Hope's 15th Day

It was an incredible day for Hope! It started with her doctor deciding to remove her permanent feeding tube. He also decided that she no longer needed to have the oxygen level in her blood monitored. As a result, she is now rid of one tube and one wire. She is left with only two more wires (the ones that monitor her heart rate and her respiration rate) that she will keep until she comes home. It was also decided that she no longer needs to have her blood sugar level tested. This will save her a poke in her heel every 12 hours.

Hope is now getting 44cc's of milk once every 3 hours. She was able to take two of these feedings (about 40cc's) through a bottle today. This is a huge step for Hope. The remainder of the feedings were given to her through a gavage feeding tube (a larger tube inserted into her stomach for a time period just long enough for gravity to take the 44cc's from a syringe into her stomach). Hope also continues to gain weight. She is now up to 5 pounds and 4 ounces. It is so wonderful to see these improvements!

Tonight Ryann and Brent went to the Daddy-Daughter Dance. They went out to eat together, went to the dance and had a lot of fun, and ended their evening at the hospital visiting Hope so that she could also be included in this Daddy-Daugther Night.