Day 40

It's hard to believe that Brynn has been in the NICU for 40 days now! As of today, she is 36 weeks gestational age--the same age that Riley was born. Most babies born at 36 weeks don't have any problems and go home at the same time as full term babies. Brynn had another good weight gain last night (up to 3 lb 4 oz) and then I was there for her to be weighed tonight and she gained again up to 3 lb 6 oz. She is still getting 4 bottles a day and we are hoping the doctors will allow her to start getting bottles anytime she is alert and ready.

I got to attend my first NICU Family Support Group tonight. Blaine usually teaches on Thursday nights so I have to stay home with Riley. He is on fall holiday today and tomorrow so I took the opportunity to attend the Thursday night support group. Unfortunately, I walked into the group and they told me that they were about to show a video that some parents brought in of their twin daughters who had just passed away. These poor parents had twin girls born at 24 weeks. One of the twins died last week after a month and the other twin died last night. The parents had been attending family group the whole month and brought the video into the group tonight. So, I got to make my family group debut by watching an extremely traumatizing video and ending up in tears. Of course, you could never turn these parents away who are wanting to grieve with the people who had been supporting them...but it was particularly traumatizing for all the other parents in the room. I could only think how thankful I was that I didn't attend this particular group during Brynn's NEC scare and infection days. I don't actually think I could have handled it at that point. While 40 days in the NICU might have once seemed like my worst nightmare, tonight I felt like one of the luckiest parents on the planet.