Discharged

Today I was discharged from the hospital. We left around 8:30p, and it was really hard to go. I put my hands in the incubator and held her head and bottom as she slept. I cried. A lot. I'm crying as I type this now. It's so hard to know that my baby girl isn't just down the hall. These next 6-8 weeks before she can come home are going to be hard. I know I'll get into a rhythm of sorts, but I just want her home with us. I want to be able to hold, touch, and talk to her whenever I want.

M packed up all our stuff and wheeled it out to the car. We received some lovely flowers from friends, family, and co-workers:

And when we got home, I saw that our neighbors had decorated our mailbox, celebrating our new arrival:

We did two kangaroo sessions today. The first one was with M and the second on was with me. Once again, the NICU nurse had to pick the hairs off Corinne after doing kangaroo time with M, which totally cracks me up, since I am the one always being blamed in this household for clogging the sink with hair.
During my kangaroo time, the nurse put her up to my breast. There was some dried breastmilk on the nipple, and I felt her licking it. She won't be able to do the suck, swallow, breathe process that is required for breastfeeding for awhile. But, her tongue can taste sweet tastes. Hopefully she enjoyed the dried milk taste!

Corinne LOVES kangaroo time. She alternates between deep sleep and looking around, trying to take it all in.

 We also took some time today during one of the holding sessions to look at her palm lines. It looks like she has my palm lines. It was like she knew that we were trying to see her palm, so she stuck it up in the air for up to admire. The NICU nurse had a good idea to photograph her palm, in comparison with ours:

I love this photo. I imagine it's going to be one of many along the years where she says "Geez, Mom! Cut it out with the pictures already! You're embarassing me!"

I've noticed that I get more milk with each pumping when I touch her as I pump. I spend about 20 minutes every 2-3 hours in this position, and I love it (she loves it too and this position calms her down in little time, since I'm "containing" her...just like the ute would if she was still in it). Due to her age, she doesn't enjoy being stroked, since her skin is too sensitive. However, she does enjoy being contained by hands. Hands are warm, soft, and have a heartbeat...much like the walls of the ute do.

Of course, I'm not the only one who can't keep my hands to myself (Corinne is just too damn cute and touch-able). I never get tired of watching M with her. She looks so adorable in his hands.

When she doesn't feel "contained", she flails arounds. As cute as the flailing is (and it totally provides an awesome video opportunity), it burns calories. At this point, the calories she takes in should be dedicated to growing, not flailing:

She has been taken off breastmilk, since she wasn't digesting it. Rather, it was just sitting there and not being moved through her system efficently. Hopefully, her GI system will mature soon and she can start taking nutrition through the feeding tube again.