First Knudson Family Vacation, Day 2

We are staying an additional day at the hospital, rooming in with Clare and getting to know her and learning to master the little dominance games that even preemies play to get what they want. We've been working with a great nurse all morning who has taken the time to sit down with us and really explain what's going on with the demand feeding, including the philosophies and reasoning behind it.  Again we are reminded that the whole sucking, swallowing, breathing thing is a learned behavior for a preemie, whereas it is an instinct for a newborn.  A skill is a skill, and we find it interesting how much of the pedagogy we use every day with kids applies to Clare's acquisition of eating skills.  It makes us feel more comfortable with the whole process.  And I suppose we've come to terms now with the knowledge that we won't be bringing her home today after all.  It might be tomorrow, it might be this weekend...we don't know.  Potentially, we could be staying at the K Street Sheraton tomorrow and tomorrow night too.  It doesn't sound at all appealing...I want to be home with my pets and sleeping (or not sleeping) in my own bed.  But things could be worse.  We started this whole odyssey over five weeks ago by staying in the hospital, and we're ending it the same way.

We are exhausted and both look like we tumbled down several flights of stairs.  Tim got it perfectly when he said this feels like a bad air travel experience, like our flight was cancelled and we got stuck spending the night on the floor of the Omaha International Airport.