Closer to Home

I thought I would have time before now to update but it just hasn't happened. It will happen eventually, I'm just enjoying time with our little girl! I wasn't sure I would ever get to say that so I'm soaking it all up.

The good news is that Hannah Kate was transferred to Ithaca today!!!!  I'd say that is a pretty big two week birthday present :). We started hearing rumors last week that Hannah might be transferred to Ithaca once she reached 1500 grams. This was exciting and stressful at the same time because she would be going from a highly regarded level 4 NICU to a community hospital with a level 2 NICU. We went and saw the NICU yesterday and met with the Neonatologist and felt a lot better. It is very small, but the doctor gave us a very good feeling about their abilities. Well, today she rode on an ambulance with a nurse and a respiratory therapist all the way from Syracuse! We couldn't go with her, but we were able to see her when she got to the hospital. She was wide awake and looking around. They told us that she is now 3 lbs 6 oz (1540 grams) and that they are going to increase her feeding today to 16 ml.

 Trying to suck on her fingers/IV board. 

A shot from above. She is starting to figure out her binky, so hopefully it will make learning the suck/swallow/breathe pattern easier when she starts to feed. We are ready to get rid of  her IV.

We still have a long road ahead. She needs to learn to eat (rather than a feeding tube), maintain her temperature, things like that. We've heard it could be anywhere from her due date (8 more weeks) to around 36 weeks before she can come home. It all depends on how well she does. Regardless, we are happy she is in a good place and that we will get to see her for longer periods of time.

Now that she is in Ithaca we will get to see her after dinner and I can't wait! I can start driving on Monday and then they will get sick of seeing my face :).