what a day.

No, your screen isn’t fuzzy. The dear nurse taking the picture couldn’t really master Chris’ digital SLR. I also think it’s funny that I look about 1.5 times the size of my husband in this picture, because he’s sitting so far behind me. If you know us well, you’ll see that it’s the first time I’ve ever looked like I have a bigger head than he does.

I went in for Ben’s 8:30 feeding this morning. He’s doing well and the nurse told me he’s been moved to 6 feedings by mouth per day. Great news! Before he comes home, he’ll have to get up to 8 feedings by mouth per day - and get the breathing thing situated. He’s still on caffeine, and the nurse mentioned that they could very well send him home with the caffeine, so that we’d have to give it to him here. I don’t know if he’ll have to be on monitors at home, but we’ll see.

The nurse also gave me some tutorials on how to change his diaper (I’m used to changing bigger babies, so I admit that I was a little afraid of hurting him at first), how to swaddle him like a little papoose. It’s the only thing that will stop him from crying sometimes. It’s really amazing.

She told me about clipping his fingernails - that I should only clip them when he’s sleeping, either by himself or when Chris is holding him. She told me I’d have to give him sponge baths for about a week after he leaves, as opposed to tub baths. She told me how to do that.

We can’t take Ben anywhere with a bunch of people for about a month after he comes home. “No family reunions,” she said. “No kissing him on the face or anything. And no smoking around him. Nobody with smoky clothes, no nothing.” We can have people come to the house to see him, but she made me promise I’d have everyone wash their hands before they hold him.

I was thinking earlier that when he comes home I might ask people to wash their hands before they hold him. And then I thought people might find it silly - that I was overreacting. But then the nurse mentioned it and made me feel less silly about the whole thing. And Ben’s still a little guy and a little more defenseless than the average bear. So if you come see him, please don’t think I’m silly if I’ve got some antibacterial wipes out. You can laugh at me after you leave if you want to. :)

After feeding Ben, I ran into one of his old nurses in the hallway. She was there in the delivery room when he was born (though she had to tell me that; I hadn’t remembered a thing), and it was so great to see her. She was our favorite nurse, and had been patient with me when I’d cried on more than one occasion after seeing him with all of those tubes in him. She gave me a huge hug today and asked how we were. He’s got new nurses in the Intermediate Room, so she said she’d stop in and see him sometime. She told me to make sure I come say goodbye to her when Ben goes home. It almost brought tears to my eyes - I certainly won’t miss going to the hospital every day, and I won’t miss Ben being in the NICU, but those nurses in there have been such a gift that I’ll definitely miss them.

On my way out of the hospital, I gave my ticket to the valet guy (I’m still not able to really walk from the parking lot to the hospital - I get tired so easily). He said, “Ohhh, are you the owner of the Black Civic?”

Turns out my car had died right there in the driveway, blocking traffic. I’d taken my keys out to give them to the guy, and walked in for Ben’s 11:30 feeding. He told me they’d paged me 4 times, but I hadn’t heard it in the NICU. They’d had to push the car out of the way.

They brought a security guard out and he jumped the car for me. I took it to a Pep Boys from there, and a nice guy from the Parts section put the new battery in for me, instead of having me wait an hour and a half for the service dept to do it. I thanked him up and down, and tried to give him a tip for his help, but he wouldn’t take it. People are just nice sometimes.

I’m home now, resting up for the 8:30 feeding tonight. I’m watching the Ellen DeGeneres Show. She can make me laugh no matter what.

Once again, have a great weekend.