Milestones

Today I should be 8 months pregnant.  This week all my maternity purchases came in the mail --bows for Jaslyn and a frilly pink maternity sash for me to wear in our maternity pictures -- all sitting unopened on a table in our living room.  On my phone I have a huge list of "Things To Do Before Baby Two!"  Buying Jaslyn an Easter dress, getting out the swing, washing crib sheets, and buying wall art for the nursery. 



Instead, I have a 4 day old baby girl, who marked her 32nd week this morning by blowing through some major NICU milestones.  After just 4 days, she has graduated from acute care and into the step-down pod in the NICU.  She is the youngest, but one of the healthiest babies in the room. She still has required no oxygen to help her breathe.  They removed her IV this morning.  All that remains is the tiny feeding tube in her nose that delivers fortified breast milk to her every 3 hours.   She is showing signs of hunger and is able to tolerate all they are feeding her, so everyday they increase the amount.  Today she is up to 1 ounce every 3 hours.  Her bilirubin has came down and we were able to remove her tiny Wayfarers and nix the blue light. 

Instead of decorating our nursery I spent the evening buying preemie pants and preemie reference books on Amazon. 

This afternoon they put her in a tiny t-shirt that hung off her tiny frame, a pink hat 4 times too big for her head, wrapped her in two blankets and let me and my mom hold her.  They are slowly decreasing the amount of heat in her incubator so that soon she can move to a regular crib. 

Dr. Barretto, the staff pediatrician is amazing.  Every morning he comes to her bedside and tells me how wonderful she is doing, and that we just have to wait for her to grow. 

Jaslyn is such a trooper.  She of course has absolutely no idea what is going on.  She is having a blast playing with my cousins and is trying her best to talk.  She has babbling conversations with her toys and my dad.  She floats seamlessly from my parents, to Jeremy's, to my Aunt Becky while I am at the hospital.  When I ask her about her baby sister, she still shakes her head no.  I desperately want to be at home with both of my girls. 

Time flies by -- I can't believe how many milestones she has already met -- yet stands still.  I have been here for a week and she for 4 days already.  Best case scenario we will be here another 3-4 weeks while she eats more and continues to grow.  I hate every single minute of it, but am also so incredibly thankful she is doing this well.  Someone is always in a worse situation than you, and we are incredibly lucky to just be dealing with a super tiny baby and not one that is sick or has major health issues.  We will gladly track back and forth everyday to hold our sweet princess and deliver her milk so that she is home with us soon.  I feel like when we finally make it home I may never want to leave again.