En route

We're on our way home.... literally (I'm using a wireless card on a laptop... isn't that crazy?!). Micah is very much asleep. Before his 1:00 feeding, he was given a Tylenol suppository to relieve the next invasive procedure which involved two shots. Poor little boy. Then he was completely awake for almost an hour and will hopefully sleep all the way home. I'll post some photos later.

Going home Friday

The discharge process has begun and we will be taking Micah home on Friday. Yes, home home. Not to another NICU. I did all of his g-tube care and feedings today, along with giving him his medication this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll do the car seat study (he has to spend 2 hours in his car seat to make sure he doesn't desat, etc.). I haven't decided whether I'm going to "room in" with him on Thursday night. They're leaving it up to me, but the neonatologist said that if I wanted one more night of sleep to feel free to take it. :-)

Micah actually did pretty well with his oral feeding today. Over his 3 mid-day feedings he took about 80 cc's orally. Not bad. He probably would have taken more but I stopped his last one because he was breathing too hard. When he gets to that point, he's probably burning more calories than he's getting.

I'm so excited to get on with our next phase. But it involves so much more than when we brought Nathan home from the hospital. Home health will be coming in twice a week to weigh Micah and check our supplies. Micah is on three medications for his heart. There will be speech therapists and physical therapists visiting Micah at the house (and eventually occupational therapists). There will be visits to the cardiologist. There will be visits to the surgeon for follow-up. Feeding him is a bit more involved than feeding a "normal" baby. And nevermind the fact that he has a button on his belly with a flip top that opens directly into his stomach. Whew, that makes me overwhelmed to put it all down in print. But it's a good reminder that God's grace is enough: He will provide me with the strength I need for each day (and hour and minute). "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." (Matthew 6:34)

Post-Op

Micah is doing quite well today. He is only on Tylenol for pain relief. His first feeding was at 10:00am this morning and he wasn't too interested in eating, so he received his first g-tube feeding. He tolerated it well. He ate (orally) about half of his 1:00 feeding, a little of his 4:00, and practically none of his 7:00. He'll be up to his new volume by early in the morning and he gets his last dose of antibiotics tomorrow (I think), so he should get his IV line out tomorrow. The neonatologist hopes to send him home at the end of the week. Wahoo! Thanks for your prayers, everyone.
[By the way... Micah now weighs 7lbs 14oz]

Surgery # 2 complete

We (Mark and I) arrived in Milwaukee yesterday afternoon (we were about an hour or so behind Micah). The NICU here is PACKED and he's sharing a room. They moved one baby out this afternoon so now there are just two of them in there. But his roommate is fairly high maintenance and cries a lot so it's rather loud in there. Anyway...

We were at the hospital rather late last night because it took a while for Micah to get "cleared" by the cardiology team. And as Mark says, the surgery is sort of the side show... the main event is the anesthesia. So we spent some time with the anesthesiology team this morning. They changed his anesthesiologist this morning. Not sure if it was intentional, but he ended up with the Chief.

Micah made it through surgery just fine. He has been very uncomfortable most of the afternoon, though. I think they shot low on the dose of morphine due to his heart condition, and adding a dose of Tylenol didn't improve things much. It was so hard hearing him scream in pain. He's usually a pretty laid back baby. They up'd his morphine and he seems to be settling in well this evening. He had an elevated temperature and an elevated heart rate around 5:00, but both are back to normal now.

The surgeon went ahead and put in a MIC-Key button (which, strangely, is a K-C product). I had been told that he would likely get one in a few weeks and that he would start with the feeding tube being longer while the incision healed. I guess that's one less thing to take care of later. The button is basically resting against his skin and has a sort of cap to open and attach a feeding tube (making it less bulky under his clothing). Micah is receiving IV fluids today and they'll begin feeding him through his tube tomorrow. We don't know how long we'll be here, but I'm hoping it's just a few more days. It all depends how quickly Micah's system handles the recovery from surgery (aka, how quickly food makes its way through his system).

It's interesting being back after being in Neenah for 3.5 weeks. The baby who was next door to Micah back in early January is still in the same location and it was fun to see her mom again. And we have gotten some double-takes from some nurses to whom we then say, "We're baaaack." Micah's nurse overnight was someone we hadn't met yet, but we have a mutual friend: she attends church with a friend of mine from jr high / high school and this nurse has been praying for Micah since before he was born (our friend put him on his church's prayer list). Isn't God awesome!?

Oh, and we did get into the Ronald McDonald House again. What a huge blessing! It definitely has helped us that we have arrived on a weekend day both times we came down here. Mark headed back to Neenah this afternoon and he'll come back to get us when Micah is discharged.

Thank you for your continued prayers for Micah. We can't wait to bring him home.

Surgery scheduled

Micah's surgery to insert his g-tube is scheduled for Monday at 9:00am. We are leaving for Milwaukee at 11:00am Sunday. They say we'll be there 3 days after surgery and that he'll be discharged from there.

Micah's heart is definitely getting weaker. He's sleeping A LOT and isn't too interested in eating most of the time (though when he engages in his feeding, he does very well, so it's not that he's not capable of the suck/swallow/breathe thing). It's pretty scary, actually, thinking about your son going in for another surgery when he's weaker than he was when he was born.

I'm bummed that he's getting a g-tube. We really wanted to avoid that. But I'm even more bummed that he NEEDS a g-tube. It means his heart is too weak to eat enough. Our biggest fear is that we'll miss out on some critical months of mental development while he's not strong enough to engage in life.

I'll find out tomorrow whether I'm able to get into the Ronald McDonald House. If not, I'll be crashing with my future sister-in-law. Mark is planning to meet me down there to bring Micah home, but we'd rather save his time off for after Micah comes home.

No room at the inn

It's time for Micah to get the g-tube so that he can come home. The surgical team in Milwaukee could have fit him in tomorrow, but the NICU is full. We hope to hear today whether they can schedule it on Monday or Tuesday.

Please pray that he can get in soon so that we can get him home. Also, I have a cold and I haven't been able to spend much time with Micah (I haven't fed him since Tuesday). His little body can't handle a slight cold so it's important that I not get him sick. We're going to protect him as well as we can, and that probably means staying home for the next few months until he can get his heart repaired. Please pray for sanity for me as I won't be very mobile.

Oxygen

It appears we were making the right decision by not giving Micah oxygen if he didn't need it (i.e., if he had desats, which he doesn't often have). According to his cardiologist, with his left-to-right shunt, his lungs are getting quite enough oxygen, thank you very much. Not all heart defects are the same. And not all babies are the same. As his nurse said today, oxygen is a drug and needs to be managed accordingly. [to the person who posted a comment anonymously, though I appreciate your concern for Micah, I really don't appreciate you passing judgment and suggesting that I might have caused his setback... and in the future, when criticizing someone, you might consider using a positive sandwich... but thanks for commenting].


Micah's cardiologist came by again today. She had expected to see his heart rate drop with the meds, but it hasn't yet. And his respritory rate has gone up (not so good) and she can now hear his heart murmer (which is supposedly a good thing, but I don't understand that part). But Micah's weight has gone up today (7lbs 9oz) and he's taken a bit more from the bottle. If he has a stellar night tonight, we might be able to avoid the g-tube, but it appears we're headed back to Milwaukee. The neonatologist is going to contact the surgical team tomorrow to see where they could fit Micah in the schedule. If we're definitely headed to the g-tube, I'd just assume get it scheduled sooner rather than later. But I think his cardiologist wants to get him regulated on these meds first. Oh, and he's up to 24 calorie formula being added to the breastmilk. They don't want to tax his system by increasing the volume so they're fortifying the volume he currently gets. The hospital is out of the 24cal. Wonder how hard it's going to be for us to find it. And there's a possibility they'll increase that to 27cal. Yikes.


On a more pleasant note, Micah had a good snuggle with Granddad today:


And Oma was there on Sunday:

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's our little guy in his adorable outfit (thanks, Mar). I forgot to take a picture of his back. There are little angel wings on the back of the shirt. The second photo is of the bottom of his feet. So cute.

We had a Care Conference yesterday. It was organized by the social worker, and participants included the neonatologist, cardiologist, cardiology nurse practitioner, physical therapist, genetic counselor, discharge manager, and a nurse. This was scheduled a few days ago, prior to Micah's setbacks of the past couple of days. He didn't eat very well on Tuesday. And when I arrived on Wednesday morning, I felt like I was bombarded by the speech therapist (ST) and Micah's nurse. The ST seemed pretty upset that we had stopped using the nasal cannula for his feedings (to give him an extra dose of oxygen). One of Micah's nurses and I made that call on Saturday because he had been doing better (no desats while eating) and he seemed to dislike the nasal cannula so much (wouldn't you?).

Anyway... the ST and his nurse informed me that they were now supplementing his breastmilk with formula and that he wasn't to take any more feedings without oxygen because he wasn't eating well at all. He didn't perk up during the day. And yesterday morning he was not himself. He's usually pretty self-soothing but he was very fussy most of the day. And he didn't take anything from the bottle. He seemed like he had a belly ache. They ran a CBC and there are no indications that he has a virus or an infection. I've asked the doctors to consider whether the bellyache relates to the formula fortification or possibly reflux.

His cardiologist stopped by to see him around lunchtime. She thinks that his heart is working harder and that is the cause of his lethargy. She started him on two medications (low dose to start), with the option to add a third. She's a cut-to-the-chase sort of person. If Micah doesn't show significant improvement over the next week, then it's likely that we'll have to go back to Milwaukee for 3 days for him to get a G-tube (a tube inserted into his belly and it doesn't go through his nose; rather, it comes out his belly). It's a surgical procedure and due to his heart defect, he needs an anesthesiologist who specializes in pediatric cardiology.

A G-tube is something we had really hoped to avoid. But it's much more important that we get him home. As I said to the attendees in the meeting, he needs to be a baby. He needs to come home and see things other than the mobile over his crib. He needs to be able to use some of his energy to play, not just eat. Right now, we're not doing much interacting with him... we're trying to give him a break so that he can use his energy to eat. That's just not good for his overall development.

So, it sounds like we'll either be home in two weeks or on our way back to Milwaukee for a G-tube.

Happy due date, Micah!

Today was officially Micah's due date, though my c-section was scheduled for 1/31. He entered the world back on 1/5. Here are some new photos:

Oma finally got a break from Nathan duty!

Nathan visited Micah by looking through a window to the family room (I was able to wheel his crib down to the room)

Cutie pie

Micah's crib (pun intended)

We have a "Care Conference" coming up later this week where we will meet with the neonatologist, nurses, social worker, genetic counselor, speech therapist, physical therapist (?), and I don't know who else. It's sort of like a merging of the minds to make sure we're all on the same page with expectations. We can invite anyone we want (I might want to ask if Micah's cardiologist or a PA could be there). It's tough to know which of the four whammies are affecting his stamina most: prematurity, duodenal atresia, heart defect, or Trisomy 21. [By the way, I hate that we have that fourth one the most.]

Micah continues to improve gradually in his feedings. He tires fairly easily and eats best following a bath (he's super alert then). He weighs 7lbs 6oz. They've increased his milk intake to 66 cc's every 3 hours (60 cc's is equivalent to 2oz). I'm looking forward to our Care Conference to find out everyone's opinion on whether Micah is going to be able to take this sort of volume orally or if we need to get comfortable with the idea of a G-tube. His neonatologist was not ready to give in to that and wants to hold out almost at all costs. But he needs to come home sometime.

I'm very tired and therefore quite edgy. Mark has been sick with the flu since Friday so he's run-down too. Nathan's eyes are looking a bit sunken this evening and I just pray he's not getting sick.

No more PIC line

Micah's PIC line was removed this morning. It's nice to be able to see his right foot! And we received a bit of information from his latest echo. Not much has changed in his heart situation except that the left side of his heart used to be a bit weaker than the right, but that is no longer the case. Most importantly, nothing has gotten worse.

I spoke with one of Micah's doctors this morning about the game plan. I basically asked how long we ride this out before he would need to get a G-tube inserted to be able to go home. He said a few more weeks. We'd rather avoid the G-tube if we can, so we'll wait and pray that he gains the strength required to orally take all the food they want him to take.

There was a nurse visiting the NICU today with her 2-week-old baby. Her due date was next week, close to mine. I was so jealous. There she was, visiting her co-workers to show off her new baby, same size as our little Micah, but in a car seat, with no wires, and out in public.

A dear friend of mine's father sent us a new devotional book (thanks so much, Brad). He first read my friend's copy, who received it from another friend of ours, who heard about it from her neighbor. It's a wonderful devotional that is written in first person from Jesus. It's called "Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence," by Sarah Young. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing yesterday's devotional here. It really spoke to me:

"Come to Me for rest and refreshment. The journey has been too much for you, and you are bone-weary. Do not be ashamed of your exhaustion. Instead, see it as an opportunity for Me to take charge of your life.
Remember that I can fit everything into a pattern for good, including the things you wish were different. Start with where you are at this point in time and space, accepting that this is where I intend you to be. You will get through today one step, one moment, at a time. Your main responsibility is to remain attentive to Me, letting Me guide you through the many choices along your pathway.
This sounds like an easy assignment, but it is not. Your desire to live in My Presence goes against the grain of "this world, the flesh, and the devil." Much of your weariness results from your constant battle against those opponents. However, you are on the path of My choosing, so do not give up! Hope in Me, for you will again praise Me for the help of My Presence."
(italics hers, bold mine)
scripture references: Romans 8:28; Psalm 42:11

One month old

It was a month ago today that Micah entered the world. He weighed 5lbs 6oz. Today he's up to 7lbs 3oz. He's doing much better with eating. He's getting a bit stronger and the antibiotics seem to have done their job because his blood work shows much improvement. And as of yesterday, he's no longer receiving any nutrition through his PIC line (hopefully the line will be removed in a couple of days). His milk intake is 2 ounces per feeding (every 3 hours). That's a lot for a little guy! He's getting another echo of his heart done later this week.

It's nice to be home. Here are some photos. The first is Micah's last visitor in Milwaukee (thanks for all your help, Julie). The second is of Micah "packed for transport" from Milwaukee to Neenah (he slept the whole way). The third is of Grammie and Pop with Micah in the Theda Clark NICU. The last photo is to show off Micah's funky hair and gigantic cheeks.

Infection?

Looks like the infection control director's grandson has an infection. They haven't identified it yet, but he just had round #2 of antibiotics today. This could explain why Micah has been so lethargic this week. Last week he was much more alert. It's been much more difficult to wake him up for feedings, and he hasn't taken much orally. He seems capable of digesting whatever goes into his stomach, whether orally or through his NG tube. But the neonatologist decided not to increase his volume today. And he now has a nasal cannula back in because he has a lot more desats these days (where his oxygen concentration goes under 90%). He also has a lot of air in his stomach (the nurse can tell when she draws out from his belly before his feedings to check his "residuals" - how much is still in there from the prior feeding). I'm going to ask the dr about that tomorrow.

New NICU comes with new rules. One is that Nathan can't visit at all (in Milwaukee, siblings over 2 could visit... here it's over 4). Another is that Micah can only have visitors if Mark or I are with them (in Milwaukee, we could specify anyone who could visit Micah even if we weren't there). And we don't have a phone number so no one can reach us if we're there (in Milwaukee, there was a phone in Micah's room that was specifically the parents' phone). Two people called me in the NICU today and I was lovingly chastised before I left today that trying to find me takes time away from the babies. I was discouraged enough about Micah's lack of feeding progress. I didn't need someone telling me something I already knew and just needed to communicate to people. Seriously, folks, I just got here. Cut me some slack. Anyway, if you need to reach me, just call my cellphone and leave a message. I'll try to check it every three hours or so.

In other news... Nathan is quite happy to be home. He didn't even want to go to Grammie and Pop's house yesterday. On a normal day, he'll be halfway to the mudroom to get his coat if you start to say, "Nathan, do you want to go to Grammie and Pop's house?" But he was just too excited to be home and play with his trains and the rest of his toys.

We're going to try to get into a routine with visiting Micah. Our intention (on weekdays) is for me to go in around 8:45 and be there for his 9:30, 12:30, and 3:30 feedings. We'll skip the 6:30 feeding and give Nathan some sense of normal evening routine. Then Mark will go feed Micah at 9:30. That makes for a rather late night for Mark, though. I'd like to ask if they could change his feeding times to the tops of the hours. But that time slot is already taken by another baby so we may have to wait.

In Neenah

We're home! Well, at least three of us are actually home and Micah is in the same city. We've had a few people ask about meals and we very much appreciate the offers. We need to see how things go for the next few days as we're all adjusting to being here. My mom will be here for another week, so I think we're fairly well covered for a week or so.

Micah is basically sleeping through most of his feedings. He just doesn't have the endurance to take the full amount yet and he hasn't gotten the technique down either. We could be in the NICU for quite a while, but at least we're up here now. But for those of you who have asked... his digestive tract is working just fine. :-)

Neenah, here we come!

Everyone seems to be okay with Micah being moved up to Neenah, so we're now just waiting for the transport team to tell us when they can fit him into the schedule. They should be received a pre-authorization letter from our insurance company later this afternoon/evening and that's the last piece of the puzzle. Well, sort of... the weather could play a role in the "when?" question. But at least we know that sometime this week (hopefully tomorrow), Micah will be transported to Neenah. We don't know how many more weeks he'll be in the hospital, but it will be easier to deal with while being able to sleep in my own house.

I'll miss Micah's caregivers here at CHW. The nurses are wonderful, as are the speech therapists, lactation consultants, physical therapists, etc. But it's great that the NICU in Neenah is in the same group as Milwaukee, so we have great referrals.

Once we get a date/time from transport, I'll let you know!

3 weeks old

Micah was born three weeks ago yesterday. We've reached the low end of the estimated range of time we would spend in the hospital (initially, it was estimated at 3-4 weeks, then we were told 3-6 weeks). It appears we have at least two more weeks to go because he isn’t picking up the suck/swallow/breathe thing very well. The neonatologist spoke with me today about one concern for him potentially being moved back up to Neenah. The issue is that it’s possible that Micah might end up needing a G-tube for feeding even after he goes home, and inserting that is a surgical procedure. So he wants to check with the surgeons to see if they do that procedure up in Neenah. If not, then we won’t be able to move him. Micah now weighs 6lbs, 5oz. It's easy to gain weight when they're shoving food into your stomach through your nose and shoving nutrition to your body through a PIC line.

Nathan is doing better up here now that Mark has arrived for the weekend. But we have a problem. Nathan will no longer go anywhere near the playroom. He’s terrified of the puppets (with reason… they’re rather scary-looking). It’s a huge bummer because that’s the best place in the House.

One week ago, before a disappointing loss (note Micah’s green and gold hat!)

Oma and Nathan get to hold Micah

Note the front of his gown… God’s Gift!

What a cute little dinosaur outfit! And you can also see the bottom of Freddie the Firefly on his left side. Micah enjoys looking at him and he’s even made a move for him with his left hand. Next time we have an opportunity to transport something to him from our house, we’ll bring the crib mobile. I think he’d really enjoy that. And his nurse said something about bringing in a swing or a bouncy seat for him. Fun!

Return of the NG

Looks like I posted too soon this morning. After I posted, I came to Micah's room and found that they had put an NG feeding tube in already. He still has residual bile in his stomach that hasn't gotten down through his intestines. Not sure what surgery is going to say about that yet. But I was very sad to see another tube in his nose this morning. And I had hoped to request that if they did put in another tube, could they please put it through the other nostril to balance out his lopsided nose (the drainage NG tube he had in for 2 weeks really yanked his nose to the side). But no, I didn't have time to request that because they put it in last night, of course in the same nostril.

Messy diaper achieved!

Sorry I didn't get an opportunity to post yesterday. But I just thought I'd let you know that Micah had a poopy diaper on Wednesday night. Yay!

Yesterday we attempted to feed him 10 cc's (vs. 5 on Wed.). It took a long time to get that much into him every 3 hours. He hasn't gotten the suck/swallow/breathe thing yet. The speech pathologist warned me yesterday that they will basically increase the volume in his feeds at least every 24 hours (if not 12) and that Micah will likely not be able to keep up with that. She wanted to prepare me for the inevitable NG tube. This could take a while. The patient care team is checking with our insurance to see if we could get him transfered up to Neenah. It's not likely that it will be covered on insurance, but it's worth a shot.

A physical therapist came by on Wednesday afternoon. She gave me some tips on how best to hold Micah and position him for playtime and sleeping, given his low muscle tone. This visit happened after I gave him a bath. I don't know why, but the reality of Micah's diagnosis of Down syndrome was so very apparent to me at that time and I just started to cry (and cried most of the night). I've hesitated to even mention that on here because I'm aware of how many more people are reading my blog now. I want to be okay with his diagnosis and I don't want to be sad about this part of who he is. And I want to appear all together and not struggling and content with what God has given us. But this is the only place I'm documenting our journey, so I guess you all are going to have to deal with the fact that I'm human and not some spiritual giant (well, those of you who know me best know that isn't true anyway...).

Nathan has been here for a week now (barring Sunday night when we all went home). He's testing every limit with me, specifically, but also with my mom now, so she has to be exhausted (she went home for the weekend and Mark arrived last night). We'll decide at the end of the weekend whether it makes sense for Nathan to go home or continue to stay here. I missed him so much when he wasn't here, but now that he is here, I sometimes want to throw him out a window (like when he's pitching a major fit and screaming at the top of his lungs). [please don't accuse me of child abuse... I wouldn't actually throw him out a window...]

So, the new prayer requests are: 1) Micah would learn that this eating thing is not so bad, 2) Nathan would settle into our current living situation, and 3) BCBS would have mercy on us and pay for the ambulance transport home so that we can all be together in the same city.

Surprise!

When I entered Micah's pod this evening, his nurse said, "Micah has a surprise for you!"
Me: "He had a poopy diaper???!!!"
Nurse Mary: "No..."
Me: "Wow! They took out his NG tube!"
Mary: "No, "they" didn't..."

Yes, it's true. Micah pulled out his NG tube that was draining the contents of his stomach. Nurse Mary called the surgeons and they decided not to put it back in tonight and see what happens overnight. The stuff that's in there will go one of two places. We'll find out in the morning which is the case. Here's hoping it goes out the bottom end.

Even without the NG tube incident, there was talk about us trying to start feeding him tomorrow. I met the speech therapist yesterday and she indicated that Micah does a lot of things right with the pacifier and sucking on a finger so she isn't too worried about him learning how to eat. His tongue curls correctly, he roots occasionally (she thinks that will increase when he actually feels hungry when they taper back his IV food), and his bottom lip has good tone. His upper lip needs a bit of work so she showed me an exercise to work on with him. Please pray that we get to try it out for real tomorrow.

Photos finally!

It's about time to update with some photos.

Uncle Andy stopped by to visit (on his way to the Packer game last weekend... you know, the game they actually WON).
Tiny little hand
Upgraded to a crib!
I haven’t mentioned this before, but note Micah’s left hand. All four fingers cut off below the first joint (his thumb is fine). This apparently has no correlation to any of his other diagnoses. The assumption is that it was caused by “amniotic banding” and occurred in utero during the first trimester. I was so sad about it but now I’ve grown to love that hand because it's Micah's. And when I was telling Shannon about it the day after Micah was born, she just smiled at me and said something to the effect of, “Of all your children to have something like this, it’s better that it’s him, because he won’t care.” She also helped to relieve my concerns over it being just one more thing that children will mock him about. She told me that the other children don’t mock her Jonny for anything. Shannon, thank you for sharing with me. It’s definitely helped.Here’s the entourage coming down the hallway.
Pop and Grammie get to hold Micah for the first time.

Micah with Mommy and Nathan

Mommy’s first attempt at a bath for Micah… he didn’t care much for the sponging off part, but he really enjoyed the hair wash.
After the bath, we had some kangaroo time. For about five minutes he just looked up at me in wide-eyed wonder. Then he proceeded to snooze (including snoring) for over an hour. Something about his face in this photo reminded me of his cousin, Mary. Could it be the cheeks? This photo is of Mary when she was almost a year old (she’s five today! Happy Birthday, Mary!).

Consistency...

… is not what we’re looking for here. But that’s what we’re getting. Micah still has very little in the way of rumblings in his bowels. The amount of drainage from his tummy remains consistent. So there’s still nothing moving through his bowels. It’s been 10 days since his surgery and I had hoped we would be able to start feeding him this weekend. No such luck. Please continue to pray that his bowels would start working.

But the good news… because he’s been able to maintain his own body temperature, Micah has been given a crib rather than a warmer.

And the best news of the week is that Nathan, Grammie, Pop, and Oma were able to visit yesterday. It did my heart good to see them. Nathan was fairly well-behaved while they were here. I joked with Bill before they left, “How many senior citizens does it take to corral a two-year-old?” It was very hard for Nathan to keep his mask on, so we all wore them. Nathan gave Micah a sweet little lovey. Micah gave Nathan an over-sized stuffed Elmo.

Today I was able to give Micah a sponge bath. He was none too pleased about being stripped down and he let us know. But he didn’t mind getting his hair washed by the end of it. Then I was able to snuggle him close before we put him back in his crib. It’s called “Kangaroo Care” and it’s used frequently with preemies in the NICU for skin-to-skin contact. Micah found this fascinating to start with. Then he fell into such a deep sleep for over an hour that he began to snore!

I'm having issues posting photos from the hospital, apparently due to some sort of bandwidth restriction. I'm not sure how to get around this problem, but I'll try to do it from Mark's computer with his wireless card when he's here this weekend.