How many BabyBugs does it take…

June 15, 2013

By Lisa

Did I say 4 lbs 12 oz? Make that 4 lbs 13 oz! I just spoke with the NICU nurse (yes, sometimes we call in the middle of the night) and Leah gained over 30 grams at tonight’s weighing! And that was after a huge poopy diaper! (You’re welcome!)

In other news… I’m fairly certain the reason babies start off so small is to give their parents’ muscles time to work up to heavier weights. After hauling 9.5-month-old baby Ry Ry around in the Ergo yesterday I have aches in muscles I forgot I had. I’m sure one day I’ll be able to bench-press a toddler, but in the mean time I guess we should appreciate that Leah is lighter than any of our cats at the moment.

Warning: Severe Geekery Ahead.

To be precise, our fattest cat, Jeepers Creepers, weighs roughly 5.44 newborn BabyBugs (at her birth weight of 3 lbs 5 oz). Lobo is more lean – maybe just over 3 newborn BabyBugs. Which is to say that even at her present weight, it would take roughly 5.82 BabyBugs to balance the scales with our two indoor cats. S’mores (a.k.a. “Farm Cat”) doesn’t stick around long enough for weighing. She’s smart like that.

I would also like to state for the record that when we were discussing trying out Z’s Baby Ergo (several months ago, long before Leah was born), my first thought was that it would be hilarious if we stuck a cat in the Ergo to approximate the weight of a baby. Then Z and Mandy pointed out that we could just use Baby Ry Ry to approximate the weight of a baby. “Oh yeah, huh.” It was kind of disappointing.

Not too much of an update…

June 14, 2013

By Lisa

…but when I don’t post everybody says, “Where’s our update??” so I figure I should write something in here. 🙂

Leah is 4 lbs 12 oz today. While I was holding her this afternoon she was suuuuper fussy. We tried everything (except feeding, which we can’t do on demand) – the nurse changed her diaper while I held her, we vented her g-tube, suctioned her nose and mouth (oh, she was not happy with that), and still she was fussy. Ultimately it took a whole lot of rocking and singing to calm her down, though she started fussing every time I stopped singing. Have you ever had to sing non-stop? You think you know a ton of songs but when it comes down to it, you start running out sooner than you would think. I went through my entire repertoire of soft, melodic Shabbat songs and other songs sung round the campfire at summer Jew-camp (as well as my one Yiddish folk song), moved on to humming the tunes to my favorite soft, melodic Israeli folk dances, to which I don’t know the words, and then started on Indigo Girls songs (yes, the soft and melodic ones), at which point I was joined in harmony by Mandy, who by that time had returned from snack-time in the waiting room. Yeah. We kept the kid asleep for a good while with this method. We might have to make a recording of mama-song, because if it takes that much singing to keep her asleep, we’re gonna wear out our voices within a week of bringing her home!

But really, I love it.

Echo update (update update update)

June 13, 2013

By Lisa

Leah had her echocardiogram this morning and the holes in her heart have neither grown nor shrunk. The cardiologist who read the echo also suggested that Leah’s pulmonary valve looks small, but Leah’s doctor suspects what the cardio might be seeing is excess blood from the holes flowing through a normal-sized valve; she thinks it just looks proportionally small because of the excess blood. They will keep an eye on it either way. We’re relieved that the holes have not grown, but would have liked to hear better news about shrinkage. But I guess we’ll take what we can get. The docs started Leah on Lasix and her breathing rate has already improved a bit. She definitely seemed a bit more calm today – or at least less agitated.

Not too many pictures today as I spent half of the day holding Leah and most of the other half out in the NICU waiting room with a loaner baby while my BFF Auntie Z visited with Mandy and LeahBug. Baby Ry Ry (a.k.a. the monster truck baby) and I had a good time in the waiting room. We chilled, took selfies on my iPhone, watched “The People’s Court,” played “no, you can’t have my glasses,” and took a nap. Well, Ry took a nap. I tormented my back learning how to use a Baby Ergo. It was good times. When Mandy came out so I could have my turn visiting with Auntie Z and Leah, I set him down on the seat next to Mandy and he got a giant grin on his face, as if to say, “Hey, I know YOU!” He loves Mandy. Well, he loves both of us… but Mandy smells like milk.

Auntie Z and BabyBug

“Where’s Ry Ry? There’s Ry Ry!”

At long last, a pictureful post!

June 13, 2013

By Lisa

Our sweet baby girl was a little fussbudget today. I don’t blame her – she was a gassy little mess and was having trouble pooping most of the day (hey – you come to a blog about a baby, you get a blog about a baby), so her tummy was hurting and distended and she was making little straining faces and turning red all day. Someday she will hate me for this post.

We did get a chance to talk to the doctor today. They are going to start Leah on Lasix to help her with her breathing, and they will do another echocardiogram tomorrow instead of next week to check on the holes in her heart. Here’s hoping they haven’t gotten any bigger!!!!

On the bright side, today baby Leah got a visit from her cousin Kim, who was sick for several weeks (i.e. in exile from the NICU) and therefore hadn’t seen Leah since before Mandy was released from the hospital. Cousin Kim used to babysit me and bring me to class when she was in college and I was a teeny tiny infant, and I used to babysit her kids when they were tiny – and for that matter, Kim’s mom used to babysit my dad when HE was little, and I’m pretty sure my dad used to babysit Kim… You see where this is going. Anyway, Leah and Kim had a lovely reunion and Kim was very impressed at how much Leah has grown, even though she’s still a wee bug.

Cousin Kim and LeahBug, together at last

The cutest feet on the planet

Beautiful precious doll with beautiful precious hair

Another photo for proportion’s sake, and also because it’s cute.

“I’mwideawakeIdon’tknowwhattodowithmyselfbutI’msoverywideawake.”

“Oh noes, I think Mama saw me! Quick, self, pretend to be sleeping!”

The Baby Floor

June 12, 2013

By Lisa

The maternity floor is a rough floor to be on. It’s an odd mix of anxious families waiting for the birth of a new addition, glowing new parents wheeling around massive displays of balloons and flowers as they pack up and take their little ones home, sobbing, helpless mothers and fathers consoling each other in every language you can imagine, and exhausted new parents who have long since recovered from birth but still come back to the hospital day after day because they left something important behind when they walked out the day before. And since it’s all on the same floor, somehow we often all wind up in the same waiting room. Awkward.

I’m late, I know!

June 12, 2013

By Lisa

I hope this was worth the wait:

Silly girl!

Baby is at 4 lbs 11 oz this morning – about the same as yesterday. She’s gained 5 grams since her last weigh-in. Leah’s breathing rate has been measuring pretty high, so they took her in for a chest x-ray yesterday as well as some labs. Things seem to look okay right now, although her heart looks a little big. They are going to do another echocardiogram next week; the last one was taken soon after her birth. The doctor wants to put her on Lasix, though – we’re going to talk to her soon and hopefully I’ll have more of an update. Keep sending those positive thoughts and prayers, please – hopefully Leah does not have to deal with major heart issues on top of her digestive tract malformations.

Long day!

June 10, 2013

By Lisa

We had a long day in the NICU today! Mama Mandy and Gran stayed with LeahBug this AM while Mama Lisa went to the ER again (come on now – this is getting ridiculous). Later in the day, Aunti Staci came to visit, and then this evening, BabyBug got to meet her cousin Zach! Didn’t take too many pictures today but this is my favorite – Zach was asking about the glowy band wrapped around Leah’s foot and the nurse explained that it measures her oxygen saturation level. I noted that for grown-ups this would usually be attached to our finger, and then commented that our fingers probably aren’t that much smaller than Leah’s foot. And then this picture happened. Itty bitty baby feets!

A month and a day

June 9, 2013

By Lisa

Slow day on the picture-taking front, largely because Mama Shutterbug was feeling L-for-Lousy. Leah is still hovering around 4 lbs, 9.5 oz, but we think they’re probably going to increase her calories-per-feeding tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll see some more weight gain. BabyBug had a nice long visit from her Uncle Ralph today, but otherwise mostly just kicked back, relaxed, and pooped. ‘Cause she’s a baby and that’s what she does.

Whoever invented the Boppy is brilliant. Makes snuggling with SwaddledBug so much easier!

Wee baby fingers saying hello to Mama Mandy

Because I know you have all been very anxious to see BabyBug meeting her great-grandparents. So anxious that several of you have demanded the photograph by email. Hehe.

Happy one-month birthday, BabyBug

June 9, 2013

By Lisa

Today (technically yesterday, June 8) was Leah’s one-month birthday! It’s so strange that a whole month has passed, and yet it’s so strange that only a month has passed.

Baby Leah met her other great-grandparents today (again, technically yesterday). We had a great visit and I’m awaiting permission to post a picture. 🙂 Leah also gained back the weight she lost the day before yesterday. She’s 4 lbs and a little over 9 oz.

GoofyBug! She looks so funny in hats that are too big for her. She will grow into them!

Promised photos, delivered in full!

June 7, 2013

By Lisa

WHAT A DAY! Little bug lost 0.3 oz last night, but we’re hoping she’ll have gained some back tonight. I don’t know though – she had a rough day. Early on the day wasn’t so bad – she had a nice visit with friends Cathy and Gene, and was held (in full swaddle) by both mamas. But her afternoon was pretty hard. They’ve started putting gauze over her g-tube to cover it up while we do kangaroo time. I think today was the third day they did it, and the nurse used a particularly huge piece of gauze this time. Well, while I was holding Leah she was really squirmy and fussy even after she was fed, so we put her back down to see what was wrong. As it turned out, the big piece of gauze was stuck to the g-tube and had edged it out of her tummy about half an inch. No wonder she was squirmy! Resolving the issue was even more uncomfortable for her, especially since they had to take the tape off and reposition the tube. It broke our hearts to see her crying so hard. Thankfully once it was back in place she seemed to calm down a bit, and was thoroughly tuckered out after that ordeal. I’m sure she got a great nap after that.

Thank you to everybody who has wished me well before and after my procedure this past Wednesday. I’m pretty much recovered from the procedure itself, but it may take a few days (up to a week) before I’ll know whether it actually worked. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Not much else to say today. We’re still stunned over the mass shooting in Santa Monica today. This one really hits close to home, literally but also figuratively. I hope you’re all safe tonight, dear LA friends and family! I hope the worst thing that happened to you today was that you got stuck in traffic because of the President’s motorcade.

Now for the pictures I promised!

This is how my little bug looked when I saw her for the first time in over 24 hours.