Aspen Hope day 1

We have been getting lots of requests for updates on Aspen's status. And of course some pictures! Sorry we still don't have any really great pictures of her but there will be plenty of days for that. She has long fingers and feet! ☺️

The big kids came in to visit today in their reactions were all true to character. Caleb was calmly excited; Brooklyn was collectively processing; Kinley was joyously in love with her new sister!

The nurse said Aspen is doing "really well". We have no frame of reference for this sort of thing so we trust her and are grateful. They are telling us to plan on being released around her due date July  1, but feel like they give this date as a precautionary and most get out sooner. We shall see! As far as we can tell the goals for Aspen at this point are growth and development: she needs to put on some pounds and develop-specifically with breathing feeding and temperature regulation. So I assume those are the three things we will keep getting updates on as this blog progresses. 

Today...

Breathing: it seems like she is doing surprisingly well with her lung development. A couple of times she has forgotten to breathe but that is typical for her development and they keep a close eye on the monitors to make sure that she is progressing as needed. She was on a CPAP machine last night but was able to get off at today and is only on oxygen now. Overall really encouraged in this area.

Feeding: hopefully she will get her at first feeding through a feeding tube today and we will let you know how that goes later. At this point I am pumping and giving her as much milk of my own as we can. I didn't realize milk production is affected by gestation, but that is a prayer request as well.

Temperature regulation: as far as I can tell this area won't even be tested until she puts on more pounds. So she is under warmer and stay nice and cozy for now and when she gets a little bit bigger we'll see how she does!

Thanks for the interest, concern and prayers!

Laura