The long awaited update....

Yes, it has been a long time and for that I apologize. With the Christmas season not just approaching but beating me over the head, I have been running around like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off. And luckily, there is not a lot of news...which is a good thing I am learning. Mia is now up to 2 lbs., 13 oz and just today hit her goal for feedings! YAH! She now receives 21 cc every 3 hours. Her aspirates have gotten sooo much better! She has been at room air (21%) and has moved from 1 liter of flow to .04 on her nasal cannula! She is slowing being weaned from her isoplette-she's moved from 33 degrees Celsius to 31.5. She needs to be at 27 or 28 degrees to move to an open crib. She has had her first bath (see pictures below) and we're making slow but steady progress with the nursing! She is 33 weeks gestatitional age today, and next week they will start working with her on bottle feeding. She will come home on both a bottle and nursing--I would have to live with her at the hospital to be able to nurse her with every feeding. We're hoping that once she is home, we can wean her from the bottle to straight nursing, but we'll see. Whatever she needs to get big and strong.....Her direct bilirubin count came back this morning and it went up from 3.5 to 3.9. The doctors have decided to watch her and do another draw in 7-10 days. They said they would probably be more worried if she was sick at all, but she's not showing any symptoms of any problems, so they'd like to just watch her rather than putting her through a bunch of tests. So, I think that's it! Like I said, not alot, which is great! God is awesome and He has been holding Mia and all of us in His hands and I thank Him for that and also I thank Him for every single person who has been praying for us! Most of you may have read my sister's blog for an update on my granpa, but please continue to pray for him. He now has to have his carotid artery cleared (roto-rootered, as we call it) when he is a little bit more recovered from his surgery--which went very well! Thank you for the prayers for him and all of us....THANK YOU!