Big News! Lily is coming HOME tomorrow!!

Hi, everybody! Today, we got the best (and most surprising!) news possible...barring any complications (knock on wood), our Lily will be graduating from the NICU tomorrow and coming home! Yaaayyyyy!!

This news was actually just the latest and biggest in a series of big happenings for little Lily. Already, for the last few days her nurses had been saying she was doing really well and would probably go home "within the next two weeks". (Lily, shown here wearing a stylish pink jacket from her Tata Cathy, looks understandably concerned).

Then, a couple days back, in response to her waking up at her scheduled feeding times with a ravenous appetite, they increased her bottle feeds...first from 30ml to 36, then 40, up to her current "as much as she'll eat", which is over 50ml at times! Then yesterday, everything happened at once. They removed her feeding tube, but then promptly fitted her with a special monitor to track her "A's and B's" (a.k.a. apnea and brachycardia). Mostly, this involves a sensor for her heart (which she didn't mind) and some sensors over her nostrils and upper lip to detect her breathing (which she didn't like at ALL). They proceeded to monitor her for 12 hours for any unusual heart rates or respiration, and she passed with flying colors.

See? No more tubes!!

So this morning, as we were hanging out with her, tubeless for the first time in weeks, the NICU pediatrician comes by and announces that everything is looking great, she's been doing terrific and that "she can go home with you today. Or tomorrow, if that's better for you. Is before noon OK?" Yikes!! As luck would have it, though, mama and dada have been working pretty hard the last few days to get the house ready, so after a few more semi-frenzied hours getting the last few things in order this afternoon, we think we're ready! (As ready as we'll every be, anyways...)

So wish us luck...this is a big step for everyone! We hope Lily likes her new house. As you can see, though, Lily seems to like anywhere that mama is, so we think she'll be just fine.