A Four Pounder!

Ida Jane weighed in at a hefty 4 pounds 0.1 ounces today, meaning that she's gained a third of her birthweight in just three weeks. The doctors continue to be impressed with her eating and growth, and we continue to hope for a speedy return home.

The nurses have been taking steps to make sure we know what we're doing when we bring her home. Here is a brief video of Amy learning how to shampoo Ida Jane's little head. Enjoy!

More good bottle news

Ida Jane is really doing great with the bottle. She drank another whole bottle at her 9 AM feeding and still had enough gas in the tank to drink 2/3 of a bottle for Mom at Noon.

She is wowing everyone with her commitment to eating. Here she is dressed up in a blue blankie and a white hat from her Great Grandma Gerber.

Ida Jane downs another bottle

Ida Jane decided yesterday that she meant business when it comes to the bottle, downing another whole bottle at her 6 PM feeding last night. She's doing very well with her eating lately, making all of the nurses and doctors quite optimistic in terms of her coming home.

She's also becoming much more alert and active. She particularly enjoys listening to the nurses chat with each other, and to mom and dad's voices. Sometimes that can be distracting for her when she eats, because she'd rather listen to us than drink her milk.

Here's a picture of her enjoying a post-math moment with her dad by grabbing onto his thumbs.

And here's the promised Sunday Matinee of Grandma and Ida Jane meeting for the first time.

Ida Jane drinks a bottle!

Ida Jane managed to drink a whole bottle of milk at 3 AM last night. She took another half bottle from Dad this morning as well! The nurses are really pleased with her progress in learning to eat by herself.

Below is a picture of Ida Jane in one of her stylish new hats. This is a tomato hat, donated by a local knitter who makes hats for NICU babies.



And here's one of the long-promised movies of Ida Jane and her Grandpa. A Grandma movie will be our Sunday matinee.

IJZ night at the Improv

To make up for the long delay in Ida Jane postings, here's a minute video of her, entertaining Mom and Dad until the effort wears her out.

In other Ida Jane news, she's doing quite well and may be moving to an open crib as early as this evening. An open crib is an important step in the process of coming home.

We're looking forward to having her home very soon.

Ida Jane meets grandparents

Thanks first to Amy's Mom Barbara (aka Mimi), who was here for several days taking care of Amy, Ben and Ida Jane. We really appreciated her help. Here's a picture of Mimi bidding farewell (and Ida Jane waving goodbye):

After Mimi left, Grandpa and Grandma Zoll came to visit, too! Here she is meeting Grandma:

And here she is getting a bottle from Grandpa:

Movies of their visits to come this evening!

Feisty!

Ida Jane is "feisty" according to her nurses! She wiggles, she kicks, and she definitely knows what she likes and what she doesn't. She likes eating, first and foremost. Here's a picture of her bright blue eyes as Amy feeds her from the bottle:

Later on, the nurse decided she needed some burping. Here's a movie of Amy and I laughing at her squeaks and grunts:

And here she is, resting post-feeding with Daddy.

More tomorrow!

Sunday morning update

Amy and I just returned from a lovely Sunday morning at the hospital. Dad got to change Ida Jane, who produced a very nice poopy diaper. The doctors and nurses all remain very thrilled with Ida Jane's progress. She's taking two feedings a day now by bottle. Dad got to give her a nice breakfast as well, as compensation for the diaper change (which he didn't really mind anyway). As you can see, she has some very tiny fingers. That's dad's hand she's playing with here. After her bottle feed, she got a nice picture. Notice the lovely blanket, courtesy of her Great Aunt Joan. That's all for now!

Ida Jane update

Here's the latest on the Wee Beanie. Ida Jane was under some bright lights for a few days to fight off jaundice, which is a very common condition for preemies. It literally just takes some light to fight it off. She enjoyed her time in the sun, basking in the lights with her little tanning mask on, but now they've cleared her for that.

Mom is home from the hospital as of noon today, which means that Dad is also home from the hospital. We just took a trip into see Ida Jane (with Dad forgetting the digital camera), but we did have the camera present when Amy's mom (aka Mimi) came to visit her little granddaughter.Dad tried to feed Ida Jane from a bottle tonight but she was not interested. Not interested, that is, until the nurse did it, and she quickly gulped down her 8:30 PM feeding. Dad likes to think Ida Jane was more interested in looking at his mug than drinking her milk. Probably not the case.

Since we don't have images from tonight's visit, here's another picture of Mom and Ida Jane from two days ago:The arm paddle has been gone for two days, of course.

Stay tuned for more pictures over the weekend, if Dad can get his act together!

Ida Jane is here!

Ida Jane, anxious to see the world, joined our family on Sept. 5th, 2006 at 12:13 PM. Here she is, getting a good tummy nap in the hospital:Here's mom and Ida Jane, both looking good!She's small but very strong. More pictures to come soon!

Ida Jane is here!

Ida Jane, anxious to see the world, joined our family on Sept. 5th, 2006 at 12:13 PM. Here she is, getting a good tummy nap in the hospital:Here's mom and Ida Jane, both looking good!She's small but very strong. More pictures to come soon!