Small Steps that are Milestones

After Easter morning with Will, Ellis and I headed to the NICU for the afternoon to spend Easter with the girls. And what a wonderful day it was! They took Carter off the CPAP as soon as we got there, and left the bilirubin light and paraphernalia off so that we could touch, laugh, play and talk with Carter for the very first time. She seemed to just be in awe of her surroundings, looking in our direction when we talked, and loving every minute that we stroked her head, her cheek, her arms, her legs, and her chest. Finally - finally - we really got to see her and she got to see us. Since her birth, she has not liked us to touch her, but she was not like that at all when all of the stuff came off.

I don't know anymore that she looks like a "mini-me." Not sure who she looks like but I do think she looks different from her sister and Will. We'll see!

Unfortunately, they had to put the CPAP back on her after a couple of hours. I was sitting there staring at her and noticed she was breathing hard - looked like she was panting. So they decided to put her back on the CPAP so she would not have to work so hard to breathe. Looks like she has not completely developed her lungs to breathe normally, but she is very very close.

Meanwhile, Catie came out from the bilirubin light - no more sunglasses covering her face! AND guess who got fed by a bottle for the first time!!!??

In the last hours of our visit, I nursed Catie and then let her sleep "kangaroo style" on me (she laid bare skin to bare skin on my chest). She slept so incredibly hard I kept checking to make sure she was breathing okay!