Kayla day 40 (34 weeks)

Wow 40 days in NICU, 34 weeks gestation and almost 6 weeks old. What a journey we have been on but thankfully we really are getting closer to bringing our little girl home. Today was the day I have been waiting for, Kayla meets with Beth to see if she is ready for bottle feeding. The reason I am so excited is because once these babies get to bottles it seems they are home in the weeks following. It's one of those final steps Kayla has to accomplish before she goes home. So at 12pm today Mike and I went in for the TEST!!! Beth was wonderful and showed us some stretches we can do with Kayla for her back and neck as she grows. She watched Kayla with her pacifier to see how well she rooted and see if she had a good suck. After that assessment she said, let's try the bottle. Knowing that Kayla has only nuzzled, we were unsure how much Kayla was going to eat from her bottle. I was thinking a couple cc's would be great, the nurses and Mike were thinking the same thing. We put Kayla in a side laying position much like nuzzling and she caught on. Kayla took 25cc's from her 40cc of breast milk, more than half her bottle!! :) She blew away Beth and the nurse by how well she did. Not only did so do so amazing on her first feeding she also didn't desat, she was getting the suck, swallow, breathe technique down pretty quickly. Wow, what a big girl our little Kayla is, nurses before thought it would take her awhile to get used to bottle feeding and they would only be doing one a day. But after today and because Kayla did so well they will just go off her cues. So if Kayla shows signs of hunger, (rooting, awake, making noises, little cries) they will let her try the bottle.
Hooray, and if all that isn't exciting news by itself, we have more good news. Kayla is in an open crib, she is maintaining her temperature very well. Two big steps for Kayla today and she is passing them wonderfully. Oh so exciting, I'm getting so anxious about her getting home soon. Other updates, Kayla is still at 4lbs 3oz but still gained in grams. She is getting 40cc's of breast milk and is now getting it in 30 minutes if not bottle fed by us, yeah. She is growing fast, we love it.