Chow time for Olin

Olin's a natural eater; her nurses all say she doesn't realize how young she is because she feeds so well. Nonetheless, when they're this young they can get a little worn out eating every 3 hours. Her feeding tube gives her (and her momma) a little break (and it gives dad a chance to help out too). Another cool feature of the tube is they can pull stuff out of her and check on how much she ate and how well she's digesting- sounds like the next diet fad to me.

Yawn... so when is breakfast served around here?

Good morning!

Phototherapy

Check out the cool baby in the tanning booth already.

Olin has her own private room in the NICU where we visit her. To treat the jaundice, they leave these bluish lights on her when she's in her "crib". The crib itself is pretty cool as a top can come down to keep it quieter for her and control the temperature. Once her bilirubin levels drop, the lights will be removed.

So a brief update while we have some down time. I didn't realize it before, but a hospital is NOT where you go to get some rest! Thanks to her sleep deprivation, Jyoti has mastered the art of the quick 1 hour nap; sleeping as soon as the lights are dim and before the next staff person comes in to measure or probe her-she's snoring as I type! She is continuing to recover, but not 100% yet, so the doctor is giving her another day stay at the "resort" , especially since it makes it easier for her to get back and forth to Olin for feedings. The high blood pressure is under control now that the baby is delivered and she's feeling (and looking) much better each day.

The NICU (where Olin is cared for) is is just down the hallway from our room. The facility is really incredible and the doctors/staff seem top notch. They monitor her vitals continuously and have great nurses there keeping an eye on her. Every time we go in, we have to scrub our hands and use antibacterial lotion before we can handle her. Jyoti feeds her regularly on a schedule determined by the neonatologist (think specialized premature baby doctor). He and the nurses monitor and control her overall food intake so they will usually "add" a bit more to top her off at each feeding. With a feeding tube in her, they can simply pull out everything from her stomach, check it out and put it back! She doesn't seem to mind, but I wouldn't recommend trying it at home.

My birthday gift!

For my 37th birthday, Olin let me change her diapers for the first time, thanks kid.

With her jaundice, I was happy to comply, as this is how they flush out the excess bilirubin (broken down red blood cells) in their system causing their problems. Apparently this is common in infants, especially premature ones, as the liver is in charge of removing billirubin but has not yet fully developed.

With such a young baby we're learning alot more than we ever thought we'd know.

Here's Olin after a feeding getting burped by momma. At only 34 weeks they don't have the baby fat of full term babies making some proportions look funny (look at those long arms!) We're amazed at how small she is. She has a bit of a rash that should go away on its own as well. She's off her IV already and doing well. Still under bright blue lights (phototherapy) for jaundice (also very common)

Finally some quiet time with Olin after her final feeding of the day. Now hopefully we can all catch a few hours of sleep.

Did someone page Dr. Jones?

Sure, I'll do the delivery, it's not rocket science, right?
(Now this is what I needed when I painted Olin's room last weekend)

Olin's hangout for the next few weeks.

Jyoti's tucked in and ready for another 30 minute nap...

Hope everyone can handle this one, but Jyoti said post it! ;)

Some more pics for the grandparents!

This is also from Jyoti's first visit with Olin today.

Hi all, a quick post to fill ya in on our hourly life today. Olin will be in the NICU (intensive care) for the duration of her stay here, which could be several weeks (she is so tiny and needs constant attention- they sometimes forget to breath!- but the nurses up there are fantastic). So we have to go and visit her instead of her staying in the room with us. Jyoti is still recovering so can only visit occasionally, and it requires that her entire bed be moved up to NICU, so its quite an entrance when she goes (I imagine she likes that!). By 11 tonight she should be off the meds (magnesium) so the hourly checkups on her will end, and hopefully she (we) can finally sleep tonight. She's been with Olin twice and on the second visit those two had the breast feeding down already. The nurses said it had been a long time since they'd seen someone that young catch on so quick (it was the first attempt).

So now we're waiting to visit Olin again, and later tonight we'll be transferred to a room closer to her (Olin's on the 3rd floor, we are currently on the 1st) and hopefully get more sleep. Bhones has been with our dog sitter (Barbara) since yesterday and I'll probably pick her up tomorrow. Where pretty much just taking our schedule day by day at this point since Olin's arrival has caught us off guard!

12 hours after delivery, Jyoti and Olin finally meet.

Look who woke up for mom. That's the first time I saw her eyes open!

Only 3 minutes old, and thrilled to hear her crying- the lungs are in good shape!

Finally able to hold her after her first bath.

Getting late and sleepy. What a day, things moved fast and unexpectedly! Time to go check on Olin one more time for the evening. Jyoti's doing well. Very tired, and trying to catch some sleep between constant monitoring. May be a long night for her. Since she's on magnesium (to prevent seizures from her preclampsia) she can't go up to the intensive care area to see Olin for 24 hours, so it'll be up to me to shuffle back and forth for updates. This couch/bed that looked so unappealing a few hours ago is looking more cozy by the minute. Goodnight!

Happy Birthday Olin Nikhila Jones!
She's a bit cranky 'cause she wasn't ready yet, but neither were we!

Birth weight: 3 lbs, 11 ounces

Look at my wife's GA, what a trooper!
It's about 10:20 here and its go time...

Looks like we ran out of time to play our game, so here it is:

Let's play, name that baby!

First clue: Using these blocks, you can spell her name. Which blocks do you need? That's part of the game!

Another ultrasound, this time a higher resolution.
She was shy so we didn't get a good picture, just this profile. Don't worry grand parents, that's not a hole in her head, just an artifact of the ultrasound. :)