Big Day For A Big Girl

Kayley had a great day today on her 1 month birthday. She became a big girl in a couple different ways.

First, Kayley was moved to a "big girl" bed today. That's actually what the nurses call it. It means that there is no more isolette. Her new bed is the same type of bed that newborns are first put in in the hospital. Drew was in one the entire time he was in the hospital after he was born. What this means is that Kayley no longer needs assistance at all in maintaining her temperature. It also means that they don't have to continually monitor her temperature. Also, since the isolette used to weigh Kayley, she now gets weighed on a "big girl" scale. So, along with the new bed comes a lot of changes...big girl changes.

As I said above, Kayley now gets weighed on the big girl scale. Tonight she was up 35 grams to 1830 grams (4 lbs 1 oz). Talk about a big girl. She is now up 1 lb 1 oz from her birth weight. It's a great accomplishment but there is still more to gain.

The last update of the day is a biggie. The Arizona Pediatric Eye Specialists came in today to give Kayley an eye exam. They check for something called Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). It's when blood vessels in the immature part of the retina develop abnormally causing some complications in the eyes. This could be anything from nearsightedness to a wandering eye to blindness. Since a full term baby's eyes are just done developing when they are born, premature babies' eyes are not mature and are at a high risk for ROP. Well, we received great news. Kayley's eyes are already mature! The actual sheet that we received states, "Your infant's eyes have mature blood vessels and are at a low risk for developing ROP." Then it says, "She should have another eye exam by an ophthalmologist in six months." However, the "six months" is crossed out and written in is "24 months"! What great news. They do not seem worried at all about her eyes at this point. When Megan was there, the nurse told her how great this was and how she really couldn't believe the results because Kayley's eyes are not supposed to be mature at her age. Kayley just doesn't stop amazing us. What a great 1 month birthday...