Last night was much easier than I thought it would be, though I know I'm going to crash at some point today. I fell asleep just after midnight, and my first alarm went off at 2:00 a.m. I had just enough time to pump and wake myself up enough to feed Tera at 2:30. She was great! She took her 1/2 ounce just as quickly as she had last night and fell right back to sleep. She did the same thing at 5:30, and after her 8:30 bottle, she was rested enough to stay awake for awhile before taking another nap.
She seems to already by on the schedule that I want her to have once we get home - all Sleep at night and some Wake Time during the day.
I took a shower in our room then walked down the hall to the hospital Food Court for some half-decent breakfast. MyGoo and Doc came in just as we were getting her ready for her 11:30 bottle, which she sucked right down!
Then it was time for an early Mother's Day present, for both my mom and dad. Barry and I have talked about what life will be like once we get home, and we decided that we probably wouldn't have any overnight visitors for the first few weeks, just to help us get readjusted to our new normal life. Because grandparents won't be allowed to visit for awhile, we decided that we wanted them to hold Tera before she goes home. Barry didn't mind that they would all hold her before he does. I asked Tera's nurse today if that would be ok. She said that she was impressed at how long we had waited to let anyone hold her. Most families have already passed the baby around quite a bit by this point.
So, MyGoo and Doc got to hold Tera for the first time today.
Tera found her little nook in Doc's arms. At one point, I noticed that her heartrate was low and steady, like it was last night when she was in her deep sleep. I said something about how comfortable she must be if her rate was that low. Then it dropped a little more and a little more. When it got really close to 100 (it shouldn't go below 80), I rattled her a little bit just in case it kept dropping.
I guess from now on, whenever Doc holds her, we'll have to make sure she doesn't turn blue!
My sister's daughters had picked out some shoes for Tera to wear home from the hospital, so we tried them on to see how they would fit.
Maybe she can wear them at her two-year check-up!
I eventually had to make them let me put Tera back in her bed. Like me, they could hold her all day. We left to get some lunch. I had been at the hospital since 10:00 last night, and the air and sunlight was refreshing. After lunch, we helped MyGoo shop for something to wear to a wedding. When I say "helped," I mean that Doc and I found the most comfortable chairs in the store while MyGoo looked for Wedding Guest attire. The time flew by, and I was amazed at how many stores we could go to so quickly. We made it back to the hospital about 4:45, and MyGoo and Doc left me there so that they could fight traffic on their way back home. MyGoo will be back early next week, but with only three weeks left here (at the most) I'm not sure that Doc will be able to make another visit. I'm so glad they got to hold her. She loves them already!
I fed Tera her 5:30 bottle. They have now increased her feeds to a whole ounce with the intention of taking it up to her old 52cc bottle at some point tomorrow. She took this whole bottle as easily as she has all the others in the last 18 hours. I held her while she napped, but then decided to go back to Lydia's for the night. I was, to say it honestly, pooped! I'm glad that I spent last night with Tera, but after talking with the nurses - and evaluating my alertness - it doesn't seem necessary to keep doing it right now. Especially since Barry and Canon will be here this weekend. I think Tera starting at small bottles and slowly working her way up to full ones is going to be a good thing in helping her get rid of that feeding tube. So far, she is well on her way to losing it for good. If she wouldn't let me feed her at all, then it would definitely be more necessary for me to stay so that she could get used to me. But I think we have seen that she takes a bottle as well for me as she does for the nurses. I might decide to stay again when we get closer to going home, but for now, I'm looking forward to staying a real bed.
Lydia and I ordered pizza and watched Sex in the City until the boys showed up.
What About Barry and Canon?
Barry sent me this picture . . .
. . . about 5:00 to tell me that he was leaving work. After picking up Canon and packing the car, they played outside with the neighbors for awhile before leaving Dothan. Barry dressed Canon in his pj's, just in case he fell asleep on the way into town. It was a good idea. When they finally arrived, Barry carried in a seemingly lifeless blob of a boy. I immediately took him from Barry and snuggled with him for a few minutes before finally putting him to bed.
Tomorrow restarts the Balancing Act, so we also went to bed to get plenty of rest.
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