A Brand New Day

We went down to visit Parker in NICU this morning for our 8:30am visit. We went down very cautious after going to bed with heavy prayers last night. Our favorite NICU nurse, Bosede, really cheered us up last night and said she thought Parker would be better soon. She thought he had been on a faulty machine that said Parker's oxygen levels were lower than they should be. She thought he would be much better after being moved into the main NICU room on a new machine.

Lo and behold, Bosede's prophecy came true! When we came into see Parker this morning the nurses were jumping for joy and bragging on how great Parker was doing. They had removed his nasal tube and the splint that was hold his IV line in. He still had band-aids on his cheeks, but we expect those to be gone this afternoon. So now he just has a heart rate and blood pressure monitor line taped to his foot and back.

He was happy, alert, and more vocal than he has been the last few days. We changed his diaper and put him back in a cute onesie, rather than his hospital issued tshirt. He gobbled down a 60mL bottle of breastmilk and 20mL of formula. We also saw the NICU Pediatrician and he said that Parker has turned a corner. We need him to keep breathing at a normal pace for 24 hours so he can go home to Coppell. For now, the plan is that we'll room-in with him tomorrow night so we can ask for help if we need anything with him on our first real night as his parents. Then he should be home with us on Thursday - we are beyond thrilled.

I've been discharged from the hospital today, so my mom and I are waiting to go down and feed him again at 3pm then I'll get to see my house for the first time in 6 days. Benton has taken all of our stuff home and is looking forward to going to the grocery store and cooking steaks for dinner tonight like "normal". He has been a great dad so far and I know it kills him to see Parker in NICU with monitors and tubes, etc. He's ready for us to be home and get in a routine - however much of routine you can be in with a one week old!

We took some more pictures today without the nasal tube and splint - I'll try to get them posted tonight.