Live Blog #2 7:00pm Thursday

Background:
So, Tuesday the determination was made that because Thomas wasn't feeding very well, that we needed to switch things up by rooming in for 48 hours to see if Thomas would respond to us and a little change of scenery. so for the last 2 days they have only been feeding him through the tube. Today, they removed that tube and now its just us, Thomas and the bottle. Rooming in is a normal part of the process for moving out of the NICU. Typically its only 24 hours, but we get twice the fun (yeah!).

We decided we needed to get this done as soon as possible, so I raced back to Dallas from Belton today and we prepped for lock down. It really felt like I was heading for prison stint, so in preparation, I went to the bar for my last drink, ate fried chicken (my favorite food), visited the beach to feel the ocean spray, visited the mountains to touch the sky and visited 6 Flags to ride some rides. Actually, I only had time to pack and install the baby seat base in Rebecca's car. I'm not sure I maximized my last hours of freedom.

So we packed enough to stay for many days, because you never know what you're going to want to wear at a hospital, made our way up here and moved into our closet. If any of you visited Rebecca when she was on bed rest, its similar, but about half the size, kind of like a suite in New York City. It has a single bed and a chair and a view of another part of the hospital. So we're snug, but it will be ok.

From there, we went back over to learn how to make Thomas' bottles. Its a process of measuring out milk and formula and thickener in specific amounts. It was a little confusing, but they gave us a cheat sheet. We went ahead and mixed enough for the next 4 feedings, just seemed better than trying to do that at 3 in the morning.

We rolled Thomas' crib back to our room and checked into our room. They put a bracelet on Thomas that will set off an alarm if he leaves the floor. At the front desk, we had a mini reunion with 3 of the nurses that took care of Rebecca 5 months ago when she was on bed rest. They all got to meet Thomas and he was happy to be the center of attention.

We are settling in and Thomas has successfully taken his first feed. We're going to unpack and I'm going to get us some food from the cafeteria. More to come.