Whew

Yesterday was a bit of a hectic day, especially after the enforced laziness of my hospital stay. I got released from the hospital, a process that took literally all day long. Which, in and of itself, was incredibly frustrating because I had to wait around my room for the nurse, doctor, etc to come see me and I couldn't go see the boys! We did get a brief visit in late morning before Nathan and my dad took our stuff over to the Ronald McDonald house and Mom and I went to Motherhood Maternity for some nursing clothes and a pump.

When we got back from running those errands, we were finally officially checked out of the hospital (after getting my staples out and getting a tetanus shot). Nathan took me over to the Ronald McDonald house to see our room, which is great, and then we went out to dinner at the Ram, a local brew pub. It felt SO nice to get out without feeling like I was playing hookie...first time in almost two months! I also got to have my first glass of wine since February! And from my favorite vineyard too!

After dinner, Nathan and I went back to our room to watch the season premier of The Office...well, Nathan watched it. I slept. Hard. I woke myself up snoring. And then it was time to go see the boys finally. Both Nathan and I love going to NICU after 9:00 pm because it is so much quieter and relaxed in there late at night. Usually we're the only parents in there, and there aren't a bunch of extra people running around emptying trash, changing linens, etc. The NICU rooms, while fairly spacious for it being a NICU, are still fairly small and can start feeling crowded really fast.

We got to hold the boys again last night. This time Nathan held Levi for the very first time while I held Asher. The nurse last night, Kimberley, was just raving about how well the boys had done all day and about how Asher hadn't had as many Brady episodes (slowing down of his heart, not the TV show) as the day before. Well, evidently the little squirt was just too darn comfortable laying on my chest and he had three episodes while I was holding him. The good news...he bounces right back and throughout the episode his oxygen level never dips, which Kimberley says is very rare but very good! I guess I'm just that comfortable to lay on!

Levi did great being held and it was so much fun to watch Nathan holding him. Levi is definitely the fussier of the two, simply because he takes longer to calm down than Asher, but they both really like to "tell stories" about how they are just so abused. You can't help but laugh at their pitiful little cries, especially when you know that they aren't being hurt and they're just letting you know that they aren't happy with being moved. Levi's cry sounds like a tiny little sheep. Sorry baby boy, but Mommy can't help but laugh when you are snuggled into your Daddy and yet you're still busting out that pitiful cry for no good reason.

The nurses in NICU continue to impress us with how caring and knowledgeable they are. While I was holding Asher last night, I realized that I was leaking everywhere, especially when he would let out a little cry. Too much info? Oh well. We told Kimberley what was going on and she immediately tracked down an extra pump for me that we're going to be able to just leave in the boys' room so I can pump whenever I want/need. You can tell all of the nurses genuinely care for our boys and love their jobs, because it shows in the extra effort and kindness they give.

Today we are planning to just spend a lot of time in the boys' room. We're hoping that they can take the jaundice lights away today and it will just be nice to spend the day relaxing in the gliders they have in the room without the glare of the blue lights. Both of them are responding really well to the increase in the amount of my milk they're getting with each feeding, their glucose levels are doing well, and all in all, they are just thriving. I'm sure there are going to be hard days ahead of us, where it feels like they've fallen back a few steps, but so far every day is filled with positive changes and I feel so blessed for that.