5 Days Old

Hi everyone,

I've gotten a lot of crap for not updating the blog-apparently people worry when I don't! I'll try to be better. It's amazing how busy the days can get when we technically have nothing to do. Between all the pumping (they've got me doing that every 3 hours-even at night) and visiting Willow, less time is left than you'd think.

I was discharged yesterday, and Josh and I are staying in a "hospitality room" here in the hospital. It's very convenient, but it's also $30 a night. I think on Thursday, we're going to move over to this place called the Beacon House. It's donation-based and just 2 blocks from the hospital. That's where we'll hopefully end up staying for a long time. I'm going home on Thursday and Friday to get some things done at work and home, and heading back down Friday night or Saturday morning. Then I'll stay here all next week and Josh is heading home to work. Hopefully eventually we'll settle into a routine. I'm working with IT at work to make it so I can access my work computer from here, so hopefully I'll be able to get some work done so I have some leave left when Willow comes home.

Willow is still doing great. She had a blood transfusion today, and they used Grandpa Chuck's blood-they have the same blood type. Thanks Grandpa! She didn't need the transfusion because something is wrong; it's just that they've taken so much of her blood for various tests and things, and her little body can't make it quick enough to keep up. They also took out the arterial line in her belly button. It had shifted inside her and wasn't in the right place anymore. They had to put a line into her foot to replace it. They call it a "pic" (sp?) line. It looks so uncomfortable but they say it doesn't bother her that much. As far as good news, she had another brain ultrasound and it came back normal. They're checking for bleeding in the brain, which is very common with tiny preemies. Also, the "hole in her heart" that she was born with, called a PDA, has closed up.

The best news, though, is that last night, I got to hold Willow! They do this thing they call "Kangaroo Care". They brought a recliner right up next to Willow's incubator and I layed in it. I wore a shirt that opened in the front because Kangaroo Care is about skin-to-skin contact. They took Willow out and laid her on my chest. She was still attached to her breathing tube and all her wires. Then they put some surgical gloves filled with warm water next to her and covered her with a couple blankets to help her keep warm. It was so amazing-Willow loved it so much! As soon as she was on me, she settled right down and fell fast asleep. We laid there for over an hour-I actually fell asleep for part of it myself-and when it was done and they took her off of me, she was just a total wet noodle, completely limp. That's a good thing, because it seems like so much of the time she seems so agitated and her limbs are flailing around and she seems so tense. Apparently there have been studies about Kangaroo Care that show that preemies who do it get better quicker if they're not doing well, and they go home from the NICU sooner. So I guess we'll do it a lot. Next time it's Josh's turn.

Here are a couple little videos: one of my attempts to change her diaper, and one of when they put her on me for the Kangaroo Care.