A Good Day

Even though my day started at 4:30am (I couldn't get back to sleep), today was a good day because I had company for a much longer period of time than I had any other day over the past 23 days that I've been in the hospital. My sister, her husband, their 3 kids, and my 2 kids arrived at about noon. Paul arrived shortly after that. I hadn't seen my sister and her family in seven months, Paul in 14 days, and my kids in 6 days. Unfortunately, they called me for my ultrasound at 12:40. I was wishing it could have taken place when I didn't have any visitors. The good news is that he was back in the mild anemia category today, which means Dr. Tressler can do the next transfusion. The next ultrasound will be on Monday. If he's back in the severe category on Monday, I would anticipate a transfusion on Tuesday, which would be 19 days after the last one.

My sister and her family stayed for 3 hours. During that time I read some books to some of the kids, painted 20 fingernails and 10 toenails (Susie and Nadia), ate lunch, and got a haircut (thanks, Wendy!). My kids were here for a total of 5.5 hours, which was really wonderful for me. I think another reason I am in better spirits at the moment is simply because I was out of my room (in the lounge) a lot more than usual. Typically I am in my bed for 23.5 hours a day. Last Sunday when the kids left I actually felt much worse emotionally (even though I did enjoy seeing them) because I only had 75 minutes with them. Although it was still hard to see them go this evening, I wasn't in tears since I had gotten a lot more time with them today. Nadia didn't want to leave. Knowing how hard it was for her to leave helped me to control my emotions. I didn't want to make it any harder for her than it already was. Although I was hoping to avoid the NICU, I feel the most likely scenario is that he's going to be a 34 weeker like Ian. I'd love to be wrong, but one upside is I should be able to have a lot more contact with Nadia and Ian after he's born (even if he's in the NICU).

My sister gave me my belated birthday present and also (early) baby present for Oliver. This was his first gift! She gave him a cute little sleeper (size newborn) that has various types of balls on it. I'm sure that for many years he'll be wearing hand-me-downs from Ian, but I think it's nice for him to have a few things that are new to him (not that he'll care as a newborn but he might care somewhere down the road). My birthday present was a frame filled with four beautiful pictures of my kids (the photo above is of the 12 roses/4 lilies I got from my Aunt and the frame from Wendy). Wendy took the pictures on Wednesday. I was amazed that she had already edited them, printed them, and framed them! What a lovely surprise! I had made 3 different appointments to take the kids to Walmart for pictures in June (Nadia's 4 year pictures and Ian's 2 1/2 year pictures), but every appointment was cancelled due to doctor's appointments and hospitalizations. I am so grateful Wendy was able to get some pictures of them since I am unable to take them for pictures this summer. After Wendy sends me the digital files, I'll be sure to share them here!

Paul brought me my point and shoot camera. I was going to take a little video of Nadia, but I decided to wait until next week to do that. I am going to use the camera to take pictures of some of the ultrasound pics. This blog has gone without pictures for too long!