We're back from South Dakota, where the grandkid was hatched. Missed a turn and had an extra hour of sight-seeing in the dark and rain, but we made it safe.

A little kid update (yeah, punny).

After a day and a half hanging with the kid and her kid, we've got a grip on the premature baby routine, and some of the things we need to be concerned for.

Lorilai (my kid's spelling, not mine) was hastily delivered due to some concerning complications. All of those nitty gritty details probably violate some HIPPA rules, so we'll leave it at that. She was due in November, but because of these complications they decided that Thursday was the day. They tried inducing labor, but it was obvious it would take too long and baby loss was a likely outcome, so a quick C-section was done, and baby was here.

Unfortunately, we missed the initial introduction. Mom (of course) and dad were in the operating room, as well as mom's mom (the ex-wife, 'though we get along now that we're not married). The wife and I were happy to wait outside. We'd been told it would take about an hour, and since we'd just driven in an hour before (basically racing from bed to South Dakota), we thought to quick sneak to the cafeteria for a snack. We weren't but fifteen minutes or so, and as we settled back into the waiting room, (now) grandma comes running out of the delivery room surprised to see us, letting us know we missed it. Shortly after, mom and dad came out, and we all went up to mom's room.

We didn't really miss much from the waiting room. In the delivery room they plucked the little girl from mom, did some quick checks, put her in an incubator, and wheeled her directly to the NICU. We would have seen them wheel by, but were told we wouldn't have been able to accompany them to the NICU (maybe just up the elevator), nor would they pause for us to fawn for any longer than the elevator took.

Of course it all worked out fine. At the time we were there to support my kid first, grandkid after. Plus, since we're not medically trained, all we could do is watch and provide good vibes. We did that fine from mom's room.

After a while we were allowed in to see the new girl. She is so small. Her foot is literally the size of my thumb from knuckle to nail. She's about the size of a bottle of water with legs. Little, tiny, skinny legs the size of one of my smaller fingers (I am a big guy, but still...).

Lorilai's initial stats looked good. She had no obvious (unexpected) issues, and seemed to be responding to everything in a manner that gave everyone optimism. Everyone was quick with the caveat of "long road" or "things can change," but everyone seemed pleased and hopeful.

Among other things, I learned that one of the reasons that she's going to be incubated for at least the next few months is that babies don't develop that eating instinct (to suck) until about 35 weeks; so she's got about ten to go. Then there's all of the easy to see stuff like her skin's not really that finished, her skull is way too soft, her lungs and potentially other organs aren't quite done yet.

She was crying when born, though, and that's a good sign that she can take and expel air. And also while plugged into the respirator, she was also breathing on her own, so her diaphragm and lungs work together as much as they can.

We spent late enough on birthday in the hospital and excused ourselves so the kids could get some rest. We picked up a digital camera (with batteries and a generous storage card) in what the wife points out is a selfish gift so the kids could keep documenting for us. I spent a little time after we got to the hotel room setting up a photo website so the pictures could be shared without clogging e-mail or limiting to the sender's favorites.

On Friday we spent a good deal of time with the kids, and spent some more time with the little one. She was doing much better and had already been moved from one respirator to a less aggressive one, a good sign indeed. Of course, the caveats came, and warnings that it's not a bad sign if she goes back and forth; it's tiring to breathe...

We took off around dinner time and stopped by the ex's work to pick up the kid's laptop. "The dog spilled chocolate milk on it" was the excuse... We spent a few minutes recounting the time since she left, and then took off to head home.

We missed a tiny sign indicating the little road we should take for the shortest route, so the trip home took an extra hour, but we made it just fine. Tired and ready for bed.

Grandparents. Yikes.