Ugh.

First, the good news:
- Josh and I had a stellar babymoon yesterday. Granted, it was much shorter and much less tropical than the one we had originally planned for late June. But we rode some awesome roller coasters, Josh ate a turkey leg, I pumped in the car in the parking lot (oh the things we do for the babe), we sweated buckets, Josh got heat rash, we had a lot of quality time to talk and people-watch, and just generally enjoyed each other. After coming home and taking much-needed showers, we exchanged a couple baby gifts at the mall and then went for dinner PF Changs.
News of our escapade traveled fast among the NICU nurses and they were all jealous, and everyone commended us on taking time away together.
- The nug is no longer on zantac (her reflux medicine), meaning she is now only receiving oxygen and a diuretic.
- I gave her a bottle today (the nurse forgot that I wanted to breastfeed), and sister ate like 50 cc's. That's a lot. She is really starting to chunk up ... in fact, her chin has kind of disappeared into her flabby little neck. Love it.

The bad news:
- My baby is still in the freakin' NICU. You would think I would be over that by now, but I guess not.
- She got another chest x-ray, and her lungs look worse. Dr. Narayan said that a lot of babies get worse before they get better, and apparently sister is one of them. But he said that she will definitely be on oxygen longer that we originally thought ... like 2 to 3 months. Needless to say, that was hard news to take. So if you see me in the grocery store in 2 months, I will be carting (1) my purse (2) a diaper bag (3) a carseat with a baby in it (4) an oxygen tank and (5) a portable monitor. That should do wonders for my postpartum pudge, though.
- Expected take-home-date is still "two weeks." I think they just say "two weeks" for kicks at this point ... we have been hearing that for way too long. I asked the doctor what we are waiting for, since I was under the impression that she just needed to be able to breast/bottle feed 100% of the time (which she is quite capable of managing). He said that we need to get set-up with home oxygen, learn how to give her medicines, and then learn general baby care. Seeing as we have been doing general baby care for weeks, and we are watching those awesome videos, I asked why the process would take so long. I don't think he was expecting push-back from me, since we have been very compliant parents. He conceded that it may not be two whole weeks, and said that he would try and get her discharged before he goes out of town on the 11th.
Pray, pray PRAY that we would get to bring her home ASAP! I think being in the hospital is only stunting her healing at this point ... they aren't doing anything for her there that we can't do at home. And there is a whole lot of love, affection, music, attention and snuggles waiting for her at home.

I decided that as a not-so-subversive message to her healthcare team, I am bringing her carseat in and leaving it at her bedside. It will hopefully serve as a constant reminder to help us get her home!