Alexis and Hannah "Promoted"

Woke up a few times last night for blood tests, medicine and IV changes. The IV machine beeps way too loud -- you would think it would have volume control with a wireless message to the nurses station. Alexis and I had breakfast and I left for a few hours to do some consulting projects when she fell asleep for awhile.

Came home to a beautiful plant from my mother and came back to the hospital to some beautiful flowers from my sister. I've been fielding a lot of calls from relatives and friends for both of us happily. When I came in Marilynn was there and I took her into the NICU to see Hannah in her "sun glasses" to protect her from the heat lamps they put on her. We scrubbed up, I introduced her and left her to have a moment alone so I could have lunch at the cafetria downstairs. I've lost a few pounds this week from forgetting to eat. Pictures are below from Marilynn's visit.

The best part of coming back to the hospital was that Alexis was off her intravenous and they wanted us to move for the fifth time (the nurses said she was promoted)-- to the "Mother and Infant" section. So, we moved and Alexis had a meeting with a lactation consultant and she did her first ounce of breast milk with the help of a pump. This extra nutricious milk was mixed in with Hannah's next meal. It was great to see Alexis smiling, joking and able to move more freely.

We filled out the birth certificate worksheet and was told a little later that we needed a paternity form filed as we are not yet married. I filled this out and brought it to the nurses station saying -- "Excuse me! I've got my form to prove my baby is my love child!". The nurses cracked up and so did a new mom that was at the counter who made a point of saying hers was a love child too. I did explain that Alexis and I are engaged but it seemed strange to prove that Hannah is ours.

We fed Hannah for her 8:30 pm feed and again it was real special. Hannah was "promoted" too to the back of the unit where non emergency babies go -- it seems they are happy with her progress. All of the nurses there ask about us and her -- the way they treat us it is like Hannah is their star baby.

Tonight must be one of my last nights alone -- I came home as there is no chair bed for me at the hospital in this ward. It's poignant to me but also not a big deal. I'm looking forward to having Alexis be home, bringing Dallas the Wonder Dog back and when we can -- bring our baby Hannah to her real home.

Here's a video of our feeding tonight -- the light is low and I will have to do another during the day as I refuse to use a flash in the NICU. Also some pictures from today appear above. Hannah is growing and developing every day and I am noticing things like eyelids today that weren't there yesterday..so happy. Click on the photos to make them larger.