Bittersweet

(warning: lots of background before I get to my point.  sorry.)

Something you may not know about life in the NICU:  we share the large room with 4 other babies.  Each baby has their own bed and medical setup and space, but it is not exactly private since there's not walls between them.  I'm actually okay with this. . .I think of it as the "never-ending playdate" and like that Aria always has other people in the room with her even when I can't be there.

Since we're there every day, we have become quite familiar with the other babies in the room as well.  Only one of the babies has been there longer than Aria.  The current set of 5 babies in Aria's NICU has been together for around 10-14 days (hard to keep track. . .)  That's pretty amazing since the first couple weeks that we were at Primary Children's it seemed like there was a different baby in the neighboring beds like every other day.

This past week all of a sudden we've seen a ton of progression in the other babies in the room (well both seen and overheard some conversations. . .haha).  As of a couple days ago, none of the babies in the room have a personal nurse - you can gauge how "delicate" a baby's condition is based on whether they have their own nurse or share a nurse with another baby.  When Aria was first admitted she had two nurses all to herself.  By the time I saw her on Day 4 she had one nurse to herself.  As of last week she is now considered stable enough to share a nurse with another baby.

A week ago all 5 babies were on ventilators AND warmers (heated beds until they can maintain their own body temperature).  Now Aria is the only one on a ventilator, and she's one of two still in a warmer.

The baby who has been there longer than Aria seemed to be in really rough shape when we first came to PC,  but is doing amazing now.  She even was well enough, and tube-free enough, to have a real bath in a tub tonight!

Another baby is recovering great from the surgeries she needed, and has a carseat test next week to start preparing for discharge training,  I was there when her mom got to hold her for the first time.  So tender.

A third baby just has to get her feeds up but is estimated to go home in another week or so.

So why am I telling you all this?  Well, because it's hard watching all that progress sometimes knowing we're not part of it.  The things that are wrong with Aria CAN'T be fixed.  We just hold her as often as she tolerates and hope she can feel our love.  I'm so, so happy for the other babies.  Just insanely jealous :)