Home Stretch

It is hard to believe that Mary is already two weeks old. She has made much progress over the last few days. On Friday night, she weighed in at 4 lbs., 1/4 oz. Four pounds is important because it means that she can be moved from the isolet to an open crib. Check out her new bed:

One of the many bonuses of the new bed is getting to wear clothes. Although her first outfit was technically a Baptist t-shirt, the first outfit that I put on her was "a little black dress."

She is definitely crying & screaming much more now that she is out of the isolet. I guess being exposed to cold air helps her to cry. I haven't heard her cry since she was born. Who knew how exciting a screaming baby could be? The bottle light bulb seems to have finally gone on. She is really starting to take her bottle. She took all of her feedings by bottle today. They actually removed her feeding tube. Here is a picture of her beautiful face free of any cords & tubes:

We are trying not to get our hopes up, but the nurses told us tonight that there was a good chance that Mary would be discharged by Tuesday. Can you believe it?? Everyone keep your fingers crossed. Mary still has to pass her car seat test, hearing test and keep eating from her bottle. The car seat test is when Mary is placed in her car seat for the time it will take to drive her home from the hospital. They monitor her vitals and make sure that she remains stable.

The nurses in the NICU have been so great!!! Here is the art project that they put together for Mary:

Hopefully Hayden is still this excited once Mary comes home!!