Daddy Time.... Da-na-na-na...da-na...da-na (By they way of Hammer-Time!)

I'm sorry that I've been so busy growing that I have been remiss in my postings! Let me try to catch you up on what has been happening with me these past days....

Monday I had a great day! My feedings were up to 23 cc's which is the max amount for my weight now and as long as I do good with them today my doctors plan to take out the IV line from my hand. I can't tell you how happy that makes me, this thing drives me C-R-A-Z-Y and I am forever trying to find a way to free myself from it. My weight today is up to 2 lbs 12 oz, and I am feeling strong and big. :-)

Tuesday started really well - I had a blood transfusion, which is not unusual for me. You see I'm much too little to manufacture enough blood for the draws that they need to do for my testing so they give me a little help sometimes. So, yeah, they did that, and then they took out that IV line. Yippee!! I wanted to dance around the room...but honestly I am too tired after all the wiggling around that I do. Mummy and Daddy came to see me in the morning and then came back in the afternoon. I had been doing so well with my breathing and all that the nurses were talking with Mummy and Daddy about taking me out and holding me... then everything got all crazy. I got tired and decided to ride the ventilator, and the alarms went off and there were 4 people all around me making me better. No problems in the end - I just do that and sometimes are worse than others. But Mummy, Daddy, and the nurses decided not to do the holding that day just to let me calm down a little bit.

Wednesday - mmmm bring on the calories! The doctors have increased the number of calories that I get per feeding to help me gain some weight, and clearly that is helping me because I now weigh a BIG 2 lbs 14.5 oz!!! I know... I could barely believe it myself. Before we know it I'll be 3 lbs large!!!! I had a great day today with breathing and all, and Daddy was allowed some Kangaroo Care time with me. Daddy is all snuggly warm and a little furry which I really liked!! I checked things out for a bit and then, just like with Mummy, I cuddled in and went to sleep. My Daddy held me for an hour! I didn't want to go back into my isolette, but I had to eventually...so they say. The 'word on the ward' is that if I continue doing well with my breathing and if I tolerate being held like I did today that I can be held more often now. I like that.... I'm going to do my best to behave a little better, and maybe tomorrow Mummy can cuddle me again.

So Sleeeepy......

Yesterday was a good day overall. I get to sleep a lot which I really like. Sometimes, I still forget to breath then those alarms start going off, but my nurses have adjsuted my ventilator to help me along. It's still hard work, but I'm doing my best with the breathing thing.

I love having the milk/formula fed to me. the tiny tube doesn't bother me too much and they are feeding me every 3 hours now through that tube. Today I am up to 16 cc's but that will go up again by another cc every other feeding. I don't have any troubles digesting my milk/formula and soon they will take me off the IV nutrition and just let me have my feedings. I feel so free.....

Today I have outdone my birth weight by 1 ounce!!! I feel big! My Mum and Dad keep saying how I am filling out - Mum said that I'm starting to get a little bum!! She's silly.... Daddy says that my ribs don't show so much now, and that you can really start to see my legs and arms are getting a little meat on them. ;-)

Tomorrow is my 2 week birthday....I'm excited.

More in a couple of days.

Mmmm dark and cozy....

Hi everybody,

Yesterday I got past this jaundice stage that has had me under the bright lights (like in the way of: What were you doing the night of September 12th...) and my nurses and doctors have taken away the bright lights and taken off my spongy ski goggles that I HATED! :-D
They put this nice dark cover over my little 'oven' and it is all dark and cozy in here. I like to sleep a lot, and I don't really like to be disturbed much. In fact when they disturb me to change me or move me, I tend to breath less just to let them know. They call this a de-sat because my oxygen saturation levels drop.

Today finds that I have gained weight!!! I now weigh 2 lbs, 9 1/2 oz which is only 1/2 oz less than when I was born...not bad, eh? Mummy and Daddy say that I am 'fleshing out' and even my nurse Melina agrees. (She's really nice, I like her) Mummy said that my arm looks big, I wonder if she knows that I was flexing.... My doctors decided to change the tube for my ventilator because the fit was snug and that may make my little throught swell a bit when they take the tube out. So they changed it to one a bit smaller this afternoon, and I let them do that without much fuss. You can't fight everything, right??

Well I'm going to nap now until Mummy and Daddy come to read to me. I like when they do that... ;-)

More in a couple of days.

Never Trust A Preemie...

Well, that's what they say in the NICU here at the Elliot Hospital and I suppose I should admit they're right.

On the plus side, I gained 2.5 ounces at yesterdays weigh-in! But I had a couple of "spells" where I forgot to breath on my own. I don't mean to scare everybody that way, it's just hard work to remember to keep on breathing like that when you're as little and young as me. :-( I hate doing it cuz it sets off all kinds of alarms too, and they're much too loud for my little ears! Since it seemed to everybody, including me, that I was just too tired to keep on breathing for myself, my doctors decided to put me back on a ventilator. Not that same shakey-shakey one, but one that is nice and quiet and breaths nice for me. I don't need much oxygen mind you - but the help really gave me a break and I rested really good for the evening and through the night.

Today we find that I have gained yet another 1/2 ounce and now I weigh a big 2 lbs 7 ozs. Mummy & Daddy were really happy about that. I'm still resting well and using the ventilator but I'm not fussed about it cuz I was really happy to have the help. My doctors say that I am using less oxygen and doing a good deal of the breathing myself, but we thing that it may be good to stay on the ventilator for a little bit. I got to start back with having milk today too which I like!!

That's all for today. I'll check back with you in a few days.

Kangaroo Care

What a difference a couple of days can make in my life, let me tell you! I have started eating some on my own now... well, eating in my little way not the same as you. Yesterday they started giving me formula/milk through a tube from my mouth into my little tummy and they fed me a tiny bit at a time around the clock. I guess they weren't so sure how my belly would do with the new food, but since I'm so tough I did just fine and by today they were giving me feedings on a schedule. So now my fantastic nurses feed me through the same tube but I get fed every three hours. I still have an IV which gives me stuff that is good for me until I can take all the nutrients I need from larger feedings of milk. :-)

Today was also another big day for me because I did so well breathing with that C-PAP in my nose that my doctors and nurses decided to give me a break from having that bulky thing in my nose (and I hate it by the way... I try to pull it out all the time) so they put a little canula in my nose for 3 hours and I LOVED that. I admit that by the end of the 3 hours I needed my C-PAP back, but I only use it for 6 hours then I get another 3 hours with the nose canula. YIPPEE!!! So when I had the canula in tonight I got to snuggle with Mummy.

They put me right on my Mummy's chest so that my skin could touch hers, and I loved that so much. I could smell her and feel her and I was awake for a little bit then I snuggled in and fell fast asleep. I was kind of annoyed when that nurse moved me - I'm not sure she understood what I was trying to say with my little cry...but I do believe she got the message!!! Tomorrow I get to have a little Kangaroo care cuddle with Daddy skin to skin. I can't wait!!

bye for now! ;-)

My Changing World

Well things are changing pretty fast in my world. Yesterday they took a new xray of my lungs and my right lung is looking fantastic! The tiny hole that was leaking air into the wall of my lung is all healed over and they are took that chest tube out of me. THANK GOD, cuz it was getting itchy and making me kind of cranky. :-)

Just when I thought things couldn't get any better they took me off my ventilator this morning, which is great cuz it was an oscillating ventilator and it shook my body all night and day long... you try sleeping through that!! THEN when Mummy and Daddy came to visit the nurse said they could hold me! WOW-WEEE I was so excited about that and I made sure to behave myself so that they could hold me for a long time! I love cuddling with Mummy and Daddy.

I asked Daddy to take some pictures of me so that you all could see how well I am doing. I look good, huh??

bye bye for now - more updates soon!

First look

Hi Guys,

Thought I'd post a few pictures and show you all what I look like.

As you can see, I'm very small, but they keep saying that I'm going to be very tall

The pictures look scary but don't worry, I'm fine. I got my dad to take a picture of my little foot, I'll soon be kicking a football around, don't you worry :)

Speak to you all soon

Bye.

I'm Here!!!

Well world, you better be ready for me, cause I'm here.
That's right at 4:25pm (EST) today I busted out of the womb!

I must have given my mum a real fright when I stuck my foot through, I just wanted to see if it was warm outside...
Well the doctors and nurses at the Elliott hospital were fantastic, my dad told me that they had me out of my mummy's belly within 15 minutes!!! Wow, that's fast!

They say I'm doing pretty well, I have a little hole in my right lung but they have put a tube in it to drain the excess air. Hopefully that will heal itself in due course.

I'm currently on 70% oxygen, I need all the help I need all the help I can get right now :)

That's it for now, I'm write another update in a few days.

Bye