For starters, we have a great new picture of Danee with her eyes wide open!
I wasn't there for that one, but Cindy said that although the nurses claim she can't focus on anything yet, that Danee looked right into her eyes and held it for quite a while!
A few days ago, my sister Susan said that she wanted us to call her up so she could hear Danee crying... But a few days ago, Danee wasn't crying. Now, that's a whole different story! Today she was beyond crying, and was throwing a full force, teenie preemie tantrum! This particular video isn't the worst of it, she had already calmed down quite a bit by this time.
After her tantrum, she was given 3 cc's of formula through her feeding tube, which normally makes her go right to sleep. Cindy and I were standing over her, holding her hands and trying to help her relax. Molly, who is our favorite nurse in the whole world, came up and asked if Cindy would like to try holding Danee...
Seriously, she actually ASKED that. Quite a silly question if you ask me... OF COURSE CINDY WANTED TO HOLD HER BABY!!! Up until this point, the most we'd done was change an occasional diaper, take her temperature, and hold her hands. Molly warned Cindy that it would need to be skin-on-skin contact... Again, she said it as if it was a bad thing. Cindy's been talking about having skin-on-skin snuggle time with Danee for several weeks!
Seconds later, my wife was snuggling our preemie daughter, who was the most content she's ever been in her young life!
Molly had another token warning... that because of the amount of stimulation Danee receives moving from her isolette to her mommy's chest, unless a problem comes up, they want the snuggle time to be around 30 minutes. Oh dear, you mean Cindy can't just do a quick cuddle and leave? Again, completely pointless warning! Just a couple minutes into their time, Cindy was completely lost in bliss!
And since Danee was loving it so much, that 30 minutes grew to 45.. and with a warm little cuddle heater on her chest, Cindy soon joined Danee in the land of sweet dreams.
Right around the 90 minute mark, reality came knocking, and we realized that we really did need to leave the hospital to get our Saturday stuffs done... So Molly began lifting blankets off of Danee, who immediately caught on to what was going on, and started fussing again. Once we got her back in her bed, and with her binky, sucking away, she settled down and went back to sleep.
We'll be back at 5 for the next "hands on time". She's been upped from every 4 hours to every 3 hours... And she gets 3cc of formula each time, working toward the day we'll finally get to feed her from a bottle, while cuddling her!
She's really feeling like our baby now! Oh.. that reminds me, I forgot to mention how our hearing went yesterday.
In short, it didn't.
The commissioner cancelled our hearing because our fingerprints hadn't come back from the FBI yet, and she also wants us to pay for a guardian ad litem to interview Kate to make sure she's not being coerced into letting us adopt Danee. When we told Kate this would be happening, she rolled her eyes and said "Again??" She's definitely ready to sign the papers and have people quit "advocating" on her behalf.
And we're more than ready to keep loving on our sweet little angel!
This is the sweetest thing I've ever seen!
ReplyDeleteCindy you look positively radiant! Careful, you might start producing milk.
ReplyDeleteDanee has such beautiful eyes! And how awesome Cindy got to hold her. I bet that just made you fall in love with her even more!
ReplyDeleteIs her jaundice gone then? They were so picky about skin on skin when my premie was in the NICU. They had to get him right back under the blue lights. I am so very glad for you guys that your time was not rushed. Those really are touching photos. And her cry is so sweet!
ReplyDeleteThis is getting way to exciting. I can just tell she loves you guys already. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteI think that those are the most beautiful pictures of Cindy I have ever seen. How perfect for her to have this time to bond with her new baby.
ReplyDeleteBTW, it really does get pretty crazy when it comes to all the advocacy on the part of the mentally disabled. Why can't they ever get it right? It's either nothing at all, or so over the top it makes you feel like you are smack in the middle of an episode of Punked.
Cindy you are glowing! A proud mama with her beautiful new baby!
ReplyDeleteWhat strong lungs Danee has! Loved the video!
Beautiful!!!!!I'm so happy for you guys!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf you lived in Utah, the birth mother has 48 hours after the birth to decide. She gets to hold the baby and even take care of it if she wants. Then after 48 hours they need to make a decision. After that decision is made and papers are signed, the matter is closed. I know that from friends that adopted there. I am not sure how the father plays into it, but still Utah is on the adoptive parents side. Washington would rather keep kids with unfit parents just for the sake of "keeping the family together". There goal of reuniting was a hard concept for me to understand and agree to when we were looking at the foster/adopt program.
ReplyDelete