5 More Days

I know it has been a couple days since we posted and I apologize to our loyal fans out there, but it seems as though the last week has come and gone like the snap of a finger. Lots of things to talk about in this post....Ethan's homecoming, nursery furniture, Batman, new babies and golf outings so, without further ado....Ethan's homecoming (or lack there 0f).

I will have to admit that it has been an emotional week for me as we have gotten close to Ethan's homecoming a couple of times. As some of you know, in order for Ethan to come home he has to go 5 days without a "brady." Brady is short for bradycarida, which is the slowing of a premature baby's heartbeat to less than 80 beats per minute. In the beginning of his stay in the NICU, he was experiencing these drops about 2-3 times each day. This number has gradually begun to decrease as he matured and his brain developed more. He is now having about 1 every 3-4 days. Last Friday, the nurses told us to start getting ready because we would be able to take Ethan home on Sunday. What? After the shock of hearing the news and feeling totally unprepared, we were thrilled. Sure enough, early Saturday morning he had another brady which started the 5 day countdown all over again. The same thing happened Wednesday night. After the first glimpse of false hope, I told myself not to get my hopes up again, but do you know how hard that is? Everyday we receive an update on him and they tell us if he had a spell overnight so it is pretty difficult not to count. I know that he is better off at the hospital while this goes on, but I just want him home with us. Honestly, the back and forth between home and the hospital and topped with not so good news is really starting to get difficult. The only thing I love about going to the hospital is that I get to see my sweet little boy. I know he will be home soon, but not soon enough!

In good news, Ethan does continue to get stronger and mature, he is up to 4 lbs. 9 oz. and passed his car seat test on Wednesday. He is now an on demand feeder, which means he can basically eat whenever he wants, as a full term baby would. On average, he is taking about 2 oz. every four hours, which isn't too shabby!! All in all, he is doing great! We will post some new pictures after we visit this weekend.