She's mighty mighty.

Shaughnessy shrieked at me in rage tonight! I was doing Kangaroo Care with her in the NICU and her legs seemed a little scrunched up in a possibly-could-get-uncomfortable way, so I tried to shift them so that she was more stretched out. The nurses like it better when their legs are extended because it gives their lungs more room to breathe, too.

So, I attempted to get her to straighten out her legs a bit and she squawked, then literally shrieked at me. Not a pain yell, but an anger yell. Her nurse, who was tending to another baby, hardly even glanced over, just laughed and said, "Heh, you're trying to move her, aren't you?" I finished what I was doing and tucked her back in against me, at which point she immediately settled down and got totally quiet and happy once again. It seems that when she's comfy she does NOT appreciate being relocated, and gives her nurses the same attitude. Trying to move her to her stomach from a different position always results in stiff, stick-straight legs stuck out in front of her and much bitching.

Apparently she is also trying to figure out how to escape her incubator. The nurses have been reporting to me that she's been discovered up against the back of her incubator, entirely out of her head hugger, and this morning she was wedged into a corner of it, happy as could be. They had no idea how long she'd been like that, but only discovered her when it was time to give her a feed.

The capper, though, is her CPAP. They tried her off of it permanently earlier this week since she was doing so well with an on/off cycle. She did great for the first 24 hours, but then had an episode where she choked a bit on some spit-up, after which they put her back on the CPAP as a preventative measure after the choking so she wouldn't tire out. As of today the CPAP was making her so angry that she spent three hours this morning fussing over it and fighting with it, so they made the decision to take her off of it permanently again rather than have her blow a gasket. Her nurse told me that as soon as they took it off her head she calmed right down and went to sleep.

I'm thinking that girlfriend doesn't realize she's a preemie, or just doesn't care. Apparently she has places to go and people to see and we're cramping her style in a big way. Since she's really doing so well and is what one nurse referred to tonight as a 'straightforward baby' in terms of care needs she'll be moving to the next level NICU fairly soon. That means moving to a different hospital since she's been so healthy and had so few things wrong with her. I'm VERY sad to think of her no longer being at Women's College Hospital, but I can deal. Whatever brings her home to us sooner is good.

There are still some hurdles for her to get past, like regulating her own temperature, learning to nurse as her sole means of food intake and being entirely independent of any breathing assistance. That last is basically no longer an issue unless she has a setback, so the other two just need a few more weeks of growing and learning. Since she is so obviously determined and strong I'm not too worried about her getting there in good time.

I don't know if you can tell, but I am incredibly proud of our baby girl. :)