Adopt-a-Family

When I got home tonight I sat on the couch to relax after work and holding Megan. Soon after, I received a phone call from our college pal Mark who wanted to drop off a lasagna, an e-mail from our bible study friends the Parkers who also wanted to donate some meals to our cause, a package from my old high school chum Laura, who now lives in Iowa, and some preemie onesies in the mail from our friend and Jillian's sorority sister Allison, a pediatrician (guess who our frantic 3 am phone calls are going to when our own pediatrician stops taking them?).

We can't seem to say thank you enough. Jill's mom took off tonight after cleaning our house and helping to finish organizing the nursery. I told someone I feel like Sally Struthers is going to show up at our door at any moment with a film crew to shoot a documentary. "For as little as a dollar a day, you too can help support this middle-class, suburban family as they raise and care for their child. See that in the corner? Their cable system is only slightly above basic. It doesn't have any of the movie channels. How can they survive on just 200 channels alone? The horror! Act now and you'll receive a complimentary picture of the family you have adopted with periodic updates on your adopted family's progress."

Or at least that's how I imagine it would go. But rest assured we have a beautiful list of everything you have graciously given us (in mandatory Type-A fashion, I believe Jillian will be creating a spreadsheet on it tomorrow morning) and as soon as I stop spending every waking moment either working, holding Megan, or updating this blog so my mom stops worrying when she doesn't hear an update for more than 24 hours, I will thank each and every one of you properly.

I do want to publicly thank my grandfather for 'locating' that elusive car seat for us. It was meant as the set-up for a joke about how unprepared we were, I wasn't trying to push for one, but within a few days we had, literally, FOUR offers of people who were going to drive/mail/build us a car seat. I was floored. But now, everybody can breathe easier. When Megan is allowed to come home, she has a first-class seat waiting for her.

What's that? You don't care about all that drivel? You want a baby update? Fine. She continues to be the beacon of beauty in the Special Care Nursery at the hospital. I swear her hair grows longer every day. At this rate, by summer her new nickname will be Rapunzel. She continues to expand her appetite. She's up to 70 mL per feeding. This sounded like a lot to me. Seventy of anything is a lot. Especially when she started out eating only 5 mL. So, since I'm American and have thus far refused to convert to the much more simple to understand metric system, I asked what the equivalent was for a xenophobe like me. The nurse said it was about two ounces. Dang. Here I am all impressed with 70 mL and I find out that I take a bigger swig of mouthwash in the morning than she's eating. All joking aside, she is gaining weight though which makes us ecstatic. She has regained her birthweight and is now working on reaching her goal of 5 pounds in order to be ready for the swimsuit season this Spring.

All fingers are still crossed that this Tuesday will be her release date. We don't have proof that it will be, but we've decided in our heads that this will be the day. Power of positive thinking.