Day 75

Today marked day 75, and it was a good one for Belle. 

Her cheeks appear puffy in most of her pictures now, but it's only due to the CPAP mask. She allows the air to build up inside her mouth. It can be quite comedic when she lets the air release. Bella can make some very funny sounds! 😄

I was able to hold her for an entire two hours this afternoon. She was fussy for only short periods of time. She would look like she was crying, throwing her hands up in a tantrum or pushing away the blankets that were holding her snug. But it wouldn't be long before she would calm down and resume resting. 

This is her little crying face. When she's upset her arms shake vigorously and she displays the palms of her hands in front of her to say "No more. Enough".

She really loves her pacifier. We always have it ready to soothe her in those situations. If the pacifier doesn't do the trick, and hand-hugging doesn't either, we'll simply leave her alone to express her frustrations and she usually calms down herself. 

Being fussy makes you tired huh? 

If only we took naps during the day, we'd all be less fussy as well!

Right now Bella is sitting at 28% oxygen on the CPAP mask. Her oxygen needs and pressures are slowly going down. Before PDA surgery we saw her oxygen levels in the high 30's, even in the 40's some days. 

It's amazing to see her progress. 

Another great source of news is that Arabella definitely does not have brittle bone disease, something that came back negative from the first round of tests (by the genetics staff). We're still awaiting DNA results, and today Kiera and I got our blood taken for more chromosome tests. They are really digging hard!

We're hopeful that Bella's bone condition is simply due to her severe prematurity and nothing more.