Further offensiveness

Maggie only rarely reads my postings here, despite my repeated offers of her own byline and some limited editorial control over the contents*. So, when the micro-controversy about the website came down on Saturday, one of the first things she did (besides admonish me for making trouble) is actually go read what I had said. Her comment to me was that she thought I ought to talk about Woody more. In fact, she followed it up yesterday by telling me that she liked that posting more, and when I asked why, she said that it was because it was actually all about him.

I certainly have considered her concerns, but I don't know if it's entirely reasonable to expect that I won't be talking about life in general, or what we're doing, or issues we wrestle with. I mean, I would get pretty bored writing day after day variations on "Chronic lung disease. Sick baby. Eats well. Up 10 grams in weight." (and how bored the hospital's legal department would get-- hi, colleagues!) Besides, the longer this whole process goes on (and I am anticipating that it will drag on another couple of months, at least) the more I realize that spending parts of every day in the NICU is a profoundly weird way to go about life. And besides, if the discussion on lactation is a little strange to have out there, just wait until we get into the discussions of circumcision.

All that being said, Woody is settling nicely into his new room. His smaller tube is bothersome mostly to me, although it's keeping his oxygen requirements far higher than we like to see them. Upon discussion with his (very competent!) doctor I realized that there was the additional issue with his tube of how the volume limitations of a smaller tube can cause complications for pressure: the smaller the tube diameter, the more that the ventilator has to increase the pressure to force the same volume of air through the tube, so that makes me not like this smaller tube even more than I already did. Apparently they will try to get him back up the larger tube tomorrow or the next day. That being said, his blood gas readings are still very, very good, which is odd for all the desats and other dips he's been doing ever since the extubation. I'll be glad to see him stable and re-tubed soon.

Woody is 970 grams today, day 39.
*She actually has asserted that she has veto power over anything I say here, which I have never agreed to. We did have an agreement prior to Woody's birth of a limited veto power over aspects of parenting that the other didn't like. The limit? I told Maggie that I wouldn't recognize any use of the veto that was arbitrary and capricious, or manifestly unfair. Damned lawyers.