So Proud to be a Mommy

Can I say one word........WOW. What an incredible feeling and experience it is to be with Addison 24/7. We are loving it!!! We get to hear every little squeak, groan, and breath she takes. We have not been sleeping much, but we don't care, this is amazing. This is what being a new mom should be!!. Thanks to our wonderful friends Mo an Scott who lent us their laptop, we have internet access so I can keep everyone updated on the blog.

Sooo we moved into Care by Parent with Addison on Friday, what an exciting day. Not only was it move in day, it was also Addison's Term Birthday, she is officially 40 weeks. We got all settled into our room and I don't think we took our eyes off of her for a second. The staff is absolutely wonderful and they are teaching us how to administer Addison's medication and do everything for her when we take her home. We do all of Addison's feeds, except for those that she is still taking via a tube if she is still too tired to wake up. We also hit Day 100 on Saturday for time at the hospital, we cannot believe the time that has gone by. Daddy spent the weekend with us and had Addison all to himself on Sunday while mommy attended her baby shower in Forest. What a wonderful party put on by Mo, Mimi and Christine, the girls definitely outdid themselves. Thanks to all the ladies that attended, it was so wonderful to see everyone and celebrate our little girl. We truly got spoiled again. We cannot believe everyone's generosity and kindness during our whole ordeal and then to have such a wonderful party with such wonderful gifts is truly amazing. Love love the Princess and the Pea rocking chair!!!!

Monday mommy got the day to spend with Addy, as daddy returned home for some renovating. It was wonderful to cuddle and bond with little Addy, and just lounge around on the bed together. Around 11:00 am in the morning though mommy got the surprise of her life. The nurses came in and turned off Addison's monitors and told mommy that they were going to be monitor free. No more heart rates and saturations to watch, we had to rely solely on Addy to tell us if anything was wrong. We knew this day would be coming, and finally it was here. We have been relying on these machines for the last 103 days now to tell us if something was not right, what a scary feeeling to lose that security blanket. So daddy raced back that night and I think we have both slept with one eye open ever since then.

Addison is just doing incredible and surprising us all. When we moved into the Care by Parent unit it was our goal to have her eating strictly by oral means (breast and bottle) for her 8 feeds a day, and to do this for a 48 hour period so we could have her NG feeding tube removed. We predicted that this would keep us in the hospital for a couple more weeks at least. Well apparently Addison has different plans and is eating like a queen (she takes after her dad, every 4 hours and we have to feed the guy) and weighing in at 7 lbs and 8 oz. She is excelling with her bottle feeds and as of yesterday has progressed to completing 6 oral feeds in a day, 5 of which were done all in a row. This is absolutely amazing as she expends so much energy eating, but is managing to wake herself up enough every 3 hours and take a full bottle plus a little more. Unfortunately the breast feeding has been put on the back burner so we can work on getting Addison home. Well the nurse walked in today and advised mommy and daddy that we were going to push Addison a little further and attempt to do all feeds orally today and not give her the break of having one administered via a tube. If she was successful then we would push a little further and try for another 24 hours of oral feeds and guess what.............we could potentially be discharged this weekend!!!! Well I think my heart is in my throat right now, as I so want this to happen, but yet I know how much work this is for Addison and I don't want to push her in the wrong direction. Ahhh I just cannot believe it, we are so close. What a mix of emotions, I just don't know what to feel, but believe me there is absolute love for this little girl that has just fought so hard to get us here. We will keep you all posted over the next couple of days. So excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!