Well, today was daddy day. Dave was thrilled, I was pretty heartbroken. Still, it’s on days like today when I am reminded of how well we work together as a team. On the fly, we figured out who could go to the hospital (lucky Dave), and who had to sort out deadlines and stay on track (me). Still, he comforted me and kept me in the loop, and to quote him, “I brought home baby’s bacon!”

I know the beginning of our parenting experience isn’t typical; we’re not up late with dirty diapers and feedings, or figuring out what schedule she needs to be on. Still, building a life around the NICU is all about embracing constant chaos to an extent – not my forte. Care times change, round times change, rooms change, doctors and nurses change – you have to always be on your toes. When I had to miss rounds today I was wild, but I trusted Dave to ask the questions, to make sure we know everything we need to about our little girl, and to fill me in and make sure he didn’t miss any salient points.

Amazingly, he has been noodling through this work puzzle for days, totally engrossed even when not researching. It’s interesting to watch. I’m a marathoner, and Dave’s like a parkour expert – those people that use the city as a jungle gym for workouts!

After missing 2 cares, I chose to go see Tess and leave 10 pages hanging for 45 minutes. It shouldn’t be a hard choice, but it affected my coworkers so that was hard. Still – totally worth it. That little face just kills me! Good thing I went, too. It’s TUESDAY! The day I get to hold Tess! I had no idea what day it was. That totally reinvigorated me for the rest of the afternoon, and has been a happy spot in my mind ever since.

I crossed the finish line for the week (?! we’re working on figuring out what part-time looks like!) at 5, and we’re crashing for a minute before my weekly joy – holding Tess! Then maybe we’ll manage to watch a tv show before bed – haven’t managed it yet. THAT part of our parenting experience seems to be right on track!

10pm
Just left the NICU after snuggling Tess for an hour and a half. There are no words for how amazing that feels! TV isn’t going to happen – had to ooh and ah over that sweetpea. Scariest moment of the night? Toss up between the flight for life team with a bassinet and the NICU code blue. Made me even happier I was hanging on to the bug!