The title of the blog and an update as well....

Why the blog?

At the advice of my cousin Jen and my personal view of her past experiences when giving updates over and over it seems best to update everyone who wants to know at one time. To be honest it tends to become depressing for lack of a better word to tell the same story again and again when the news is not so great. Ironically it is probably the first time in my life I am not enjoying the center of attention treatment.

I will be sarcastic, honest, funny, stupid, loving, and caring with my updates. I will release however I need to and you will need to learn how to see sarcasm through the internet in order to not be offended (this was sarcastic and it will be the last time I note my sarcasm).

Why the title?

Well.... I am busy. I know everyone is busy and I was busy before Nadezhda was born as well. Commuting to work and then to the hospital each chance I get has made me more busy. The real reason though actually has some meaning. People keep saying I do not know how you are doing what you are doing right now and the reasons are simple. One, I love my wife and daughter and I need to be steady and strong during this time. Having an outlet to write things I need to say will help me accomplish that.

The second reason is I am fairly busy with school, work, driving, and renovating parts of our home at Tash's parents (which is almost done - some floor molding which is cut and ready to nail is all that is left - Thx to Towsha and Teeest).

The third reason is where the title actually comes from and it is a fortune cookie. I presented a discussion on South Asian Americans last night and hit it out of the park as I knew I would. Of course that has nothing to do with the fortune cookie but it happened and I like to boast about all things me. The second presentation in my class last night was about East Asian Americans by some of my classmates. At the end they handed out fortune cookies. It was 8:40pm and I was starving so I decided to eat it. It reminded me of when I used to enjoy the communion wafers when I was starving on Sunday mornings when I was kid. Any way the fortune read "Idleness is a holiday for fools."

There you have it. I hope it comes across as compelling as it did to me.

On to my first update: Nadezhda weighed 978 grams last night and once she hits 1,000 the doctors are likely going to remove her CPAP. The CPAP is the mechanism that helps premature babies breathe when they are not able to by themselves. There seems to be no doubt by the doctors and nurses of Nadezhda being able to breathe on her own but they have some sort of weight limit and they are holding to it. Luckily for us Tash was able to keep her BP down and kept Nadia in her womb almost until week 30. Nadia is much stronger than most premature babies because of Tash's strength and will to hold on. Tash's doctors expected her to deliver much earlier and we were pleasantly surprised to hear how happy they were about how she held on.

Nadia is currently being fed a combination of breast milk and formula as Tash had to stop pumping due to her own medical condition. She is having a rough bout with her colitis but she has and continues to show how strong of a woman she is. She is actually giving us strength at a time where one would think she would be relying on us. She has been in the hospital since Sunday and it sees she has had some improvement over the last day or two. It has been slow improvement but it is improvement and I am thankful for that.

We also are getting the room at the Ronald McDonald house so I and Tash when she is released from the hospital can stay until we are able to bring Nadia home. I am checking in there tonight after I leave work. I am also running to the Social Security office to take care of Nadia's SSI benefits. She was born under a certain weight and that qualifies her for some coverage. I did not see Nadia or Tash yesterday as I decided to go home and pack our gear for our temporary home.

I believe this should bring everyone up to speed for now and I am sure I will post regularly.