Little Lady Update

I wish I could get the picture of our girl in her little ladybug outfit on here, but my phone won't let me post it! But ohhhh man, she is so cute! Have I told you all how much we love her and how SHE WAS SO WORTH THE WAIT???! Oh I did already tell you that?? :)

Here are a few updates bullet point style...

• Samantha is now 4lbs 4oz!!! We are calling her our lil fat girl :)
• She is doing pretty well with bottle feeding. Still gets tired and out of breath pretty easily but she really is doing pretty well with it most of the time...
• She lovessss to look around at everything. I think at this point she can only see in black and white and only things really close to her face, but she does look all around like she is observing everything! It's so cute!
• Since birth she's had this white (small) birthmark type thing on her back and the doctors were trying to figure out what it was. Now, they know it's a hemangioma, because blood vessels are coming through. They said it will probably get bigger during her first year and then go away. Or it may not develop at all. Turns out my mom said I had one has a baby and I guess they are common in premature girl babies with low birth weight. I wasn't a preemie but weighed 6 pounds 2 oz.
• I hate hate hate leaving her at night. It kills me. Every. Single. Time. That's when I cry the most, when we are driving home at night from the hospital. During the day I'm a little stronger.
• They also have been lowering the heat in her isolette each day (or every other day?) and she's doing okay with that. She almost at (our) room temp.
• There's a good possibility that she will get moved to a "less intense" nursery this coming week.
• We learned today that our plans for me going back to work and Samantha attending the daycare I work at, may be changing. The nurses said she really shouldn't be in daycare for her first year of life because of the respiratory issues she had at birth. Because I guess she will be more at risk for catching all the illnesses that run through daycares. Which makes complete sense, but I guess I was naive and thinking by September (when I was planning on going back) she would be okay by then. But we really don't want to risk anything. So we are going to talk to the doctors about it and then revisit of plan of action. They even say home daycares for the first year are a no no. We will see what happens. I might be looking for some kind of work-from-home employment.
• I am feeling okay. Had my two week post surgery appt today. Incision looks good. And I can drive again. The pain is mostly gone, but sometimes if I do too much my incision will start to irritate me and I'll get a little crampy. The NP told me today to make sure I'm still taking it easy.
• We are EXHAUSTED. Visiting the NICU literally sucks the life out of you. So does pumping/breastfeeding. Holy moly are we tired. Guess it's just preparing us for when she gets home, but I think the back and forth to the NICU and the emotional toll of it all really wipes us out.
• Our family and friends have been so supportive!! Thank God for them.
• And thank God for my husband who has been so much more than amazing through all of this!
• Please keep the prayers coming for our little girl. They are very much appreciated :)
• And I apologize to anyone I've forgotten to get back to over the last few weeks. I don't even remember my name or what day it is most of the time. So please forgive me.