She's Home!

OK, this is the first post with Mikaila home. We were able to take her home late morning after spending the night in the Rooming In Suite. I'm assuming having experienced their accommodations in all it's splendor that they are using the word "suite" literally. Yes, there were two adjoining "rooms" but the accouterments were far from plush. We did manage to grab a few hours of sleep between 5am and 8am but it certainly wasn't a sound sleep.

Mikaila was released on oxygen so we are forced to deal with variables seldom experienced with term babies. As in the hospital, her oxygen saturation, breaths per minute and heart rate are constantly monitored. Unfortunately, the portable monitor we have at the house is far less elegant than the one at the NICU. Some of the technological limitations of this mobile unit contributed to us not getting any sleep last night. A little tape to the sensors and it's all good (a little street for the youngins.)

She seems to be getting acclimated to her new surroundings. Most of her day was spent laying on chests; the chest of her mother, father, aunt, grandma and grandpa. She seems to prefer that to laying in her new bed. Mikaila's bottle feeds went well today. In fact, we were told that we can try more than 40mls as tolerated. We gave her 50 mls at 2 and she gladly gulped it all down.

We will weigh her on our new scale prior to her 11 pm feed. We haven't established a baseline with this scale so don't be disturbed if the number seems out of whack. We won't be having the department of weights and measures come in to calibrate the scale so the number she posts today will only serve as a baseline to compare against going forward.

Ok, we weighed her on our new scale. She was wearing a diaper, a little sun dress and the probes and wires that monitor her vitals. So, understand that we have no idea what all of that stuff weighs. With all of that stuff on her, she weighed 2170 grams or 4 lbs 12 1/2 ounces. Again this is merely a new starting point; nothing more.

Last Night at the NICU

Well, this will be our last post with Mikaila residing at the NICU at Albany Med. We are "Rooming In" tonight, staying in a little room just off of the NICU with our daughter at our side. I believe I've referred to the Intermediate Care area as the baby half-way house. Well, I think the Rooming In area effectively serves as the half-way house for parents. She still has a nurse assigned to her so we certainly have backup should we encounter any issues.

As I write this I am sitting at the shared computer in the Ronald McDonald Family Room just one door down from the NICU. I'll have to get off of this machine soon as other families deserve equal time. There really isn't much to report at this point. She won't be weighed for quite a while. I'll do a post at some point tomorrow but don't hold your breath. We probably won't sleep at all tonight and tomorrow will be action packed. I'll do my best to keep everyone apprised but understand that we will have our hands full.

Quick update on weight gain.

Mikaila gained another 40 grams bringing her to 2030 grams or 10 grams shy of 4 1/2 lbs.

Still on track

I did the drive out to Rochester at the crack of dawn and return the same evening trip so I will be a bit on the brief side; kind of have that floating feeling balancing extreme fatigue with the jitters associated with mainlining caffeine all day. Mikaila is still on track to go home on Saturday. She handled her feeds and maintained her temperature all day. She failed her first car seat test but passed it when it was re-administered this afternoon. The one concern is that she failed her hearing test. I wasn't there but from what I understand it is sort of a screen to get a baseline. Her results can mean any one of the following things; she has issues related to hearing, she has fluid in her ears or her hearing is still impacted by her prematurity. Let's hope that scenario one is not in play.

That's about all I have at this point. She was not weighed at 8. It's unlikely that I will be blogging at 11 this evening but we'll see.

I have been instructed to add Mikaila's updated length. She is now a hair over 15 inches. She has gained 20% in length while gaining 200% in weight.

We are close

Mikaila continued to feed exclusively by bottle effortlessly today. In fact, her intake was bumped up to 40 mls every three hours. She used the incremental calories to grow an additional 40 grams today. She currently stands at 1990 grams or a hair over 4 lbs 6 ounces.

The Peanut passed a major test today showing significant weight gain while concurrently bottle feeding and living in an isolette free of additional heat. Her team turned off the heat this morning and she had no trouble maintaining her temp. She is on course to go home on oxygen Saturday morning.

Speaking of her oxygen requirements, we have set appointments for Thursday and Friday to have her set up to travel on oxygen and have the house set up with the appropriate equipment. We will also be "rooming in" on Friday night, staying the night in a special room in the NICU with Mikaila at our side. If we are unsure about any event that comes up we will have the nurses at our disposal. Think of it as sort of a parenting half-way house.

That's all I have for tonight.

Up 40 Grams

Mikaila gained 40 grams yesterday bringing to 1950 grams or 4 lbs 5 ounces. She should cross the 2 KG threshold in a few days.

Lots of stuff

Mikaila's feeds were bumped up to 38 mls every 3 hours. She took the increased amount by bottle at each of her feeds. In fact, Nurse Amy was so confident in Mikaila's ability too master the bottle that she took out her feeding tube. She has now taken 13 consecutive bottles.

Mary Jane, Mikaila's nurse practitioner, decided it was time for another room air trial and unfortunately it didn't go well. Mikaila began to de-sat almost immediately. When bumped back to her .03 liters of oxygen, Mikaila quickly bounced back into form. It appears she isn't ready to free herself from this final entanglement.

She has now shown evidence of prowess in all of the areas that drive the discharge decision; she has no trouble maintaining her temp and she has been taking all of her feeds without the aid of a feeding tube and pump. If she continues along this course her team will probably send Mikaila home within a week or so. However, it is very likely that she will be coming home on oxygen. Although this is far from ideal and certainly not the scenario we envisioned, if she is meant to go home with supplemental oxygen then we are on board. We just want her to come home.

She will be weighed at 11 so if I am up I will update.

Up 35 grams

Mikaila gained 35 grams yesterday bringing her to 1910 grams or 4 lbs 3 1/2 ounces. Nurse Amy, who has just returned from a long respite, indicated a room air trial was in the works. Mikaila's canula will come out during the day and will go back in during her feeds. Please send her good energy. This really is her last true hurdle as she has been stellar with the bottle. In fact, she has taken her last 8 feeds by bottle. Amy may also take her feeding tube out today.

No Changes

Mikaila took 4 bottles consecutively today. I'm not sure she has managed that feat to this point so that is a very positive sign. She is likely capable at this point of taking all of her feeds by bottle. The only thing holding Mikaila back a bit is her slight oxygen requirement. Her doctors would really like to send Mikaila home sans oxygen; her parents concur.

That's about it for today. Hopefully her nurse will weigh her at 11. If she does and I am conscious I will update this post. If not, I will update tomorrow morning.

Up 35 Grams

Mikaila gained 35 grams yesterday. She is up to 1875 grams or a hair over 4 lbs 2 ounces.

Sam I am

I truly have nothing to say today related to Mikaila's day. She took several bottles but that isn't news. She is taking a trickle of oxygen but again, that territory has been covered. I did read her, "Green Eggs and Ham" today. We have heard that we should read 10 books each day to our daughter; that for her to fully realize her developmental potential she needs that level of interaction. That seems a bit excessive to me but I guess there is research out there that supports the theory. Kim ordered 8 books for Mikaila last night. I guess we have some reading to do.

She will likely be weighed at 11 so I will follow up soon thereafter with an update on her weight.

4 lbs Plus

Well Mikaila was weighed late last night prior to her 2am feed. She gained another 70 grams bringing her to 1840 grams or 4 lbs 1 ounce. She blew past the 4 lb barrier clearly implying she holds no esteem for the artificial milestone. Save your presents please. She will soon be out of preemie clothes.

Hitting the bottle with Daddy

Today is Mikaila's 2 month birthday! Happy Birthday Mikaila!

I tried to give Mikaila a bottle today for the first time and it really didn't go very well. Within minutes she was completely zonked. Was it my technique? Perhaps. It's more likely that she was very wiggly leading up to her 11 am feed and was simply tired. Yeah, we'll go with that.

She seemed to have a good day today, handling her feeds without issue. She is still taking Zantac to rid her system of reflux and we think it's going well. They didn't weigh her at 8 and may not at 11. If they do, I will post an update. She is only about 45 grams from 4 lbs.

Back to the Breast.

It appears I forgot to post Mikaila's weight gain yesterday. She gained 60 grams yesterday and another 35 grams today. She currently stands at 3 lbs 14 1/3 ounces. She is just 45 grams shy of 4 lbs! The real news today is that she made an attempt at breast feeding. During rounds, her team decided to test her breast feeding prowess once each day. Mikaila performed admirably today locking on immediately. After about 15 minutes we decided to give her a rest and fed her by tube. The nurse gave her the entire 35 mls (that's news as well as she had been at 32) by tube. Kim thinks she actually was able to summon a bit of milk during her breast feeding session implying that she had a healthy feast during her 2pm feed. That's about it. Kim may be posting a picture or short video.

Zantac

I will apologize again in advance for the brevity of the update that follows. I hope you don't think me terse; I'm simply tired from my trip. Tomorrow is another day and I promise to go into detail on some aspect of Mikaila's development. As you know, Mikaila had her final course of Lasix yesterday. It appears she wasn't carrying excess fluid in her lungs. Her oxygen sats are typically very strong. When she is uncomfortable, distracted or refluxing, she tends to de-sat. Invariably, she bounces back in short order. The prevailing theory, created and propagated by Kim and nurse Lynette, is that Mikaila slows down or (for very brief moments) stops her breathing as she tends to issues of more immediate concern. For example, when Mikaila bottle feeds, she occasionally holds her breath for a moment as she sucks down and swallows the contents of her bottle. Similarly, when she refluxes a bit she is uncomfortable and holds her breath for a second. Under normal circumstances, she sats in the 90's.

In an effort to rid her of her reflux issues, her team decided to begin treatment with Zantac. She will receive two doses per day for a few days to determine if they can get her refluxing under control.

That's all I have. If I make it to 11, I will call for her weight and update.

Solid

Mikaila had a solid day today. She received her third course of lasix and as you might suspect, she lost 15 grams. Sbe is down to roughly 3 lbs 11 ounces. Other than that she had a solid day.

She gained weight

Forgive the brevity of this post. I just checked in to the hotel and am about to head down for dinner. Mikaila had three consecutive bottles today, the second of which contained her second course of lasix. Remarkably, she still gained 70 grams today. She now stands at 1690 grams or 3 lbs 11 1/2 ounces. Her respiratory status hasn't changed so they may decide to continue her lasix treatments. That's it for tonight.

A+

Mikaila's doctors today formulated a tactical plan to get her off of the trickle of oxygen she is getting. The course they chose, three consecutive days of lasix (diuretic) was supported by Kim and I. Although it isn't critical in the decision to release her, we would very much like her to come home wireless (read, not tethered to a nasal canula.) She took the lasix with one of her bottles today (Kim fed her by bottle at 11, 2 and 5) and we think it showed evidence of working. You see, Mikaila lost 20 grams which is not at all unexpected. Now, we aren't sure the lost weight was a result of fluid leaving her system because she spit up much of the feed that contained her treatment. I guess we will learn more in the next few days.

The developmental specialist administered a test today to establish a baseline to test against in the months that follow. Of course, Mikaila rocked this test (a technical term.) Because of her gestational age at birth and low birth weight, Mikaila is at risk for developmental limitations. However, Mikaila wowed the doctor with her prowess and received an A+. Her risk of developmental issues was reduced today by significantly more than 50%.

That's about it for tonight. I'm heading out of town for 3 days on business. I will do my best to maintain my evening posts.

Another 40 grams

Mikaila gained another 40 grams today bringing her to a robust 1640 grams or a hair under 3 lbs 10 ounces. She has gained 3 1/2 ounces in the last two days! She will likely cross the 4 lb threshold in less than a week.

When we went to visit Mikaila today she looked very uncomfortable. For the entirty of our time with her, roughly 2 1/2 hours, she just didn't seem like herself. Her heart rate was elevated quite a bit, she was very fussy and squirmy and she de-satted a bit. After asking the PA to come look at her we discovered that her issues was related to her GI system. Apparently, for the bulk of our time with her, she was trying to poop. Her nurse noticed late in our stay that Mikaila had a wet diaper. She wasn't due for a check up and diaper change for another 90 minutes. However, when she took a look at her diaper she saw that Mikaila had solved her GI issue. She was now uncomfortable because the mess in her diaper had penetrated her forward perimeter and was migrating up her belly. Ick! When the nurse cleaned her up, she settled right down.

That's it for tonight.

3 1/2 Pounds

Mikaila had a very good day today. She gained 55 grams today or roughly 2 ounces. She currently stands at 1600 grams or 3 lbs 8 1/2 ounces. She is still taking a bottle every other feed although that may be increased in the next few days. She has shown a tendency to overheat of late. It appears, at least from our perspective that Mikaila really should be taken out of heat. We understand that her calories should be diverted away from maintaining her temperature and toward growth. However, she also burns additional calories keeping herself cool when she is overheated. We will bring this issue up with her team tomorrow. Other than that she is doing very well.

Good day

As I write this post, Mikaila's blog has roughly 6700 hits. The VC in me wants to think of an effective way to monetize those eyeballs. I'm sure if we did the analysis we'd find that this site has achieved, admittedly on a very small scale, what all sites aspire to; stickiness. We get a ton of return visitors on here. Mikaila has many fans.

Let's get to something you actually care about, Mikaila's day. Mikaila looked much pinker than she did prior to her transfusion. We see her so often that it is very difficult to notice subtle changes in her skin tone. The IV from the transfusion is long gone. A small mark on her foot serves as the only reminder of her ordeal of a day prior. This day was a fine day for young Mikaila. She took several bottles today without issue with an incremental volume of 2 mls. She is up to 32mls. Her vitals remain strong. Her nurse hadn't weighed her when I called after the 8pm feed but will likely do so at 11. I will make an effort to post her weight tonight so that the night owls among us might have that info in close to real time.

I called at 11. Mikaila gained another 25 grams. She now stands at 1545 grams or roughly 3 lbs 6 1/2 ounces.

Quick Update

Just a quick update; Mikaila had a stable night. She actually gained 30 grams and now standsa to 1520 grams or 3 lbs 5 1/2 ounces. I say actually because she was given a course of lasix with the transfusion to eliminate any incremental fluid so there was a chance she would either lose weight or maintain. That's it for this morning. I will do the typical evening post later.

Another Transfusion

Mikaila had a rough day. Her hematocrit (red blood cells) number had crept down over the past few weeks and her attending decided it was time to transfuse her again. For Mikaila, the rough part was the insertion of the IV but, as always, she bounced back quickly and looked relatively comfortable when we left this evening. With the transfusion, Mikaila was given a course of diuretic to eliminate any resulting excess fluid. As a result, Mikaila may not gain weight when they weigh her this evening so be prepared. We have been through the transfusions before. Her growth has been tremendous. However, she isn’t capable at this point of producing blood on her own to keep pace. It stands to reason that at some point she may require an additional unit.

Other than that, Mikaila’s day was quite normal. Her vital signs were strong, oxygen saturation levels were good and she continues to fully absorb her feeds. In fact her feeds were bumped up to 30 mls every three hours.

I’ll be posting this on the early side today. If we get her weight at either 8 or 11I will update this post with her new weight.

Back on heat

Well, Mikaila is back in heat. Yes, I know you heard from me a scant 24 hours ago that her heat was turned off. Well, apparently the attending was not on board with the prior decision. She had no problem in the intervening 48 hours maintaining her own temp but the doctor wisely decided that her calories were best directed toward growth. She is on 27 degrees C or roughly 80 degrees F which frankly isn't a whole lot warmer than room temperature.

She had a solid day; no aspirates, strong vital signs and temperature and successful bottle feeds. She will likely be weighed with her 11 pm feed. As always, if I know her weight before I head to bed I will update.

An American Idol

Mikaila had a rather pedestrian (read good) day today. She had several bottle feeds that went well. Her temperature was solid all day. Understand that one of the critical factors in determining whether a baby is ready to be released is their ability to maintain their own temperature. She is no longer in heat so that is a very good thing. She gained another 20 grams today. She currently tips the scales at 1465 grams or roughly 3 lbs 3 ½ ounces. Soon they will have to bring in a cattle scale to weigh our little porker.

That’s really it for an update. Kinda skimpy, I know. Maybe I’ll take a second to tell you a bit about my evolving relationship with my little girl.

You know, they say that Mikaila has her maternal grandfather’s hair (actually, she currently shares his hairline-sorry Mike,) Kim’s big eyes and my chin. That’s the way it works, right. Her genetic composition is a function of that of her parents. But, I ask, can it work the other way? Can parents assume the qualities of their progeny? I certainly hope they can.

You see, my daughter is my hero. Yes, I looked it up; a 7 week old can be revered by a soon to be 35 year old. Mikaila has virtues I can only admire from afar. Yes, perhaps I have each of them in small doses; but they permeate every fiber of Mikaila’s being and resonate within her essence. The qualities to which I speak, courage, resolve and an irrepressible spirit were obvious from the moment she arrived. Just ask the NICU doctor who tried, to no avail, to ventilate a one-minute old Mikaila. The now famous wedding band on her wrist picture fortunately was captured directly as she sent my band flying from her wrist within seconds. Her tenacity is tested daily and she always seems to emerge unscathed. Yes she is a miracle but she is much, much more than that; she is what I aspire to be. She is my hero.

Heating up

Mikaila is out of heat as I believe I mentioned in a previous post. Although she still maintains residence in her isolette, she does so without the assistance of supplemental heat. In fact, today when she cuddled with her mommy, her heart rate climbed to scary (for me at least) levels; purely a function of her temperature which was quite high. Kim, you see is quite the furnace. I can certainly attest to her ability to raise the body temp of those in her immediate vicinity. Her heart rate and temp came down to appropriate levels when she was returned to her isolette. Needless to say, she is maintaining her temp without issue.

Mikaila's feedings continue to alternate between tube and bottle. She didn't have any aspirates today and handled her bottles with great aplomb. Her dexterity with the bottle and GI improvements yielded an incremental growth of 35 grams. She now stands at 1445 grams or 3 lbs 3 ounces.

That's about it for this evening.

Not much to report

I really don't have much to report tonight. Mikaila had a few bottles today and was able to finish each of them. Her vital signs are good. She is still getting a small amount of oxygen through her canula. Her breathing is steady and unlabored. She will likely be weighed at 11. If I call to get her weight, I will update this post. I expect she will regain the weight she lost yesterday.

Kim will be sprucing up this rather bland post with several pictures. Enjoy.








She did gain back the weight she lost plus 5 grams. She is up to 1410 grams or 3 lbs 1 1/2 ounces.

Her lungs are getting there but...

Mikaila had a good day after a difficult evening. She had accumulated excess fluid in her chest again and had to work a bit harder to breath. As was the case a few weeks ago when the fluid crept up her team gave her a dose of lasix, a diuretic designed to rid her system of the excess fluid. They were in fact hoping to see a dip in weight after the treatment and she answered the call losing 25 grams. She is back down to 1380 grams. Like virtually all premies Mikaila's lungs are lagging a bit, struggling to keep up with her spectacular growth. No worries here. She is doing very well. Sorry for both the brevity and tardiness of the post this evening. I spent the day and night working on getting the house ready for her arrival.

We're not alone

Kim administered two consecutive bottles to Mikaila today, the first at 2 and the second at 5. She handled the 2pm feed without issue and managed roughly 24 of the 28 mls in the second bottle. Did I say 28mls? I did. During rounds, her team bumped her up to 28mls every 3 hours. Essentially, Mikaila gets 20 mls per feed for every kg of body weight.

An old friend from High School came across my Facebook profile and noticed a picture of Mikaila that I had posted. Seeing the nasal canula in her nostrils, Kevin inquired as to Mikaila's status at birth. When I confirmed to him that Mikaila was in fact a premie he responded with some interesting information. Kevin has two boys, both of whom were premature at birth. One in fact was 26 weeks and 2 lbs at birth. Although Mikaila was quite a bit smaller, she was actually almost two weeks older gestationally. The nugget that this readership may find interesting is that Kevin is authoring a book giving a fathers perspective on the experience of having a premature baby. Some folks on this blog have suggested I seek publication; that a sequential diary of this sort may be of some value to others especially considering the author is the father. Well, Kevin, having gone through the process more than once, is eminently qualified to take on the project. I will be sure to post the information as soon as his book is commercially available. I look forward to reading it.

That's it for now. They will weigh her at 11 so I will follow up with an update soon thereafter.


They ended up weighing her at 2am. I am far too old to be up at that hour so I called this morning. Mikaila gained another 40 grams bringing her to 1405 grams or 3 lbs 1 1/2 ounces.

3 lbs

Mikaila's day was unremarkable yet solid. She was bottle fed several times and for the most part handled it without issue. She gained the 10 grams she needed to cross the 3 lb threshold. Let's hope she kicks her weight gaining machine into high gear in the days that follow. I don't think they will release her if she is much under 4 lbs although they were quite emphatic telling us that there is no weight requirement for release.

That's it for tonight.

From Untitled to Titled

Mikaila was a bit tired today after her ordeal yesterday. If you will recall Mikaila was put through a rigorous and traumatic eye exam. Immediately following her exam, she downed bottles on consecutive feeds; quite remarkable actually. Typically, babies are exhausted after these exams. Well, it appears Mikaila had a delayed reaction. During her 2pm feed she was only able to manage 12 mls by bottle. She was given the balance through the tube. Kim believes that her struggle was more a function of the nurse using the more difficult nipple than Mikaila being tired. When the correct nipple was used at 5pm she managed to imbibe the entire 26 mls without issue.

She was weighed this evening at 8. She put on an additional 25 grams bringing her to 1355 grams. She is less than 10 grams short of 3 lbs. That's about it for this evening.

I can see clearly now.........

Mikaila’s feedings continue to produce results. Kim bottle-fed Mikaila at her 11am, 2pm and 5pm feeds. Nurse Cliff (save the cracks) remarked that she sucked down her 2pm bottle in 3 minutes flat. That may have been a slight exaggeration but she did devour her bottle’s entire contents in each instance. Well done. Mikaila’s successes during feedings have continued to yield results. She gained another 35 grams today bringing her to the brink of the 3 lb mark. She currently stands at 1330 grams or a shade under 2 lbs 15 ounces. She is roughly 35 grams from 3 lbs. Oh, also related to her feeds, I failed to mention that her team bumped up her volume to 26 mls every three hours.

Mikaila’s isolette temperature was reduced to 27.5 C or 81.5 F. She really hasn’t had any issues with maintaining her temperature. Assuming she handles this reduction, and she will, they will move her to 27 C. The next step is room temperature so she really is close in this regard.

The last little nugget to report relates to Mikaila’s eyes. She had her first eye test today. Although the event was rather traumatic for our little peanut, she emerged relatively unscathed and passed her examination with flying colors. She didn’t even study. This was a routine test and will be re-administered in a month.

That’s all I have for today. Kim will be posting a picture or two momentarily.

Here are the pics and I have been instructed to introduce them with some detail. As a rule, I try to avoid accommodating specific requests. I mentioned in an earlier post that entertaining these requests can be dangerous; my lawyer friends know well the slippery slope argument. However, we had a suggestion that I thought was worthy enough to consider breaking my rule; to capture Mikaila in a picture with my wedding band. If you will recall, I took a picture of Mikaila with my wedding band on her wrist when she was only a few hours old. Well, fortunately, that same band would have no chance of fitting on her wrist at this point. So, we decided to post a picture of Mikaila with my wedding band next to her arm.

She Loves that Bottle

Mikaila hit the bottle early and often today. She was fed by bottle by Kim at both her 2pm and 5pm feeds. Fear not, she has been authorized to be fed by bottle once a shift. Mikaila has really mastered manipulating her bottle. In fact, she took both feeds entirely by bottle! Now, that's progress. Her nurse weighed her before her 8pm feed and she gained another 25 grams. She currently stands at 1295 grams or a little more than 2 lbs 13 1/2 ounces. Everything else is stable. That's about it for tonight.

Slow and steady

Quick Monday morning update- I didn't start a new post as I thought the pics were too cute to bump. Mikaila gained 60 grams last night. She now weighs 1270 grams or a little under 2 lbs 13 ounces. She has now more than doubled her weight at birth.



Mikaila was fed by bottle three times in a 22 hours span despite the directive on her chart prescribing one bottle feed every 24 hours. She is beginning to master manipulating the bottle and actually took her entire 2am feed by bottle. Bottle feeding is hard work for little Mikaila. She expends a great deal of energy that might be redirected toward growth. However, as previously stated, for her to be discharged to the custody of her parents, that's us, she must be comfortable feeding by either bottle or breast. So, we have two competing forces here, both critical, that must be accommodated; growth and non-tube feeding. The solution seemed easy to Kim and I; bump up Mikiala's blend from 27 calories to 30. I pitched it to her dietitian and thankfully she agreed. Mikaila will be getting extra calories starting tomorrow. She gained 20 grams yesterday which is ok but we would like to see her consistently gaining 30-35 grams daily. The extra calories should help.


They should be weighing her at her 11 pm feed. I may not post the update until tomorrow.

Not Much to Report so..........

My apologies for my tardiness this evening keeping you apprised of Mikaila’s progress. I have spent the preponderance of the day refinishing the floor in her nursery. Perhaps I should explore the impact of her early arrival a bit as I have very little to report otherwise. Mikaila arrived on March 24th, roughly 12 ½ weeks premature. So, essentially, we lost 12 ½ weeks of preparation; preparation related to the house, Kim’s professional future, the stuff Mikaila will require and our competency as parents. Kelly and co didn’t even have time to plan and host a shower for Kim. There is a chance, although slight, that Mikaila will be in attendance at her own baby shower some time this month or next. So, as you might imagine we have been thrown into scramble mode. I’m not complaining at all; I’m simply enlightening you by giving you a glimpse of our current reality. The nursery is looking great by the way. We put up crown molding in her room. I don’t have crown in my bedroom! I gutted that room, taking it down to the lath. When Mikaila enters her room for the first time she will be greeted by kangaroos and koala bears. An Australian theme was selected among hundreds of options. She will see small replicas of creatures indigenous to the region adorning her shelves, furniture and walls. I’m sure she will love them unless of course they freak her out.

Not much to report.

There really isn't much to report today. Mikaila's feeds were bumped up to 24 mls every three hours. She didn't have any aspirates today but wasn't able to manage any gain in weight; Not surprising given her astounding 50 gram gain yesterday. All of her vitals are stable.

Kim wanted me to report to Mikaila's public that she now has the beginnings of a butt. You may have noticed, especially in the early going, that Mikaila was all torso. Well, it appears that her bottom half is beginning to catch up. I now feel like a tabloid reporter. Thanks Kim. That's all the news that is fit to print (and a bit that really isn't.)

Good Day

Mikaila's day was solid yet non-descript. She did very well with her bottle feed at 2pm sucking down 18 mls of the 22 in the bottle (she was given the balance through her tube.) She had a little de-satting during the bottle feeding but not much. Understand that nursing on the bottle and swallowing its contents is no easy task for a baby of Mikaila's size. She did very well.

One of the critical elements doctors evaluate in determining whether or not to discharge a NICU patient is body temperature; is the baby able to maintain her own body temperature. Let's take a step back for a moment. Soon after birth, Mikaila was placed in her temporary home; a controlled environment known as an isolette or incubator. The temperature in the isolette at that time was 37 degrees C or 98.6 F. At that point Mikaila was unable to regulate and maintain her own temperature. Over time, her team has weaned her isolette down to it's current temperature of 29.2 C or roughly 84.5 F. She is making tremendous progress in this regard.

Of course, the second of the two determining factors is the willingness to take to either breast or bottle. Frankly I prefer breasts but that’s me. As we have seen, she has made remarkable progress with both breast and bottle feeding so I would say discharge is in her not too distant future. Perhaps 2 weeks? Stay tuned.

Quick update, she was weighed at 11 last night and gained 50 grams. I know, that's a lot. They checked it three times. She now weighs 2 lbs 10 ounces or 1190 grams. Sweet!