What a difference a nurse makes!  After a nice visit in the morning at home from Steph and Lisa, Peter and I finally headed to the hospital around 2 pm.  We were on a mission to hold Sam and to confirm my mom's insistence that Sam had opened his eyes.

We got there at a shift change, so the current nurse asked us to wait to hold Sam until the new nurse could get up to speed.  So, we waited.  While we were waiting Theresa (Sam's nurse practitioner) pulled us aside to share some GREAT news.  Actually, she had two bits of great news.  First, the chest.  Over the past couple of days, Sam's chest xrays were showing a little fluid around his lungs as well as the fact that his lungs were not expanding as much as they should.  Yesterday was one of his worst xrays.  It was so bad, that overnight they switch Sam from the cannula (oxygen that goes into the nose through a tube with prongs in the nostrils) to a SiPAP (a combination of a mask and a cannula).  This turned out to be a great thing.  Sam has been responding really well to his SiPAP- evidenced by the near perfect xray he had this morning.

Harder to see Sam's face, but this is his new breathing machine

The second bit of good news may be the best we have gotten so far.  Sam had his first head ultrasound today to check for brain bleeds.  This is the biggest thing to worry about with preemies as brain bleeds can lead to a number of things, including cerebral palsy.  On the ultrasound today they saw... nothing but a brain!  This was the first big hurdle we needed to get past- and one that was keeping me up at night.  I know better than to think that he is in the clear- but god did this result bring me a huge sense of relief.  The next brain scan will be in a month.

That is where our good visit ended.  The nurse assigned to Sam was just not a good fit for us.  She was a humorless, condescending, and mean individual.  After telling me she wasn't sure holding Sam was a good idea, making me feel like an inconvenience for even wanting to hold Sam... once she finally put him in my arms she blamed me for a brady episode.  Oh- did I mention she also talked to me like I was a two year old.  This lady stressed Peter and I out so much, that holding Sam was not that enjoyable and I think Sam picked up on our stress.

The only comfort I take from it is our social worker saw us afterwords, could see how upset/stressed I looked and asked me what was wrong.  Lets just say this nurse will never be assigned to Sam again.

When we got home, Irene had made a heart to take to the hospital and put in Sam's incubator.  If that wasn't heart warming enough, she handed me her new Minnie Mouse doll and told me to sleep with it since I could not sleep with my baby.  Sometimes my 5 year old blows me away with her thoughtfulness and maturity.

And now for your moment of comical zen