Day Three

Today can be summed up by Kirsten's comment this morning "these are the things that normal families get worked up about at the hospital." As you might be able to tell from the comment, Charlotte is doing fine but has hit her first "speed bump." Kirsten and Charlotte have been working very hard to get nursing down and while I couldn't be prouder of the two of them, Charlotte has lost a little bit of weight (she's down to 6 lbs 7oz) and her bilirubin levels have necessitated that she "go under the lights." Fortunately, the lights come in a handy-dandy blanket format that allows us to keep her in the room and to keep nursing. Here's a picture of our glowing baby:


The good news is that Kirsten continues to work extremely hard on nursing and so far, she hasn't had to supplement with formula. We're not entirely opposed to using formula but if possible, we'd prefer to nurse. Again, its something we're focused on but not really too worried.

We've gotten a ton of comments about Madeleine's photos in the room as its pretty obvious that Madeleine has matured a great deal since my last blog post. (sorry bout that.) In any case, Madeleine is staying at home keeping her nurses and grandparents (Kirsten's parents) extremely busy. We're ecstatic to report that Madeleine is making great progress in her swimming lessons (she started last week) and she's gotten to the point where she begs to be dunked under water. Its hard to imagine that a child that had her trach removed in late May could take to water so enthusiastically. I've been staying at the hospital with Kirsten getting accustomed to Charlotte and her healthy lungs (wow-- big difference) and we're looking forward to Thursday when we go home and start getting settled as a family.

That's all for now-- check out our picasa site here for additional photos of Charlotte. I've also posted photos of Madeleine (and family) from July 4th weekend out on Kirsten's parents boat. Hope you enjoy!