Friday

For several days now we have been holding our breath with anticipation. Delaney has done it, and we are being discharged Saturday morning. She is a strong and resilient little girl and has amazed us all. Wednesday to Thursday she completed her 24 hours of nipple feeds which set the stage for departure. Because she had a suspect spell of apnea on Tuesday, we were required to stay for 5 additional days to ensure that more apnea did not follow (which it hasn't).

Our last day and night at St. Mary's didn't exactly go as planned and we ended up "rooming in". The hospital has several private rooms set aside for parents that want to spend a night with their baby in a non-nurse, non-monitor setting. We hadn't planned on doing it but for several reasons that is where we ended up. Meredith and Brandon headed back to the apartment for the night (kids aren't allowed to stay the night), while Jennifer stayed for Delaney duty. Hopefully their last night will be an enjoyable and memorable experience. Delaney no longer has any bells and whistles other than her nasal cannula and is on an "ad-lib, on-demand" feeding schedule...it's sort of like having a "normal" baby. We had a great day.