Day 60

Taylor is now 5 lbs 3oz. She has had a very good week and has had no major problems since Monday and no longer has her feeding tube. She is completely on breast-milk (via the bottle most of the time) and eating more than her goals. Her stomach problems are starting to pass (pardon the pun) and her poop has turned more runny (although today she still hasn't pooped since this morning when she went through 3 diapers). She had her oxygen monitor removed yesterday.

Basically we are ready to go home! Taylor has one more test though that is in front of her. She needs to sit in a car seat for an hour with her oxygen levels above 90%. She has failed this test twice now. On Thursday it was over quickly. On Friday she was in the car seat for 2 hours but still couldn't pass getting 3 of 7 bad marks (she was below 90% 3 of the 7 times they took a snapshot).

We have been having lots of conversations with the doctors. Conversations have been about:

• Will she be going home on fortification or not - she will not it appears
• When will she be going home - Saturday, no Sunday, no Tuesday, no Monday...
• Will she be using the slow-flow nipple when bottle fed or the regular - the slow-flow
• Will she have another eye test before going home - we refused
• Will she be going home on a heartrate monitor - one doctor said yes, the other said no and we have a monitor ready to go just in case
• Will she be lying on her back at home - doctor says yes, we say no
• Michelle discussed some sterilization problems with the formula and the main doctor promises they will look into it

The car seat is the last issue. If she fails the test (she will be having one tonight soon), they will be ordering a car bed for her to be installed in our truck. This will allow us to take her home, but she will still need to past a test on that. She should be able to do that as she will be lying down just like in a bed. If she gets the car bed, she'll need to come back in a couple weeks to get the car seat test again so she can stop using the car bed. I don't know. I have a good feeling about tonight's test. There are some things they can do to help position her a bit better and we'll try that tonight.

Unless something completely unexpected happens we are GOING HOME TOMORROW!!!

This is turning out to be a great week. I now own a copy of Guns 'N Roses Chinese Democracy (an album I have been waiting 15 years for), the Beavers will go the Rose Bowl if they beat Oregon on Saturday, and Taylor and Michelle are coming home. Throw in Thanksgiving on top of it, and its going to one incredible week!

Its almost unbelieveable that this ride may be over tomorrow. A new chapter will begin and our family will be together at home. Its very exciting.

There are new pictures on the slideshow.