36 Weeks

Can you believe it? Charlotte is officially 36 weeks. Crazy.

Weight: She's also huge. 1701 grams (3 pounds 12 ounces). She has more than tripled her birth weight of 560 grams. She's putting on weight very well right now, partly because she's on the vent, so she's not wasting energy breathing and partly because she's still drinking a protein shake every three hours. Currently she's getting 30 mL/3 hours, fortified to 28 cal/ounce.

Heart: Her heart is pretty much the same as always. She's can get a pretty high heart rate going when she's upset, but resting, her heart rate is much better. Still not sure why she runs so high, but Peter thinks she's just high strung like her mommy. Probably right :)

Lungs: Still on the blasted vent. The one I have a love/hate relationship with. We love it, because it keeps her alive (a big bonus point) but hate it because every moment she is on it, her lungs become more and more damaged. She's had a few days of really wet lungs, but she responds well to her diuretics and they haven't posed a significant problem. Hopefully, she'll be off the vent sometime next week. Hopefully.

Eyes: I wish I could tell you, but they haven't done the eye exam yet. It's like doctors have their own lives and don't work precisely on my schedule. Weird, huh?

Random: The doctors have started to talk about Charlotte coming home. Not for awhile yet, but it looks like she'll be there for sure, until her due date, and quite possibly for a few weeks after her due date. So we're looking at early July for her home coming. It also looks like I will be home bound for the next year. Woohoo. Not. But because her lungs are so fragile, any little cough or bug could really damage them, so we have to keep her from germy people (like you, kidding! But really...). Don't know yet what we are going to do about Caleb-- our plan had been for the two of them to share a room, but we'll figure it out. Also, we're planning on having a coming home party for little CA, but we'll probably throw the party the weekend before she comes home, so she doesn't catch anything. We'll let you know.

Chao!