7 Weeks old!

Hey ya,

Not sure if that's even a real greeting, but I'm trying to keep the blog fresh. Willow is already 7 weeks old today. Wow!! It seems like time is really moving now. It's like I said a while ago. Time seems to crawl down here when she's sick, and it flys by when she's doing well. I much prefer the latter.

Today was another fairly slow day for Willow, as far as changes go. This morning, however, was pretty eventful. I got to give Willow a tub bath. She is still getting a sponge bath inside her isolette on her upper body, then we took her out and put her tush in the tub for a good rinse. She really didn't enjoy the sponge bath one bit. She was crying the loudest I've ever heard her. It was music to my ears. I'm sure at some point I'll regret saying this, but right now I just love to hear her using those vocal chords. When we took her out for her dip in the tub she did settle down, and seemed to enjoy it, atleast for the most part. You can see from the pictures that she did have a bit of a break down in the tub. After the bath they wanted her back in the isolette to warm up, so I didn't get to hold her until about noon. She gets fed at 12:30, so I held her for that feeding and kept holding her until about 2:00. We had a great time. Willow's nurse said Lindsay could do Willow's Monday bath on Sunday evening, otherwise Lindsay will always miss out, and it's really alot of fun.

We got the result of Willow's head ultrasound that was done last week back, and as expected it was perfectly normal. It's always nice to hear good news.

Willow is now up to 3 lbs. 15 oz. She gained 24 g. from yesterday. We are so so close to that 4 lb. mark. Maybe tomorrow. They increased her feedings to 34 mls., and they are continuing to put some fortifier in the milk.

Willow and two other babies in the NICU are all almost exactly the same gestational age right now. It will be very interesting to see how we all do in the weeks to come. One of the babies parents are from Eau Clair, WI. They were up visiting the mom's parents, who live in the area, and she went to the hospital with what turned out to be pre-eclampsia. It's amazing how similiar her's and Lindsay's storys are. They were telling me today that they were on vacation in Florida when the mom was 26 weeks pregnant, just like we were suppose to be. Their baby held on until the 31st week though. They are extremely nice people, and their baby is doing well. It'll be nice having another family in the NICU that is going through the same things as us.

We are finally getting a little bit of sun up here, so I'm going to go for a nice long walk today. Hope the weather is good wherever you are, and you can get out to enjoy it as well.


See ya,

Josh

Still gaining weight

Hello,

By comparison to the last couple of weeks, today was a very slow day for Willow in the NICU. She's doing so well now, that the only things they'll be changing are her feedings. They did start fortifying the milk today. If she tolerates the fortifier than they are going to up the feedings 1 ml to 34 mls. Today she gained 16g and is up to 3 lbs. 14.2 oz. I'm thinking we'll hit the 4 lb. mark within the next few days. As of right now it's looking like Willow is going to be sandy blonde, not a redhead. But who knows, that could still change.

I got to hold Willow twice today. This morning I swaddled her, and this evening we did a kangaroo. They were both quite enjoyable. Tomorrow she is due for another bath, and I'm going to get in on this one. Hopefully I can get the nurses to take a couple of pictures.

The NICU is pretty empty right now. There are only 7 babies in there. I think the fullest it's been since we've been there was probably 15 babies. It's kinda nice, because it's much quiter without all the extra commotion.

Willow tried on another of her hats from Great Auntie Jill today. Her nurses were gushing again at how cute all the hats are. Willow's nurse tonight hadn't had her for a while and she kept commenting on how good Willow looked. The last time she had her was at the begining of her last illness, and Willow's come miles since then. Thanks again for all the great comments, and of course for everyone's thoughts and prayers.

See ya,

Josh

No more IV's

Hello everybody,

Willow is free and clear of all IV lines as of 6 PM. She had another great day. This morning it was decided that they would give her some blood through her picc line and pull it out after that. The blood transfusion went perfect, and the picc line came out like a breeze. Now the only things she has are her feeding tube and the cannula. She also still has the probes that measure heart rate, ect., and those she'll have on until discharge. Those don't really seem to bother her though.

They bumped up her feedings to 30 and 32 mls today. This is now full feedings for her size. They will keep increasing them now as she gains weight. To help her get extra calories and nutrients they are going to add a fortifier to the milk starting tomorrow. This will help her get the most out of her feedings.

After I held Willow earlier today I put her back in her isolette and put her on her stomach. I came back two minutes later and this is what she looked like. Her nurse comented that she always puts herself in the most uncomfortable looking positions.

Willow's weight today was 3 lbs. 12.4 oz., a gain of 28 grams. We are inching ever closer to the 4 lb. mark. The big event of the day came during a diaper change I was doing on her. I was changing her diaper, like I've done a number of times now, except this time she had a suprise. Just as I took off the dirty diaper she projectile pooped straight onto the end wall of her isolette. It came out with such force that she didn't even get a drop on herself. It was really quite amazing. Fortunatly they were already planning on changing out her isolette after the diaper change anyway. It just made for a little extra work for house keeping. I had to take a picture, but I'll spare all of you. If she does that at home and I have to clean it out of the carpet, I probably won't be laughing as hard as I was today. Note to Cameron and Liz; no need to make a picture of this in the comment area, but otherwise keep them coming.

See ya,

Josh

Almost at full feedings

Hi all,

Another great day at the Marquette NICU. So many good things have been happening down here in the last couple of days that I'm constantly looking for wood to knock on. Today Willow was up to 3 lbs. 11 oz. She gained 90 grams from yesterday. Again this may be too much weight in one day and it's looking more likely that they'll need to put her on a dieretic. That may happen in the next couple of days. It doesn't seem to be a big deal though, and the dieretic will be easier on her system than the Lasex that they have been giving her.

This morning Willow got her first "tub" bath. I unfortunately missed it, but she was so cute that they pulled out the poloroid and snapped a couple of pictures. Willow's nurse, Karen, only put her bum in the tub, she didn't want to over stimulate her. Karen said as soon as she hit the water she could see this look in
Willow's eyes that was very thoughtfull.
Karen could tell that Willow was really trying to figure out what this wet stuff was on her bottom. I guess she handled the whole experience very well.

They upped Willow's feedings 3 times today. She went to 23, then 25, and at 9:30 tonight they were going to 28 mls per feeding. This is going to be very close to full feedings, so hopefully tomorrow she will get her PICC line out. That will make me very happy for two reasons. For one it's showing remarkable progress with her feeding and growing, and for two, the picc line is what caused her last infection. So get that thing out of there, and it's one less foreign intrusion in her body.

Willow is still doing great on her cannula. They dialed down the setting slightly
while I was there tonight. Her nurse tonight was even thinking that in a few days she may not need any breathing support at all. Won't that be a wonderful thing.

Last night Willow's nurse, Amber, was talking about how it's going to be a race to the door between Willow and another premie that is almost exactly Willow's gestational age and size. The other girl was born at 31 weeks right when Willow was turning 31 weeks. Anyway it wasn't until today that I really thought about the fact that Willow is going to be coming home. It actually gave me flutters in my stomach. I always new that Willow was going to be OK, and eventually she would be coming home, but with her "history" it wasn't really at the front of my mind. Now I'm starting to see a perfect little baby, and I know that sometime in the not to distant future we'll all be back in Houghton and have this whole experience behind us. When that happens, everyone that has been wanting to see Willow can come on up and have a good time with our little miracle. Goodnight to all.

Josh

What a great weekend

Hello,

Well another weekend has come and gone. I just love the weekends down here, when Lindsay's down and we can all be together. We had a fun night out last night. We went out for a casual dinner at the pub in the Landmark Inn. The food was quite good, and not to expensive, and the homemade dessert was excellent. Lindsay has decided that she needs some extra calories. We figured it out, and she's burning an extra 1200-1400 calories a day by pumping. Needless to say she's always hungry and can't seem to gain any weight no matter how much she's eating. Anyway that dessert and the one she had this afternoon should help. We bumped into our friends Ben and Joe last night at the restaurante. This morning we met up with Ben, his wife Kim and their kids for breakfast. Thanks again to them for a wonderful breakfast. Their kids are a lot of fun, it makes me even more excited to get Willow out of the NICU and home. I can't wait to be able to take her around where ever we go.

Willow had another great day. Chuck and Judy came down this morning for a visit. Judy was able to hold Willow for the first time. They both did very well during there time together. Chuck still hasn't been able to hold Willow, but he is definatly going to get his turn next time they come down.

Willow is 3 lbs. 9 oz. today, so she lost a half an ounce from yesterday. They are now giving her 22ml of milk with each feeding. It won't be long now and she will hopefully be up to full feedings. She's still performing very well on the cannula. So far there is no need to go back to the CPAP. Willow is now the NICU veteran. We were looking around today and there aren't any other baby's that have been there longer. I'm not sure how to feel about this, especially considering we still have another 6-7 weeks left. I guess I'm just happy she's doing so well and I won't really worry about anything else.

It'll be another week down here by myself. Time goes pretty quickly though. With all the Willow visits I do in a day, it doesn't seem to leave much time for other stuff. I do have to do the taxes at some point this week. Hopefully they go nice and smoothly. Hope you all have a good Monday.

See ya,

Josh

Still on the cannula

Hello to all,

It's Saturday evening and I wanted to let everyone know that Willow is still doing great. Lindsay got in yesterday evening and was able to kangaroo Willow for over 2 hours. I left them alone so Lindsay could try to nap, but it sounds like they both enjoyed it alot.

This morning we went over hoping that she would still be on the cannuala. The longest she's made it on it so far is about 24 hours. We were very pleased that not only was she still on it, but they had lowered the pressure on it a little bit. So for now it's on and staying on. Today they increased her feedings to 19 mls, and she's been tolerating them very well.

When we went in to see her she was being very squiggly inside her isolette. Lindsay was trying to calm her down, but it wasn't working. We decided she must have a messy or wet diaper. Sure enough it was a big one. They weigh each one, and this one weighed 2 oz. Considering her weight that is a lot of pee. It makes sense though as they gave her another dose of lasex. She has been retaining too much water. Today she didn't look so puffy; that and the very wet diaper means the lasex is working. After the diaper change she calmed right down. She was looking up at the two of us with wide eyes. We snapped a couple of pics, and at the time she had on a shirt that Lindsay's aunt Tracey gave her. It was for a micro preemie and fits pretty good. It's the first article of clothing she's worn other than hats. Not only is it meant for micro preemies, we decided it's meant for babies who are still in isolettes, because it is designed in such a way that you don't have to pull it over her head or put her arms through the arm holes. It snaps together instead. Willow is now getting to the point where she can start wearing clothes, so you'll probably start seeing more in the pictures. We than had a good couple of hours of being able to hold her.


Tonight we're going to go see Willow again. Then we are going to grab some dinner and go to the Seth Bernard and Daisy May concert at NMU. Should be a great night. I'll let you know how it went tomorrow.

See ya,

Josh

Having a good morning

Good morning everyone,

I normally don't post in the morning, but so many good things happened this morning that I wanted to let everyone know about them. First of all Willow had her eye exam this morning and she has NO prematurity in her eyes. This is just fantastic news. She won't have to have another eye exam for a month. This morning they also put her on the cannula while I was holding her. She was doing great with it while I was there. I'm hoping this time she can stay on it, but I'll try not to be disapointed if she needs to go back on the CPAP. She was looking very cute while I was holding her. We put on her "Sweet Pea" hat from great Aunt Jill. Sorry I didn't get a pic, the camera was out of reach.

My cuddle session got cut short because Willow was getting a routine head ultrasound this morning. This is the same thing she got in her first week.
Those came back fine, and we don't expect them to find anything with this one. It's just something they do with all the premie's at certain times.

They also increased Willow's feedings this morning. She's now up to 16 mls. If she tolerates the increase then they will keep upping it 2 ml every 12 hours. So by tomorrow morning she could be up to 20 mls. So far she seems to really be enjoying mom's milk. She gets very calm and sleepy after a feeding.
It's a great time to be holding her. However, then she usually messes up her diaper and starts getting squiggly and we need to change it. Oh well, I'm just so happy she's eating good.
Here's those pics from yesterday. In the pics she still has the CPAP. I'll get some with the cannula when Lindsay shows up later this afternoon.

See ya,

Josh