We hung a weird rotating thing over Camilla's crib. This must be bizarre and bewildering. Can she understand that it is somehow for her benefit?

It's a girl! Today was supposed to be Camilla's zeroth birthday. We celebrated with a home "birth" in the bathtub.

Cute!

Camilla cousins.

We still sleep in the chair sometimes.

Camilla has become very demanding. The moment she's unhappy, she screams, and she's loud! Often, the only way to sooth her fury is to toss her over my shoulder and walk around. It doesn't look comfortable, but she seems to like it.

Camilla is three months old!

To help you forget that last picture, here is one of Camilla in her new bonnet.

Eye exams aren't a lot of fun either.

A ventriculoperitoneal (or "VP") shunt is a tube that allows excess fluid to flow from the ventricles in the brain to the inside of the abdomen, where it can be reabsorbed by the body. The flow of this fluid is controlled by a pressure-sensitive valve in the head; in Camilla's case the pressure setting on this valve is externally programmable via a magnetic field. To get the shunt tubing from the head to the abdomen, they have to tunnel under the skin behind the ear and through the neck and chest. It looks rather unpleasant. Camilla has been a little cranky since the surgery, but I think she's starting to feel better.

Camilla is back home!

The neurosurgeons wanted to keep Camilla for another day. Hopefully she will be able to come home on Monday.

Camilla is still in the hospital recovering. Friday night she wasn't too interested in eating, so she needed a feeding tube (through her nose, now that she's older), but she seems to be past that now. It's not yet clear if her shunt is working though.

Surgery went well. Camilla is waking up and will get to eat soon.

It's been a week since Camilla came home. We'll miss her when she's in the hospital, but hopefully she'll be back home very soon.

You have it easy, Ducky.

Babies love surgery. Camilla is going to have more on Friday afternoon.

Camilla had another head ultrasound and visit with her neurosurgeon. It looks like she will need to get a shunt soon. They are going to schedule the surgery for sometime this week, though we have not yet found out when. She will need to be in the hospital again, but hopefully not for more than several days.

Here is a nice story that my mother sent. It's about a 19 year old girl in Rochester who was also born very early. She had a lot of trouble early on but is doing well today, though she does have some cerebral palsy.

It is sometimes difficult to be both hopeful and accepting of all the facts. It's not good to assume the worst, but I also don't like to pretend that everything is ok for Camilla. Doing so would not really be honest, and I feel that such an attitude would not show an appreciation for what Camilla has gone through and the challenges she faces.

Although Camilla did not have surgery last week, her hydrocephalus is still an issue and her head is still getting larger. It is possible that this problem will go away without need for a shunt, and that is certainly what we would prefer, but it might not, and she may need more surgery soon. Either way, she is still our sweet baby Camilla.

Off-road baby. It's nice to finally take Camilla outdoors.

And then we dry the baby.

You're not even getting my good side...

We have a request for more bath pictures. What do you think Camilla?

For the first time in 11 weeks, we did not go to the hospital.

Stretching out at home.

The ducky has landed! (Camilla in her car seat, preparing to go home)

Camilla keeps life from getting too predictable. She was scheduled for surgery at 7:30. They prepared her to go down to surgery, and the operating room called to have her sent down, but when her neurosurgeons got together to do the final review of her most recent ultrasound, they decided that she doesn't require a shunt just yet. Maybe she will need one, maybe she won't. Her hydrocephalus is still uncertain and unresolved. Camilla will keep us in suspense.

If she's not going to get surgery, then she doesn't need to be in the hospital anymore. This is both very exciting, and somewhat terrifying. She will do well at home though. We're still not certain when she will arrive, maybe later this week.

Today we finally went to the store and bought a car seat, crib, and all that other baby paraphernalia, almost 11 weeks after our baby was born.

No surgery today.

Camilla might be going in to surgery at 7:30 am; they haven't decided yet.

Everything is "mini" these days...

Happy 4th of July Camilla. Hopefully your independence day isn't too far off. (She's sitting in my orange winter hat, by the way. Someday, when she's older, she'll hate us for this...)

I like how she holds her pacifier.

Camilla hasn't needed the feeding tube since Thursday; all of her food comes through the bottle, or direct from the source. She also passed the 2 kg mark, weighing in at 2010 grams (4 pounds, 7 ounces).

It appears that Camilla's hydrocephalus is continuing to progress. She is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday, though it's not certain yet.

Camilla passed her hearing test. We were already pretty sure that she could hear though, since she jumped every time that the chair squeaked or I dropped the lens cap. Also, her most recent eye exam revealed that she has stage-one retinopathy of prematurity. Stage-one isn't serious, and for now they will simply check every week to be sure that she isn't advancing to the more serious stages.

Guess what...

Camilla is beginning to tolerate her mommy's kisses. She'll have to if she's going to "make it on the outside".