Grandma is a natural!

Hi to all,

Well we had another great day here in Marquette. It seems as though I could insert that first sentence into any of the blogs in the last month or so. Willow just continues to do awesome. Today she was up to 4 lbs. 14.4 oz. She put on 40 grams yesterday. It was such an impressive gain that I saw on her chart that they weighed her twice to make sure it was correct.

This morning we all went over and my grandma and I went in first. Great Grandma Lois got to hold Willow during her morning feeding, and kept on holding her for quite a while afterward. Willow was very happy the whole time, and I’m certain so was Great Grandma J. My mom did Willow’s bath before her 12:30 feeding and she had no problems with it. She said she hadn’t bathed a baby since myself, but you wouldn’t have ever known it. Willow did very well and didn’t have any crying fits or anything. We did the bath in an area so Jill could watch. Jill is still being a good sport about not being able to hold little Willow, but we’re trying to get her some good views of Willow through the windows. Jill actually had some visitors in the waiting room today. First one of the OB nurses came by asking about a pattern for one of Willow’s hats, then Ellen’s mom came out and thanked her for the hat she knit for Ellen. She was wondering who was going to come around the corner next asking “are you auntie Jill?”

During the afternoon shift change we all went down to a casino about 20 miles away. I’m not big into casinos, mostly because I usually lose, but Jill said she’d spot me $20 and I only had to pay it back if I won. Well as it turned out I was the only one of us that did win, taking home an extra $15. I usually have terrible luck, so it was nice to win. Even though the others lost a little I think we all had a good time, just don’t bring it up to Jill.

Tonight my mom and I went back to the NICU and gave Willow a bottle feeding. My mom did the feeding and did very well. Willow was very reluctant, but my mom was persistent and got her to take 18 mls. I would have given up earlier than my mom did, so I was glad she was the one that did the feeding. Willow’s levels all were very good during the feeding, which is why her nurse let us continue even though she wasn’t totally into it. We’ve got to get her eating from that bottle so we can get on home. Today Dr. Frei discontinued the caffeine that Willow was still on. She’s been on this since almost the very beginning as it helps prevent apnea spells by trigging something in her brain. We’re very happy to have her off of this, and now Willow is drug free. The only extra things she’s getting now with her feedings are vitamins and supplements.



Willow’s guest are going to be leaving tomorrow. Both Willow and I will be sad to see them go. We’ve been having so much fun visiting and going out for fantastic meals. The restaurants here in Marquette are really good, at least all that we went to in the last couple of days. One nice thing about everyone leaving is knowing that the next time they see Willow it will be in her own house and not in the NICU. Keep all your positive energy coming this way and mabye it will help get Willow outa’ here even sooner.

Goodnight,

Josh