It's official...Miller is gaining weight! He weighed in 11 days ago at 2 lbs 1 ounce and he's back to his birthweight! Most babies (term and preterm) lose a little weight just after birth. With preterms, it's a little more difficult to get them back on the weight gain train. With Miller, it's a result of his tummy overcoming his initial troubles with distention, etc.. So, they're increasing his portions and he'll hopefully continue to put on weight. We even got a good poop today! At'a boy!

The doctors are watching his glucose/insulin levels very closely. He needs to gain weight so they increase his glucose, which equals calories to fatten him up. He's not big enough to produce the amount of insulin needed to regulate his body, so he'll continue to get it via the drip to balance out the glucose. This is fairly normal and he'll hopefully begin regulating himself soon. And, the more feedings he tolerates, the less glucose he'll need.

We're trying not to think about tomorrow's cranial ultrasound. We're both pretty nervous about it. Dad has a bottle of Ambien on the nightstand and tonight might be the night he cracks the lid. As a result of the scan, we should learn if his IVH has stabilized. That's really about all they'll be able to tell us at this point, but that would be huge. Please say an extra little prayer for that one.

So here's something pretty cool...there's a group of volunteers at Seton who knit little blankets for the NICU babies' cribs. We know there are a couple of nurses that have a little crush on Miller, but we think one of the volunteers might be sweet on him, too. When we got there this afternoon for mom's kangaroo, Miller was wearing a new, freshly knitted, royal blue stocking cap (pictured). The nurses think it's so cute that they've ordered dad his own cap to match.

Thanks to all. Keep the positivity coming.

Love,
Danny and Stephanie