Are we turning a corner?

I got home last night and decided to practice some more bottle feeding on Olivia. I didn't have a whole lot of success at her 3:30 a.m. feeding. In fact, I was ready to throw in the towel. I just knew if it was hard for me to get it to not jam, then it would be hard for a baby to be patient while I worked on it. And the nurses would not have time or patience to deal with it. But then I had a revelation. So at my last attempt at 6:00 a.m. I tried my new theories and it worked. Olivia ate her feeds in 12 minutes. So I went in and fed Emma at 8:30 a.m. and she took her feeds (about half of what Olivia gets) in 8 minutes!!! She did awesome!! The whole goal we are trying to accomplish here is to feed her without her wearing out. Well, 8 minutes is great!!! It has always taken about 20-30 minutes. I spoke with her doctor who was back from her conference. She wanted to see the bottle and was impressed. She had feeding therapy come and watch me feed her at 2:30 p.m. That went well also! However, because Emma is a silent aspirator they want to make sure this bottle and milk combination is working and she is not aspirating. So tomorrow afternoon they will do another cookie swallow and see if anything is going into her lungs. PLEASE pray that this is not the case. If we pass, then we start increasing her feedings and as long as she tolerates without wearing out, we are on our way to bringing her home. The doctor came by her bed tonight while Mike and I were there and commented on how she looks like a different baby. She is alert and looks more healthy and comfortable and really good. I agree. We met with the surgeon and she agreed that we should give her another chance before we do the surgery. In the meantime, she has postponed her surgery to next Tuesday. Hopefully, we will not be going that route. Please continue to pray. We are almost there!!!!
Mike said his gut says that we have turned a corner. I hope so.
I must get some stuff done.
Love you all,
Bethany
Also...some of the doctors said that they might be asking me to help change some of their feeding protocols. They loved the bottle idea and might want me to teach it so they can feed the weak and sick babies like Emma that can't take their foods like stronger babies. Wouldn't that be cool? :)