Last day of school

Big Sister Katie is finished with school. She is still tickled pink with her wee little sister.


The little guy, not so much, but at least he only occasionally tries to kill her.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

Today was Elizabeth's due day. Happy supposed-to-be-Birthday!

All the breastfeeding and pumping has been great for baby, but it's been good for Mum too. It looks to me that all that milkfat has been coming straight off her ass. But, apparently, there's no good way to say that.

Three kids? Whose idea was this anyway?

Sorry for the lack of updates; it has been busy.

Apart from the first night, I haven't been as nervous as I thought I might be. I've gotten used to the idea that the wee girl will keep breathing on her own now. I figure she's probably good to go for 100 years now. (but I still check from time to time; she's so little)

We've been coping. The little girl is supposed to be feeding every four hours or so, and this can take two hours to do. I find we have to be very careful and thorough about burping her. If we don't get all the bubbles, we will see part of her meal again. The other two were like this as well. Fortunately, my patented Miller Baby Burping technique is working. The "Don't Shake A Baby" people might not like it very much, but it works for me. :-)

Elizabeth seems to have settled in to her new environment. We thought that it might be too dark and quiet at home here (it is never really dark in the NICU), but this hasn't been a problem. She might even be appreciating the moments of quiet too.

You could see it in her eyes the first few days; if Kate or Duncan started wailing nearby, she'd open her eyes as if to say "What the hell is THAT?" but, she seems to be getting used to the commotion. She's learning that she has to compete for attention too. If we're immersed in some other crisis, she gets louder and louder as she gets more and more hungry. I figure it's good practice for her lungs, and if I'm otherwise occupied (say, chasing Duncan down the hallway to wipe his butt before he sits on something) I'll sometimes let her practice a bit.

Oh yes, and this week was Kate's dance recital, so we've had her to rehearsals every night. As I said, it's been busy.

A busy week

It has been a busy week for Elizabeth. She is adjusting well to her new home. She had 3 appointments this week, one with her pediatrician (first visit), a follow-up eye appoinment and a visit with lactation consultant. We are looking forward to things quieting down.

Her weight is now 2705g (about 6lbs). Everyone seems to be adjusting to her, a few crazy moments but we all seem to be able to cope.

Reactions

Big Sister Katie is thrilled.



Big Brother Duncan is not. He knows his world had been rocked, and he's not happy about it. When he first saw her, he looked at this thing in Mum's arms for no more than a second and decided he wanted to have nothing to do with her. Kate had to restrain him to get this first warm, loving portrait of all three kids.

Home

After 89 days, Elizabeth Marie is home.

On our way

We only learned yesterday that she'd passed her car seat test, which was the final hurdle. She had to be able to prove that she could keep her oxygenation up while strapped into her seat. We hear she was in it for two and a half hours with no problems.

We were at the NICU for several hours today. There was a flurry of paperwork to do, appointments to go over, questions to ask, stuff to gather up, and then we were off.

I was reminded of when we came home with Big Sister Kate. It seemed amazing at the time that they just gave this teeny baby to a couple of obvious nincompoops, and away we went with no adult supervision.

I was pretty nervous on the way down, because after all the warnings about keeping her away from colds and viruses, here we were in an elevator filled with strangers. In the pharmacy where we stopped to pick up a couple of things, a little girl wanted to see the baby and got too close. A karate chop dropped her in her tracks, and we escaped in the confusion...

We had been dropped off and picked up at the hospital by Grampie, as we had been many times before. Kim has been at their house almost daily for the duration. When we got back to their house to drop him off, Grammie was there to see if she was really with us. She really was.

And then we were off again.

A busy week

With the prospect of the wee one coming home, we had some work to do.

The cradle was still in our room, but had been afflicted with "Horizontal Surface Syndrome" and filled with three years worth of crap. This needed to be emptied and to have a leg reglued.

The baby swing was in the basement needing repairs. We had loaned it out, and when it came back, I put it in our garage. Then one cold winter's day, I knocked it over and the brittle plastic brackets broke. Though we won't be using the baby swing for a while, SWMBO informed me it needed to be fixed before she came home. And so it came to pass.

Then, there were prescriptions to fill, appointments to be made, and a big batch of goodies for the NICU staff to acquire...

She's been in the NICU for just under three months, with cardiac, respiration and SP02 monitors and 24-hour care, and now she's coming home with just us to watch over her? Terrifying!

No more nasal prongs

Elizabeth has been off nasal prongs(oxygen) since last Thursday. The nurse decided to try her off them and she did fine. She needed them briefly on Friday evening and then for one feed on Saturday but has been good since.

If all goes well, she can come home Friday!

Infant CPR

Dad and I ended up making a evening visit this week after our infant CPR course. The hospital encourages parents of the NICU to take the course. Hopefully we won't have to use it.

Elizabeth is still taking all her feeds by mouth. So no more gavage feeding for her. She is still on some oxygen (via nasal prongs) and they would like to wean her from that before she comes home. She now weights 2490g (5 1/2 pounds).