First Bath!

Almost 3 months old and time for Elsie's first bath! Nurse Kelly wrapped Elsie up in a towel to help her feel more secure and to help keep her warm. Then she held her in the water while I soaped her up. I was really surprised at how well she did; Evje's first bath was a cry-fest. Actually, all of Evje's baths until she was like 5 months old were all full of tears. I was expecting Elsie to not like the bath, but she loved it! No crying, no whimpering. Success! I had to lift up several layers of chubby chin to wipe her neck clean. Gotta love those fat rolls!

After we got her all cleaned up, we wrapped her up in dry towels and put on a little bunny hat that a previous NBICU mom had made for all the babies. At least, I attempted to put it on, but it was a little tight and I didn't want to squish her little head trying to get it on. So it's sort of on.

Other noteworthy items: Remember when Elsie had her PDA ligation? One of the risks of the surgery is that a nerve from the vocal cords runs right next to the vein that had to be clamped, and there was a chance that this nerve could be nicked or damaged. So before Elsie can get permission to learn to feed by mouth, she had to have an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor put a scope down her throat to look at her vocal cords. Apparently, your vocal cords are very instrumental (get it, instrumental? Vocal chords? Ha ha!) in the swallowing process. If they are not working, then you choke when you swallow and food goes down your airway instead of your esophagus.

Aaaand it turns out that Elsie's left vocal cord is paralyzed. I wasn't at the hospital when this procedure was done, so I didn't get to talk to the ENT dr, and hence, I still have lots of unanswered questions. Will this heal on its own? Maybe. What if it doesn't? How will it affect her voice in the future? I've never heard Elsie full-on crying, but I've heard lots of whimpers, grunts, and almost crying. Her voice works, so I don't know what this diagnosis really means. Right now, however, it means that she gets to have a "swallow study" done before she can feed by mouth. A swallow study is where they give the baby a colored substance by mouth, and then observe what happens. Can she swallow it, does she choke a lot, etc. One more little bump in the road. But relatively speaking, it is a small bump. We can deal with vocal cords.

Elsie's most recent eye exam showed no further progression of the ROP, which means it hasn't gotten worse yet, which is good. They will continue to monitor her eyes to see if it does get worse.

Happy Easter!