Day 96

The week has been progressing rather well. Alice has started feeding every 4 hours rather than every 3 (the nurses are training her well for her arrival home). I'm at the hospital 2 to 3 times per day (depending on the day and Max's schedule).

Sunday was a hectic day as the nurses had snacked her in the morning which threw her entire schedule off for the day, so we sat around the house more than we wanted to waiting for her to wake up.

Monday was again the same as the other days. Feeding in the morning and at night - hanging out with Max in the afternoon. The doctor was saying Alice was doing really well and she would be able to come home soon.

On Tuesday Alice and I went for an ambulance ride back to Children's for her last eye exam. Alice was in her car seat in the back of the ambulance (along with a nurse and a paramedic) and I rode up front with the other paramedic. Very boring ride - especially because the driver did not want to chat at all. Made for a very long ride to and from Children's. But the eye test was very, very, very fast. I think it took all of 30 seconds (at the most). The doctor pry's the eyes open with an eye lash curler looking thing (or for those who have seen and remember "Clockwork Orange" and him prying his eyes open). The doctor looked at each eye (very, very, very fast) and said all looked good. Alice's retina's were fine and I was to make another follow-up appointment for 6 months time.

Now for the most exciting news - Alice is coming home tomorrow! We got the final news this morning that if all went well with her car seat test (which it did) she'd be home with us tomorrow. What a long road this has been and we start a whole new chapter tomorrow. It's hard to believe that it's happening (I'm starting to cry as I write this). It will have been 97 days (1 day shy of 14 weeks) and we're almost at her due date as well (Monday, January 18th). I think that January 14th will become Alice's unbirthday. It's just so hard to believe that we're at the end - I don't think it will be real until she's actually in the car on the way home, and then I don't think it will be real then either. The plan for tomorrow is to pick up Max at his daycare around 3pm and then go and pick up Alice - make it a family event. Have a quiet evening at home just the five of us (including Porto) and let the next part of our lives begin!

I'll post pictures Friday and let you all know about our adventure home and how the first night was as well (whether we got any sleep).