What's in a name?

"Cricket" has been quite popular here and one of the night nurses made her a nice name banner with her hand prints on it. It says "C R I C K E T" on it. The main NICU monitor says Cricket Blair on it. We have had many people tell us they love the name Cricket for her! How funny, that this silly nickname I gave my daughter when I saw her kicking her legs on an ultrasound, before I even knew it was a "she" would become her nickname.

The birth certificate lady has been by the room a couple times, asking us to fill out the paperwork with Cricket's name. We weren't ready for the name yet - we had ten possibilities on the board still! The certificate lady did say we could leave it blank for now, and have up to six months to give a name. But, we think she deserves her name now. We told the birth certificate lady to come back on Thursday for the unveiling of her name. So, tomorrow we will spring the news to everyone what our little girl is to be called!

"Cricket" is doing better since Day 1. Late on Day 1 she moved off the full respirator (intubation down her throat) to a CPAP machine (like people get to prevent sleep apnea). She has some heavy tubing coming from her nose now. If she continues to improve, she will get nose prongs (less obtrusive) sometime. Although she is improving she does still have respiratory issues, jaundice, and some other stuff "normal" for a 27 week premature baby. But, we are very encouraged and thankful for her progress so far.

The cool thing about extubating her (no more oxygen down the windpipe) is she can CRY! So, we heard our daughter crying for the first time last night. It is beautiful to our ears and so lovely to hear. A few other milestones: She got an ounce of (donated) breast milk, she only has to have the blood test for "gas" (blood oxygenation) once per day (it's a heel prick and she was getting them every few hours), and she moved into a fancy new "box" (now a fully enclosed incubator). Two more notables: 1) She POOPED! (okay, it was like a small ball of tar but I guess that's good news) and 2) She got to be held by her mommy! Linda was able to "Kangaroo" Cricket for awhile - skin to skin contact. She nuzzled right in, quieted down, and put her little hands on mommy's chest. Okay, I can admit it was a teary moment for all.

Linda is doing well. She had to have a tougher c-section than normal, since our little princess (Cricket) got stuck on a fibroid coming out and required some "Plan B" cuts in the process. Cricket got some bruising from the extra force and took longer to get going after delivery and Mom got some extra cuts she hadn't planned for. So, Linda is having some normal pain but has walked a bit today. Her counts (from chemo) are fine so far. Obviously, we won't have chemo tomorrow as originally scheduled. We are working on the "new" plan but it may be a one week delay.

The nurses tell us that preemies often take some steps forward, then a couple back. So, we shouldn't have inflated expectations for Little Cricket at this point. Our little girl has already made it perfectly clear who is running the show! She will decide when she's ready for the next steps. But, we are enjoying sharing our love and strength and support with her as she makes this journey. We certainly have been appreciating all of this from our friends and family as well.

Rob.