BUSY BUSY BUSY!!

Wow.. I'm slacking on my updates, but I guess you could say I have good reasoning. Our family has been extremly busy the past few days.

You could say this week has challenged my emotions the most out of all the past weeks. The last blog I mentioned our " discharge checklist" that has become priority over the past few days. We've had to watch a few more video's, learn a few things about cradle cap, eating, and bathing Jaidynn. Just to name a few.( which are all things we knew, but honestly its been a few years, so a refresher was nice to have)

Now the reason why I say this week has been the most challenging on my emotions, because it started to seem like nothing could possibly go right. Granted I had a small, healthy NICU baby, which was struggling to deal with in itself, but Caitlynn had started pushing every button possible within me. Over the weekend I wanted to escape, run away, or pause my life.

Most Mom's know exactly what type of days those are... The tantrums, mess making, kicking, screaming.. etc.. etc.. But this day was EXTREMLY bad for me. For some reason I had no inner strength to keep calm. Meaning I started just crying... Having such a bad day at the NICU did not make it any better. ( I will get to that in a bit) Caitlynn had many time out's, and still would not stop screaming, and when I put her in her room, she sat by her door and literally kicked the door. I swear she could make a huge hole in her door.

I tried laying and watching a movie with her, I tried having her take a nice warm bath, or even helping load the dish washer, which she usually is so happy to do. Needless to say, I believe this outburst was a way of Caitlynn telling me that I need to cherish the time with her NOW, and not take the daily minutes for granted with her each day. I realize that younger kids are VERY smart, They understand the change, and the emotions of the parents. I just need to be more relaxed, and I believe that every parent deserves a few break down's every so often... :) Lets just say things have been better after we both got some time to take a long much needed nap that day!

Anyways... The day that Caitlynn decided to test every nerve I had, I woke up and went to the NICU to do my normal visit, and to feed Jaidynn. A new nurse was on shift ( which I hate seeing new ones, because they never know the FULL story or plans) She greeted me and seemed really nice. I then waited for Jaidynn's feeding time. She's on " stage 4" which is just eating whenever they wake up. So I sat there and waited for a bit. The nurse came in and told me that she didnt think that Jaidynn would be going home this week because of her oxygen levels. She mentioned that in morning rounds the doctor had a great concern with her maintaining her levels. The nurse went on in a negative attitude and tried telling me her version of the " plans" She spoke to me about some other NICU baby who did not go home because of his oxygen, blah blah blah... Long story short.. I broke down again. The nurse the previous night had mentioned how GREAT Jaidynn was doing, and how this week WILL BE the week she'll be able to go home, unless some illness came on, or she had a bad test result, etc.. etc.. which is all unlikely, but possible. She at least did not focus on those things, and focused on how great she was doing. I THRIVE off of nurses like that! I cant stand the negative ones.. it makes me think of all the bad things that " COULD HAPPEN" UGH!!!

That day passed, and one of my favorite nurses came on shift. I was so happy and came to the hospital that day to get all the info from her. She basically said Jaidynn would be ready to be discharged on Wednesday! That day, we got to do a "swaddle bath" for Jaidynn, its where they just swaddle the baby to keep warm, and let me just say that Jaidynn LOVED it! I got some pictures!

Notice, no feeding tube! No breathing tube in these pictures!

So I'm extremly excited to announce that we will finally have our daughter home before Christmas! I couldnt be happier!

Jaidynn had to pass her hearing test, which she did! She also had a car seat test which she passed! Jaidynn has been gaining a lot of weight each day and she's now up to 4 pounds 8 ounces!! The only thing that changed recently is she's been dipping a bit on her oxygen levels, so they have decided to send her home on a bit of oxygen and have a monitor as well. I'm actually excited about it because Jeff and I have wanted a monitor for her to be sent home on just for Safety reasons. Better safe than sorry, and she wont be needing it all day long, mostly just while sleeping, and probably for only a few days. Jeff and I also have to do a 24 hour stay at the hospital to learn how to care for Jaidynn on these type of monitors and oxygen. I dont care what I have to do, as long as it means that this week we will have our baby girl home!!

I wanted to also say, I have a friend who is throwing a baby shower for me on Saturday, those who are planning on coming please be aware that we will not be passing Jaidynn around to hold. We will be happy to bring her out for you to see, but Jeff will be keeping her in the back so that we dont pass around Germs. I hope everyone understands... Also, we must all wash our hands and use hand sanitizer at my house just to keep any type of germ from spreading. I feel like a mean teacher or something, but we cant risk Jaidynn going back in the hospital from just a common cold. :) I really appreciate all my friends who are still willing to come. :) I love you all!