Both Tuesday and Wednesday went basically the same so I’ll just take about them together. Brent and I were creating a sleeping and pumping schedule that was starting to give us more rest. Since we are at the Ronald McDonald house, coming over to the NICU wasn’t going to happen at night. Even though it’s just a 5 minute walk away, getting ready and everything in between didn’t seem like a great idea to come over at night in between sleeping and pumping.
We have been hitting the pillow around 10:00pm give or take 30 minutes to an hour. We wake back up around 12:30am and then go back to bed sometime after 1:00am. Then the alarm goes off again around 4:30am. We give ourselves a little extra sleep for one session even though I am suppose to pump every 2-3 hours. We’ve been told to do that while we can since the little man isn’t with us. We are getting as much as we can. Next its waking up close to 6:30 to pump and be up for most of the day. After getting ready for the day, we head straight over to see our little man and then spend all morning with him. Both of these days I got in more snuggles in between his cares and my pumping. After lunch in the cafeteria, we come and say goodbye for a few minutes and then head back to the Ronald McDonald house for a nap before the next pump. Then it’s up again for the next several hours spending time with the little man, some daddy snuggles and sneaking in some dinner.
That is enough about Brent’s and my schedule cause I am sure you all really wanted to know what that is like for us right now. Our little man has been making leaps and bounds these days. He is constantly showing those nurses and the doctor that he is ready to get some of these tubes and wires off. They are continually turning down the support more and more every few hours. The doctor has been very pleased with his progress and has been pushing the little guy in good ways. His progress is phenomenal at least we seem to think so.
Me…I have still had my moments filled with excited tears. I can’t help but be excited about these changes. Even the little ones are making this mamma really happy. Last night, Wednesday, brent was having me read a part of the blog post that he had started. You’ll get a great story from his perspective and probably more specifics about everything they are doing with Elijah. He has a little more accurate of a timeline and account than I do for that first evening. While I was reading it, I started bawling like crazy reading about Elijah’s birth story and it taking me back to that night and first day I was without my boys. Be prepared to cry when you read it. At least I will the next several times that I do.
Today, Thursday has been another great day. No morning cuddles for mom because they have been weaning him more and more off of oxygen and have been switching to smaller tubes throughout the morning. To let him adjust, we are just letting him rest for now. I will however get to hold him soon because we get to try nursing. Who would have thought about how exciting this step would be for me. Moving onto normal baby things was the doctors orders today! There is a good chance he will also be moved to a crib. We were told not to freak out if we come in later and he is gone. We also aren’t getting our afternoon nap because Mr. Rooter is visiting our room at the Ronald McDonald house at any point between 1:00pm and 3:00pm. That is pretty inconvenient for us. Oh well, there will be several days like this right? I feel as though our nice little schedule we have going here will be interrupted very soon, but I am off the wall excited about that.
With all this in mind, Brent and I are very positive and are trusting in the Lord like crazy. He has already done so much and Brent and I have no need to worry. We have been very positive through this whole situation. The nurses, the doctors, the Chaplan, the social worker, the lactation specialist, the family support and others I probably forgot about are amazed at this poitivity. It is awesome to see God working in us right now. We have no reason to worry about a thing.
