2 Pounds!!!

Just look at that face! Mini has been doing so good. The biggest change this week has been moving to a new room. The NICU has rooms with pass through windows so if there are babies born via c-section like Katie they can hand them through the window to the NICU team. Over the weekend the unit Katelyn was in got 2 sets of twins and 8 of the 10 beds in her area are occupied. Now that she is off the ventilator she got to move to a room with a view. I didn't know they had moved her until I went to visit. Kinda freaked me out when I went to her room and she
was gone. Katelyn is no longer the smallest baby in the NICU either, one of the sets of twins were born at under a pound each. She is however the smallest 35 weeker, go figure. It had been 2 days since I visited her when I went on Wednesday and her nurse asked me if Mini looked pale. After looking at her I thought she did a little. They took some blood and checked for any possible reasons but it turns out that she just needs a tan. She had never been in natural light before. I got to hold her again. It's so much easier now that she only has oxygen and her feeding tube, WAY less intimidating. While I was holding her she acted so much older than her size. Katelyn kindly proved that she was a big girl by spitting up on me (granted it was only a drop) and as soon as I cleaned her and moved her into a different position she made a stinky poop. How nice of her. It might have only been a teaspoon of poo but it was mega stinky. Her nurses all agree that she is acting more mature and is having longer periods of alertness, mostly at night, hope that changes by the time she comes home. She had her first eye exam on Wednesday and the optometrist said there were no signs of blindness. Woo Hoo! She had a rough night following her exam though. She had up to 8 spells where she stopped breathing and they had to rub her back and turn up her O2 to keep her going. Her nurse said that was normal with babies after an eye exam and she recovered just fine the next day.

Friday I took my sister Sabrina with me to visit. When I got there I peeked into her giraffe and was shocked to see she had pulled her nasal prongs outandthey were sitting on her upper lip. I didn't panic I simply reached in and put them back in her nose and rubbed her ribs to get her to take deeper breaths. Her stats started dropping and the nurse came in to turn up her oxygen. Sabrina mentioned that she was surprised I wasn't afraid to put my hand in and put her oxygen back in her nose. I told her that there was a time I was afraid to touch her but now Katelyn and I know each other. She might be tiny but she is still my baby and it's my job to take care of her as best as I can. Sabrina said it's different when it's your baby. I agree. We took turns holding Katie and loved every minute of it.




After some dinner Colt and I took Chase and Chantelle to see Katelyn for the first time. She was wide awake. Colt was asked if he wanted to change the baby's diaper but he didn't want to so Amy her nurse asked him to hold her while she changed some bedding. Colt got to hold his tiny daughter in both hands. I was waiting in the hallway while Chase and Chantelle were visiting and while Colt was waiting for me to join him he got a visit from Dr Faix, Katelyn's neonatologist. He introduced himself to Colt and said he wanted to meet the father of the most feisty little girl in the NICU. Dr Faix said that being the daughter of a Utah fan is what makes her a fighter. Of course Colt had to agree. The best part of the night was seeing my tiny baby wrapped in her daddy's arms. She was a little fussy and Colt simply put her binky in her mouth and she began to suck on it so cute! She made this tiny little Maggy Simpson sound. When Colt would talk to her she would turn her eyes towards him and listen. Amy her usual night nurse said that Mini was kind of a pill the night before and was usually a stinker. With his tiny miracle in his arms Colt began to talk her to sleep. It was beautiful. The best news of the day was that Katelyn now weighs 2 pounds! She is truly a miracle and we are so lucky to be her parents.

Goodnight Katie, We love you. Breathe well and grow big.