Photos

I asked Mummy & Daddy to post some photos for you all. They start while I am still in hospital and end with me being at my home. My home...that's where I live with Mummy & Daddy. :-)

Christmas is a GREAT Day

Everybody keeps saying Merry Christmas.... Merry Christmas...and I didn't understand why it was supposed to be so Merry. But now I do!!!

Yesterday was Christmas, and Mummy & Daddy were with me in the NICU. We were having a good time, cuz they stayed with me Christmas eve too and took care of me all afternoon and night. It was fantastic! Then just when Mummy & Daddy thought I would come home with them on Monday or Tuesday everything changed. The nurses made calls and next thing you know I was going home with my Mummy & Daddy right there on Christmas day. Mummy said it was the only thing she truly wanted for Christmas. I couldn't believe I was leaving WITH them this time!!! WOW

Mummy & Daddy packed up all my stuff, and Melissa and Melody helped them get everything out to the car. Mummy kept crying when she was saying goodbye, but I'm pretty sure she was happy not sad. She thanked Melissa for being there when I was born, for helping save me, and for giving her little boy to her. I love my Mummy! Daddy was so thankful too, and he said he owed a lifetime debt to then for saving my little life. I love my Daddy too!

My first night home was a little rough, but we all tried our best and did OK. Today was much better, and I had a lot of company! More than I have ever seen in one place!!! I slept in my swing a lot, and my cousin Christopher held me for a little bit. Mummy & Daddy said I was a little angel, and everybody was gushing about how cute I am. (batting long curling lashes)

I hope everybody at the Elliot NICU knows how much I love them too. They were so good to me, and they made me all OK to come home with my Mummy & Daddy, and Bruin, Bucky and Cellar too. I miss hearing them and seeing them today, but Mummy & Daddy promise I will see them again. I hope so.

It's different here... very quite. But I like it so far. I hope you will keep checking my site so that you can know about how big I can grow. FYI - I am nearly 1/2 way to Superman size. ;-)

Love you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Where is My Melina??

OK...right now I am in Lebanon NH at Hitchcock Dartmouth Medical Center. I got here Tuesday night and yesterday was a CRAZY day for me.

It started good as far as I could tell, excpet that my Melina wasn't there and I had some other nurse... hmmmm... when she smiled Mum says she looks like Richard Gere, whoever he is. Anyway... the day was going good as I said, Mummy & Daddy came around and STAYED... and they held and cuddled me and I loved it. I was kind of hungry but it seemed OK since I had them to hold me. The last time I ate was 5 AM and I got a little cranky but really not too bad. Around 5PM I went for a little ride on my bed. That was fun cuz I got to look around and check things out. People were talking to me...but nobody that I knew and that made me a little nervous. I was in a room with them all, and then I took a nice nap. But when I woke up everything was horrible. I felt something that I didn't know what it was...it really hurt, and I was MAD, MAD, MAD. So I started screaming and crying and believe me when I say that Mummy & Daddy could hear me when I got back to the door of the nursrey even through my oxygen mask! I felt pretty frantic, and I was still really mad, but I could finally hear my Mummy's voice and my Daddy was holding my head. Mummy and Daddy kept talking to me and making nice noises and I was staring at my Mummy when I finally started to calm down. I got to hold Mummy's finger, and she kept kissing my cheek and whispering in my ear until she could hold and cuddle me. Once I was being held by my Mummy I felt much better, and Daddy sat by me and they talked to me some more. I love them!!! I was getting pretty sleepy so they put me to bed, and I slept for hours.

Today: OK... still no Melina or Melissa or Maureen or Jenn or Sally and I wonder why things are so different here. I want to go back to where I know everybody - but Mummy & Daddy told me to behave myself so I'm trying. At 5 this morning (yes, 24 hours with no food...HELLO...I'm little here) I got to have some some fluids in my belly. The put it through a tube that was put in through my belly wall yesterday, and it was nice to feel something in there even though it made my tummy feel a little crampy. But I am being good and calm..I napped for a bit and woke up when they were giving me actual food in my tummy. YUMMY! I gave my nurse a big smile, and she told Mummy she loves me. YEAH! Things are going really good for me today now that I can have food. The doctors came and checked me out, and they say that my g-tube looks great, my hernia incision looks clean and that circumcision is doing good. Yeah...I KNOW what that is now. Thanks..... I can go back to the Elliott tomorrow, and I am looking forward to that. I wonder who will come and get me.

So more soon.
Love you all!

The latest in my world....

Hi everybody, as always thanks for all your prayers! Apparently this eating thing is a little more tricky than that though. It seems that I breathe when I should swallow, and that makes the whole thing work out all wrong! Mummy & Daddy say that I am going to have a ride in an ambulance...sounds like a good time, but I'll have to let you know since I've never done that before... and that ambulance is going to take me to Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital in Lebanon NH for something called surgery. Hmmmm...not sure how I feel about all that. But I guess they are going to put a g-tube in my tummy, fix my hernia, and do a little something else that is totally normal... So tell me... what IS a circumcision????

I hope my Auntie Tracy can stay with my brothers, Bruin & Bucky, and my sister Cellar. Bucky had surgery just the other day...I bet HE didn't have this circumcision thing!! He did have a big ole growth taken out of his bulbeous chin though. It was the size of a golf ball!! (how big is a golf ball??) Mummy & Daddy say he is doing fine now. :0)

I weigh 9lbs 5ozs now, and I am plenty big. Mummy says that I look HUGE! I wonder if I'm Superman size yet... I'll have to ask. I saw Santa last night in the NICU. He came with his nice wife and they took picutres with me, and with Mummy and me. They gave me lots of cool stuff in my stocking and it was lots of fun. I didn't even cry! He was a nice, that Santa!

Well, I should be home for the New Year. It's looking plenty good for that to happen, and I'm really happy about it. I can't wait to be with Mummy & Daddy all the time, but I admit that I will miss my nurses at the NICU... I think that I can still visit them. It will be better that way instead of being with them all the time and only visiting with Mummy & Daddy. Mummy will stay home with me and take wonderful care of me all day long while Daddy is at work. When Daddy comes home at night, we can cuddle and play. Oh - this is going to be the very best!!

I will have Daddy & Mummy post the picutures of me and Santa soon. Thanks again for all the good thoughts, and prayers. I should be back down to the Elliot NICU Thursday or Friday.

Love you all!

Hey everybody... I could use a favor.

Hi All - before I ask for my favor, I have to thank you all. Thank you for being so concerned, and for caring about me, my Mummy & my Daddy so much. Thank you for all your prayers that have brought me to where I am today. I am big (20 1/16"), and heavy (8lbs, 5ozs), and strong!

So if you wouldn't mind if I ask for a specific thing to pray for? See... I'm still having a terrible time bottle feeding. I'm 12 weeks old yesterday, and my adjusted gestional age is 40 weeks 5 days today. I should be eating a little better, ok... a lot better, out of my bottles by now. My doctor and nurses are talking about putting a GI tube in my belly. Not down my throat, or in my nose, but directly through the wall of my tummy into my belly for me to be able to go home and be able to eat. When they talk about this, my Mummy starts to cry. She and Daddy say that I have been through enough (aren't all little babies like me?? I don't know any different, so I think I'm doing great) and they don't want me to have to go through that too. So I was wondering... if when you say your prayers can you ask that I get some help from the powers that be to eat from my bottles so they don't have to put that GI tube in my tummy? Besides... I'd rather cuddle with Daddy or Mummy when I eat rather than lay in bed.

Thanks to everybody again. I love you all!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures...

My Mummy & Daddy take a LOT of pictures... I don't mind it so much now I think I've gotten used to the flash going off in my eyes. Good thing I have my Daddy's eyes! :0)

Dec 1, 2005 - The day I was due to meet the world!

Today I was supposed to make my grand entrance. As we know by now, I don't like to live on the schedule of others - that's why I was born on September 12th.

Today I weigh 8 pounds! Go ahead... take a minute... maybe sit down. I gained about a pound in about a weeks time. Mummy & Daddy can't believe how big I am now. Imagine if I was born today?? All 8 pounds of me?

In my world, things are going pretty well. My doctors and nurses have taken me off my caffeine but that doesn't seem to be working out so well... time will tell. I have been doing better with taking my bottle, but still no olympic gold medalist in that area. I'm trying though and Mummy & Daddy are proud of me. :0) I still have the feeding tube in my nose, but that continues to the the only thing on my face. I haven't had to go back on oxygen or anything like that... and I feel good! Strong.... Nearly the Superman that I aspire to be. Actually right now I feel very incedible Hulk like! I have busted out of my preemie otufits! Yeah... I'm HUGE.

Mummy & Daddy are going to post some pictures for you to see too. I hope you like them... I'm pretty cute, huh??? hee,hee,hee

Happy Thanksgiving!

And a gobble-gobble-go

And a gobble-gobble-gee

This is the First

Thanksgiving for me!

This is what I understand so far about this day. I woke up earlier and I had some food via a bottle with the Nuk nipple that I like so much. I had my pants changed. I went back to sleep and slept through to noon when Mummy and Daddy magically appeared in the room. In fact Mummy was holding me when I woke up - NICE! We all had a great visit while I was awake which was for quite a long time. I tried out by Baby Papasan and I LOVED IT! Mummy told my nurse I will be having 'turkey' tomorrow. Not sure what that is...or how I will get it...but good for me!

I weigh 7 pounds today! I'll let you absorb that. I am getting stronger every day and all I need to do is to get control of eating from my bottle and of breathing without forgetting... yeah I still do that sometimes. I am getting a little better with the bottle and my nurses and doctor say that one day it will be like *snap* (trying to snap small chubby fingers.... failing... rats...) and I will eat like crazy from that bottle of mine. The bigger I get the better I should be at remembering to breathe all the time, so that should correct itself in short order too.

I'll have Mummy & Daddy post new pics soon!

6 POUNDS, 12 OUNCES AND COUNTING

It's getting harder and harder to recall when I weighed in at only 2 lbs, 10.5 ozs! I'm so big now that I wear a proper size 1 diaper... no more preemie diapers for me. Know what I did this past week? I outgrew an outfit - my first one. Mummy says she is keeping it so she can show me when I get older...not so sure I'll care about that really... but it makes her happy. Know what else I did this week?? C'mon guess! OK, I'll tell you. Just the other day - Sunday the 20th - I drank a whole bottle! The entire 58 cc's (nearly 2 ounces), I drank the whole thing from my bottle. Everybody was really excited and calling each other, and a one of my nurses helped me pen a little note to Mummy & Daddy about my big acomplishment! Then I slept nearly the entire day.... what can you expect from me?

In other news, I no longer need any oxygen to help me breathe. I am doing that all on my own now and I occasionally still have some problems with remembering but overall I am doing really well. The only tube on my face now is my feeding tube and that will stay until I can eat all of my feedings by myself. :-)

I stay awake longer and longer now, sometimes for over an hour at a time. I like to play and have fun with my Moosey, my mobile and my nurses - and I have begun to realize that a little squaking and growling may net me a cuddle! NICE.... I love to cuddle. I still love my baths, and one of my favorite times of the day is when Mummy & Daddy visit me. I hear their voices and I start growling a little bit, then I like to do a good stretch and a yawn... I know it is only a matter of a little time before I get scooped up!

I hear that my room is nearly finished at home, and I'm excited to see it. I guess there are only a few things left to do and that's that. It sounds cool with safari pictures on the walls and a big fluffy rocking chair in the corner... mmmmm... rocking with Mummy or Daddy. YIPPEE!

When Indian-Irish Eyes Are Smiling

I like to smile. I like to look around. I like to follow things with my eyes now. I LOVE my Moosey!

I've been having a lot of fun growing and learning things in the last couple of weeks. I weigh in at 5 lbs, 10 ozs, and that's down a little bit from a few days ago. Everybody has been so good to me, and my doctor is trying hard to get me off my oxygen supply so they have been giving me a little something to get the excess water out of my little body. Makes it easier to breath that way, ya know. There is no need to worry about the weight loss though, OK?

I am so much more tolerant these days of voices, and noises. And my eye doctor came for another visit the other day and I dealt with him pretty well this time out. I was awake that night and looking all around for my Mummy & Daddy. They were R-E-A-L-L-Y impressed with that. I was nursing and playing and having a good time despite my eyes having been peeled open and clamped that way for that exam. The peepers are doing well too! No change at all in the status of them, and the 'eye guy' still thinks that I will outgrow the current situation with no problems. I'm a pretty lucky little boy all in all. I get to have a bottle 4 times a day now and I'm really trying my best to get used to drinking from that. You know...eat, swallow, breath... very hard for a little one like me. But now the most I will take is 19cc's and my feedings are a whopping 52cc's. Nearly the same amount as a full term new born baby. Gooooo Ethan! (I was cheering for myself... sorry)

Halloween has come and gone. I don't know much about that holiday except that one of my nurses was wearing earrings that were one a spider and one a web... scary!! And Mummy & Daddy put these really bright bibs on me and took my pictures. My first Halloween costumes! One says Baby's First Boo and the other Baby’s First Halloween.

My doctor isn’t so sure that I will go home on my due date, December 1. She seems to think that I am doing things at my very own pace, as is my way, and am likely to go home closer to the middle of December. I think that Mummy & Daddy are a little sad about that and so am I, but I need to grow, grow, grow.

Well, more later.

5 Pounds - And A Pinch To Grow An Inch!!

Well, let me tell you that I have been v.v.v.v.v. busy G-R-O-W-I-N-G!  Let me give you a little breakdown since the last time you heard from me:
Monday 4 lbs, 11.5 ozs
Tuesday 4 lbs, 13 ozs
Wednesday 4 lbs, 14 ozs
Thursday 5 POUNDS!!
My doctor has pared back my calorie intake so that I won't get to be a real fatty-bo-batty!  I eat 42cc's per feeding now and I don't have to take it with the automatic pump anymore either cuz I stand it just fine to let gravity put my meals in my belly.  Kind of like taking it from a bottle - which I still try once a day.  I have good days and off days with that.  The most I take from my bottle is 11 cc's and the least is about 3.  I'm trying though.

I had my appointment with the eye guy, I do hate what he does to me, this time it seemed to go easier on me a little bit and I was only grouchy for a day really.  My eyes look just the same and he seems confident that I will be able to outgrow the potential problems with them.  He was also pleased at how well I am doing overall - he was happy for me.  Nice man.

There is nothing else really new with me.  I spend my days growing and I love my visits with my Mummy, Daddy and any other realitives and friends who care to come around.  Just remember to be careful if you have a cold and no visits if you have a fever, oh and only 3 people around my bed at a time.  I, personally, would like to have a party - I mean I have the whole room - but they say no.  Damn.... OH - I MEAN DARN!    

Check Out My new Digs!

OK, I know that I haven't written in a while. I've been real busy growing and stuff like that. So let me catch you up now, and I hope you like my new pics.

As of last night I weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs, 9.5 ozs. I have been growing like crazy putting on as much as 2 ounces in a day. Everybody is really happy about that especially Mummy & Daddy cuz they say I am getting little rolls of fat on my arms and legs, and Daddy loves my big Buddha belly!

I am wearing clothes every day now that I am sleeping in my big boy crib. My crib is all grown up and it is purple....no girlie pink crib for me. No way. The crib is nice too cuz it makes it really, super easy for Mummy & Daddy to kiss me and touch me and scoop me up for a cuddle. :-D

I saw the therapist this week and she thinks that I am doing pretty good for my young age. You see, us little guys we develop differently than a full term baby does so they like to see what we are up do in our development. She seemed to like that fact that I love my Moosey so much that I will follow him with my eyes if you move him from one side of my head to the other. In fact I love him even more than that... and I will move my head just to keep looking at him. He's a great moose.

Mummy & Daddy have become real pro's at bathing me and I do love to have my bath. They bathe me 2 times a week and they aren't scared of doing it at all. The very best part, still, is having my hair washed. ;-)

I'm still learning to drink from a bottle and I get to try that out once a day. My normal feeding is 38 cc's, and I tend to drink 10-11 cc's of milk from my bottle. Not bad for a beginner, I think. I like the bottle, but I still get really tired trying to drink from that and breath and keep myself warm. It's a lot of work being little.

I have a follow up appointment with that eye doctor this week. I don't like when he comes around and checks my eyes, and it makes me grouchy for a couple of days. But, apparently, he NEEDS to look to see what is going on in my big beautiful eyes. So be it. I had my last brain scan the other week they may do another one before I go home, but all the 3 or 4 that they did came back clean and my brain is looking just okey dokey like a full term baby. YIPPEE.

Well, that's about all for now. I will write more when I get a chance.

What Have You Put On My Body???

Please let me just tell you that yesterday life got really good and interesting for me. First of all my Mummy & Daddy came in bright and early in the morning, which I'm not quite used to but I found I really liked. :-D Then everything got really confusing for me... my nurse put some kind of cloth all over my body... hmmm... Mummy & Daddy call it 'clothes'. What are these clothes and what the heck do they do? OH... I see they keep you warm. Excuse me (tapping on door of isolette) can you turn the heat down in here? Thank you!

So now that I wear clothes and that I have been doing better maintaining my own body heat, they have changed me to another kind of isolette that is used for babies that are less sick (YIPPEE) and they are starting to chat about moving me into a crib. WOW

Next in line, my Doctor F has come back from her vaca and she has moved me onto that Vapo-Therm that Mummy & Daddy have been jawing about for days now, and I LOVE it. It gives me moist air at a higher pressure than a regular nasal canula, but it looks just like a regular nasal canula. Now when Mummy & Daddy come in they can just scoop me up and cuddle me! We are ALL excited about that!!

I had my very first bottle too. I didn't quite know what to do with that at first, but I figured it out pretty quickly and I was drinking off that for a little bit last night. I have to tell you that tho I really liked it, I got TIRED! I was knackered after about 5 minutes or so and my nice nurse finished my feeding thru my tube. :-) I get to have one bottle a day now, so I MUST be getting bigger.

Today I'm doing so well on the Vapo-Therm that they have turned down the pressure and the oxygen level is about the same as I was getting with my CPAP now. This is going really well for me, and I'm v.v.v. happy.

So... I Hear There is Sunshine Today!!!

Today is a great day for me! I hope that you are sitting down...cuz I weighed in tonight at 4 POUNDS & 1.5 OUNCES. I am HUGE.....

My cousins came for a visit yesterday and that was great fun. They had colds tho and so they were wearing some sort of masks... I wonder if this is a halloween thingy.... hmmmmmm. Then today was v.v.v. busy for me too. My Nana came to visit me and she got to hold me, which I really liked and I think she did too. Then later on my Aunties Tracy & Pam came round to see me too! I am feeling v.v.v. special today. To try to top all of that my nurse asked the doctor today if I could be on the nasal canula for 3 hours at a time for 2 times a day. This is fantastic, cuz I really, really, REALLY hate that CPAP. ;-)

Stay tuned because I am growing sooo fast!!

CPAP *and* Nasal Canula??

I have done very well on my CPAP, and everybody including Dr. Beal is very happy. Dr. Beal didn't originally agree with the thought but has come around and is happy with how I am doing. I have less problems with my breathing and less desats now so it is very exciting.

Mummy held me last night which I loved, but I was kind of fussy with the CPAP in my nose and I pooed my pants so I went back to my incubator after about an hour and some change. Which is actually a pretty good cuddle if you ask me... then Mummy changed my pants. OH THANK YOU. I hate have pooey pants. ;-)

Tonight they put my on a nasal canula when Daddy held me... I am so excited about that because I'm so much more comfy than I was last night. They have decided to let me have that everythime I get held now. OH...and my Auntie Tinkerchelle cameto see me too... what a night!

PS: That's my "Moosey" that I am cuddling!

I Am One Month Old... WOW

Yesterday was a completely normal day for me - OK well, maybe with more desats than usual but I'm getting tired of this tube down my throat... maybe I should pull it out again. Hmmmm

Yeah, today is my One Month birthday. Mummy & Daddy were happy to see that my weight is 3 lbs, 9 oz today. I feel like I am getting plenty big and everybody seems happy with the growth that I have had. I think maybe I am strong like Batman now..... My goal? Superman....

I also decided that today was the day that I would pull that tube out again and I managed to extubate myself. WOO HOO. My neonatal RN then decided to give me a whirl on the CPAP again and not reintubate me. That made me really happy... Mummy & Daddy too! Before they did that tho, they gave me my first real tubby. That was a whirlwind of water, and soap and my hair getting washed... NICE. I LOVE HAVING MY HAIR WASHED!!!! I settled in OK on the CPAP, tho I hate that too, but I breath better on it than I did the ventilator believe it or not.

They will watch me really closely for the next couple of days to see what I do...I am going to try to behave myself so that they will let me keep going without that tube. :-)

Check Me Out, World!

Well, I had a very busy day yesterday. I pulled out my feeding tube, and then I pulled my ventilator tube out of place!! I sent my Mummy into a fit of crying and Daddy had to comfort her. But when the nice nurse came into to check things out they took all that stuff off my face and Mummy & Daddy got to see me for the very first time without all that. The nurses took some pictures for them to share with all of you. Nice eh? Am I not just the cutest thing???? They did have to put all my tubes and stuff back in tho cuz I still get that breathing thing all messed up.

Today I had my first eye exam. That put me right out of sorts I have to tell you. They were all looking around and holding my eyes open... putting drops in and just making my life a misery! I ended up feeling pretty cranky for the rest of the day, and got to visit with Mummy & Daddy but no cuddle time for me with Daddy today cuz it was just too much stimulation for me. I did manage to poo all over my bedding tho when Daddy was changing my diaper, so the nurse took me out of my isolette - FREEDOM... WOO HOO!! - and Mummy held me while Daddy held my ventilator hoses for me. That was nice... I love staring at my Daddy & Mummy when they are holding me. But that was it for the night. I hope that tomorrow I get to have my cuddle time with my Daddy... I love him!!!

Roses are red... Violets are blue...I'm getting a bum... Just like you!

I WEIGH 3 LBS, 8 OZS.... I'll let that sink in a little bit..... I AM HUGE!

There isn't a whole lot that changes for me day to day, but I am getting bigger and bigger and I took a huge leap from that 3 lbs and nearly 5 ozs to where I am now. I do love to do a couple of things...one of them is that I love to pick up my head and try to turn it. I think that my nurses think this is a very fun thing to do cuz they get all kinds of excited and they come right over and touch my head! OK.. so they really hold it in place...but I think that's just their way of telling me what a good job I am doing.... right?

Mummy & Daddy brought me a new friend on Friday, it is Moosey my very first Moose. He's really cute and he likes to sleep in my snuggly with me. He's really good at keeping me from slipping down into the bottom of my snuggly too! I love him. :-)

I've been trying hard to do better with my breathing, and I have less 'episodes' that require my nurses to intervene, but I still have them. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can try to shake this ventilator again and get back to something more manageable. My nurses say that I have been doing so well that Mummy & Daddy can start doing Kangaroo holding 2 times a day... OH GOODY. I would LOVE to have both Mummy & Daddy hold me each day!!

My Nanna was here this weekend, and she came to see me. She hasn't seen me in nearly 2 1/2 weeks and she was SO SURPRISED when she saw how big I am. I it was nice to see her and hear her.

More soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTIE TRACY!

First things first today.... I need to wish my Auntie Tracy a Happy Happy Birthday! I know that Mummy wanted me to stay inside until today and then we would share a birthday which I admit was sooo tempting for me...but I had to come out early and meet everybody. I hope you understand! But back to you... I hope you have the very bestest and funnest birthday ever on the planet!

In my world, I am growing like a weed! My Mummy said yesterday that I have a double chin now and Daddy says that my arms and legs are getting beefy!! I feel great. Still on the ventilator, cuz the breathing thing really has me stumped, but other than that they are feeding me more and more and giving me more calories too! I weighed in last night at 3 lbs and nearly 5 ozs!! Maybe I can hit that 5 ozs today!!

In the next week they have me scheduled for another brain scan, and for my very first eye exam. You see... little babies like me sometimes can have troubles with scar tissue in their eyes and they need to start looking out for that. You already know that they like to check my brain a lot...before it was to look for bleeds, but now it is to look for pockets in the brain. Hopefully they will just see how BIG my brain is and how smart I am going to be. :-)

That's all for now... I have to go and get ready for my visit with Mum & Dad.

I'm A BIG Boy these days!

Hi All - It's been many days since my last post - since Thursday the 29th, so I'll try to catch you up on all of my happenings! Last week my Uncle Sanjay was here from NY and I had a good week with him... he visited me every day and took pictures of my and let me hold his hand... well, erm, his fingers as his hands are HUGE!

Thursday - Today, my Mummy gave me my first bath... what a nice thing that was! It was a sponge bath of course, but I really needed it and I loved it. Especially when she was washing my hair, I love to have my head rubbed now! I feel all happy and clean and so tonight I am sure that I will have cuddle time with Mummy like promised and that will be great for both of us!

Friday - I've been behaving myself so well during the days that I get to have DaddyKangaroo Care tonight. I'm really happy about that! I haven't gained any more weight, but I have really begun to poo like a champ! The doctors and nurses are quite impressed with me ;-) They have still been increasing my feedings and my calories, and I am tolerating that just fine. I am a product of my parents after all, and I love the food.

Saturday - My blood gases are lower than they have ever been and they have decided to lower the amount of help that the ventilator is giving me to see how that goes for me. My Mummy and Daddy are thrilled to hear this, but time will only tell if it is a good thing or not for me. I'm feeling happy and good today though, and that means that I get to have time with my Mummy tonight. Still no more weight gain today, but it's not something to worry about.

Sunday - I'm holding my own with this ventilator, but it is harder than it was before and I am starting to get more tired - I suppose I will know better how I feel about this whole adjustment they made later on today or maybe tomorrow. I gained some weight and now I am 2 lbs 15.5 ozs....just 1/2 oz from the big 3 lb mark. We can hardly believe it. I am happy that Mummy and Daddy came early this morning and were reading their paper and stuff like that here. I like to hear their voices in my room and my oxygen saturation level is ALWAYS higher when they are here with me. :-D

Monday - I am 3 weeks old today & I DID IT... I DID IT..... I weigh 3 lbs, 1.5 ozs today! FINALLY all that eating is paying off. They have moved my feedings up to 27 cc's and 24 calories per feeding, still every 3 hours! I EAT A LOT!! Although I am eating good and gaining weight, I don't feel much like being touched today. This morning it was good with me, but by afternoon I had pretty much had enough of it all. I felt bad that Mummy didn't get to cuddle me, but sometimes a little boy just needs some time to rest and grow... I know she understands cuz she loves me so much!

Tuesday - Today I weigh a HUGE 3 lbs 3 ozs, and I AM A BIG BOY!!!! My Mummy and Daddy are very happpy with this gain, as are my nurses and doctors. I have to admit that I'm not very tolerant of being touched again today. It happens sometimes - maybe it is just the pooey weather we're having this morning and I'll be happier later on today, only time will tell on that. The Dr's and nurses changed my ventilator settings again, it was just too low for me right now, and I had several issues yesterday and last night with not wanting to breath and having some bad de-saturation. So better safe than sorry, and they upped my settings again. It's OK though cuz I'm still pretty small and young. I'm developmentally still only equal to 31 weeks and 5 days so I have time.

More later.

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! ;-)