Our little Mona Mae is a wonder. I remember the first time the doctors did rounds the morning after her surgery. They spoke in hushed tones, they were serious, they were soothing. This morning they just marched right in and started teasing each other and the nurse, making comments about Ramona’s progress like “awesome!”, “fantastic!” and “amazing!”.

I think I took my first really deep breath in a week this morning. I forgot how great it feels to breathe in, stretch your arms up and breathe it right out again. If you don’t believe me, try it!

So, the doctors told us yesterday that Ramona’s next big obstacle would be feeding by mouth. They said it can sometimes take babies days or weeks to regain their sucking reflex after being intubated for so long. Well guess how long it took Ramona Balboa? Exactly about 5 seconds. She had her first bottle today, drank about 1.5 ounces and promptly fell asleep snoring. She wanted more but she’s still aspirating (inhaling a bit of the milk) a little and they want to try a slower flow nipple before they really let her have at it. They also don’t want her to spit up through her nose. She used to do that at home and it’s not a good look for anyone.

Today’s pick is a shot of Andy comforting her. She’s learning to weather her tet spells. She has them pretty frequently while awake but rebounds quickly. It’s another good day in the PICU. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Next stop: We’re hoping to have Ramona moved up to the cardiac floor sometime next week if possible. There they will do her speech, occupational and physical therapy. They will continue to work on her feeding and allow her to rest and heal.

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