Day 20 2.8 pounds

         Family, Caitlin's gift hat, Bartell's & Daddy's first hold
We are together as a family again. It is a good thing! Meghan and I just hung out at the apartment until noon when the family arrived. They quickly unpacked the van and put away all the food for the weekend before we left to go to the hospital. We arrived in time for the 1 p.m. touch time and John got to see Grace again. It's got to be hard to only see your daughter on the weekends. That would make for long weeks for me. Although, it might be just as hard as it is for me not to see my family too. Grace got a beautiful knit hat with the cutest little flower on the front made by Caitlin K. in the mail today. How adorable! Grace was so cute with it on. It was perfect size for her tiny head. What talent she has. Thank you Caitlin.

This is her 15 minute break in between her CPAP mask
change-over. Cute hat Caitlin!

Had to turn the lights down so she would open her eyes

Gracie getting oxygen during her break from CPAP

Gracie feeling uncomfortable with belly full of air from CPAP
and not being swaddled with the arms of a long-sleeved
newborn undershirt

 Everyone hung out in the family room outside of the NICU while we took the kids in one by one. Samuel was so cute and waved hello to the nurses in Grace's room. He melted their hearts. The kids were so interested in everything attached to Grace. It was fun to tell them in easy descriptions what they all were. Gracie was behaving all morning with only a few episodes with desats. That is totally normal for a micro-preemie so no one is complaining. They just turned up her oxygen a few notches. Fixed the problem. All is good.
We walked to Bartell's Drug Store to get treats for all the kids. They had fun picking out something to have for themselves or to share with a sibling. Pretty much everyone chose to pick bigger packages and share. They got to walk across long sky walks which go over roads. The little kids sure loved that. My incision sure didn't enjoy all that walking. I needed some serious Oxycodone to numb the pain! I guess I overdid it walking that far. You know those commercials advertising V8 when they konk their head with the palm of their hand and say, " I should have had a V8" like saying, "Duh, I should have known better than that"? O.k. I really felt like that, "Duh, I shouldn't have done that"! Dumb me, thinking I'm healed when all these incision problems just don't seem to go away. You know, I did tell the surgeons they should just install a zipper; they didn't listen. Now my body is just saying, "I'll just do it myself". Ha! Do you think I'm a good enough seamstress to install one myself? Maybe then it would just heal and close up, huh?
After we got back, it was touch time again. John and I went in spent over an hour with little Gracie. They switched her CPAP mask and were moving her into a smaller incubator for, get this...bigger micro-preemies! Yes, they did say bigger! My heart was full. She graduated! At 2.8 pounds, they used the word "BIGGER". I like that word! Every good little thing I celebrate. All good things come from Christ, right? Even these "little" good things are miracles and show how she is advancing in this new "womb". I sure do feel cheated out of this pregnancy but I also feel incredibly blessed to have this prolonged "hello" to my dear, sweet, little Gracie. Ugg, my heart is full!

This is her smaller, less complex isolette

Before they moved her into her new bed, John was able to hold her for the first time. He kept saying her fingers/hands were so small. She did look very small in his arm. After all the heated blankets they piled up on her to keep her warm she looked much bigger. It is very amazing to hold such a light weight. When they put her in my arms yesterday it still amazed me. She just doesn't weigh anything. Hilariously, all the blankets and gadgets they have on her weigh more than she does.

The respiratory therapist and nurse helping John get settled
holding Grace for the first time today

Daddy's first kiss

I think Grace has her Daddy wrapped around his finger

John and Grace

Half the length of her little cocoon wasn't even her, it was
all her cords. It was amazing.

Our little Gracie peanut