TGIF

Everyday gets better and better and so does Myla. This morning she took a whole feeding from a bottle in under the time the machine usually pumps it. She looks great! 3 lbs, 10.2oz. When I saw her at noon she was wide awake the whole time, just moving her eyes all over the place and trying to move her head to see. She is so cute! Everyone in the NICU thinks she's so special too and they are really good to us, we are so blessed in this country.

We learned how to help stretch Myla's little legs and feet today, she loved it. It's going to be so good to have her home when that time comes. We're all pretty tired tonight so the update is short, sorry but we'll report again tomorrow on everything in more detail too.

Big week coming up

Its hard to believe that its week number seven already. When I look back, the days seem to have flown by and yet each time I leave Myla in the hospital it seems like its been an eternity. On our daily call from the doctor (she calls daily - isn't that great!?) she said that Myla was doing everything she was expected to do at this stage and age. The next week will be big for her, I think. She will start doing the bottle more and more and will probably be moving to an open crib soon. The doctor said that right now all her feedings were through the tube, but she expects that to change in the next 3-5 days. And once she gets that mastered, well, who knows!

She did have another follow up eye exam today. One of her eyes still at the stage one ROP, but the other eye is now at a stage two. Talking to the nurse practitioner tonight, she said that its a pretty common thing and she pointed my eyes to the box on her chart that said "normal for age." She also said that they have only had one baby a very long time ago that had to have their ROP corrected with surgery. So, I'm still worried, but I know that most preemies have this. And it is known to correct itself. So, if you would cross your fingers with us that at her next exam next week everything is starting to correct itself, we would greatly appreciate it!

And if you haven't, please vote in our poll before it ends - its been a pretty tight race this whole week!

3 pounds - and one half!

Myla hit 3 1/2 pounds today - on the nose. Its like she knows how much to gain to land right on these numbers. She hit 1500 grams exactly and now 3 1/2 pounds exactly. She's been so tired from all the growing that she sleeps a lot. But I guess that's what babies are supposed to do. She did take another 10 milliliters from a bottle this morning and that probably wore her out too.

We did another bath tonight, with the nurse raving about how good she looks and being just utterly amazed at how much she's grown. Its hard to believe, when we look back at our pictures and see the change in her. I see it more now that I'm not there twice a day. I'm starting to believe that she could hit four pounds and get her elephant standing on its head. See, with every weight milestone, the nurses give her a postcard that say "I weigh ___ pounds!" She had a mouse with a strawberry for 2 pounds, a snake for 3 pounds and the 4 pound one is an elephant standing on its head. It doesn't seem like that long ago I was telling her that was our goal, to get an elephant standing on its head. And now, it doesn't seem so far away!

What a big, little girl we have! She not only ate 10cc's of milk this morning at 6am but in the afternoon she ate 20cc's, from a bottle! Yeah, she got feisty this morning and the nurse pulled out the bottle as a last resort to calm Myla, the next thing she knew it was almost gone. So, naturally, when I got there later that morning Myla was wiped out from it, I guess it's exhausting for little babies. But that's okay, I'll try and give her a bottle tomorrow and just maybe she'll have the energy for it.

So, her head ultrasound went well. Everything looked good and her doctor thinks Myla is coming along famously. She's still gaining weight and growing out too. We so love spending time with our little baby girl, taking pictures, reading stories, singing songs, and the nurses don't seem to mind it so much either....

Kara is back to work, second day, and I'm training a new-hire at my new store, which also seems to be going well. Haley-dog though, she's got it ruff. ;o) It's cold and snowy here lately and on top of it she doesn't get as much attention or walks so what does she do? Takes it out on poor, defenseless stuffed animals, bills (lol), sunglasses but not shoes. No, those she just "misplaces" as if that's gonna get her on a walk faster.

Thanks to everyone for the clothes, cards and little things for Myla. They are big things in our eyes. Hugs.

J.K.M

First family picture

We had our first family picture taken tonight. As you can tell by our red faces, they keep it pretty toasty in that place. Myla doesn't seem to mind, she can sleep through just about anything. Today, she hardly woke up for her morning cares. Or for her first date with dad. The nurse said she must be growing. I think she was just resting for her big day tomorrow. Hopefully she'll be awake enough to try a bottle when dad comes in and she has a head ultrasound scheduled. (Its just routine, a follow up from the ones she had her first week. They aren't expecting to find anything. But of course, we'll report tomorrow!) She slowed down on her weight gain tonight - only 9 little grams. But after gaining 300 grams in a week, she's entitled to a night off. Just think, if she gains another 300 this week, she might be in an open crib for Christmas. Which would mean that we could dress her in real clothes. But we'll just wait and see. She's a fighter, they've told us that from the beginning. Her primary day nurse said that she's fighting to go home now. And we are there to help her do it anyway we can!

Starting the bottle!

So, Myla just keeps growing! That's what she does best. Although, she did take a few cc's of milk from a bottle and we tried it again today. She still needs more practice but the way she latches on to her pacifier I don't think it will be long. Tomorrow Kara has to go back to work. :o( But we're trying to work out a way to be there the same amount of time if not more. I'll go see her in the mornings and maybe the afternoon and Kara will see her in the evenings for sure and maybe real early mornings as well.

Tuesday we're going to try more aggressively to get Myla on the bottle, it's about that time anyway, so we'll report on that too. She's 3 lbs 5 oz. now, well on her way. Myla has a pretty good attitude already, the day nurses call her a "spit-fire" and the night nurse calls her a "pistol." She's probly getting hunger pangs and needs to get more milk per feeding but we'll see. She's awake before cares (feeding time) and can be quite vocal. As vocal as a Myla-bug can be anyway.

Tomorrow Myla will have her very own room! Everybody in the NICU is so nice to us and they make all three of us feel very special. We can't say enough good things about the care that Kara and especially Myla has recieved, it's top-notch! Now if only they could get my venus fly-trap to grow......

Nothing outlasts the Myla-bunny

As the snow fell outside, Myla stayed nice and warm in her little glass condo. We asked the nurse tonight and they keep it at a toasty 83 degrees in there. Of course we were there twice to pull her out and give love to our little girl! She gained another ounce tonight, putting her at 3 pounds, 3.5 ounces. And they have upped her feedings to one full ounce! My Uncle Tom figured out that proportionally its about the equivalent of a 220 pound man eating 6 pounds of food in a sitting. That's quite a bit when you think about it!

Perhaps the most exciting thing for her happened last night after we left. According to the day nurse, she was fussy and moving around last night, so the night nurse thought, "lets see what she'll do with a bottle." And our Myla did not disappoint. She took 3 cc's from the bottle, or about 1/2 a teaspoon. Not a lot, but she did it without choking and that is a very big feat. They won't start giving her one every feeding, or probably even every other one, but she's just about there. Its a big jump we can see coming!

Don't forget to cast your vote in our poll! Its in the upper left hand corner...