Following requests from both grandmothers.... here have some more pictures. Daniel's up to 2 pounds 9 ounces, so we'll probably never see his ribs again. He also has a new air tube mask thingy. The old one was irritating him and he seems to hate the new one less. Then again, the new one nudges out of position far more easily so the nurses hate it more.




See the beige band-aid looking thing with the white wire? That's his pulse/oxygen saturation sensor. It's sticky and normally supposed to be wrapped around a foot. Then on top of it to make sure it doesn't come off, the nurses put a foam and velcro band just for good measure. That would be the blue and white curled up thing next to it.


HAIR!!!! He's got a big 'ole swirl right in the middle just like his old man.

It's been a couple of days since they last saw any sign of infection, and he seems to be pretty much back into the swing of things. Plus, I think he's getting eyebrows.

Daniel's been pretty sick since last I've updated this blog. Over the last week or so he's been having sharply increased apneas and bradycardia (breathing stopping and/or heart rate dropping precipitously). He also was moving around a whole lot less. Normally he's about as much of a fireball as you can expect less than two pounds of human to be, but he had been particularly low-key. Turns out he had a blood infection. Every time they jab him with a needle or poke him to take blood (daily occurrence) he runs the risk of getting an infection. They try to be careful, but stuff happens.

He's since mostly gotten over it with the help of all sorts of interesting sounding chemicals.

Prior to getting sick, he had been ramped up to full feeds and they had juuuust removed the PICC line that makes it so they wouldn't have to stick him with an IV line once every 8 hours or so. Figures.


Anyway, have a load of pictures....

June 1st



June 3rd: Kangaroo care. Kids just plain do better when they're sitting on mommy's chest. Apparently women have this special power where they magically get warmer to keep the baby warm. This was the first time that mom got to hold the little guy.



June 4th: Kangaroo care with daddy. Guys do NOT have this same special power. Daniel's temperature dropped and he had trouble keeping his heart rate up. Won't be doing that for a little while until he's got more fat on him, or at least we've got a nice warm blanket tossed into the mix. This was the first time dad got to hold the little fella. Best birthday present ever.



June 7th: This is the NICU code cart. All the other stuff in the NICU is super-high-tech. The bed he started off in costs $40K and this is one of 5 hospitals in the state that have such a bed. Meanwhile, the NICU code cart came from Sears... and not recently either.



June 10th: It's never too early to rock on...




"Come back to my crib, I show you my 'hood."


Rare picture of his eyes open. Had to take like 15 shots to get this one. Granted, eyes are something we're seeing a bit more often, but he probably sleeps 23 and a half hours a day. This includes time that they're jabbing him in the heel and squeezing blood samples out.



June 12th: "What the heck are you lookin' at??"



June 13th

His little hand is holding my finger, how cute!!! Ok, so the picture is posed and took about 9 tries, get over it. If you're a parent, then you already know this. Just click the image, throw it through a photo printer and go "Awwww", k?

Pretty much all preemies and a bunch of full-term kids need to be put under a light. Normally red blood cells die off all day long and they're cleaned up by the placenta. Well, some jerk stole his placenta so the liver is supposed to kick in and do its thing. It these cases they get jaundice to some degree. You can put them out in the sun which is considerably more cost effective, but they look far cooler if you put them under a light and give them shades.

Here he's got the under light turned on. I like it because it looks like he's been modded with neon lights.


Incidentally, he was on some potpourri of anti-biotics, but I don't think any of them were penicillin.