She's Home!

This little miracle came home! It has been a whirlwind with the day she would get to leave changing several times (such is life with preemies), but we brought her home the day before Thanksgiving.  We were blessed because my parents were already scheduled to drive up that day and were an immense help. She is so little that even some of her preemie clothes didn't fit. Luckily the outfit Mrs. Pat sent up fit so she got to wear something special home. 

She looks so little in her carseat! She was not a fan, but luckily we don't live to far away. 

Daddy bringing her through the front door. It was really windy so we didn't have time for a photo op. I promise she's under the blanket.

So that's it in a nutshell. Since she has been home she's had two doctor's appointments, a head ultrasound, and her first eye exam. If things go well we won't go back for a few weeks. HK has acid reflux so we spend a lot of time trying to minimize how often she gets sick. But, I'm mastering the art of typing one-handed so I should be able to at least post pictures more often :). Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for our little girl! She has truly thrived so far and we feel blessed.

Psalm 126:3  The Lord has done GREAT things for us and we are filled with joy!

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 :).