Bye-bye cannula

Our apologies for the long delay in updating! The good news is that there is only good news to report. Our last entry was the day after Camilla's surgery to close her duct, and she had just been taken off the ventilator. Since then, she has gotten better by leaps and bounds, so much so that by the end of the week it was hard to remember that she had even had surgery a few days before. So Monday was the surgery, Tuesday she came off the ventilator, and by Thursday, she was off the cannula and breathing totally on her own! You can see in the picture below (taken just after they removed the cannula) that there are still the little stickers on the sides of her face to hold the cannula in place, just in case she had to be put back on it. By Friday the stickers were gone and the machinery for it was gone from her bedside too, and she hasn't looked back. She's been breathing strong and steady since then.

Ever since then, all we hear from the doctors and nurses is, "Wow! Doesn't she look great?!" She was even voted Star of the NICU last week for her speedy and smooth recovery. She continues to do well, and is leaving more and more things behind. As of today, she is receiving a full serving of milk at each tube feeding, so that tomorrow her IV will be taken out, and she'll just be getting milk for nutrition. This is a great step ahead in many ways, including eliminating the risk of infection (that was how she got sick before).

Removing the IV also means that her digestive system is working well and that she's gaining weight successfully--her body is able to handle eating well enough to rely on it as her only source of nutrition. She's gaining between 1/2 oz - 1 oz per day, so that she's up to a whopping 3 lb. 11 oz as of last night.

We're so proud of Camilla--she's a strong and feisty girl!