September 8th

Kate had a pretty good day.  She had to have a little more help from the ventilator and went back on the bilirubin lights again.   Both are pretty normal things.  The doctors think she is at a normal weight now (1.15 lbs).  She seems like she's been able to get rid of all the fluid she retained.  She will be weaning off her hydrocortisone that helped her with this. 
We were going to take the kids up to see Kate today, but I passed on the little flu bug that I had for the last two days.  Josh stayed home with the kids and I went up to see her.  Grandma Wilde arrived about the same time I did.  It was perfect timing for Kate's care.  Her care happens every 4 hrs.- a diaper change, temperature check, roll her to another side, and her feeding through a tube.  It's about the only time I get to really see and touch her. 
Kate was pretty agitated after her care.  She had been rolled over from her tummy to her back and didn't like this much, because she wasn't swaddled.  Her arms and legs kept squirming all over.  The nurse considered giving her Versed to calm her, but told me I could try containment touch.  I put a glove on and put one hand over her legs to hold them still. Usually she keeps her hands up by her face, but she reached down with them and touched my hand instead.  She calmed pretty quickly and her vital signs stabilized for the 20 min. that I did this.  I had to leave because of shift change and I had already been there for a couple hours.  I don't think I would ever get bored just sitting there watching her.  One of my favorite things to do with my babies is to rock them to sleep.  I love to just hold them and stare at them.  There's something so sweet and peaceful about sleeping babies.  It's the same with Kate- I just wish I could hold and cuddle her!