NICU update - day 7

I'm a day late with this update, but I did post yesterday. Yesterday was uneventful. I like that, remember? :-)

We are just waiting and watching. I've scaled back the time I'm at the hospital because there is a little girl that needs her mama and daddy. She is so starved of us and I'm so proud of her. She doesn't understand what is going on. Baby brother isn't at home and she can't see him in person. She did ask me this morning to see baby brother on my phone, so I showed her. I'm not going to say she gets it, but there is interest. I just don't want her to associate Gabe with the absence of her parents.

So my new normal is to be here for the 9-12-3 feeds and then I go home and we play and have dinner together and Madeline sees me before bed. Tonight I'll come back for the 9 pm feed. Craig has made it for various feedings that I've missed - he's come back for the 9 pm and midnight feedings to bridge the gap so Gabe has either Craig or me for at lest 50% of his feedings. I'm just so glad that this NICU stay is relatively short because I honestly do not know how long I'd be able to keep this pace.

I've seen a few babies get discharged. I cannot tell you how much joy it brings me to see the parents enter the NICU for the last time. You can tell it is a special day and the first parent I spoke to was giddy with excitment. I thought I may be jealous, but I wasn't. I probably had the goofiest grin on my face because I know our day will come. And it is looking like that day may be Saturday. Gabe will have spent 11 days in the NICU. Craig and I agree that we do not want to push his release date because we want him home. Gabe was very, very sick and we do not want to leave any opportunity for the infection to return. We will finish this race to the very end. the NICU is where he needs to be for now and I'm forever indebted to the nurses and doctors who saved his life.