Juicin'

It's with a heavy heart that Jay and I must come clean about the dark secret we've been carrying for, oh, about two days now. Yes, it's true...little Leo has already gone to the dark side. He's juicing. The doctors thought a steroid inhalent would help open his lungs more fully, alleviate some of the swelling, etc. so he began his course of Flomax the other day and had his Sunday labs done today so we'll see tomorrow if it's starting to help. Ideally they'll be able to start turning down his vapotherm to get him closer to the nasal cannula again. Nasal cannula = start trying to nurse so this is a big one we're waiting for with much hope. His feeds are going great, he's up to full feeds today and doing well.

We met our NICU neighbors finally today...and I promptly forgot the Mom's name. Fail. Their little boy is also 34 weeks but he showed up at 28 weeks vs. 30 for Leo so he's been there a bit longer and is therefore a little further ahead of Leo. There are daily exchanges among the parents here; mostly knowing, kind smiles as if to say "I get it, this sucks, hope you're doing OK." It's nice to connect with one or two of them if you're able...and if they're people you, in fact, want to connect with. Just sayin. But these folks are lovely and live nearby so who knows, maybe we've made some NICU friends. It's a little less pressure this way vs. the group therapy pizza night (no kidding) they offer with the overly nurturing "parent mentors." Again, not trying to be snarky but sometimes the extra gentle tone of people you encounter in the NICU is, frankly, annoying. And at the same time I'm grateful for all of the services they provide. So there you have it. It's great on one hand, and on the other you sort of want to run screaming sometimes.

But enough of my snark. I did want to say a continued thank you to everyone for your love and support. We're constantly blown away and amazed by how lucky we are to have such wonderful family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, strangers, etc. in our lives. Especially because we know that you all have stuff going on in your lives too - stresses, concerns, health problems, job searches, whatever. So we appreciate it. That's all.

Must get back to this lovely sunny Sunday. Jay is mowing the lawn, I'll be doing some weeding here in a bit and both our beloved Red Wings and Mariners are playing today. And the Mariners are playing the Tigers! It's a Detroit Sunday for sure.