8.4.08

Well, the past two days have truly been a tale of two worlds as we've been getting used to the 24-hour cycle of parenting with Allison and being at the NICU for Ethan.

Saturday night was our first night with Allison home, as Aunt Liz's pictures of Lisa and I carrying her over the threshold proves. I was more nervous than I thought I would be, since there were no more monitors to let me know what Alli's heart-rate or oxygen levels were, and I would have to rely on whatever paternal instinct I had.

Alli was stressed out since everything was so vastly different for her and she was definitely over-stimulated. Lisa and I counted our sleep in consecutive minutes, as Alli's grunts and gurgles made us keep an alert eye on her. We made it, though, and had a much smoother night last night (once we found out that she hates having the ceiling fan blow air on her).

Our new pattern is to get up in the morning, get Alli ready, take care of Tamlin, and get to the hospital to be with Ethan. Ethan continues to grow strong in his new digs, Allison's old room, which he got when she "moved out" (foreshadowing?).

Today he even got moved from an incubator to a crib, which has been tremendous for Lisa and I to just be able to look at him. He was moved back to Infant CPAP Saturday night, as his lungs tired out. The doctors want him to use his energy for growing, so the CPAP is a good thing to give him the support he needs. He's been eating well, and spends his time sleeping and trying to free himself from the wires and lines that hold him down like a bizarro scene from Gulliver's Travels.

The silver lining to this new situation is that it gives Lisa and I a chance to "try out" things with Allison (the location of changing tables, where we need to keep things, etc.,) before we add Ethan and really get busy. Thank you for all of your support and good cheer as we continue to make strides day by day.