4-18 update

I realized that I have never put down what Kylie’s measurements are.  She is 18” long, and was born 4 lbs 14 oz.  She dropped in weight, as do all babies, dipping down to 4 lbs 7 oz.  As of tonight she weighs 4 lbs 10 oz.  The sad part is, she is the largest baby in the NICU by a long shot.  One baby in there is 2.5 lbs, and was born at only a pound and a half!  She looks huge next to them.  Her due date wasn’t until April 26^th, so she was two weeks early.  That explains part of why she’s so small, but her genetic condition is part of the reason too.

 For some reason, the kidney exam didn’t happen today.  The nurse I just spoke with had no idea why, so I assume it will happen tomorrow.  Her IV was removed today, since she is eating.  Amy nursed her for the first time today, and she is eating mommy’s milk regularly now.  It is nice to see the needles come out.  She no longer had oxygen tubes, and both IV’s are now gone, so it is a big relief.  All she has besides monitors is a feeding tube.  It is through her nose, which she isn’t too happy about.  She sneezed a million times when they put it in, but she’s used to it now.  It doesn’t look too fun to me, though.  It isn’t in her mouth anymore so that she can nurse and they can leave it in.  Otherwise, they’d have to put it in and out every day.

She was more alert and awake today than we’ve ever seen.  She had her eyes open and was looking around.  I know “grandma” says it is gas, but she smiled at us, which was nice.

Being so wholly consumed with our own problems, Amy and I have hardly even paid attention to the news of the horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech.  We were talking with the nurses at the hospital about it yesterday when it happened, so no one was sure about details yet.  We talked about what a scary world this can be.  Our experiences this past week show something quite different, however.  We are amazed at the overflow of help we are being offered.  Everyone wants to know what they can do, and the reality is… not much.  We are so thankful for the meals that are being brought in (Amy and the kids are REALLY grateful-they weren’t looking forward to Chef Daddy’s Ramen Noodle and Hot Dog Buffet).  Some awesome guys from church even mowed our lawn yesterday.  I wonder if I can keep that going all summer long…hmm… and everyone is so generous with their time, offering to baby-sit the kids so we can be at the hospital.  It really restores faith in society.  There are a few nut cases, but overall, this is a very generous and kind world.

One challenge we are facing now is Dallin and Emily.  They are having a tough time with Mommy being gone so much and spending so much time away from her.  Emily is old enough to understand a lot (she’s 4 ½), but Dallin is not (he turns 2 on Friday).  As much as we appreciate the offers to baby-sit, we need to keep things as normal as possible for him especially.  Using family to baby-sit helps, and we’re hoping to do visits during nap time so he doesn’t realize how long Amy is gone.  Anyway, we hope no one is offended when we don’t take you up on offers to help, but we’re in “damage control” mode with the older kids.  Not to say that things won’t change… hopefully Kylie will come home soon and we won’t have to worry about it anymore.

These pictures are from a couple of days ago, so she has more tubes and wires in them than she currently does.