It was Monday morning, Elijah had been intubated the night before. While a setback in physical progress, we were happy to see him under much less stress. The also injected surfactant into his lungs, to keep his lungs from sticking together when he exhales. It is a substance that exists in our lungs naturally, but due to his premature birth, his lungs didn’t have it in high enough quantity.
Our day was mostly spent bedside
We still had family in town and were fortunate for a couple free meals. Our day was mostly spent bedside, occasionally bringing in family to spend some time with Elijah. 
Jess was finally able to get in a couple hours of holding time, something that I was ecstatic to see. We also had some friend that happened to be in town for the weekend stop by. Something I failed to mention about Saturday, was these friend stopping by and also taking me out to run some errands around town (I was getting tired of the same set of clothes and could use some deodorant by this point).
it wasn’t down the hall anymore
In the late afternoon, we said teary goodbyes to family. We felt so blessed to have their support, but were ready to walk together down this path of parenthood, even if the start wasn’t what we had expected. This was also our first evening in the Ronald McDonald house across the street from the hospital. While still close, it wasn’t down the hall anymore. Tonight was our first night to fully establish our routine. One last visit around 9pm and then to the Ronald McDonald to rest between pumpings.
While the day felt like it was full of goodbyes and started off with a setback, Elijah was improving. There was talk that he wouldn’t need the breathing tube in the morning! Upon our last visit, a little guy laid under the blue lights, treating his jaundice. He lay there quiet, but looking more comfortable than we had seen him. We buried our heads into the pillow that night, praying, hoping for a day of improvement to follow.
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