We haven't officially heard any news from Dr. George on Miller's latest scan. We take this to mean there is no real news. The doc on duty stopped by to interpret the radiologist's notes tonight while we were hangin' with the Baby Roo, and he told us a bunch of nothing. We're fine with that. As we mentioned before, we really only want to speak with Dr. George (the neurosurgeon) if anything changes.

Miller had a great day and a great evening. In all, we had almost 3 hours of kangaroo time today. He's getting used to our little routine and is settling in pretty quickly. The trick is to get him after he drops a bomb, because once he does, he's cranky until he's so fresh and so clean. We have a theory that he sometimes desats because he's holding his breath so he doesn't have to smell it. The problem is, he is most relaxed when we kangaroo. His favorite thing is when momma rocks and sings--it calms him down very quickly. We'll let you know when the album drops. Look for the hit single 'Miller Had a Little Lamb'...

*Someone sent us a book titled: PREEMIES: The Essential Guide for Parents of Premature Babies . However, there was no note so we do not know who to thank! So, if it was you, thank you very much & please let us know! **Disclaimer: If you told us that you were sending it, just keep a few things in mind. 1) We have left the keys in the front door overnight three times in the last three weeks. 2) We left a casserole in the oven for 3 days straight. 3) We forgot that we put a box of cookies in the oven to keep them from the dogs and then turned the oven on to preheat it for another casserole. These are just a few examples of why we can't be trusted to remember ANYTHING, so please forgive :).

We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Love,

Danny & Stephanie

We love the nurses. We really do. They're all very well trained and highly qualified. Most of them have some level of emotional attachment to the babies in the NICU. They change diapers, talk to the babies, and try to comfort them as much they can.

But, we seem to meet at least one or two new nurses every week. In the 4+ weeks that Miller's been in the NICU, He's probably had 15 different nurses. Again, they're all very capable. But each baby has his own quirks. For example, most of the kids in the NICU don't mind a dirty diaper (or so the nurses tell us). Miller can't stand it. He'll squirm and whine and even "Desat"(desaturation, drop in oxygen) if he needs to be changed. He's also a big fan of good poop and works pretty hard to accomplish that, resulting in some lower oxygen levels. We know this about him. We also know that it usually takes him a few minutes to adjust to the cannula from the CPAP and that he really likes to rest on his belly. Unfortunately, because the nurses change so much, he's consistently subjected to new interpretations of his body language, etc. It's fairly frustrating. There are times when, while kangarooing for example, he'll act up and a new nurse will respond by telling us we should put him back in his isolette. In reality, he's probably just hot and we need to take one of the blankets off.

Yesterday was a tough day because Mom didn't get to Kangaroo in the afternoon. Miller's oxygen saturation was a little low (according to another new nurse) and his color wasn't where she wanted it to be. We probably could have pushed the issue, but we decided to give Miller a break in the hopes that he would continue to rest peacefully and be ready for a good session today.

All told, we really wish we could have some form of continuous care. We've identified primary nurses, but sometimes their schedules conflict or they're needed on a special assignment.

We'll see how it goes today.
Thanks for checking in on us and thanks for the prayers!

Love,
Danny & Stephanie

At last we reach 3 lbs!

With the weight gain and maturity we are also seeing much more of those baby blues. Miller seems to be more alert every day. He often looks around and responds to the sounds of mom & dad's voices along with the multitude of bells and whistles in the NICU. Mom caught him crossing his eyes yesterday and panicked (yeow!), but the nurses say this is normal and even term babies do it.

Yesterday, one of the nurse practitioners approached mom about Miller's first vaccine-Hepatitis B. With all of the hype about vaccines and Austism these days, we are a little apprehensive about giving our three-pounder a shot so soon. There's a lot of information out there but the trick is in finding current information.

Gestationally, Miller is 31 weeks. This means that in the next couple of weeks he will get to begin learning how to breastfeed and bottlefeed. He is already sucking on his paci like a champ (Maggie Simpson style)! So he is doing well with one of the skills he will need to eat on his own. Learning to suck-swallow-breathe is much trickier than just sucking...and the nurses warn us that this is a big challange for all preemies. We're just looking forward to setting new goals and helping him reach them.

So far, we are having a good week. We pray that Miller's course continues on this path of progression. We know that there are so many of you praying for him and those prayers are essential! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Love,

Danny & Stephanie

We're inching closer to 3 pounds! Miller weighs 2 lbs 15 1/2 ounces! He's up to 27 cc's of fortified milk and we hope he continues to tolerate the increasing volume. Miller's reflux has subsided, as well. His pump delivers his 27 cc's over the course of 60 minutes and we think the extended duration has helped.

Mom and Dad are a little more comfortable with his various machines. We know where all of the tubes and wires are supposed to go, so we can move him around a little more without having a heart attack.

Miller seems to be settling into a rhythm. He very rarely experiences a Bradycardia episode ( heart rate drop ) and when he does, he fixes it himself. But, he needs a little help from time to time on his O2. Room air is 21% and we'd love it if Miller could sustain the normal blood oxygen level on his own. However, because his lungs are still developing, he gets assistance from the CPAP or the nasal cannula. A couple of weeks ago, he was cruising right along with very little help. Lately, he's needed a little more assistance. He'll normally sit right around 29%, but when he gets tired we have to kick it up to 34% or 35% on his Oxygen level. We think it might be attributed to the fact that he's using a lot of energy eating and growing. We hope that's the case, anyway.

Overall, we're very pleased with his progress. We're about a third of the way home, so we've still got a long way to go. Thanks so much for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Love,
Danny & Stephanie