You don't say?

Mama, was telling me a story.  She says it's all up to me when I get to come home.  I'm not sure I believe her! But I listened very carefully to the words she was saying, so I wouldn't miss any of the details she was giving me.  

First she said I have to wake up and eat, every three hours.  I'm pretty sure I can do that. 

Second thing, I have to eat EVERYTHING, every time.  She made sure I understood the EVERYTHING part.  That sounds like a lot of work though.  

Third thing, she says I have to do that without choking, so I don't have any more bradys and desats.  This one is hard for me.  Sometimes I get really excited and start off eating too fast....and then I choke.  It makes mommy nervous when I do this.  

The forth thing she told me about is making sure I stay strong enough to do all these things and don't let myself have any bradys or desats at any other time.  

If I can do ALL of those things, she told me I can come home.  Mommy would really like to take care of me all the time, and not just sometimes, so, she wants me to hurry.  

I think it sounds like a lot of work!  Don't you?  I'm sure she must be joking!  It was just a story after all, right?  

I wish I were joking.  It's a lot of work she has to do to get home still.  I desperately want to bring her home, but it's totally out of my hands.  Unfortunately, a preemie does what a preemie does...in their own time.  There is not a thing we can do to hurry her up.  It's not that she doesn't want to do these things, it's that she isn't quite ready to do all of those things. 

We are getting there, but it's taking so much longer than we had hoped.  It's now been 13 weeks, and this part is taking the longest.

It's so close, yet each day just drags on by.   

Are we there yet?