Nina's out & we're moved!

It turned out that Nina left the hospital at almost the precise moment
when the last piece of furniture was moved into our new apartment!

Special thanks to the moving crew (pictured below, minus one who left
early and another who came later)... and to those who helped packing!

And SUPER special thanks to our friends in Burlington who are taking
care of Dawning and Nina!

Discharge!

Blog readers!

Nina passed her car seat challenge, and has moved to a pram (see photo)!

The doctor is discharging her from the hospital TOMORROW!

Dawning is preparing to spend the night at the hospital tonight, then she and Nina will stay with friends in Burlington for a night or two, and then drive to NYC (she might wait the extra day to avoid driving in a storm)...!

Tomorrow, for the first time, Nina will see the sun (not directly, of course), feel the breeze, and smell fresh air!

Hooray!

!!!!!

Sorry for the delay, blog readers - yesterday was hectic!

But we return with great news: Nina is being prep'd to move to a "pram" - an open air bed. No more heated isolette!

She gained 112 grams last night! Nina now weighs 5 pounds, 8 ounces!

So many exclamation points!

Lastly, at rounds this morning, Nina's doc said he thinks she'd need to stay in the hospital only a few more days!

Little sweetie is coming home!

Hug me!

Good news!

Nina gained 27 grams last night - again, a modest amount, but definitely a step in the right direction!

Best of all: the tube stays out!

According to Dawning, she's eating like a barracuda, then sleeping like a log.

Here she is in a shirt with a little *bling* on it ("hug me")... a gift from a co-worker at PS 30!

Stay tuned, blog readers, because the word on the street is that Nina will be coming home very soon!

Still no tube!

Little sweetie seems to be a "cluster" eater. She didn't eat well all day, then went at it like a maniac around 4:30pm!

Nina didn't gain weight last night - she actually lost 10 grams, but the docs decided to keep her tube out for another day.

Her main doc actually thinks she might be ready to go next week!

Look ma, no tube!

Well, it turns out that Nina's gavage tube wiggled out last night (a by-product of some serious squirming action), so the docs decided to keep it out as an experiment for 24 hours or so.

The idea is to see if she gains weight without any gavage feedings. Last night she did in fact gain weight - a modest 18 grams.

Today she's been sleepy and reluctant to feed, so we'll have to see how she does this afternoon/evening.

In these pics, you can see her catching a little beauty sleep.

They'll probably make a decision tonight about whether or not to put another gavage tube back in.

Many of you are asking (understandably so) about when Nina will be coming home.

Mainly, it depends on her. Once she's able to feed orally and gain weight consistently without a gavage tube, that will be a sign that we're super-close to the finish line.

However, Dawning just told me that Nina had an alarm last night. The hospital's rule is that each alarm re-sets her discharge clock for (at least) one week.

So, as eager as we are to bring her home (and BELIEVE you me, we're eager), we can only move at Nina's pace.

Stay tuned!

Milk drunk

Family photo!

Well, that was yesterday.

Today, Nina took 50 cc's from breast-feeding in one session - a record for her!

They decided to let her feed orally "at liberty", rather than every 3 hours via gavage (the tube through her nose to her stomach).

But even with Mommy sitting by her side all day, little sweetie wasn't eating enough to put gavage feedings behind her forever.

Oral feedings still kinda wear her out. Dawning sent me the second picture here with the caption: "milk drunk."

Pick me up!

When we arrived at the hospital this morning, little sweetie was just waking up. Moments later, she started banging her little hand on the glass of her isolette, as if to say, "Pick me up!"

Daddy and Nina had another great nap today.

Now it's Mommy's turn to hold her for breast-feeding.

The nurse tells us Nina's weight is now exactly 5 pounds and one ounce!

Yay!

Nap time

Nina gained about 45 grams last night - that's pretty good considering she burned a lot of calories fussing and breastfeeding (4x!).

Daddy and Nina took two naps together today.

Sources report a snoring sound coming from their general vicinity.

Was that from Daddy or Nina?

We'll never know... :)

Look at those cheeks!

Nina is doing really well.

She gained 16 grams last night. She weighs 4.85 pounds.

Just look at those cheeks!

The latest eye exam showed that her eyes are still immature, but there's still no sign of retinopathy, which is a good thing.

Daddy's heading to the airport. See you soon, sweetie!

Shower!

Nina gained about 40 grams last night, and took a whole bottle on her own steam!

Way to go!

The doctors came by this morning during rounds, and mused out loud that they think Nina might be able to come home in a week or a week and a half...!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, that's just a guess, but it's progress!

Meanwhile, back in NYC, Brian's co-workers threw him a surprise baby shower today!

Nina got soooooo many cute things.

THANK YOU P.S. 30 CREW!

I Heart Dancing

Is that a cute onesie (or is it "onesy") or what?

Apparently Nina does like dancing - she was kicking her little legs like crazy last night. She put up quite a fuss until her nurse picked her up.

She just wanted to be held!

Can you blame her?

Still, she managed to gain 32 grams overnight.

'Looks like she gained alot of it in those cheeks!

The Little Barracuda

Nina has passed out after a breast-feeding marathon!

She breast-fed three times today: one time for 35 minutes, another time for 45 minutes, and a third time for about 30 minutes!

The nurses joked that she was like a little "barracuda" today!

Nina was very gassy and sometimes got very grumpy until Mommy would burp her.

Mommy's heading out for some well-deserved rest!

We're moving!

Little one is doing well.

She gained 52 grams last night!

The docs told Dawning that Nina's hematocrit (proportion of red blood cells) is up - her bone marrow is maturing!

Dawning is still taking it easy, but is feeling almost back to full strength.

NEWS FLASH: we're moving!

Brian JUST signed a lease on a new apartment - about 20 blocks south of our current location.

The new place is a little bit bigger and a little bit nicer.... Nina's first home!

Thanks

A trying weekend overall, but a happy ending - as you can see in these photos!

Thanks to all who helped us get through it... who cooked for us, brought us food, nursed Dawning back to health, drove us to and fro, and purchased presents for Nina - WE LOVE YOU!

Mommy's on the mend

Mommy's on the mend. She's up on her feet, and visited with Nina this morning.

Little sweetie did a really good job with breast-feeding - those cheeks are getting stronger, and she emites a cute grunting noise throughout.

Afterwards, Nina returned to her isolette for a nap. She's 2006 grams - that's about 4 pounds, 6 ounces!

A little scare

Blog readers!

Pardon our absence again yesterday. Dawning had a little scare and went to the emergency room. She's fine now, and resting, but Brian flew up and is helping to take care of her.

Thank you to all of her well-wishers!

Nina is doing well. She gained 100 grams last night!

Here, you can see Daddy practicing bottle-feeding her.

And lastly, we offer a close-up video of Nina in awake-and-alert mode.

Hello, sweetie!

1888

Nina is now up to 1888 grams - roughly 4 pounds, 2 ounces.

She's outgrown her only medicine - caffeine - Nina's just resting and growing!

We missed an entry on the blog yesterday - it was a VERY hectic day for Mommy and Daddy, (separately).

But we're back - stay tuned for your Nina news!

Almost four pounds

Mommy reports that Nina gained 7 grams last night (she's almost four pounds now!), and that she passed her hearing test! Good going, sweetie!

Otherwise, it's a typical day in Nina's world: pooping, peeing, and working on her breastfeeding skills.

'Sleepin' like a baby!

Happy Mother's Day!

When we arrived at the hospital this morning, we found a wonderful surprise - a Mother's Day card from Nina was taped to her isolette, signed with her footprints! Around the border, it reads: "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy, I love you! Hugs and Kisses From Nina, xoxo - May 9, 2010."

How sweet!

Mommy and Daddy spent time holding her this morning, and Nina was mostly pretty groggy.

After lunch, we gave her a bath (her second!). Nina enjoyed the bath. She didn't cry once, but seemed really calm and alert throughout. In the video, you can see her chomping like crazy on her pacifier.

What is this?

Daddy is so happy to be back in Burlington, holding Nina! They have a good time together, making little sounds to each other, and staring into each other's eyes.

Pretty soon, they both get sleepy!

Nina's up to 1755 grams, which is about 3 pounds, 14 ounces - almost 4 pounds!

Nina's a busy little girl. When she's not working on her breast-feeding skills, she's either sleeping, or laying down some seriously stinky poops, or both.

Nina LOVES to suck on her little pacifier, and she is always eager to breast-feed, but when the nurse tried to give her a bottle today (for the first time), she was utterly confused. Most of the milk ended up on her chin. The look on her face ("This isn't my pacifier, and it isn't a boob, WHAT IS THIS?") was so cute, we had to capture it on film.

See you soon!

Super quick blog post: Nina had a good night, gained 26 grams (her weight just passed 1700 grams), and continues to breastfeed.

Yesterday, Nina peed on mommy's hand while she was changing her diaper!

Daddy's running to the airport! See you soon, sweetie!

A rough day

Nina's resting after a really rough day.

She had her eye exam this morning - preemies can sometimes have poor development of the blood vessels in their eyes. So they have to numb the area and hold the eyes open. Naturally, Nina hated this whole procedure. Her eyes got really puffy and she cried and cried. Dawning said she's never seen Nina cry so much.

She was so upset that she puked and pooped at the same time. Dawning tried to change her little diaper, and Nina was kicking and crying - poor little sweetie!

The good news is that Nina has NO signs of retinopathy. Her eyes are still immature, but that's normal. The doc is going to check them again in two weeks.

Cute-o-meter

Nina had a good night: no alarms, and gained 23 grams.

Dawning reports that Nina's new favorite thing is to kick her little legs like crazy. Speaking of which, it sure seems like those legs are getting chubbier, huh? (see picture #2 here)

The glowing red thing around her left foot is a device for monitoring the amount of oxygen in her blood - it does so by shining a light through her foot.

Too bad there's no device to measure cuteness!

1685

Here we see the little wriggle monster all tangled up in her wires. Mommy and Daddy simply cannot wait to get those things off of her (they're not invasive - just taped to her skin to monitor her vitals - except the feeding tube in her nose, of course).

Good news: Nina got 10 cc's of breast milk from her own sucking power! How did they know the amount? Answer: they weighed her before and after suckling.

She's now up to 1,685 grams, which is about 3.7 pounds.

And lastly, we have a picture of grandma saying goodbye to Nina - the first non-parent relative to get to hold little sweetie! Don't be jealous - if you're reading this, your turn is coming soon. And by "soon", I mean some time in the next two months... :)

Wriggle-Monster

Nina gained only 3 grams yesterday - Mommy said it was because she was such a "wriggle-monster"! Apparently she wriggled down into the corner of isolette again!

Otherwise, she had a good night, and a nice visit this morning. Mommy held her and she slept peacefully. Nina's cheeks are getting stronger. Dawning says she's really getting good at sucking on her pacifier!

Sadly, Grandma Karen heads back to the west coast tomorrow. All we can say is a big THANK YOU to her for coming through with a lot of help these past two weeks. We will miss you!

Eyes wide open

What a great weekend we had with Nina! Today she is one calendar month old!

Nina is very healthy and is getting stronger. Of course, these things are hard to gauge, but the doctors speculate that she may be able to come home as early as four weeks from now! (fingers crossed)

Mommy and Daddy spent many hours holding her, and found that she is getting more and more interested in looking at everything around her... including Mommy and Daddy!

Here's a little video of Nina on Daddy's chest... eyes wide open and curious!