Pearl Harbor Day (and Ava's due date!)

December 7th - a day that will "live in infamy" (Pearl Harbor for you history buffs). And, Ava's original due date (I know, it was really yesterday, but I'm about 24 hours late in most things these days!). In preemies, the due date is used to calculate their developmental milestones (walking, crawling, talking, etc). This is done for the first 1-2 years since the first months of her life were focused on things like eating and breathing, regulating temperature, etc - things that newborns already have developed. So, Happy Adjusted Age Birthday yesterday, Ava! You are one day old today for your developmental clock and doing great!

Ava had her eye appointment in Eugene today. We made the big road trip to Eugene, took a bottle and diaper bag, and she had her checkup. They put "retractors" on her eyelids and use a swab to poke around her eyes (after her eyes are numbed) to make sure she still isn't getting ROP. It's a bit tough to watch, but necessary. She got a good report and just has a follow-up in a few months to make sure she won't need any glasses. We even snuck over to the NICU in Eugene for a bit to say "hi" to Ava's (and our) friends there!

Ava's eating has improved with no major episodes since the scare from a few weeks ago. She still occasionally "zones out" and pauses her breathing while eating but not to a scary point like before. This is becoming less of an issue and should go completely away soon.

We're not sure of her weight since last week but it's probably about 7.5 pounds now. She looks bigger every day to us! She is still eating every ~3 hours so that keeps us hopping at all hours of the day and night. We're short on sleep but having fun with our little girl.

Today is Brian's birthday! Linda's birthday was Friday. I think Ava decided to come early to avoid the December birthday crunch. Just my theory.... :)

Linda is doing well but a bit tired - we split the feedings but it is still tough as most of you know from your own newborn experiences. Linda's surgery is Thursday and we're a bit anxious since there is still some unknown to it. We won't know the lymph node status until the surgery and then they will decide how many other nodes to take using a Sentinel Node test. We're hoping the nodes will be cleaned out (cancer free) from the chemo and the node surgery will be minimal. The surgery day starts at 6:15am since it involves the Lumpectomy, Sentinel Node test and removal, then potentially additional node surgery, but we will be home that night - probably sometime after 5pm.

Also, Audrey (our "blogmaster") changed the blog settings so now people can post "anonymous" - please do still leave your name but now you don't need to sign in to the system to leave a comment. Many people have stated they had problems leaving comments. Hopefully this will help. Wendy Gale, you still win the "best blog commenter" award - thanks for all your nice comments - we read everyone's comments and appreciate them all.

Pictures! Mom and daughter:

Little cow outfit:

Getting dressed up for the big trip to Eugene (a quick nap first, though):

Rob.