What is normal?

Life changes when your baby, due June 4, comes into the world on March 12. No doubt about that. The kids' life has certainly become different these last few weeks.

To begin with, things weren't much different for Ronan, my almost 5-year old grandson, as there still was no baby at home and it was his mom, dad, dog Whiskey and himself. But now one of his parents is gone to the NICU at UVA at almost any time except overnight. Since Tom works from home, he is managing watching Ronan a good part of the time while completing his responsibilities. Unless he has meetings, etc., that seems to work. Jocelyn spends a lot of time at the hospital. No matter where she is, she has to pump milk every two hours. I admire her strength in sticking with that. That is a cumbersome job, but she is embracing it and handling it well.

Ronan has always gone with me willingly, no matter where I wanted to take him. Not so right now. He doesn't want to let a parent get out of his sight for long. It's all understandable, but harder for us to help the kids with their schedule. So yesterday, we just hung out at their place. Ronan likes the company and as long as we don't leave the house, he is fine. I would like to take him to the mall today, but I'm not sure he will want to go. We will have to try and see how he likes the idea. It is also a play date at the park, but it is raining and wet and cold out, so I'm not sure that will work.

I did take Jocelyn to the hospital yesterday and I got to hold Aenea for the first time. She is doing very well. She is a step down from the tertiary care where she started at the NICU. She gets to wear clothes now. Newborn preemies have trouble regulating their temperature so they are placed in temperature controlled isolettes. As they get older and their bodies start to function better, they can then be dressed and their own bodies work at maintaining their temperature. That's why the preemie baby caps are so important for them. We lose much of our body heat through our head, so by keeping a cap on the babies, they are better able to stay warm.

Aenea is gaining ground every day. She is over 15 inches long now and 3.6 pounds. She has always had her mother's milk and does very well with that, but hates vitamins and promptly spits them back up.

It was bliss holding her. She is still teeny tiny, but absolutely perfect. When I got done holding her, I handed her over to Jocelyn. You could tell by her movements and response, she knew it was her mommy. Such a little sweetie. We love you all!

Till next time. . .

Dale