Million Dollar Baby

Today Daddy nicknamed me the "Million Dollar Baby". Before I was known as the "Miracle Baby" because it was a miracle that Mommy found someone like Daddy and also that Mommy got pregnant so quickly...I was a Maui Miracle.

Well Daddy spoke with the hospital finance department today and got an estimate of my current bill for the 36 days I have spent in the NICU....over half a million dollars for hospital charges but that includes my surgery and all the extra special care I've gotten! I get 24/7 attention from all the wonderful NICU nurses, who are all so kind and sweet even when they poke me with needles. I have great Respiratory Tech's who suck the boogers out of my nose and help me breath better. I have fantastic nurse practitioners, neonatologist and hospitalist doctors who make sure I get the best treatments and medicines to make me comfortable (more fentanyl please) and help grow. I get excellent housekeeping staff that keep the NICU spotless. I have attentive ward clerks that make sure visitor are checked and everyone practices good hygiene. I have caring social workers who check up on how Mommy and Daddy are doing makes sure they know what services are available. When the Hospital CEO stopped by for a visit two weeks ago, Daddy and I told him he should be very proud of the NICU team and how empathetic and professional everyone is in helping the families through this stressful time.

To put the costs in perspective, I think staying in the NICU at CPMC would be like staying in a fantasy suite at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. I checked and the Real World Suite (where the cast of MTV's Real World lived in 2006) costs $5k per night Sun-Thurs and $10k per night Fri-Sat...so that's $45K per week or $6428 per night. My average daily cost in the NICU is $6991 per day full service food and fentanyl...those would be extra at the Palms. So I am like a Baby Rockstar living it up in the NICU like Paris Hilton does Vegas....but I am cuter and my videos are better!

By the time I have to leave the NICU, I am sure that the hospital charges and physician services bills combined will be over a million dollars but Mommy and Daddy think I am worth every penny and more! So I told Daddy today that when (not if) he loses the Biggest Loser/Gainer Challenge...he only has to get my a Toyota Prius for my 16th birthday.

Doh!

It's was a busy weekend...eating and visit's from Uncle Timo and Auntie Wendy...thank you Auntie Wendy for the nice flowers! My milk feedings has now increased to 10mL every three hours and it's moving up 1mL every shift. My intestines are keeping up so far but all this chugging of milk and activity over the weekend has tuckered me out a bit.

My heart rate has been a bit high over the last couple of days and my oxygen saturation dipped a bit yesterday....doh! So Dr. Kathy decided to be cautious and put me on some IV antibiotics and do a blood culture to see if an infection is the culprit. Daddy looked a bit stressed when he found out that one of the antibiotics was vancomycin. When Daddy was a hospital pharmacist, he said vancomycin was used in really sick people but when he spoke with Dr. Kathy, she explained that she was concerned that if I did have an infection, my central line maybe the source and one of the main bugs would be coagulase negative staphylococcal (CONS) and the treatment protocol is vancomycin. So I get to have vancomycin for the next two days along with cefotaxime (another broad spectrum antibiotic) to cover all the bases....these two "kills bugs dead" like RAID the bug spray. If nothing turns up in my blood culture, I get to stop the antibiotics but if something does show up then I will need a full course. Daddy said a full course is good so that I don't give any bugs the chance to develop resistance to the antibiotics.

I wonder if I can get Dr. Kathy to order a couple of bolus doses of fentanyl?

One Month

I am one month old today! Mommy made this beautiful cashmere blanket. She actually made it twice...because Mommy never crochet before she started this blanket and made it very long like a scarf. So she had to take it apart and start all over again. But I love it! I think Mommy should take the advice Daddy gave my surgeon, measure twice and cut once.

It's been a crazy first 30 days and I really love my Mommy and Daddy for coming to the hospital everyday to visit me. Especially Mommy who is making me milk and pumping so I have lots to drink....she is so tired gets up in the middle of the night while Daddy is sleeping....THANKS MOMMY!!!

I am up to 3mL of milk every 3 hours and put on 2 ounces last night....victory is in sight!

Milk Coma

You never know how good you had it until you don't have it anymore....boy did I miss drinking Mommy's milk. So happy they increased my feeding to 2mL every 3 hours. I am so happy I got the hiccups!

Head Scratch

Mommy thinks I am smiling because she is scratching my head...but I am laughing at how she sounds....hahaha!

But the head scratching does feel good.

Just Chilling

What a long couple of weeks...I need a vacation! Finally got rid of most of the IV's. Just one PICC line left in my right foot for my TPN and the OG tube which I try to imagine as a extra long straw connected to an endless milk margarita on the rocks with no sodium chloride. The good news today is that I restarted feeding on Mommy's milk, 1mL every 4 hours. The bad news is that Daddy is one step closer to losing the Biggest Loser/Gainer Challenge! Oh...it's back on and Baby Girl is hungry. You try not eating for over two weeks...I am going to be on that milk like a cop on a doughnut.

As you can see from the graph below, even being on the injured reserve list for two weeks I am dominating the dojo. Daddy had a good drop the days after my surgery but that yo-yo dieting is not sustainable. At his age, he needs to focus on one pound a week, smooth and steady. I predict that I will be pulling away in early July and packing on the ounces as my feeding increases. Based on my weight today of 1380 grams, I have gained 500 grams about 1.1 pounds. Daddy needs to drop 5.5 lbs to keep pace. Fat chance (no pun intended) with Daddy weighing in at 201.5 lbs.

The Color Purple

Now that they have stopped my fentanyl, I am cold turkey and sometimes get the shakes. So I got this purple binky which helps soothes me. Daddy was commenting to Mommy that there must be something about the color purple that must be soothing to kids because when he was a kid there was this McDonald's character Grimace that was this big fuzzy purple fellow that was Ronald McDonald's sidekick helping foil the evil Hamburgler. Then there is that purple Barney, who is a friendly Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur with an optimistic attitude...I guess the color purple makes everything just better and kid friendly.

I got my ostomy bag, which is like a camelback water container sealed over by my open wound covering my small intestine. Now Daddy and Mommy won't have to poop and scoop when I get home like they have to do with the doggies. I can't wait to meet all the doggies - Ewok, Wolfie and Sweetie (left to right). I am about the size of Sweetie the gray toy poodle right now. I hope to be as big as Ewok (lying down on the left) when I get home.



I got rid of the nasal canula so you can see more of my cute button nose and I am breathing on my own again. Looking forward to some Mommy's milk hopefully soon...it's been two weeks since they stopped feeding me to give my intestines a rest. I'm practicing hard on the binky, so Mommy better start turning up the power on the breast pump.

Wolverine or The Cheerleader?

What a difference a week makes! Last Sunday I was all swollen and felt like a Zeppelin in a condom just about to burst. I was rushed in to surgery and had 10 cm of my ileum (small intestine) removed. Mommy and Daddy were really scared but what they didn't know is that I am a mix between Wolverine (from X-Men) and The Cheerleader, Claire Bennett (from Heroes). Both have regenerative healing powers but I am a bad ass fighter like Wolverine and pretty and sassy like Claire.

Father's Day

Daddy and I celebrated our first Father's Day together. I surprised him by having the ventilator tube pulled out and letting him hear my cry. When you are intubated, the tube goes over your vocal cords so you can't make any vocal sounds. Today, they discontinued the fentanyl drip (sucks) but I did get a bolus shot in the afternoon. I just need to cry and fuss a bit if I want some fentanyl....Mommy has been teaching me her tricks in throwing fits to get what I want.

I am doing really good, I am just on my antibiotics and TPN now. My intestines are working, I have stool coming out of my ostomy which is kind of gross....think of an earthworm pooping. I am also peeing a lot so my weight was dropping a bit but I put some back on and I am now 1410 grams (3 lbs 2 oz).

Daddy looks pretty happy in the picture...that's because Mommy forgot it was Father's Day and didn't get Daddy a present. So Mommy scrambled around and send Daddy an ecard with a voucher granting him a "wish voucher" that he can use anytime for anything he wants. I think Mommy is gonna regret the wish voucher and never forget to give Daddy a Father's Day present again.

Wanna see my scar?

It's been a week since my operation and I am doing so much better. I am passing a lot of the fluid and my thighs are less thunderous. I've lost about half of pound of fluid so I am much less penguin like and don't look like the Nintendo Wii characters anymore. I am hoping they pull the ventilator tube in the next couple of days or I am going to throw a fit like Mommy does and pull it out myself.

My incision is looking pretty cool and now I just have to come up with a gnarly story like a shark attack!

Eye of the Tiger

My Grandma Florence and Auntie Marilyn came to visit me today and brought me this pretty gold necklace and tiger charm. They came all the way from Toronto to see how I am doing. Daddy's from Canada but he doesn't play hockey or lived in an igloo.

Daddy was telling me that this is the year of the Tiger, the third sign in the Chinese Zodiac cycle, and it is a sign of bravery. Daddy thinks I fit this sign because the Tiger is courageous and a fiery fighter and I'm have been kicking butt versus NEC...(cue music....Survivor - "Eye of the Tiger" ).



I haven't had any blood products today....my platelets have been good, they are decreasing my dopamine, I had a poop via my ostomy and I am peeing up a storm. I am feeling much better and can't wait to pull this ventilator tube in a couple of days....but that means bye bye to the fentanyl drip...maybe I can sweet talk one of the nurses to load me up with a bolus before they pull it.

By the way I am 1560 grams now....some of that is still extra fluid I am retaining but I am kicking Daddy's butt in the challenge. I am up 680 grams which is about 1.5 lbs. That means Chubby has to lose an equivalent of 7.5 lbs....good luck!

Better to Look Good than to Feel Good

The things us woman go through for men! Despite being in the NICU with all these tubes and wires, a girl has to look good. Nurse Sue hooked me up with a matching tube top with my headband bow.

Daddy said, "You look marvellous!" I think he was trying to parody Billy Crystal's character Fernado...."It's better to look good than to feel good." But I say, looking good is feeling good....and today I feel GOOD !!!.

Fashionista

A girl can never look too good. Nurse Sue gave me some fashion tips this morning to help cover up that horrendous haircut the Latex Glove Person gave me....obviously they did not attend the Vidal Sassoon school. So the NICU nurses made me this great headband bow. What do you think?

Can you believe they made it using a little beenie? Can't wait for the tube top.

There for you...

Today...I had visitors from Daddy's work come to the hospital. They were all very nice and supportive of all the time Daddy has been away from the office staying with me in the hospital. Daddy was telling Mommy that Stryker Orthopaedics motto is, "There for you..." for their surgeons and patients. Well I think Daddy's company and co-workers are also there for him and me.

I hope when I am better, Daddy will take me to work so I can meet everyone and see what he does. All Daddy says is that ever since Stryker bought OtisMed, he has to wear a monkey suit to work!

The Chanel Challenge

Mommy told me today that my Godmother Cindy is going to come up from LA and help next week. Mommy also said that if I work hard and get healthy....my Godmother is going to give me her Chanel handbag collection!

So I am going to work extra hard this week to get better.

Scars are Cool

I saw Mommy's scar on her belly and thought it was cool so today I went and got one too!

Boy did Mommy and Daddy freak when they heard that I convinced Dr. Tippi MacKenzie (pediatric surgeon) to operate on me today and give me a cool scar to match Mommy. I was getting tired of this whole NEC ordeal that was dragging on all weekend. My belly had gotten bigger overnight going from 25cm to 28cm and my skin was really shiny red and looking tender. My platelet counts weren't rising after getting transfused and they had to put me on dopamine. Daddy put his pharmacy degree to good use and explained to me that the dopamine was to help with my blood pressure and urine output.

But it didn't seem that the medical management was working so it was time to step it up a notch and settle this thing....so Audrey vs. NEC went down at 1pm this afternoon. Three hours later, I came out of surgery a little slimmer leaving behind 10 cm of my ileum (which is the final part of the small intestine). I feel much better....surgery wasn't that bad. I had the same anesthesiologist Mommy had on my birth day and Dr. Heidi Witherall hooked me up!

I will be in the NICU at CPMC for a while longer. Hoping to start back on Mommy's milk in a few weeks. I will need to have another operation later to reconnect my intestines back together. I will save that story for another day.

Bad Haircut

Today was another bad day, I looked in the mirror and realized they gave me my first bad haircut. Look at that bald spot on the right side of my head by the IV line for the blood transfusions.

Guess that's what happens when you are in "lala land" with the fentanyl drip. Mental note to self don't pass out without a friend watching your back. Daddy said when he was at the University of Toronto, he lived at in this place Devonshire House (aka "Devo") that was known to throw some crazy parties....well at Devo he was nicknamed the "Painter" because he was an artist with the Sharpie marker on guys that passed out. He told Mommy a funny story about this one guy that passed out in a chair in the hallway....Daddy said he decided to try something new, so he used some Liquid Paper on the guys teeth....I guess those were the days before Crest Whitening Strips. But the funny part was Daddy shaved off the guys eyebrows....hummm now that makes me wonder if Daddy gave me the bad haircut since I don't have any eyebrows yet.


Funny that Daddy has my hair from my first haircut....he said Nurse Sue gave it to him.

Is Daddy also the Latex Glove Person, who put that Jalapeno Popper in my belly button?









Maybe it was payback since I was taunting Daddy, saying my belly is almost as big as his....with all the bloating and puffiness I have with all the blood transfusions (packed RBC, platelets and plasma) and IV (Zosyn antibiotic, TPN, lipids and D5W) I have been getting.

Don't worry...Johnny Cochrane isn't around anymore with the "if the glove don't fit, you must acquit" defense. Revenge will be sweet...she how Daddy likes it when I start going to Ruby Skye when I'm 16....hahaha!!!

Otherwise...I am a bit puffy but Dr. Chris said that's to be expected. My last x-ray this afternoon didn't show any perforations in my bowels and no air in my abdominal cavity...things looked stable so I am doing better today and not critical anymore. Sounds like the aggressive treatment as soon as they saw my bloody poop is working. Dr. Chris said, we still have to see how the weekend goes because things still can get worst before better...so it will be awhile before he considers removing some of the tubes and let's me breath on my own again.

That means the Biggest Loser/Gainer Challenge is on hold...I think Daddy needs the extra time anyways....I think he needs to lose some weight just to get to 205 lbs start.

So right now I am just enjoying the fentanyl...I think Mommy and Daddy could use some and I if I work this being sick angle a bit more...I see an Aston Martin Vanquish in my future!

Pain in the NEC

I had a rough night. Early Wednesday morning, my tummy was hurting and I had a bloody poop. The Neonatologist called Mommy at 2AM and let her know that I have inflammation of my bowels. They had to put me back on the ventilator and give me some IV antibiotics yesterday. I heard the doctor telling Mommy and Daddy that I have to stop feeding on milk for two weeks so my intestines can rest and heal. I will be just getting my nutrition from TPN again....boring...no sweet Mommy's milk.

The doctor is afraid that if the inflammation in my intestines gets worst, I might get a hole in the intestinal wall called a perforation...that would be bad. I would then need to have surgery to remove any of the bad intestines. They said this is called NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis)....I call it a pain in the neck, because of the ventilator and no more yummy milk for two weeks. They also stuck a line in my vein on my head to give me a blood transfusion. So I am getting packed red blood cells, platelets and plasma....all good stuff that will help me get better quicker and give me back some color...the pale goth look doesn't work for me and worst than the yellow jaundice tone.

Well the only good thing is that now I get a fun new IV drip of fentanyl, which is like 100x as potent as morphine...Mommy thought the epidural was good....fentanyl is Da Bomb!

So I am resting comfortably with all the new tubes. It's a bit of a pain, they are poking and sticking me all the time and taking X-rays to check for air pockets in my abdominal cavity, but I know it's for my own good. Daddy said I will hear that ("it's for your own good") many times as I grow up. I told him to start saving for that SL55...even with this setback...Pilsbury Dough Boy doesn't have a chance...I am going to come back strong and pack on the ounces. Mommy keep pumping, keep the milk in the freezer...Baby Girl wants some "Milksicles."

Milk does a body good

Look Daddy...I am getting more milk via the feeding tube. You are going down like a fat kid on a teeter totter! I'd like a silver SL55....hahaha!

The Biggest Loser/Gainer Challenge!

My weight has been fluctuating since my birth day. On May 26 I weighed in at a svelte 880 grams. My peak since then has been 980 grams. For those unfamiliar with the metric system, one ounce is 28.35 grams. But preemies like me, our weight will fluctuate depending if we are getting additional IV fluids, TPN, milk/formula feeds or if we poop. The good thing is that I haven't lost weight to below my birth weight but it had been +/- 10 to 40 grams, that's up to 5% of my birth weight on a given day.

Unfortunately Daddy's weight doesn't fluctuate...he wishes it would go minus 5%. Since I need to gain and Daddy needs to lose, we've decided to have our first Father-Daughter bonding experience...."The Biggest Loser/Gainer Challenge." The goal is for me to gain weight before I am able to leave the hospital and Daddy to lose weight. We set a ratio of 1:5, so for every pound I gain, Daddy has to lose five. The official weigh in for me will be my birth weight of 1 lb 15 ounces, for Daddy we'll say 205 lbs. My goal is to double my weight by the time I leave the hospital so Daddy needs to lose 10 lbs or he has to buy my a Mercedes for my 16th birthday (that's what Mommy says...but I keep hearing Subaru from Daddy).

We shook on it...so it's on like Donkey Kong!

Mommy keep pumping....Baby Girl is hungry!!!

Pull My Finger

Daddy keeps trying to get me to pull his finger when Mommy isn't looking. I am not sure why but he seems to do it whenever they are changing the diaper of the baby next to me.

This Little Piggy Went to Prada

Last Wednesday, Mommy's friend Uncle Jarrod came to visit and brought me a book as a present from him and Auntie Melissa. The book is titled "This Little Piggy Went to Prada".

Mommy read me a couple of the nursery rhymes from the book.

This Little Piggy went to Prada,
This little Piggy went to Cannes.
This Little Piggy dines at NOBU,
and this little Piggy, HAKKASAN.
And this little Piggy went "Wee, Wee, Wee!"
All the way home because she had a FAT Bottom!

Twinkle, twinkle, diamond ring.
In a blue box tied with string.
Tiffany's new princess cut.
Twice the size of baby's butt.
Twinkle, twinkle, show your spark.
Can't change nappies in the dark.

I only saw it today because I think Daddy was hiding it.

Milk and Cukez

Today we got a treat from Max....some homemade chocolate chip cukez. Max's Mommy and Daddy (Colleen and Dirk) are friends with my Mommy and Daddy. I thought the cukez would be good with some of Mommy's milk.

Thanks Max!

I'm Crushing Your Head

Daddy was trying to explain to Mommy this late 80's and early 90's Canadian comedy show called Kids in the Hall. They had this skit called "Headcrusher" where this guy who would from a distance pretend to crush peoples heads with his thumb and index finger using forced perspective. He would enthusiastically in a nasally voice with a slight European accent say, "I'm crushing your head!"

Mommy doesn't really get Pop Culture having moved to the US as a teenager. So Daddy demonstrated on me. There are no forced perspective tricks in this video.

Sleepy

Mommy and Daddy come visit every day and bring milk for me. They have increased my milk intake to 2mL every three hours. Mommy has been trying hard to increase her production. Daddy suggest some bovine growth hormones but Mommy told him he's an idiot.

Mommy got a box of Chinese herbs from Taiwan that Uncle Richard brought back for her. There is this Taiwanese custom that a postpartum woman must rest and eat/drink all these Chinese herbs to help her regain her vigor and heal her body. Daddy got all excited with the vigor part but I am more interested in the lactation stimulation properties of these herbs.

As you can see, Mommy is very tired. She says she is pumping every three hours for me....I LOVE YOU MOMMY!

Now wake up and get to the pumping room...I'll be hungry after my nap.

Big Hands

Is is just me or do I have really big hands? Look at my right hand, does it looks disproportionately large compared to my head?

Well today, they reduced the HiFlow oxygen and now I am just getting humidity through the nose. Guess the doctors feel good about my lung development. I was off the ventilator one day after my birthday and the CPAC the day after that, so hopefully we get to remove the nose prongs soon. At least they don't look as silly as the one's my Grandfather has to wear at night with his CPAC machine.