On Monday night the nurses seemed quite optimistic that Ewan would be out of his incubator and in his bed on Tuesday. Aaron and I let ourselves get a bit carried away with their optimism and we danced the whole way home. Chattering and dreaming about what it would be like to have our baby in our arms as much as we wanted (during visiting hours, of course) the following day. We both went to bed with smiles on our faces, anxiously awaiting the next day.

Imagine the fall out then, when we got a call Tuesday morning saying that he wouldn’t be able to be out as we had thought. We had let ourselves get so excited that we were immediately sent crashing into the ground. In many ways that is the way this journey has been for the past 9 days. Moments of pure exhilaration and joy, followed quickly by stress and sadness. Fortunately, as Ewan progresses it seems that the exhilarating and joyful moments are starting to vastly outnumber the others. Thankfully.

So, Tuesday was a rough day, but the memory of that day was quickly erased when we got the call Wednesday morning saying that he was out! He was free! Finally!!

His breathing is good. His eating/sucking is good. Everything seems fine. Now he just has to spend a few days in the hospital in his bed so they can make sure the transition goes well. I am able to breastfeed him three times each day during visiting hours and it is so good to get that started. He is slow and I am learning, so it will definitely take us awhile to figure it all out, but I am more confident now that it will come. We just need to be patient with one another.

I was amazed at how much holding him and having him try to nurse has already impacted my supply. During each pumping session before being able to nurse him I was able to get out between 4-6 ml of milk. During my first pumping session after nursing him three times yesterday I was able to get 17 ml. Fantastic!

I think the nurses thought I was a little bit crazy yesterday. I spent nearly six hours, of the eight hours of visiting time with Ewan. During that entire time I didn’t put him down for a moment, except when Aaron was holding him, of course. It was so nice to have him close and keep him near. It really makes me feel much more like a Mama now that I can have him with me.

Today we get to go for his first bath. The nurses will let us watch today. Tomorrow I will give him his bath and on Saturday Aaron will give it a try. The doctor thinks that he may be discharged sometime this weekend. We can’t wait!

Anyway, here are a few more photos of us. We are so excited that our little man has made such fantastic progress.

Check out the swirly cowlick right on his forehead. Seriously, it is the cutest thing ever!

The second photo of all three of us. We really have to get some better shots of our family.

This is Ewan maxing and relaxing on my lap.