It'll be great when all them tubes is out of her!

We are learning a new dance. It's called "manage to put the baby in the other parent's lap without getting tangled in wires and tubes". Neither of us dance well.



We've been worried about the lack of a bowel movement. Until today. Amanda made me promise not to be too graphic about my description. Let me just throw a couple of things out: Slurpee machines. Odwalla Superfood. "We brought in a gusher!!!". There.



She's been so wonderful about eating. Nevertheless, the nurse today put a gavage tube through her sinuses into her tummy. The fear is that as her feeds increase, the energy expended to get the food in her will increase to the point where she will either have to stay awake longer (and expend more energy eating) or eat faster (which happens sometimes, but not always). I wouldn't want to be the night shift nurse trying to get her to wake up at 2 AM so she will finish her bottle. Still, when she feeds, she usually eats quickly.



She's such a wonderful little girl.


Anyone who knows me well knows about my triskadekaphobia, or more accurately, my paraskevidekatriaphobia, that is, my fear of the number 13, especially days that fall on Friday the 13th. Even though I had my leg crushed between two cars that day and later that year got into a car accident on another one, I decided that I'm a man now and that I have to put away childish fears, so I don't fear going to work any more on that day and I even thought about the fact that I formally received my masters degree on Friday, June 13, 2003, so nothing bad will necessarily happen on that day, right?

Right before we left, a nurse practitioner met with us and discussed first some confusion about a cranial ultrasound done on June 2 and June 9. TG usually orders one on every infant by S.O.P., and for some reason, did Clare twice, thinking that the earlier one had not been done. On the second one, the radiologist noted that Clare has some what is called "grade one" cranial bleeding. The ARNP explained that grade one is the mildest, that it usually never ends up causing any developmental disabilities, and usually shows up within 7 days of birth (hence the date of the first one). Why it showed up only on the second and not on the first was a mystery to her, but she wanted us to know that the data was in the chart and those results had been noted.

So, "grade one" cranial bleeding. After hearing about the PDA, the VSA, and the blood in her stool, I guess I'll keep my little obsessive phobias.

I'm scared. But I'm also determined. I want this little girl to have a good life.