Adios Incubator! 2/15/13
Melissa
Hattie's incubator left today! It was music to my ears when Hattie's nurse Kristi unplugged and I heard it powering down. Kristi pushed it out of Hattie's room and hummed the graduation song as a few other nurses clapped with me. This is very exciting as it's just one of the several milestones Hattie has to pass before she can come home and live with us! We love Hattie being in her bassinet. She seems so much more like our baby now that there aren't four plastic walls separating her from us. We can hear every squeak, cry and grunt without it being muffled by the incubator. We also love that we are able to touch her and kiss her whenever we want to.
Hattie very lazily nuzzled today. She got good kangaroo time with both mommy and daddy. Now when we kangaroo we can take her out and put her back ourselves with minimal help from the nurses. She still has two big wires (one for her leads and one for her pulse oximeter) and her feeding tube we have to maneuver.
Hattie weighs 1,577 grams or 3 pounds, 7 ounces. Her feeds have increased to 30 cc. Our big girl is now eating a whole ounce of milk every three hours, or eight ounces each day!
When Chris and I first started dating I admittedly overused the word awesome:
How are you doing today? I'm awesome. Do you like your pizza? Yes, it's awesome. I got gas on my car; isn't that awesome?
Chris told me he reserves the word awesome in the context of God and His work. Since then I have tried to use awesome sparingly and think twice before I do. It's not a filler for the words cool or good but rather means something that strikes awe. Something so amazing one is in awe seeing it.
Hattie, though, is truly awesome. It's awesome to watch God work through her. It's awesome how much love and joy she has brought to our family. It's awesome how she has impacted other people's lives in her short six weeks on this earth. It's awesome she's doing so well considering she was born at 26 weeks, three months premature. I am in awe of my baby girl every day. God is so good.
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” — John 8:12
*You'll notice the lack of pictures today. I went to dinner with my girlfriends tonight while Chris and Hattie spent the evening together. It's almost impossible to take pictures during her hands-on time when you're flying solo. I did take one picture this afternoon of Hattie in her adorable neon outfit from Giselle's mommy. The paparazzi will be back in full force tomorrow!
