CaseyAndKelly.Com

As of Brady’s weigh in last night, she weighs 4 pounds 15.5 ounces. Almost 5 pounds but not quite. I don’t know if her length has changed yet but the nurses should measure her again tonight. Other than the weight gain not much else has changed, we’re just eagerly watching her eat and hoping she picks up on it quickly. So far so good with the eating – she’s picking up how to eat both from the breast and the bottle. Yesterday her nurse estimated she’d be home in the next 2-3 weeks and today said she thought Brady’d be home by the end of the month. I asked her if she really meant that and she said she thought January 31st would be a fabulous time to go home. This is the first estimate we’ve really gotten and we sure are hoping she’s right!

It doesn’t really feel like Kelly and I are real parents yet. More like we have been taking the dealer model out for a test drive for a few hours each day. Hopefully soon they will just give us the keys and we can leave the lot.

Brady is swelling up nicely, 4 lb 12oz today. Probably will hit 5 lbs by this weekend. She has already grown out of some of the clothes that everyone got her just a few weeks ago. So now she will have some baby doll clothes for when she is bigger.

Work has been very quiet as of late, and that has come as a relief to me. It has allowed me to “work” from the hospital for the most part without much interruption.

Not really much else going on right now. I’m pretty sure Kelly will post some more pics up later.

Today marks 34 weeks gestational age for Brady. This is a big week for her because 34 weeks is generally when babies can start to grasp the concept of suck/swallow/breathe. Yesterday she had her first two bottle feedings – one on each shift. And today she was able to attempt breastfeeding three times. She’s been trying to nuzzle for about 10 days now and has been getting increasingly coordinated at it. We’re pretty excited about everything because eating on her own is the last step before Brady can come home. A preemie eating on its own is the hardest thing for them to do because they’re so small and get worn out so easily and involves using several different skills simultaneously. How quickly a baby picks up on this varies by baby. The nurses have said sometimes a baby will only take a few days to pick things up and other times it will take weeks. We’re praying and super hopeful that she picks things up sooner rather than later.

As of Sunday, Brady is measuring 17″ long and as of last night’s weigh in she’s 4 pounds 7.5 ounces! Our little girl is getting so big – she’s up almost 18 ounces in 3 weeks – and has made huge progress for a preemie.

Brady now has her papers. Both her birth certificate and social security card came in the mail on the same day. Now we have government documents to prove she’s ours!

We had a minor freak out yesterday at the hospital. It probably wasn’t as big of a deal as I made it out to be (I hope). But it scared the piss out of me none the less.

All day Brady’s oxygen was all skewed on her face, spending less time in her nose and more time pressed into her cheer or lips. So just before we were about to leave I asked the nurse to adjust it. Well the cannula is held to her face by these two stickers that are stuck to either side of her head, kind of like double stick tape. They are adhered to her head then have a flap that you can pull down to stick the hose into, then close the flap. At the top of the flap is a small tab that allows you to grip the flap without getting stuck… you get the point.

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There is a pic to kind of show you what I’m talking about.

Well the yellowish tab broke/tore off while the nurse was dicking with it and somehow ended up in Brady’s mouth.  I just happened to be holding her and she opened her mouth while looking at me and I saw it on the back of her tongue.  At that point I kinda flipped out, the nurse was acting like it was no big deal and after some fishing with her finger and a cotton square she managed to get it stuck to the roof of her mouth and then out.

She had said that has never happened before.  /Sigh