Today is Day 6

The plan when we transferred to HSC was to leave after 7 full days with no medical interventions. Today is day 6 with no interventions. For those keeping score at home, that means that Madeleine COULD be eligible to come home as early as Wednesday barring any last minute changes. We're not expecting any changes but given Madeleine's history of last minute curve balls, we're not getting our hopes to high. (I'm completely lying-- we're ecstatic but trying not to appear so.)

Regardless of her discharge date, the best news is that Madeleine is going great and is by far the healthiest that she's been in her life. (this is her dad, not her doctors talking but still...) Here's my evidence:
- She's extremely alert-- she's batting at toys, following people throughout the room at HSC, and is generally engaged and active.
- She feels stronger-- for the first time in her life, Madeleine felt this weekend like her core body was strong and didn't need support. Kirsten and I even worked with Madeleine on sitting up on her own. She still has a loooooooooooooooong ways to go but she's made major strides.
- She's growing-- she weighed in yesterday at 9lbs 5 oz-- when she transferred last week, she was under 9 lbs. This is the most important health factor and we're praying that it continues moving in this direction. Growing solves most of her health issues.
- She's laughing all the time-- when she's picked up, when she wakes up, when you say something funny to her, when you smile at her, when you bounce her... yup-- all the time. I can't tell you how awesome it is to see her smile after all of the difficulties she's been through.
- Most importantly: She ADORES her parents. We know it won't last but its very clear that Madeleine knows us and loves to be around us. We simply can't wait to get her home.

We're obviously failing at not getting too excited but we're confident that Madeleine is doing well and even if we have a set back, we don't think it will be a major one. We're spending the night at HSC tonight in an apartment with Madeleine as a trial run with the vent. We'll be back home tomorrow night cleaning up and getting the house ready for Madeleine's return on Wednesday.

Thanks again for everyone's support. I'll try to post pictures on Wednesday of Madeleine as well as of the kitchen-- all major work is complete today and it looks great!