I just cannot believe it!  My baby girl will be 4 weeks old on Thursday!! And, to top it off, tonight we went in and saw this......



And then this...




YES!!!!  We saw a stripped clean isolette and to her immediate right we saw a vacant open crib!!!!!!!!!

So, let me explain how this happened!  I went in for her Noon feed today.  Just before her bottle at noon, Dr. Grant checked her out and explained to me about the possibility of hernias in preemies.  There is about a 10% chance Addy could get a hernia and it's less likely in girls than in boys.  He checked her and all was well.  He rambled a few other things (he's Australian and a bit hard to understand as he sounds like he's mumbling at times and has a bit of an accent - He's super laid back, but he's an excellent Neo!).  Anyway, he walked away and I started to get her out of her isolette to give her a bottle and I heard Dr. Grant mumble something and thought he was talking to a nurse and then I heard him get a little louder and he said "Miss Burge?"  I turned around and realized he was talking to me and he said "She'll be in an open crib tomorrow."  It took me about 10 seconds for that to click.  But, when it did I became a kid in a candy shop and was so excited I couldn't stand it!!  I stuttered something out of my mouth and the nurses all just looked at me and smiled.  He also told us we are going to go from bottle feeds 2-3/day to 4 times/day.  So, we're doing bottles at 9am, 3pm, 9pm, and 3am (we get spared the 3am feed time though!).

After that exciting announcement, I got Miss Addy to take her ENTIRE 35ccs out of her bottle! She didn't even need any oxygen for the first 20 out of 30 minutes!  BIG IMPROVEMENT!!!  That's a first for mommy!  I left there so excited!  I got some errands ran and then Charley & I went back for her 9pm feed.  The first thing I saw when I went in at 8pm was the barenaked isolette and then the vacant open crib.  At about 8:40pm we did a quick bath (face and rearend).  I'm purely amazed at what gets stuck in this little girls' goods!  I cannot wait to get her into a real tub and get her all nice and clean.  Hopefully we can catch that one on video though.  We weighed her then and she was 4lb 1.3oz!  So, even with all the changes, she's still gaining, a small gain, but that is to be completely expected.  The nurse went and got 2 warm blankets and we got her dressed.  Daddy took some pictures and even though Mommy said to be sure they aren't blurry..they were, so I don't have too many to post.  We put her in an outfit that Grandma bought her.  They had us put an undershirt on her first to keep her warm.  We also put her in a double-layered hat.  She then got bundled in 2 warm blankets.  The nurse said this is just for the first night to make sure she stays warm and they'll check her every 3 hours for her temperature before her feeds and if she can maintain her temperature, they'll slowly start removing the blankets and such and taking her down to just clothes, 1 hat, and a blanket swaddled.  She looked like a little burrito and she's now all swaddled, which I'm not sure she likes so much, but it does calm her down some at the same time.  After this, I then bottlefed her and she again took all 35ccs!  She didn't need oxygen until about 15 minutes into her 30 minute feed.  Again, not too shabby!

She's been in a warmer bed for 3 days, and an isolette for 23 days, and now she's moved to an open crib!!!!!  I just could not believe it! Some new things we have to remember:

She may begin to refract a bit.  Her weight gain will likely slow, her oxygen needs may increase, and her bottlefeeding might slow.  Something as simple as talking too loudly around her or holding her too much and overstimulating her is just too much still.  Being out of her incubator means she'll feel all the breezes, hear all the noises, and have to adjust to so much that she could go back a little before going forward.  It's a lot on her, but she'll do it!  In time, she'll catch back up, but it's just the catch 22 of the move from incubator to open crib.  We are excited and terrified all in one breathe!!!!  I have no idea what to think... our baby girl is one step closer to coming home and it does not feel real yet...not the least bit! 

Here are a few more pictures for everyone to enjoy!

Ya ya...I caught the goods and put them on the web!  Everyone can now get over it!


Mommy gets me dressed so I can stay nice and warm in my first night in an open crib!


Thanks for my outfit Grandma!  It fits GREAT!


Our little baby burrito!!  Ironically, we had mexican for dinner!


Just a few photos after mommy snuggled me back in my crib.