Last night was the weirdest slumber party either mom or I have ever attended.
No spin the bottle. No truth-or-dare. Just funny faces and messy diapers.
We spent our first night at the hospital with Kinley. I took the fold out chair-bed while mom got a roll away bed. Every three hours or so one or both of us were up to help with the usual hands on activities, including a 2:30 am bath and morning physical therapy.
Kinley is now wearing clothes and loves to watch her parents get her in and out of them. They’ll be weaning down the temperature in her isollete over the next week or so. Once she can maintain her own temperature for 24 hours with the isollete at 78°, it’s lowest setting, she’ll be coming out. There’s already a small bed in the room waiting for her.
To help her along, she’s also been going to bed with a hat. Her mother nearly had a heart attack when she woke at 1:15am to find Kinley had pulled her hat over her face, causing her heart rate to go up.
Her feeding tube has also been moved from her mouth to her nose because she’s due to start learning to bottle feed next week. With the tube out of the way, she’s started playing with her lips and making even more faces.
Although it is by no means a guarantee, her doctor expects she’ll be ready to go home in about two to four weeks. In addition to getting a handle on maintaining her body temperature and taking a bottle, she still needs to add on another half a pound and pass her car seat test.