March 19

Let's celebrate!

So I get to the hospital today and Elsie is in a crib!! I wasn't totally surprised, given that she's been doing very well at maintaining her own temperature and close to 4 pounds of chub. But I was completely excited. Every day, she's getting closer and closer to being a "normal" baby, instead of the scary micro-preemie that she was when she was born.

Elsie is 4 pounds and half an ounce today. While in the crib, she is dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and then wrapped in a fleece "sleep sack", and finally covered up with a blankie and a hat. All of these layers help to keep her toasty warm. One of the cool parts about being in a crib is that when Mommy wants to hold her baby, all I have to do was pick her up. No lifting up the lid or moving the sides of the isolette, no maneuvering countless tangled cords through the holes in the isolette to make sure that she stayed plugged in to everything.  Nope. I just lifted her up and took her cords with me. And then we snuggled. It was quite lovely. The nurse said that it seems like Elsie is really enjoying being out of the isolette. She likes being all wrapped up in the sleep sack.

Doesn't she look like a little baby doll toy?

The lovely view that greeted me when I walked into her room today

There is a baby in there somewhere underneath all of those wrappings

She has her hands up over her face so you can't see much but she's so snuggly

So that's the good news. The potentially bad news that I received today was that Elsie is in Stage 2 of ROP. ROP is an eye disease that commonly affects preemies, and can potentially lead to blindness. Right now, they will continue to monitor her eyes each week, and there are treatments if she gets worse. Also, with about 90 percent of infants with ROP, the disease resolves itself before it becomes a problem. So it's not a huge issue (YET) and most likely will go away on its own. Hopefully. I'm trying not to worry about it too much. Instead of worrying, I am celebrating with this little monkey and her handsome father. Thanks to cousin Chantel for the balloons and celebratory sparkling cider!