Six sticks of butter

It’s about time I blogged again. I’m back from taking a six-week leave to accompany my daughter to the neo-natal intensive care unit in Sioux Falls to be with her new daughter. She was born May 10 at 1 pound, 13 ounces, 13 inches long. Babies normally lose weight right after birth, a nurse said, and this one was no different. She went down to 1 and a half pounds. Six sticks of butter.

I’ve been learning a lot in the NICU. It’s amazing what the nurses and doctors do for those little ones to help them survive. Now the baby is 17 inches long and is 4 pounds and 4 ounces and has been moved from an isolette to a crib. The crib is a big step up — before, my daughter (and the nurses) changed the tiny baby’s diaper through two portholes in the incubator.

She went from having a breathing tube down her throat to a CPAP mask and is now on a nasal cannula. We can see her face better now and she is looking like a cute little baby. At first she looked like a tiny bird with no feathers.

We'll continue to make frequent trips to Sioux Falls until we take her home sometime in mid or late August, near her original due date, Aug. 20.