feeding the babe

so we're still living at the hospital. i long for the day/night when i can finally sleep in my own bed again. for now, we're waiting on nate to get us home. we had been hoping for christmas, but don't know if that will happen now. according to the nurses, nate has to be able to feed on his own for a 48-hour period before they'll move him into the "care by parent room" with us. we have to stay in that room with him overnight...it's sort of like a test-run of us taking care of him by ourselves (but with the comfort of having the nurses just outside our door should anything come up)...and if that goes smoothly, then we'll be on our way home the following day. ken says that i shouldn't put dates in my head of when i think we'll be home so that i don't keep getting disappointed. it's hard not to though particularly with christmas coming up. so my 29th birthday was spent in the hospital, but nate made me a present (with the help of daddy) that cheered me up.

also, the nurse removed nate's NG tube earlier this evening. it's the tube that they have in his nose that leads down to his stomach should he be too sleepy to wake up to eat. the tube was looking like it was slipping out and it didn't help matters that nate kept pulling at it, so the nurse decided that she'd remove it entirely and put it back in at a later time should he need it. i feel like we're another step closer to home with the removal of the tube. his last tube feed was at 3:30 a.m. today so if we can continue without the tube, then he should be in the care by parent room with us by christmas eve, which means we COULD possibly be home on christmas day. that's what i'm praying for! but of course...no pressure. :o) i'm sure once we're actually at home i'll miss having the nurses around to help me and maybe even long for the days of the NICU??? now i'm just talking crazy.