Visitors

We visited Ellie this morning for a short visit before the doctors kicked us out to talk about the other kids in the room. Abby is heading back for the afternoon and I will head over as soon as I do some stuff here. It is a big day becauee my parents are comign in from Maine to visit Ellie for the first time since the Westerly Hospital more than a week ago where my mom got to heold her shortly before the shit hit the fan, or more appropriately, the bile hit my lap.

My dad has been having a tough time with a sick baby, just like the rest of us, but for some reason it seems that this is tougher for him than even Abby and I. For example, he couldn't even read this blog until a few days ago when I had given him some fresh news over the phone to prime the pump. But now he is getting better and likes the pictures. I think that having him see that the NICU isn't a horrible place will help him even more. It will be good to see my folks today.

It seems strange, and we may be shellshocked from immersion, that folks that are a distance from our situation in New Haven are often having a tougher time with this than we are. I think that it is because we see Ellie a couple of times a day and hear her coo, hear her scream with her good set of lungs, and get the contact with herthat we have begun to think that things aren't that bad. Things are tough and it bums us out to think of where we could be right now, but all in all it isn't so bad. I may think differently if Eleanor is still in the hospital a month or six months from now, but for right now it a'in't all bad.

The other thing that makes us feel fortunate is meeting other parents here at the RMH and in the NICU whose children are much sicker that Ellie right now. A bunch of the preemies can''t be touched or held. That would be a tough one to handle. We met a couple who have a baby with spina bifida and had surgery on day one but can't be held for 10 days. It would be much tougher without the cuddle time and I am very thankful that we can spend as much great time with her as we do.

Still waiting to hear the update from this morning's doctor visit. We hope that things are still moving forward and possible out of the NICU. Our toes and fingers are crossed.