March 15

So posting every day has proven to be a challenge now that I don't have a home base at the hospital! My days consist of arriving for the 8:00am feeding and coming back to Katelyn's after the 8:00pm feeding. I have to pump in between her feedings which are every 3 hours! On top of this, you are not able to use cell phones in the ICN, so my communication with the outside world is limited!

As of today, Teaghan weighs 4 lbs. 13 oz., which is up from her birth weight. She has been breastfeeding quite well for the past two days, and they are feeding her with the tube at night. She no longer has an IV. In order to go home, she needs to have three more days with no apnea and needs to maintain her body temperature outside of the isolette. They tried to put her in a regular "crib" the other day, but she was still pretty chilly. A first this bothered me, but one nurse said that she would rather have her using her energy to grow rather than to stay warm. When looking at it from this perspective, I was okay with it.

They have asked me to spend a couple of nights at the hospital before we go home. I am waiting to see how close we are before I do this, but it could be the end of the week. I am really trying not to get my hopes up, but it sure would be nice to have the four of us under one roof - especially our own!

On Sunday a photographer from this area volunteered to take pictures of the babies in the ICN and their families. Charleigh and Teaghan made a really cute pair. They asked me if they could take some additional pictures of Teaghan for a public service announcement about pre-term babies, too. Each family was given a CD with all of the images. I will share some soon!

Dad is on Spring Break this week, so he, Mom and Charleigh are staying at Katelyn's with me for a few days. I bought Charleigh a princess sleeping bag and it works like a charm! They will go back to Keene on Wednesday and then come again at the end of the week. Katelyn and Garrett are in Arizona so the cats are enjoying the company! It is so nice to be able to put Charleigh to bed and wake up to her smiling face!