Well, we finally had a chance to talk to the doctor about Hannah this afternoon. Hannah is doing remarkably well considering having been born 8 weeks early. She is breathing fairly well all on her own, they are going to try and start tube feeding her this afternoon, and if that goes well, Carmen can start breastfeeding shortly after that.
As for the question of when do we get to bring her home, that will not happen for at least 3 1/2 to 4 weeks. Sorry mom. Despite how well she appears to be doing, it is hospital policy to keep premature baby's under constant supervision until they are at least 36 weeks. No, they're not being mean, most all premature baby's suffer from apnea (Baby forgets to breathe) and brads (when the heart-rate drops suddenly because the brain forgot to tell it to beat). This traditionally stops at around week 36.
Today was another day full of firsts:- I got to hold Hannah - forget the "New Car" smell, somebody needs to bottle the "New Baby" smell (No, not the dirty bum smell)
- Carmen got to actually visit with Hannah for more than 30 seconds without her being whisked off to the NICU
- We got to try to change her diaper - Hey, it's not as easy as it sounds with IVs and sensor wiring running all over the place
And for those of you that had to hear about the birth through the grapevine and not by a phone call from us, we are terribly sorry, but I'm sure everybody out there understands that we've been more than just a little pre-occupied
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