A Normal Crazy Day

The NICU is never boring, but there are occasionally times when it at least seems routine. Yesterday was not one of those days. The morning started with a visit to Wilson. I should have known something was abnormal when Morgan offered to change his diaper. A few minutes later a nurse walked in with the results from Wilson's eye report and casually informed us Wilson had Stage 1 ROP, or Retinopathy of Prematurity. ROP is the condition that causes blindness in preemies and is what caused Stevie Wonder to lose his eyesight. Without more information, we freaked out. We learned later in the day that this is completely normal and a lot of preemies test positive for Stage 1 ROP. The doctors will monitor Wilson but told us not to worry unless his condition develops into Stage 2 or 3 ROP. Whew . . . for now.

We left Wilson's room and went over to see Clara. When we arrived we found a nurse getting ready to move Clara to a big girl crib! This completely came out of left field. Apparently Clara's weight shot up - by the end of the day yesterday she weighed 3lbs 13oz - and the nurses wanted to see if she could maintain her body temperature outside of the isolette. Since the move was so sudden, and we didn't know how long it would last, we immediately called Clara's Kentucky grandmother to let her know she could hold Clara when she came to the hospital. We still don't have an official grandmother name for Morgan's mom (Mimi, JJ, JuJu, Mama J, Grandma, etc are all in contention), but Clara was held by her paternal grandmother for the first time early yesterday afternoon. We told you Clara didn't like Wilson being so far ahead of her . . . and we appreciate her doing her best to catch up!  

However, we weren't sure Clara was ready to maintain her own body temperature for an extended period, and by last night she had moved back to the comfort of her isolette. Although it was nice to have her in a "crib," we would much rather Clara not waste valuable energy or calories staying warm. The pictures of Clara with Grandma are on another camera, but hopefully we'll have those uploaded by tonight.

Also, as a welcome relief, our power was restored at some point yesterday afternoon! It was nice to be back at home but we are incredibly thankful to the different people who housed and fed us the last couple of days.