8 days old 8/19/10

Lincoln finally got rid of his IVs!!! He's up to 30 ml of breast milk every 3 hours and tolerating it really well. He amazes me with his strength. He frequently lifts his head up like a little turtle, and, when on his tummy, pushes his bum high in the air with his legs straight down and stretched out. It's pretty cute. Today I was changing a poopy diaper (which turned into three poopy diapers) as he continued to poo each time I put a new one on him! Ha ha....stinkin' Lincoln! We had a good lengthy kangaroo care time and then a conference with his doctor and primary nurse. They didn't really tell us anything new, but we did solidify the fact that we really can't expect him home before 6 weeks (so five weeks from now). Lincoln hasn't had any complications and everything his gone swimmingly, but Dr. Chen assured me that things do pop up and sometimes babies are kept until their original due date (his is Oct. 22nd) or even later. I like to continue in our optimistic hopes that his fighting spirit will continue onward and bring him home sooner than expected. I continue to have a hard time when we're not around him. I'm blaming most of it on the "baby blues" hormones that are going mad throughout my body, but not going home with our boy makes it even more difficult. I was at the grocery store today, noticing all the frustrated and angry mothers with their noisy kids. The moms were saying things like "I can't believe you" or "I can't take you anywhere." I would be so happy just to have him with me. I would be so happy to wake up in the middle of the night and feed a baby instead of pump from a machine. It puts things into perspective, and I hope that I can remember this forever...when Link grows up more and gets "annoying"...I hope I'll just remember how much I ached at his absence while he was in the NICU and couldn't think about anything else...about the tears shed every day...and the seemingly endless waiting we had to go through just to bring our little guy home like every other normal couple that has a newborn. Count your blessings, right?