Lady Bird

I've taken to calling Miss Mercy my little lady bird. Partly because it reminds me she's a girl and keeps me from calling her dude, but also because the nickname fits in so many ways:

She's shaped a little top heavy, with big fat cheeks, chunky arms, and a round belly, but then has tiny little chicken legs and narrow, dainty feet. She reminds me of the little brown birds we watch during breakfast hopping from branch to branch on the tree in our back yard.

She both chirps and squawks. She makes cute little bird like twitters in her sleep, as well as when placed in my arms after a session of getting checked over by a nurse. She's a feisty one though, and will let the entire ward know that she hates getting her diaper changed or is displeased with having her temperature taken. Her bird call in these instances sounds more like a big scary hawk trumpeting out a war cry. 

Lastly, she does this gulping/gagging thing where she spits up then tries to swallow it back down. It kind of looks and sounds like a mama bird regurgitating to feed it's babies. This is actually a problem and the reason we are still in the NICU. Just as I had predicted, her blood sugar levels evened out as soon as my milk came in and have been nice and high since Friday. But when she does this regurgitating thing, she tends to hold her breath and her oxygen levels drop. Because there was an episode that required the administration of oxygen to get those levels back up, there is a minimum 3-5 day observation period required before they will release her. She hasn't had any more episodes that needed intervention, but she keeps doing the gagging thing, so they don't seem in any rush to send her home. There's a chance she'll end up on reflux medicine, or it will just work itself out. Either way, they are thinking we'll be here until at least Tuesday or Wednesday.