4 lbs and NO Cannula !!

Hey everyone,

Sorry their wasn't a post last night. Lindsay got back to Houghton kinda late, and their wasn't any time. Good stuff happened yesterday in MQT. When Lindsay went to see Willow in the AM the nurse asked her what she noticed different about Willow. Lindsay said "oh look her feeding tube is now going in through her nose." Somehow Lindsay didn't realize that the only way they could put the feeding tube in this way is by taking off Willow's cannula. Lindsay did eventually realize this, and was thrilled. So now Willow is breathing all on her own, with NO assitance at all. What a strong little girl. Early in Willow's stay in the NICU she was diagnosed with Chronic Lung Disease, which isn't really a disease, but more of a byproduct of all the breathing assistance that she has recieved. Anyways, this is something they said she would eventually grow out of, but many babies with this condition end up going home with a cannula still on. We are so extatic that she is already able to ditch the cannula and she's not even at 35 weeks gestation yet.

I mentioned how the feeding tube is going through her nose now. This is to make it easier for her to nurse when she starts nippleing. We havn't made another attempt yet at nursing, but perhaps this week they will try Willow on a bottle and see what happens. It's going to be a long process, but the goal is to get up to full bottle feedings asap, because she can't come home until that happens. Willow hit 4 lbs. yesterday. Hopefully she'll just continue to pack on the ounces and get bigger and bigger.

Lindsay got to give Willow a bath yesterday before she left. They did the whole thing in the tub this time. No more sponge bath in the isolette for Willow. I guess Willow wasn't entirely happy about the experience, but they still had a good time and the end result was a happy mom and a nice clean baby.

Judy is still down in MQT until tomorrow, then I'll be heading back down. I did end up going skiing yesterday. It was a lot of fun. It warmed up just enough in the afternoon to soften up the snow and make for great spring time conditions. I went with my friend Cameron, and we were 2 of only about a dozen people on the whole mountain. I guess everyone else was done with skiing for the year. They didn't have much of the hill open, as their was ground showing in many areas, but it's a big enough area that we were able to have a great time all afternoon.

Sorry their won't be any pictures until I get back down to Marquette. We left the camera with Judy so she could keep snapping pictures of her cute little grand daughter. I'll put some up once I get back down there. I hope everyone had a great Easter, and lets hope this nice weather continues.

See ya,

Josh