I could not get out of my house fast enough this morning. Tera's oxygen continued to rise during the night to 35% when I checked in with the nurse sometime around midnight. Normally, this is nothing to get nervous about, but in Tera's limited history, increased oxygen = sick. I scrambled around the house throwing Canon's toys and snacks in boxes, throwing boxes and bags in the car, and eventually throwing Canon in the car. All of my efforts at straightening up yesterday are now wasted.
Canon and I got back to Birmingham around lunch time. I showered quickly and left Canon with Nonna and Lydia so that I could spend the afternoon at the hospital.
Finally!
Her oxygen was up, yet again, to 39%. The doctors had been monitoring her closely but saw no reason to worry at this point. One of our favorite CCN nurses was on today, and she let me get Tera out immediately.
I held her for a long time today, relatively speaking of course. At least an hour and a half, I'm sure. Everyone was in good spirits about her, so I calmed my own nerves about her pending sickness - I've been hearing the phrase "normal preemie stuff" a lot lately. On a more optimistic note, she continues to gain weight. Tera is now at 1441 grams, or 3 pounds 3 ounces. Her length was also measured last night. She has grown one centimeter to a total of 41. This whole Growing thing is a very slow process. Funny I say that now about Tera. Canon seems to have grown by leaps and bounds in no time at all.
While at the hospital, Nonna and Lydia sent me pictures of Canon's fun afternoon with them. After waking from his nap, he got some much needed time outdoors. Then it was playtime with puzzles and movies.
I was amazed that he let Nonna put the puzzle together. When I have tried to do this same thing in the past, he yells at me and rips the pieces apart. He only wants to pour the pieces out of the box, then put them back in. Then pour them out, and put them back in. It's an invigorating game, really. I realized when I saw this that, even though I've spent plenty of weekends with Canon since Tera was born, I really haven't gotten on the floor and played with him for several weeks now. He is doing things so differently, and the puzzle is only one example of this. I'm excited to see what else he has to show me in the coming weeks.
I made myself leave the hospital by 6:00. This is so hard to leave!
There are about four or five different options for getting from the hospital to Lydia's house, most of them major highways with various back road options if they get too crowded. At 6:00, I thought that surely rush hour traffic would be dwindling, so I decided to take the interstate. After spending a few minutes standing still in the line just to get on the interstate, I chose Option 2, Greensprings Highway. This road runs parallel to the I-65 and the biggest downfall is the number of traffic lights. The cars seemed to be moving at the moment I made my decision, so I thought I had made the right one. Wrong! As soon as I changed lanes, traffic stopped. I looked up at the interstate - stopped! To make a long story short, it took me 50 minutes to drive 9.2 miles (I mapquested it).
This guy . . .
. . . passed me at least twice, and I don't think I ever caught back up to him.
Man, I wish I was heading in other direction.
Yet another reason I miss Dothan.
I have found that when I am at the hospital, I only want to be there. I always have a hard time leaving, trying to make sure that my last look at Tera is just perfect. Of course, it never is. When Canon is in town, I feel this same way . . . until I actually leave the hospital. Then, I can't get back to him fast enough. I felt as frantic sitting in traffic this afternoon trying to get to Canon as I did this morning in Dothan trying to get to Tera. Is this why they say children give you gray hairs?
To calm myself down, I turned on Pandora radio on my iPhone (I really need to write Apple and thank them for making a phone that serves every single one of my non-basic needs) and found a station that would relax me. Nine miles later, I was finally back with Canon who, of course, wanted nothing to do with me!
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