GREAT, BIG, FABULOUS news!!!

First, my picture taking abilities were terrible today...I was by myself with Ava and was holding Bella with one hand and trying to focus and take the pic with the other...and this is all I got! I'll do better! (And, by the way, OMG does she look like Patrick or WHAT?! I think so...totally)!

So, anyway, on to the good stuff. Bella is doing very well with her feeding tube out. She's been eating about every 4 hours now (instead of every 3 like before) and she's apparently taking the bottle like crazy! Of course, when I'm there and want to nurse her, she starts okay, but then she gets nice and cozy and wants to sleep!! It's probably good I'm only there for one feeding a day- otherwise she'd just sleep!

So.... I have lots of updates! I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but we've known for a while that when Bella comes home, she will still be taking her caffeine. She still has bradycardias (decreased heart rate) every now and then. Because of this, she will also be coming home on a monitor that will watch for these "episodes." It will monitor her heart rate and her respiratory rate. I haven't seen the monitor yet, but apparently it's a little velcro band that goes around her rib cage and connects to a small, portable monitor. It will alarm if her heart rate or respiratory rate get too low. She'll have it as long as she continues to have the bradycardias- probably anywhere from 1 month to 2.5 months. Hopefully, it'll be more like 1 month...but whatever it is, I'll just be glad to have her home. I think her being on the monitor will give me peace of mind and (hopefully) the ability to sleep a bit!

So now for the good news- her doctor would like to aim for getting her home on THURSDAY!!! Patrick and I will go to the NICU tomorrow and have a "lesson" with a company for the monitor. They'll teach us how to use it, etc. Then, we'll both stay the night at the hospital in a special room (that looks kinda like a hotel room) with Bella and will be on our own! It'll give us a chance to take care of her with the monitor and still have the nurses right next door if we need anything or have any questions. They highly recommend parents stay at least one night for babies that will be sent home on a monitor. Then, as long as everything goes well and she continues to eat, we'll be heading home on Thursday! I'm trying to tell myself that there's always a possibility that she doesn't come home then, cause, you know, things happen. But, I'm SOOOOOOO excited I can barely stand it. Everything here at the house is all ready for Bella (albeit not ideal- I mean, we weren't expecting her for another month from now, and we don't have a room for her- I'll address that in another post...). But, we've got what we need and we're ready!

I'll be taking Ava to her first day of school tomorrow...so, when I leave tomorrow morning, I won't be coming back until I bring Bella home!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I finished up the last couple of things for Bella, cleaned and swept, moved some rugs and furniture around, and am now READY FOR BELLA!!! Patrick teased me that I waited until 2 days before she comes home to start nesting. :) The way I look at it is that I still had a month left to nest, so I think I'm doing pretty good! ;)

So, please continue to pray that everything goes smoothly and that there aren't any bumps between now and then....cause I gotta have her HOME!! I absolutely cannot WAIT!!!!

I'll keep you posted!!! :)