Movin on Up

Well really down as in the cardiac step down unit, but we did move up 4 floors!  As of last night, Adeline now has her very own room complete with a tiny couch for me to sleep on.  Our new quarters are tight, but we'll gladly take our own room where we can hold her and actually take care of her.  Last night as she was crying, Andrew looked at me and said "well here we are, welcome to parenthood."  We weren't expecting to move until today or tomorrow, so I was surprised when they told us yesterday that we were moving. 

I'm having to adjust to a new normal here, and probably the biggest adjustment is not having the constant monitors to always know her numbers.  Adeline is now hooked up to a portable monitor so her nurses know her numbers, but we don't.  So no more constant beeps, and as much as I hated them as first, they somewhat became a sense of comfort.  I guess we do have to break loose of them though since we won't be going home with any monitors. 

Adeline seems to really like her new room.  She has a new love - her mobile!  It might even give her pacifier a run for its money. 

The main focus on 8D and what's keeping us from going home is Adeline learning to feed.  She's still on a feeding tube.  She's done well with her compressed feeds today, and as long as she continues to do well, we're getting closer and closer to starting oral feeds (hopefully in a few days).  They did discover today that she is going to need to be on a special formula for six weeks before she can go back to breastmilk.  So for now the breastmilk stockpile will just continue to grow.  It's another small hurdle, and we know that there will most likely be these small hurdles along the way with her feeding. 

I have to admit that since we're now in her own room, I'm ready to go home.  Trust me, I know she needs to learn to feed well because heart babies tend to have feeding issues.  Thankfully, we'll have a lot of experts working with us to get us ready to go home. 

Last night little Adeline was wide awake until 2 am so who knows what tonight holds for us!  She's slept most of the day and is sleeping peacefully now so I'm somewhat anticipating a little night owl.  After two weeks in the PCICU and open heart surgery, I'll gladly take feeling like a real parent to a newborn :) 

I'll post pictures of her new home as soon as I get some uploaded onto my computer.