to get into a routine...relax a little. (As if that will be possible)

We don't have her room ready yet...but that is my project this week. I have to sort through the girls stuff and see what we need to keep and what to get rid of. Then I have to rearrange, paint the walls, and clean the carpet. I need to have all this done by Saturday because that is when the shower is. Pray for me to have some stamina to get this all done. My energy levels are still really low.

We are hoping to have our little miracle baby home by Thanksgiving. I do not see why she would not be. Because she will be so little and really susceptible to illness we will be hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas at or little house...fun fun...we hardly have enough room for us. We are, however, so happy to be able to have her home with us healthy that we welcome the chance to have the holidays at our humble abode.

Thank you again for your continued prayers for Azriel's progress. We are seeing answers to prayer everyday!!

Love to all of you,
Lisa