Last nights visit went great. The nurse that had Skyler's room in the Lvl 2 Nursery last night was, interesting. Normally there's two nurses in there, but it looks like 2 of the babies that were there last week have since been discharged, =) go babies go. I suppose the best way to explain this nurse is that she is older, and yes, very helpful, but almost overbearing in a way. She has to be in-your-face while giving you advice. The advice was MUCH appreciated, don't get me wrong, but like I said, in-your-faceeee. Also, she was much more of a "professional" advice giver, whereas some of the other nurses relate better to how their words sound outloud. When I asked if there is any timeline on when Skyler might go home, she said the same ol' "Aim for your due date". Of course we know that is what they have to tell you, but no one likes hearing it. Anyway, she seemed to lighten up a bit, we were the only parents in the room & we were just watching Skyler nap before her feeding. (Mostly laughing at how she can't ever seem to keep her legs still - kicking them all over the place lol). She then called up the Dr. so we could talk to him about Skyler's progress. I explained to him how my mom needs to purchase her ticket a bit in advance to visit because it is much cheaper that way, probably 2wks if we can. He looked at us and said "I would tell her to buy it!" He explained that if all goes well (no setbacks, which DO happen, but we are crossing our fingers) she should be full feeds by Sun/Monday. (Taking all of her feeding by bottles, no tube feeds). She should be moving to open crib any day now, she is getting sooo close! After she does these two things he will want to watch her for 48hrs to make sure she can do them without any problems & still gain weight. After that she should be good to go, which he estimates will be the end of the week! That is THIS WEEK. We were so,so,so excited. Skyler has yet to have any major setbacks, or any minor ones that I can think of. She has always progressed forward. She did have a pause for 2 or 3 days where she couldn't get past 2 bottles but I don't call that a "setback", she was just sleepy =). After we left (I will go more into depth about the rest of the visit after this part..) Jeremiah & I were so excited and yet still in disbelief. She could be home 7 days from now! Then we realized, that's before my shower! We've decided he will stay home with her during the shower. Though she is the star of the event, I just don't think I could take her out at 6:30pm after she's only been home maybe a few days, and put her through all that excitement & noise & touching & germs & lights, did I mention germs? However, towards the end, we might pop her in and let her say Hi from the safety of her car seat, with a handshake from some relatives. Maybe just a wave.. we'll see. I'm just nervous about her getting sick & ending up back in the NICU, and it's hard to explain that to people without hurting their feelings. I don't want her to grow up in a bubble, but she is so little! Oh & I was happy to find out our hospital doesn't have a weight restriction for discharge. Though Skyler is creeping up quickly to 4lbs (She was a bit over 3lb 14oz last night), it would feel like forever if we had to wait for a certain number. She is going to be small no matter what, Jeremiah & I are not exactly big people here! hah. Anyhow, we went to the store for some groceries on our way home and decided to finally get her a few things. We've got her a few clothes here & there but really, not much else lately. So, we got her a bouncer, a little frog that has chewable parts on his legs and has a rattle in his belly (shakeshakeshake, shake your froggy..) & this little seahorse toy I've been wanting to buy her since like, week 20! Hope she likes it as much as I do.. hah.
Anyhow, back to the visit. I had the wonderful privilege (Oh my, I'm going to actually say this was a privilege!) of changing Skyler's diaper, which I hadn't done in a while. MUCH less scary this time, there were alot less tubes. However, she did her first Synagis shot yesterday (it's for RSV) in her little leg & I felt AWFUL trying to figure out how to change a TINY diaper, from the side, through isolette holes, on a baby with a sore leg, while a nurse is hovering over me. I was a pretty good diaper changer when my brother was born but that was 9 (almost 10) years ago! And he wasn't THIS small, or in a plastic box! But we made it through unscathed. Then it was food time. Skyler took her bottle really well for me, though not the little extra the nurse added. She showed me how to make sure she stays awake through the feeding, how to hold her head & remind her to keep sucking when she would decide she would rather just sit there and stare at us with a bottle hanging out of her mouth, haha. Then the nurse told us how Skyler is not a good burper. She was right! It took all 3 of us to finally get her to burp and instead she nearly puked on Jeremiah. He was the only one of us (after 2 positions and a few other little tricks) that could get her to burp. She finished her bottle with about 5-10mins to spare, woohoo! We were putting her back in her bed and realized she needed to be changed again, maybe that's why she wouldn't burp.. So, I got to do it again & this time the bed was opened up which made it MUCH easier. Also the nurse wasn't hovering at my head, so that helped. It felt so good to be doing more "normal" things with her but will be a lot better (once she is ready) to not have other eyes on you ALLLL the time. It freaks you out. Even though the nurse kept repeating that I wasn't going to hurt her or break her, sometimes it feels like you just might! Jeremiah was all weird about making sure she was "COMFY!" in her bed after her feed. He kept saying she didn't look comfortable and he kept moving her around a bit, putting her little foot rest under her feeties juuuust perfect, it was cute. And then it was photo time. Although Skyler was definitely sleepy, she posed for her pictures! Finally she got tired of Jeremiah's "last one! -CLICKCLICK" and went to sleep. We said goodbye and goodnight. Of course it was hard to leave, like always, but it was easier knowing that we are thiiis close to coming home. Things can change in moments in the NICU, but here's to hoping she keeps moving forward and comes home soon.
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