She's a little Rock Star!

Mikaila had another terrific day. She completely tolerated her feeds all night and morning. With her 2pm feed, her doctors decided to explore another option to get her additional calories as well as supplemental calcium and phosphorous. Instead of adding a milk fortifier, they decided to blend a little bit of formula with her breast milk. Mikaila had no problem digesting the formula with her 2 and 5pm feeds. When we call at 11:15pm we'll confirm what we already know to be fact: that she completely tolerated her 8pm feed. This is wonderful news and should allow her to continue to grow like a very cute weed. We are really looking forward to her reaching 1kg (roughly 2.2lbs). At that point, she can begin to wear clothes. Mikaila is a clothes horse and doesn't even know it. Between aunt Kelly and Grandmas Charlene and Davia, she will never be short of options. Trust me, she will be a vision of sartorial splendor.

Kim was feeling better today so she went for a visit. Mikaila is looking noticeably better each day. Today, she executed a remarkable maneuver. She was on her tummy as she often is (to be addressed later in this post) facing away when Kim walked into the nursery. When she noticed her mother in the room, she began to fidget. Eventually, she pressed herself (think push up) and turned her head 180 degrees to face mommy. I don't know how she was able to do that. Further evidence of her strength and determination. I know some people in their 30's that would struggle to accomplish that feat.

As I mentioned, Mikaila really enjoys sleeping on her belly. In fact, she mentioned it to one of her nurses, Pam, and asked that she spread the word to her other caretakers. As you can see by the picture below (left), Pam was up to the task.













When we called a little while ago to check on her, the nurse mentioned that Mikaila had just calmed down after being very fussy. The nurse couldn't figure out what was bothering her. Eventually, the nurse gave Mikaila her pacifier and she immediately began going to town on the thing. Clearly she got what she craved as she passed out in a deep sleep soon thereafter. It looks like we will have our hands full when she comes home. We can't wait. It is this will that drives her continuous progress and will serve her well as she goes through life.

That's about it for an update. They won't be weighing her until late tonight/early tomorrow morning so I probably won't post on her weight gain until tomorrow morning.

I'd like to take a second to thank everyone again for their support. Our friends and family really have come through, not only for Mikaila but for us. We have people dropping off food for us knowing that we spend a good deal of time in the evening at the hospital. We have received gift certificates for restaurants proximate to Albany Med. We really have some amazing people in our lives. Thank you.