Nicholas in NICU Update #25

Today Nick turned 1 month old!

My body has been threatening to come down with a cold and so I haven't been able to see Nicholas since Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday I stayed away from the NICU completely to see if my symptoms would get worse, and this morning went to see my general practitioner to figure out if it is allergies or a cold. She said it appears to be the beginning of a cold, and possibly a sinus infection - with laryngitis (my voice sounds terrible). The NICU nurses said I could come today to take a picture of Nick for his 1 month birthday at 12:23, but I couldn't touch or nurse him until 24 hours on the antibiotics. It was so hard not to hold him, but there will be plenty of time for that... starting tomorrow!

I talked to one of the doctors this afternoon and she confirmed that unless something unexpected happens, he's coming home tomorrow! He is doing great with his feedings by mouth and everything else is in order. We talked about my cold and she said my current breastmilk is really important for him right now, so he'll have my antibodies to the cold. So Alex went to the hospital tonight with milk I've pumped in the past 2 days. He traded it out with the milk they had in the freezer already - some from as early as November 22. Tomorrow we'll go in together for the 1:30 feeding and probably hang out there until the doctors get a chance to see him and officially discharge him. The estimate we have is that it will be sometime around 4 that we will get to leave.

St. David's Hospital NICU has been Nicholas' home for the past month, but that is going to change *very* soon. I don't think previous pictures have shown a good shot of his surroundings, so here's a view of what he looks like in his little isolette. We taped a picture of Mommy, Daddy and Big Brother Max to the side of his isolette a while ago, so we would always be present in some way.
His environment will be much more comfortable and plush this time tomorrow. I can't wait! :)