Ready, set...stall

No matter how many times a nurse has told me that the most frustrating part of the whole NICU experience will be waiting for Ava to get the feeding down, I brushed it off. Until now. Because here we are. And it's a painfully slow process. And I'm frustrated. The great news is that Ava is now 5 pounds and 13 ounces. She is obviously gaining weight. However, they have a system in place to teach premature babies how to breathe, suck and swallow at the same time. This comes naturally for full term babies, but not preemies.
Everything started out great, but during the week it seemed like Ava said enough was enough, and she tired out. It could also be that last week we seemed to have a lot going on in her world. She had her last heart echo, which showed that everything is functioning perfectly. She had her vaccines the next day, and usually that makes babies tired. And then she had her head ultrasound the following day, which showed no brain bleeds or cysts. All in all, very good progress and very good results. But it probably made her tired. And she needs energy to be able to take a bottle or to nurse. So while we were told that she may be able to come home for Christmas, she won't if she can't take at least 75% of all her bottle feedings in a 24 hour period. If they have to hook her up to the gavage feeding for the rest, the clock is reset and we start the whole process over. She's made it through 5 straight feedings without the need to gavage, but those last 3 feedings have been challenging. We've all given her pep talks, but I'm afraid it's going to happen on her own time. Until then, we are in a holding pattern.