Day #10: Whew! What a day!

Today was a great day! I actually made it to the hospital this morning in time for his 9:00 feeding. Before I fed him, the nurse said that he is now on "ad-lib" feeding and that they were going to take out his feeding tube! I finally got to see the boy with nothing sticking out of his face or head! And yes, he is adorable! He did really, really well with his bottles. Once he took 45ccs and he only needed to take 40! I got to cuddle him for a while before he went back into the isolette. I love it when he wraps his fingers around my thumb! Baby Joshua went home today, and when they came in to take his hospital pictures they decided to take Joel's too, since he didn't have the feeding tube anymore. (By the way, I talked to Joshua's mom today and she was feeling more optimistic about his condition. She said the hospital gave her the number of a woman who had a baby eight years ago with the same condition. Her little girl is still alive, and Joshua will be seeing her doctor. Good news for them!) Well, I know that all of you mothers out there think your baby is the most beautiful baby ever, but you are INCORRECT! :0) He was soooooo good! The pictures are adorable. I decided not to put them on the internet, because they would have to put his birth name and his birthmother's name. I don't think so! Anyway, I will have the proofs when we get home. He is an angel, that's for sure! Rob got here around 4:00 this afternoon. He of course was eager to hold the baby and make up for some lost "Daddy time". We got him to take 40ccs again....what a good boy! The nurse thinks that he will go into a crib tomorrow and then home at the end of the week. Keep your fingers crossed for us! Courtney called this afternoon and made arrangements for us to meet her mother with her after her mom got off work. We did finally meet with them around 6:30. The meeting went really well. We taked until about 9:00 and she held the baby a lot. She was very nice and said that, while she had big problems with this in the beginning, she was glad she got to meet us and was glad that we were adopting her grandson since her daughter can't take care of him. It was such a relief that everyone got along! Courtney came too and she was really talkative. We learned a lot about her and her family. She and her mother even got along! (Apparently that doesn't happen often!) Courtney's mother was going to sit with the baby for a while longer when we left at 9:00. I'm not sure if she knows that we are calling him Joel and not Aiden, but we didn't want to push our luck! Now we are back at Ronald McDonald House and about ready to collapse! Good night all! I hope to have good news again tomorrow night......