Movin' On Up... To The Sky? No! To The Yellow Nicu!!

They moved Silas today (February 2) to the Yellow Nicu! This might not sound like a big deal but it is!!! He has been in the green nicu, which is the acute nicu. The yellow is for "feeders and growers." It is a big step in the right direction. And I am one happy mama. The yellow nicu is located just down the hall on the same floor as where he has been but it has been a "place of mystery" for me because I have never actually been there. It has always seemed so far off and not really in our reality. Our reality has been in the green nicu with the respiratory therapists and ventilators. I think that is finally in our past though. Since I am not in St. Louis today, the nurse told me over the phone all about the move and how it is a nice big room with a... wait for it... a window!! There are no rooms with windows in the green nicu. This is very exciting for me because I usually feel pretty cut off from the outside world while I am staying in the room with Silas. It should also help with cell phone signals. But the important thing is that Silas is now considered a "grower!"

And the other exciting news tonight is that he now weighs three and a half pounds! Yep, that's right. 3 pounds, 8.6 ounces!!!! The nurse weighed him three times she said because she was surprised by such a big jump in numbers. I just can't believe how fast we're flying through the whole three pound range. It seemed like it took forever just to get him back up to two pounds. And then hoping for three pounds felt like so far away. And now four pounds feels like it is within reach. The nurse said that they will probably start trying to feed him by bottle in about two weeks (usually around 34 weeks, he is considered a 32 weeker right now). Exciting stuff, let me tell ya!

Okay, in other big news, my Harry Potter audio books have arrived at the library. For those of you who know me, you know that I love me some Harry Potter. I have read all of the books but since I have been in the car so much I decided that I should listen to them on audio. I think the sound effects and voices will be awesome! I have xm radio in the car but I am even burnt out on that. My country stations play the same ol' songs over and over. There are about ten country songs that I have heard waaayy too many times. So lately I have switched over to the 80s on 8, the 90s on 9, and the 70s on 7. They don't play near enough Meatloaf, Guns n Roses, or Paul Simon for me. They do play way too much Genesis and Phil Collins, which are basically the same thing but I think the station thinks that we want both. We don't. Trust me. We don't. Maleah broke my Meatloaf cd and my New Kids on the Block cd is already boring me. I just can't listen to Hangin' Tough as many times a day as I used to. I know, it's sad, isn't it? Anyway, I had to do something differently and so that brought me to audio books. Interestingly enough, xm has an audiobook channel, but here is the weird/frustrating thing about it. They only read an excerpt of a book, not the whole thing. It really leaves ya hangin'. Half the time, I don't even know the title of the book being read so if I'm really interested to see how it ends, I can't even find the book at the library. I don't get why they do that. Anyway, I am really psyched about the Harry Potter audiobooks. I'll let you know if I like them as much as I think I will...

All in all, it has been a great day for the Coopers! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...