An update from The Mom

Little Anneliese (pronounced "On-Ah-Lisa") just after her oxygen tubes were removed.
This is the German spelling and pronunciation.

I checked out of the hospital yesterday. Alexander, the little gentleman, insisted on rolling my luggage up to the house. Anneliese is still in NICU Level Two. She will stay until she can eat all by herself for a whole day. That is the only thing that we are waiting for. She has a feeding tube and has a "bili blanket" which helps with the Jaundice - it is a blanket with blue lights in it that slides up her back inside of her onesie - it's like using a tanning bed without all the bright lights and sunglasses. You can see it glowing under her blanket in the pic below.


Her condition is very common for a 36-week-old baby. She is eating the right amount every 3 hours and is starting to differentiate between being full and hungry. She will nurse, and will sometimes do a very good job, but she doesn't have the energy/stamina to nurse long enough to get full. It is exhausting to her, so I am feeding her every other time to let her conserve her strength. This allows nursing to be a positive experience for both mom and baby. They feed her through the tube at night and the off-times during the day when I am home trying to rest. Overall, she looks really good and we just need to be patient and let her development take place. The doctors and nurses are excellent and I feel so good about the decisions we are making together about her care. Emma and my mom came today with me to feed Anneliese. Because of RSV germs, Emma is not allowed inside the NICU unit. They watched through the window as I showed them all of Anneliese's tubes and gadgets : )


Christian hops on a plane tomorrow! The whole family can't wait!!! Grandma talked with him this morning and told me later "that's one homesick daddy." : ) I'll talk with him the last time tonight and then we'll see him Sunday evening. We're excited for daddy to be here!!!