Daddy's turn

I finally got my turn to hold Riley on Monday. I meant to get this posted sooner, but the past few nights have been busy with softball. We didn't do "skin-to-skin", but I did get to hold her in my arms for about an hour. She was awake for part of the time, and seemed very content with me handling her. Since then, they have taken her off the antibiotics, and are confident she is infection free (for now). They've also scaled back the sedatives, and she hasn't had any in a few days - which means she is more alert, and more active. Unfortunately, her oxygen still dips every time she squirms, but now its not dropping as far and she gets back up on her own without needing adjustment. They are still working to wean down the ventilator settings to get her off of it, but no word on how much longer they think it will be. Her weight is still going up, but the past 2 days she has held steady at around 1770g, about 3lb 14-15oz. She should be crossing that 4lb mark any day now! When she can stay above 1800g, and can hold her temperature, she will be moved to an open-air bed, that looks just like a small crib. It will make handling, touching, and seeing her much easier than the enclosed incubator bed. At that point, she will have crossed 2 of the 4 milestones she needs to come home - weight gain, holding temperature; still needing independent breathing and bottle/breast feeding.

Here's a picture of Riley with her dad for the first time...

And another one from last night, Riley showing us she already knows how to "high five":

On a side note...can you believe we've already had over 2000 visitors to this site? Wow! I never knew we were this popular! Thank you to everyone who follows Riley's progress and is sending in their thoughts and prayers. We appreciate so much everything you all have done for us. We love reading the comments you leave on here, and feel so blessed that so many people are keeping tabs on our little girl. Thanks!!