Four weeks and two firsts

Let's get the science out of the way quickly so we can move on to the preemie eye candy.

Yesterday was Jane's, um, fifth? ultrasound. She still has hydrocephalus, but her scan showed no additional swelling and her head circumference hasn't changed. All of which is good, and no one's worried about her brain (for now, at this point, etc).

Her lungs aren't great, but she's still on the conventional vent instead of the oscillator, which is fine. Her lungs were hyperexpanded yesterday, so they came down in some of the vent settings and they're now where they should be. The steroids didn't really resolve the whole fluffy stuff issue, but the medical types have assured us that they were at least somewhat helpful. Still, the main thing with the lungs is that they will heal eventually. It's just a matter of when. So, we wait. Some more. For like months.

She's officially up to full feeds as of 4:00 this afternoon. 15 ccs! That's three whole teaspoons for our competitive eater in training. So far, it's definitely working for her -- she's up to 2 lbs, 10 oz, which is about an 11 ounce gain over her birth weight. And it's one of the things the doctors are happiest about. The bigger she gets, the healthier her lungs will be. And preemies that are having really tough lung issues typically don't do well with feedings, so it's all very reassuring.

On to the fun stuff!

Yesterday, the night nurse must have been bored or something, because we came into the ICN to discover

Jane wearing her very first outfit! I don't know where they found the onesie, or who was bold enough to put that thing over her wobbly, intubated head, but she was pretty damn cute. She was swimming in that thing. See?

Dudes, that's the preemie size!

Another first: sponge bath.

She loved it. She lurved it. Both the nurse (who, I admit, did the bulk of the work, not being freaked out by maybe disconnecting something important and turning a fun experience into a visit to the third ring of hell) and I expected her to pitch a fit, and have her oxygen level plummet in silent protest, but she just opened her eyes wider than I knew they could open and took it all in.

She did take a little time to ponder the meaning of it all afterward:

Whoa. What was that?