Day 38

Well, it seems that our nurse yesterday was a little overzealous. Late last night and most of today, Brynn has been extremely sleepy indicating that she got a little too worn out with all the feedings yesterday. She has also stayed at 3 lb 1 oz now for 3 days which indicates that she is having to burn too many calories trying to bottle feed. So, Dr. Vish is now allowing a maximum of 4 bottle feeds a day for a while to see if she can get back on track with her weight gain. So, going home in 10 days seemed a bit too good to be true...and it probably was. But, we aren't really disappointed since she continues to do amazingly well. Really, we can't wait to have her home but we don't want her home a day before she's really ready.

All the talk about coming home has made us realize that we have a limited amount of time to get everything ready. All of the sudden, it feels like I am really still pregnant and we have a due date coming up soon. We've been having that feeling of "we're going to have a baby in X weeks." I'm also coming to realize that I am going to be pretty much homebound once Brynn does come home. Because she is a premie, she doesn't need to be around many people or out in stores or public places. We are concerned enough about the germs Riley will be bringing home from preschool. A nurse also suggested that we try to maintain our house temperature around 75 degrees when Brynn is home. That would be great in the summer, but for those of you who have seen our house, it will be difficult to heat our "glass" house that well during the winter. On top of that, we have also been cautioned about using our fireplace this winter because it can be a lung irritant. So Brynn may be spending a lot of time in her nursery with a space heater going. She will have to be followed by her pediatrician very closely until the age of 2. This means that when I do get out of the house, it will probably be to take her to the doctor's office--not exactly one of the most germ-free places. I think we've been so focused on her NICU stay that we hadn't really started to think about all the other implications for our lives once she comes home. Of course, foregoing a few fires and Target trips will be worth it to have her healthy and home.