Emma Virginia Busby came into the world at 3 lbs. 9.8 oz, measuring 17 inches long, on Saturday, March 1, 2008, at 2:35 am. I think she's going to be very obedient because my mom did not want her to be born on February 29th, and wouldn't you know it, she wasn't ready to come until March 1st. Complications from existing kidney disorders put me in the hospital under observation for two days before the team of doctors decided it was time for Emma to come into the world more than 6 weeks early. I understand she was quite content inside the womb, so I felt bad that she had to be out here so early. We were extremely fortunate, however, that she was strong enough despite her small size to make it into the world healthy. The neonatologist ventilated her for the first few hours of her life because she was a little lazy breathing on her own. They had her off the tubes by Saturday afternoon.
Emma's our little peanut. She looks like a full-term baby, just very thin and really, tiny. Here, Curtis tries to size her up, so you can see how big her head is. It's really about the size of an apple, smaller than Curtis' cell phone, which is 3 inches long. Her limbs are long and thin, and her wrist thickness is about that of my thumb. She has perfect little hands and feet, however, and very long fingers. She likes to grab things with her hand.
I love seeing Curtis with Emma. He's so timid about holding her because she is very small. The people who work in NyICU think she's a nice size because they're used to seeing little pounders come through there. Curtis is hoping she'll be chunky before she comes home, so he doesn't hurt her, but I don't think she'll be "chunky" for a while. Curtis loves Emma in pink, and was sad the first few days because we didn't have any of her cute clothes and blankets with us. Even the blanket that the nursery ICU gave her was green. We fixed that, and now she has lots of pink things with her in the ICU. She spent two days in the nursery ICU proper, then two days in the Intermediate Nursery, and has spent the last several days in the nursery ICU annex, which is much nicer. There's more room there, and it's much quieter than upstairs where it's noisy and busier. Nancy May, whom we know from church, is a nursery ICU nurse. Nancy was nice enough to request Emma on her two night shifts this week. We appreciated having Nancy care for Emma, but all the nurses have been terrific from my admission on. We feel very fortunate to have had such great care.
Emma developed jaundice, as most preemies do. They started her on phototherapy lights on Sunday night, to bring her bilirubin level down. I know she hated having the goggles on, but we thought she looked cute "tanning" under the lamp. So far, she has met all of her milestones - breathe on her own without ventilation, eat from a bottle a specific amount, and reduce her bilirubin level. She will have one more milestone - being in an open crib - before she can be discharged for home.
Emma Virginia Busby came into the world at 3 lbs. 9.8 oz, measuring 17 inches long, on Saturday, March 1, 2008, at 2:35 am. I think she's going to be very obedient because my mom did not want her to be born on February 29th, and wouldn't you know it, she wasn't ready to come until March 1st. Complications from existing kidney disorders put me in the hospital under observation for two days before the team of doctors decided it was time for Emma to come into the world more than 6 weeks early. I understand she was quite content inside the womb, so I felt bad that she had to be out here so early. We were extremely fortunate, however, that she was strong enough despite her small size to make it into the world healthy. The neonatologist ventilated her for the first few hours of her life because she was a little lazy breathing on her own. They had her off the tubes by Saturday afternoon.
Emma's our little peanut. She looks like a full-term baby, just very thin and really, tiny. Here, Curtis tries to size her up, so you can see how big her head is. It's really about the size of an apple, smaller than Curtis' cell phone, which is 3 inches long. Her limbs are long and thin, and her wrist thickness is about that of my thumb. She has perfect little hands and feet, however, and very long fingers. She likes to grab things with her hand.
I love seeing Curtis with Emma. He's so timid about holding her because she is very small. The people who work in NyICU think she's a nice size because they're used to seeing little pounders come through there. Curtis is hoping she'll be chunky before she comes home, so he doesn't hurt her, but I don't think she'll be "chunky" for a while. Curtis loves Emma in pink, and was sad the first few days because we didn't have any of her cute clothes and blankets with us. Even the blanket that the nursery ICU gave her was green. We fixed that, and now she has lots of pink things with her in the ICU. She spent two days in the nursery ICU proper, then two days in the Intermediate Nursery, and has spent the last several days in the nursery ICU annex, which is much nicer. There's more room there, and it's much quieter than upstairs where it's noisy and busier. Nancy May, whom we know from church, is a nursery ICU nurse. Nancy was nice enough to request Emma on her two night shifts this week. We appreciated having Nancy care for Emma, but all the nurses have been terrific from my admission on. We feel very fortunate to have had such great care.
Emma developed jaundice, as most preemies do. They started her on phototherapy lights on Sunday night, to bring her bilirubin level down. I know she hated having the goggles on, but we thought she looked cute "tanning" under the lamp. So far, she has met all of her milestones - breathe on her own without ventilation, eat from a bottle a specific amount, and reduce her bilirubin level. She will have one more milestone - being in an open crib - before she can be discharged for home. 
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