Hello Miles

What an adventure Ruby is having. So far she has been very curious about who's living in this new crate. We haven't let her get very close yet. But she seems to harbor only the gentlest of thoughts for Miles. She is nothing less than amazed to see such a tiny person. Lenny on the other hand seems intent to sleep for all of us as if to say "Wake me up when it's over."

 

Miles' First Bath

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Here comes Miles

After Eleven days of NICU captivity, we will finally be bringing Miles home. Lenny and Ruby are beside themselves and after a sleepless night of anxiety they are overwhelmed with delight and anticipation. Mom's breast milk is high octane all right. Miles put on 70 grams in one day off of that fortifier. To put that into perspective, the average is 15 grams per day. Healthy Italian cooking wins again.

So that's it. We're going in at eleven this morning to fill out a mountain of paperwork and officially gain receipt of our son. Stay tuned.

Grow Miles Grow

While everything appears to be on the up and up, the doctor said tonight that she would like Miles to stay for a little while longer. His extra heart beat is still around. (extra love) We're also not seeing the weight gain the doctor would like. There was some discussion as to weather or not Miles should take fortifier with his milk to help him bulk up. He tried it but then puked all over dad for the first time. While this could have been a result of bad burping, fortifiers are the subject of some controversy online. So we're putting the supplements on hold and first thing monday we'll do a caloric evaluation of Moms milk. If it's more than 24 calories per ounce fortifiers are not necessary. I've seen Mom's milk and I'm guessing 25 cal/oz.

Almost home

 

Being 5 weeks early has its disadvantages. The dogs suffering confusion of where Mom's bump has gone to. Missing out on that awkward 9th month of pregnancy. But leaving the hospital without this new person has got to be the worst. Miles has been in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of North Western Memorial Hospital for 6 days now and he's getting bored of it. He is left to spend his time on the perch of some neoclassical incubator know only as "the Giraffe." Thankfully the facility is wonderful and allows parents 24 hour access to his private suite. We immediately free Miles from his warmer and stuff him, wires and all, into our bare chested embrace. (This is known as Kangaroo Care). We each take turns in the supplied recliner feeding and lulling to the sounds of ocean breeze or whatever comes next on the relaxing nursery rhymes playlist. (thank you Nina)


We are told the diagnoses are common. A touch of jaundice, low blood sugar, premature sleep apnea and an annoying case of Bradycardia (look it up). Overall he is improving well. But each time he has a Bradycariac event it's 5 more days on his NICU sentence. Last event: Wed the 22nd. Poor Lenny and Ruby. They just need to meet this little guy.

Not just another day

Apparently a baby's due date is just as reliable as that date arbitrarily stamped onto the side of your milk carton. It was 5 weeks on the early side when our baby's bag of water broke, almost as if something caught his nose from the kitchen that night and he just had to get out for a better sniff. Dinner would be on hold for the next two nights.

I think this picture sums up all of the excitement as we went from a fluid test in triage that confirmed pre labor to being whisked up to room 869 where "it" would all go down. We laughed and laughed. Check out photos of the 38 hour baby debutante gala, complete with aromatherapy, chakra healing music and our Doula Valerie under "Image Galleries" in the upper right.