Tuesday night 11:30pm

I'm sitting here in the NICU jamming out to a little Madonna in the background (no I didn't choose it, but all of the babies seem to prefer it to the normal NICU noises.  Plus its old school Madonna, which will hopefully leave an impression and appreciation for music of old when William is into whatever preemie kids are into these days.)  I just fed William 29 CCs of milk, which is a medical abbreviation for Chubby Cheeks (which of course is a semi-inexact measurement that approximates the number of times a child fills up there cheeks per bottle).  We also weighed him at 4 pounds, 9 ounces. 

So William is in an open crib now, which makes him much more accessible for random pick ups and holdings.  He's wearing little pjs and is swaddled the majority of the time for warmth.  We're also not measuring as much now, just basically heartbeat and respiration.  My parents are in town and we've all taken turns coming up here 2-3 times a day to feed William, which is one of the last steps to him coming home, which may be happening sooner than later.  That's what Rebecca found out today, that William might be ahead of schedule and it gave a moment of panic, "The I'm not sure I'm ready to do this full time without a team of nurses and expensive equipment around."  Much like a regular baby, there's not really a huge set of directions that come with the child when they boot you out the door.  We went through that panic with Thomas, so far everything has worked out ok on that end, so I think we'll make it. 

They're going to check his kidneys one more time and if that is clear and if he can consistently take a bottle at each feeding, as opposed to taking it through the feeding tube, we'll get our walking papers soon.  (We're onto Snow Patrol now on the radio, which has his William's eyes open, but I can't read his interest level).  William appears to be a night owl, which Thomas was too I believe.  Its tough to figure out night and day in here, so hopefully we'll be able to get him on a normal schedule.  (Katy Perry and wide awake, hmm...)



Its after midnight now, so I may sign off for now.  Its very tough to leave his bedside, though.  Its very tough to balance the time between him and Thomas.  Thomas is still very dependent and require a watchful eye.  What a great segway to fit in some pics of Thomas... (Hotel California and William is dosing off, sorry Pop)