July 27th (33 weeks)

This has been an exciting week for Ava. On Tuesday morning the nurses moved Ava out of her isolette and into a bassinet/crib. This felt like a huge step and makes her so much more accessible. Grandma and Grandpa Douglas (Great Great & Nanaw)were in town on Tuesday and Wednesday, so they got to see her make her debut and got in a little much loved snuggle time. She seems to be doing great and not having any trouble keeping her temperature up and continuing to gain weight. She even broke the 4lb mark this week, weighing in at 4lbs 8oz today. She has been growing a ton this week. It looks like by the time we get to bring her home she won't likely be in preemie clothes anymore. Yesterday Jeff and I got to give Ava her first bath. Can you imagine not taking a bath in over 3 weeks? She seemed to like like it, especially once she was clean and dry and snuggled in some fresh clothes and blankies. To top it off, the Physical Therapist stopped in today to evaluate where Ava is at in regards to being ready to nurse/bottle feed. For the past few days they have had me pump and then let Ava get used to the idea of nursing - without all of the milk. It is still a bit early for preemies to get the whole such, swallow and breath down. Ava was super excited and got some great suction (this is a great sign that the cleft is not likely to be a feeding issue). Maybe a little too zealous since she didn't want to stop to breath without us making her. It is still early but we will be working with her slowly when she shows interest. We also have an appointment set up with Ava's Physical Therapist(PT) on Monday morning to meet and evaluate her on actually nursing. The PT said that some babies do better with one or the other and nursing may just be her thing- that would be awesome. Either way it's a big step forward to be at this step. We are so thankful for how well Ava has been doing and so look forward to the day when she is ready to come home!