Friday, April 29, 2011

Breastfeeding and Pumping and Breastfeeding Again, Oh My!

I woke up this morning for Cora's frequent feeds and caught myself humming a catchy little tune by my talented and creative friend Moorea Malatt. Check out her awesome video, which is entertaining even when it's not your soundtrack for feeding your baby.



Life has been feeling pretty darn normal around here.  Well, it'd be a little more normal if we weren't still under pseudo-quarantine with Miss Cora.  They told us she should be kept mostly at home and to try to avoid exposing her to illness for 4-6 weeks.  We're a little past 3 weeks now.  At least it's still raining most days so I don't feel like we're quite so holed up.  But I am looking forward to the clear spring days when we can go out and socialize with all our local friends, including a number of new additions.  So excited for Cora to meet all her new friends.

Feeding her lately could almost be described as fun.  She is still breastfeeding like a little champion. We've been monitoring her weight, and she is continuing to gain overall.  She's still been getting a bottle with Nick and a bottle from me in the middle of the night, since she's too sleepy to nurse, and it's pretty much impossible to prod her along with the breast, whereas with a bottle you can work it into her mouth to see if she'll eat.   But she wants the bottle less and less overall and she seems to be deciding more or less that she doesn't need to eat much at night.  Great, you would think, right?  The idea of getting to sleep for more than 4 hours at a time is very seductive for sure.

But that is before we factor pumping into the equation.  Until this whole breastfeeding thing took off, I was proud to be an overproducer.  Which meant that I was pumping almost 3 times what Cora was eating each day.  This allowed us to lacto-engineer her milk, since we had enough to separate the rich fatty "cream" to add to her bottles.  And it allowed us to fill up our freezer and still have enough to donate.  Great, right?

But now I am still producing too much.  Which means that although Little Miss is eating about every 2 or so hours during the day, I still have to pump.  Not altogether desirable to me.  I've been researching tricks to reduce my milk supply so I am not forever attached to the breast pump, but so far it's very slow going, since I keep getting clogged ducts, which causes back-tracking.  And of course, since Cora doesn't always eat enough to get to the hind-milk, I often have to pump a little before she eats.  So far at night I can go 4 hours, maybe 5 if I'm lucky.  So it still seems a ways off to be done with the continual pumping.

Before she started breastfeeding I was spending 3 to 4 hours a day in activities involving pumping and processing milk.  That included pumping 6 times per day, washing bottles and pump parts, reserving milk for separation, separating the fatty "cream" and adding to her bottles, fortifying with formula, and freezing and labeling excess milk.

That did not include the 4 to 5 hours per day spent feeding her for up to 45 minutes per session.  And of course, there was the illustrious NG tube feedings after her bottle feeds, which required us to check placement with a stethoscope by pushing air through a syringe into the tube, while listening to her stomach for the "woosh" that would tell us the tube was correctly placed in her stomach and not her lungs.  Then the slow and steady pushing of milk, a few mL at a time, every few minutes until it was gone.

I feel so much lighter now that she's nursing.  And it's getting easier for her and more pleasant.  She still horses around sometimes, popping off and on inexplicably, and frequently falling asleep, waking to drink every minute or two, which can make for a long session.  But feeding is overwhelmingly easier.  Thank goodness!

Really nothing much to complain about.  She's still experiencing the nystagmus.  Her pediatrician referred us to an ophthalmologist, but we won't get in until early June.  In the meantime, we're getting ready to go visit Grammie and Grandpa for the weekend.  It'll be fun for Cora to show them her new skills (looking at her feet and trying to sit up more!)

Off for another "Booby Snack"!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

A Good Day and Nystagmus


Our plans for Saturday were grand...  chores, chores and more chores.  And if there was time we thought maybe we'd get out for a walk with little Bean to enjoy the gorgeous day.

So chores took up the morning, but then I guess I must have figured that I didn't want to do chores anymore, so we decided to take Cora to the E.R. instead.  Before you get all worried, everything was fine, and it's wasn't a real emergency.

It's just when your child is only 2-1/2 weeks post major heart surgery, the possibility of things going a little wrong takes on more significant proportions.

A couple of days before I had noticed Cora's eyes shaking a little bit back and forth.  After talking to Nick about it, he said that it had been doing it since the NICU days and that the NICU doctors had said it was not a big deal.  But at that time it was infrequent and only when she was looking to the side.  At this point it was getting pretty darn frequent (every couple of seconds, especially when focusing on my face and making eye contact).  I remembered a post from a mother on a heart surgery forum that talked about her little one developing seizures post open heart surgery and that the only sign was rapid shaking movements of the eyes.

So the next day, the minute after her pediatrician's office closed (isn't that always the way?!) I called and spoke to an on call provider, who told me that it could likely be nothing dramatic, or it could possibly be seizures.  After some Q and A he determined that because her behavior wasn't abnormal during the movements and because she had no other symptoms it probably wasn't an emergency, but if it increased or if I felt uncomfortable to take her to the E.R.

So on Saturday I noticed the movements getting more frequent.  While Nick was getting ready to mow the lawn we decided we'd rather be safe than sorry.  Nick thought it was likely just an ophthalmologic congenital abnormality that is common for people with Ds (and others too) called nystagmus.  But we figured it was disconcerting enough to get it checked out.

Cora and I went to the E.R. while Nick mowed the lawn and met us there about an hour later.  We waited for an hour or two with Cora in a great mood, smiling, cooing and nursing, with no signs of a nap in sight, only to fall asleep right before the doctor walked in the room.  Since he couldn't get her to wake up, after talking to us, he thought it would be a good idea to do an EEG to rule out seizures, and told us that her pediatrician could order it on Monday.  He asked us if we wanted to admit her for the weekend, which we did not.  But then when the nurse came back in Cora was awake and she witnessed the eye movements and spoke to the doctor.  At this point (after consulting with a neurologist), he told us that he felt that it was probably nystagmus and not seizures.  That seizures would probably be less subtle movements, more dramatically to the periphery of the eyes, and that her eyes may "get stuck" or her behavior would change.

So we're going to follow up with her pediatrician early next week.  They probably won't need to do an EEG.  We'll wait and see if they think she needs neurological follow up.  She will probably need ophthalmologic follow up, though.  This is likely something that's been there all along, but has gotten more pronounced as she has developed, especially with her improved post-surgery energy levels.  It may resolve or may not.  We don't know if it will affect her vision.  She doesn't seem to be bothered by it and seems to see just fine even when it's occurring.  Typically kids with Ds see an ophthalmologist at 6 months once the eyes have developed beyond the newborn stage.

Afterward we took Cora down to the Hawthorne District to pick up a few things for dinner at New Seasons.  While there we gathered some supplies for an impromptu picnic:  some lovely little French style salami and provolone sandwiches on beautiful little crusty baguettes and some citrus flavored Kombucha.  Then, since Cora wasn't too interested in napping, we ate while walking around the neighborhoods, enjoying the day.  We came home and turned on the grill and enjoyed a hilarious movie.

Overall not too bad of a day.  Funny how a trip to the E.R. can seem like a kind of normal way to spend a Saturday.  Of course, I'm only able to say that since it wasn't in fact an emergency. 

Today is Easter morning, and we are going to celebrate by finishing the chores that were on yesterday's list.  Nick has homework to do.  Cora will eat and sleep and smile, I imagine, being her normal little sweet and funny self.  Since she's so little we didn't do any Easter Bunny business this year.  And I feel a little funny about it.  What kind of parents are we to just skip a holiday?  But since my mom's up in Victoria helping care for my grandmother after hip surgery, it'd just be me and Nick.  So I guess we'll try to do more for next year.

Hope everyone has a great Easter!









Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Happy 8 Year Anniversary to Us!

Today is the 8th Anniversary since Nick and I met and have been together.  I can’t believe it’s already been so long!  I should have tried to plan a couple of hours together doing something we both love (in our case, usually going out for a good dinner), but with Cora’s recent surgery there hasn’t been much planning going on.  And we’re not supposed to take her out much for 4-6 weeks after surgery, so looks like we’ll probably stay at home.  I certainly haven’t had the time or imagination to put together any gifts.  But I can post some thoughts and say thank you. 

This year, of course, our relationship has been transformed as we’ve become parents.  And my appreciation for him has increased leaps and bounds seeing him become the Dad I always knew he would be. 

So even though there are endless things I’d like to thank him for, I’d like to list a few of the big ones.  For my sweet husband, I am so thankful to you:
.       
 For loving our little girl like you do.  I’ve always thought that there’s nothing sweeter than a father with his baby girl.  And there’s nothing sweeter than you with our baby girl.


For capturing her first real smiles.  There is something so very FUN about Daddy.  If it weren’t so darn sweet I’d be jealous. 


For doing all the yucky (or painful) stuff that I can’t stand to do.  Like putting in NG tubes, clipping Cora’s nails, pulling off her bandages, and holding her while she’s tortured at the doctor’s office and hospital.


 For staying up with her in the evening while I get my first leg of sleep.  And feeding her bottles while I sleep.  And soothing her.  And letting her sleep on your chest.

 
For falling asleep with her in your arms.  There’s nothing sweeter to me.


 For being the most amazing support during childbirth.


 For being so strong and wonderful when Cora was in the hospital.  




For listening to me and trying to make me feel better when I’m sad.  For trying to help me and make me happy, even when I’m not asking you to fix anything.


 For taking Cora to work with you.


 For being so patient with Cora and with me.


 For being my best friend.


 For being the best Daddy.


For being you.
    Happy 8 years to us.  May there be many, many more.

    Tuesday, April 19, 2011

    Expectations

    My father-in-law taught me a phrase.  "Plotting a rush."  When you expect so much that reality will never measure up.

    It's hard not to plot rushes.  We do it all the time.  When I was a little girl I used to count down to my birthday for weeks, months even maybe.  I would be so excited I'd be sick.  And of course, life never measured up.  I pretty much learned to hate my birthdays since they were always so disappointing.

    I'm trying to learn how to adjust expectations.  To avoid being disappointed.  Sometimes, though, your expectations sneak up on you before you realize you had even defined them.

    Too often you don't even realize you have an expectation until you find that it's not met.

    Having a child, my expectations were that she'd be healthy, that she'd be smart, that she'd have great language skills (my childhood claim to fame) and that we would love her.  Superficially I expected that that she'd be cute, that she would look like me (of course) with blonde hair and blue eyes.  I always thought I'd have a little towheaded girl.  That there'd be no way around it.  Marrying a man who also had blonde hair as a child and who has very blue eyes, I didn't think there'd be a chance we'd have it otherwise.

    And at this point we've got most of those expectations met.  With just a little different interpretation.

    Healthy... check.  At least after her open heart surgery.  We'll have to hope that she stays healthy in the future.  Of course, her diagnosis of Down syndrome at first didn't seem like the picture of health, especially with her initial hospital stay.  But there's no reason that a baby with Ds can't be healthy.  And we plan to do everything we can to help her stay that way.

    Smart... sure seems like it to me.  She's so social and communicative.  She's definitely learning on a daily basis.  Language skills... well, she's cooing.  Maybe not babbling yet.  But I'm learning that I will have to adjust my expectations.  That her milestones may come later, but they will come.  Like learning to breastfeed at three months old. 

    Love her... undoubtedly.

    And as for the superficial stuff,  shockingly, that's the surprising part.  She looks an awful lot like her daddy and a lot less like me.  But that's OK.

    But the crazy part is the blonde haired expectation.  Because my little girl is turning into a redhead.  A REDHEAD!!  Believe it or not!  Blonde turning to strawberry, and seriously threatening to turn ginger.  And I love it!  The blue eyes are still in place, though. Whew!  At least it's not all surprises.

    As for the rest of my expectations, I haven't figured that out yet.  I know that a lot of parents talk about their hopes and dreams for their children.  I've never had hopes that are as specific as a career.  But I have hoped for her happiness, for her success, for love.  And I don't doubt that Cora will have those things, even if their forms take different shapes that I may have thought.  I don't know whether she'll ever marry or give me grandchildren.  But I guess no one ever really knows those things.

    As we start out celebrating the life that she is beginning, though, it's hard not to plot some rushes.  To expect so much.  To love her oh so much.

    Chubby Baby Nick


    Baby Leah


    Looks like she may have gotten her cheeks from me

    Monday, April 18, 2011

    Major Milestone!!


    I am so happy to be able to say that after 3 months of bottles, Cora has started breastfeeding!  She started on Friday, and has just gathered steam ever since.  She is already pretty much refusing to take bottles from me (although she'll still take them from Nick), which is crazy since I've heard that it can happen, but didn't expect it to happen so soon.

    Of course, it's a lot trickier to know how much she's getting, and being the fastidious chart-happy milliliter counting parents we've been it's almost disconcerting.  She hasn't gained in the past 2 days, but we're hoping that she'll continue on and actually start gaining weight.

    I really didn't expect this to happen.  Okay, so I hoped, but I was trying not to weigh too much of my happiness on it.  So I am thrilled.

    Otherwise not much else to say.  We went to the pediatrician today, which went really well.  She is healing beautifully and her incision scab is almost completely gone.  She has been less fussy at night, which is welcome.  She even napped really well today, which she hasn't been doing lately.

    And of course, I have to post her cutest pictures from the last couple of days.  My sister Mira who is trekking through Thailand and Vietnam has asked for a new video, so I will work on that one soon.  It will probably be much easier to capture her smiles in motion.















    Saturday, April 16, 2011

    Cora, After

    For the last few days, we've been adjusting to our new lives.  Altogether, there are a lot of things that have remained the same, but there have been quite a few changes, as well.

    Little Cora seems to have acquired new shades to her personality.  Namely, the shade that fusses and cries WAY more often.  She's usually pretty calm throughout the day, but when evening hits it's another story. Our once quiet and calm little girl, whose "fussy period" entailed a little whine until we changed her position every few minutes for a couple of hours, has now shown us how she can scream.  We've figured out a few things that seem to work to calm her down.  The obvious walking around the house bouncing her is hard to sustain.  On my sister Eri's suggestion, we've tried holding her while balancing on a gym ball.  That is also hard to maintain.  And now we've found that holding a pacifier in her mouth for an extended period of time can also help.  She will only take 1 pacifier, "Mr. Green" as Nick has dubbed him.  And she won't hold it in her mouth herself. But if I can hold it in her mouth for an hour or two I will.  A bottle will also keep her quiet for a bit.

    Yesterday I discovered another new "pacifier" when I tried nursing her again.  We've been trying to introduce breastfeeding all along, but nipple confusion along with her pronounced gag reflex kept thwarting us.  Now that the surgery has drastically decreased her reflux and gagging (So amazing!) she's had a better shot.  So while trying to pacify her yesterday, she suddenly figured out how to latch on and suck.  Suddenly there was milk dribbling down the sides of her face.  This went on intermittently for about 10 minutes.  I am fervently hoping that we can replicate it today and that perhaps it could be the turning point that may open her up into real breastfeeding.  So keeping my fingers crossed.

    But her shifts are also for the better.  Her little personality is so much fun now.  Her little smiley self has truly emerged after this surgery and when she gets to smiling, her little face and body can barely contain those smiles.  I'm usually holding her when this happens, so it's hard to get them on camera to convey the absolute cuteness.  But we'll work on it.

    Her feeding habits, unstoppable at the hospital post-surgery, have again become more difficult.  She has the energy, but she doesn't seem to want to eat all the time.  Sometimes she'll horse around and wriggle, smiling her way out of it, and others she'll just fall asleep and we'll have to coax her to eat the whole time.  So overall, her eating is still much better, but still takes a while and can still be a little frustrating. 

    And her sleeping habits have changed, as well.  While she still thankfully sleeps soundly through the night (minus the times we wake her to eat), she's not napping nearly as much in the daytime.  This likely contributes to her wailing in the evening, and also makes it way harder for me to get things done, or blog about it all, or sometimes even breathe.  Go figure.

    Thought I'd post a little sequence of a minute or two in the life of Cora, After. 

















    Tuesday, April 12, 2011

    Pretty Little Girl




    Now that we're back at home with the surgery behind us I am absolutely exhausted and sore.  Cora and I slept about 10 hours last night (well, Cora actually slept more) and are having a relaxing day at home.  I am going to head to the chiropractor soon for a tune-up post stress and 6 nights sleeping at the hospital.
    Going to take a little break from the long-winded posts today and just show off some pictures of our beautiful girl. 

    Snuggling with Daddy.  Getting ready to go home!
     

    Snoozing in the car


    Checking out her battle scars.  Not too shabby.



    Smiling at Mum and Dad, Again!

    Monday, April 11, 2011

    Home Sweet Home

    I am pleased to report that Cora was discharged today and we are now at home.  Such a happy day!  I have nevertheless shed a number of tears.  Hard to believe that this is behind us now.

    Little girlie seems to be wavering between grumpy girl with a lot of tears (she appears to have newfound energy for crying, among other things) and a ton of smiles. Sometimes she stops crying to smile at me, which is odd, but adorable.  I'll have to work on getting some new pictures of her smiles, and some of her newly arrived pouty lower lip.

    Right now Nick is finishing feeding her and she is inexplicably upset.  Hope she's not uncomfortable, but she's still taking her pain medication, so that shouldn't be it.

    I am looking forward to a restful night, so hopefully she'll calm down and we can enjoy our evening.

    Thanks to everyone for all their love and support.  I will plan to post more after a little rest.

    Sunday, April 10, 2011

    Day 4 Post Op - Waiting to Go Home

    Day 4 after her surgery is going by pretty smoothly.  We were hoping they'd let us go today, but her blood tests showed low potassium levels again, so they want to keep her for one more day to monitor it.  They're not giving her any more potassium, so I guess it's not a really big deal, but they just want to monitor it.

    She had her oxygen cannula taken out yesterday afternoon, and her O2 stats have been in the upper 90s.  Quite remarkable.

    She had a fussy evening yesterday and has been intermittently fussy today.  They're keeping on top of her pain medication, so it's hard to know whether she's experiencing pain or discomfort or if it's something else.  She does seem to cry more easily in general and has started sticking out her lower lip when she's unhappy, which is ridiculously cute, even though it means she's not too happy.  Hoping that once we're at home she'll feel better about everything.  Rather than here, when people keep coming by to poke and prod her at regular intervals.

    We're basically just waiting, hanging out with Cora, feeding her full bottles, which she continues to take with no problems, and trying to get some sleep in between.

    It's so hard to believe how different life already is and will continue to be.  We can't wait to be home to get to start living it again on our own.

    Saturday, April 9, 2011

    Day 3 Post-Op - Coming Along Nicely


    Today has been a good day so far.  Nick's dad and sister got into town last night and have been visiting, which is nice.  My mama went home today with promises to visit soon.

    Little Cora continues to amaze us.  She's still eating all her feeds easily and with gusto and is in much better spirits today.  Another great perk we've noticed is that her reflux seems to be gone.  She's no longer coughing, gagging, choking and retching during her feeds and throughout the day.  I certainly didn't think that it was associated with her heart, but here we are.  So that's another thing to be thankful for.

    And while I am sitting here, Cora has been treating her Daddy to some big smiles, the first that have graced her face since the surgery.

    The last of her chest tubes and pacemaker wires came out today, as well as her foot IV (since it was leaking) so all she has now is the O2 and her central line.  Her respiration and heart rate are being monitored still and they're periodically checking O2 levels.  Later today they'll test her O2 again by turning off the oxygen and seeing how she does.  Hopefully she'll stay at 92 or above, which she hasn't done yet.  But she's on a really low level of oxygen and the nurses think she'll probably be ready to be off soon.  Getting her O2 levels can be tricky since she's so squirmy, which often makes it hard to get a good reading, so I'm hoping that we don't get stuck here due to inaccurate readings.

    Since that seems to be the last reason we're still here, we're hoping that she can conquer that too.  It will just be so nice to get her home.  Her doctor said that Monday was the likely discharge day, but we've started to hope for Sunday instead.  We should probably not try to get our hopes up, because either way we should be going home soon.

    But the hospital stay has been great overall.  I'm sure much of my appreciation stems from the fact that Cora is doing so well, but it's really been pretty great, especially since we've essentially been here since Monday (if you include the pre-op day before we checked in).  We've been lucky to have wonderful friends bring us dinners every night, so we're not eating hospital food all the time.  And the hospital stay is so much less traumatic when you're prepared for it.  The NICU was so tough, since it wasn't expected and we never knew how long she'd be there, and they didn't have facilities for parents to regularly stay overnight.  It's been nice that we can be here with her.  Although Nick has done a couple of errand runs home, I've been here the whole time.  I did stay in the Cool Bus with my mom last night though.  Thank you to Nick for sleeping on the cot and taking care of Miss Cora during the night time hours.

    There hasn't been a lot of drama today.  It's been nice for us, but probably doesn't make for very riveting reading.  But that's OK by me.  I'm looking forward to our lives getting a lot less dramatic in the very near future.  I just can't wait to snuggle up in my bed with my baby for a couple of days and have a perfectly boring and lovely time.  It's so exciting that I should get to do it soon!



    Friday, April 8, 2011

    Day 2 Post-Op- Out of the PICU


    Sorry for the hiatus in posting, but I've been having trouble with the internet at the hospital.  Finally made it on with the help of Nick.

    Good news...  Cora is now out of the PICU and onto the pediatric floor!  We are very happy about that.  She is overall doing very well.  Dr. Kyser came in to talk to us and told us that she's a "Superstar" with regard to her recovery so far and that she is doing great!  He expects that we should be able to take her home by Monday.

    They took out her catheter this morning, and her NG tube yesterday. At this point she still has the nasal cannula for oxygen, electrodes monitoring her vitals, a couple of chest tubes, her central line, an IV and her pacemaker wires.   She's still pretty connected, but nothing like a day ago.

    She's not quite ready to be off the oxygen yet.  They want her O2 saturation to stay above 92, and they dropped the oxygen by half today, but she's not quite ready to be off without dropping a bit.  Hopefully it's due to recovering from being off the ventilator and won't be a problem.  Her nostrils still flare a bit occasionally too, but the doctor isn't too concerned, since it doesn't look like her breathing is otherwise labored.  She is pink and vigorous for sure.

    But the bummer today is that while I was sleeping away in the parent room last night (Finally, 7 hours of sleep!) she was doing so well and was so sleepy that the night nurse decided she didn't need any pain medication.  Can you imagine being not even 48 hours out of open heart surgery and not having ANY pain meds?  He must have been insane.  When I went in at 8 this morning, she was sleeping, but by 8:30 she was wailing.  And this is a baby who barely cries.  She will cry, but it may be a wail or two and she's always been very easily consoled.  But she wouldn't calm down.  The nurse gave her some more Tylenol and I fed her and she seemed better.  But then the IV nurse had to come by and redress her central line.  I was holding her at the time and the nurse wanted me to continue to hold her to help calm her down, but it didn't work.  The poor thing cried her little head off and it was very traumatic to her and to me. 

    Later, during feeding she was again crying inconsolably.  I told the nurse that I thought she was in pain, so she gave her some morphine, which immediately calmed her down.  She was loopy for a while afterward, but at least not in pain.  It pisses me off that they got behind on her pain meds.  How can you deprive a 3 month old of a little Tylenol to make sure that her pain doesn't get out of control?  It's like we've been playing catch up all day long.  She had a dose of Tylenol with codeine a couple of hours ago, and the peds floor nurse is going to make sure not to miss any doses from here on out.  So hopefully she'll be happier.  I do not like to see her cry like that.

    And the biggest and most significant thing to me is her eating.  As I've posted before, Miss Cora's eating has been the main focus of our lives since she arrived.  So difficult.  If it weren't for her feeding tube, things would have been very different in the past few weeks, and not in a good way.  Now, lo and behold, she took 100 mL this morning in no time at all.  No gagging, heaving or retching either.  Her second feed wasn't quite as good, but I attribute that to her pain.  She had a freak-out mid feed and needed the morphine.  She again took about 100 at her last feed!  It is absolutely amazing to me.

    After her first great feed this morning, after walking away, I sat down and started to cry.  Since it had been normal for her all along, I didn't realize how truly compromised she was until I had this to compare it to.  And it's only the second day after her surgery.  It makes me so sad as it sinks in that my daughter was in pretty advanced congestive heart failure until a couple of days ago.  And how amazing it is that a surgery can actually make things so much better.  It's just so hard to believe, even though I knew it.  I guess I didn't really know it.  What a shift of perspective.

    Things aren't quite easy yet.  We're not out of the hospital until we're walking out the door, and we've got to learn to read her signals for pain and try and make her as comfortable as possible. But it's just incredible how quickly she is recovering.  Everyone told me that infants are incredibly resilient after heart surgery.  And so far we've been very lucky with her results.  We'll just keep focusing on continuing to improve and recover.

    I'm gonna sign off now and go watch Nick give our girl a bottle.  Looks like it just may be a new record... 

    Cora getting a nebulizer treatment to help with airway swelling after getting off the ventilator.



    Chilling in the PICU-  alert and content yesterday afternoon.


    Having her first bottle of milk with Daddy last night.  Hungry girlie!

    On the pediatric floor rocking her new legwarmers!

    Beating her record, once again!