Week 3: Goes by too fast!

 After the first 2 weeks of patience and patience and more patience along with many many prayers and one off silent cries, week 3 had a slow start. 

It started with Ayaan gaining weight slowly but steadily. As I said before I think, I'd never imagined how important "20gm" would mean to me. Everyday going to the NICU, listening to the nurse say, plus 20gm today, poo poo pee pee okay - this was all my ears looked forward to hearing. I think the anticipation and the relief after hearing was so visible on my face that the nurse used to almost present a ballet hand gesture and exclaim with joy on the days the weight gain was 40gm or more! 

By the week 3, Ayaan had slowly started to take the bottle feed. The amount of milk in every feeding was still small but none the less, the kid was performing well and raising our hopes.

Within a day or two of slow progress, things transitioned quickly! 

He was suddenly more than ready to be home. He was out of his incubator into a normal crib now. It was more on us now to learn the art of all the parenting stuff - diapers, bathing, feeding, burping, etc. Infact, on some days we couldn't find him in the main room with incubators at all, rather he was lying in his crib in some corner of some other room, being passed from here to there to create space for new members of the NICU family. He was already an alum of the NICU ward it seemed.  

We used to go meet him everyday. I used to go for often than Abhishek. It was much needed - for both me and Ayaan I guess. Knowing that he would be home soon, left a different feeling in me - a positive one. I felt a sense of belonging and familiarity with other parents out there. I felt like going to them and saying - everything will be alright, don't worry. It's surprising how we humans can find the sense of belonging in spaces we would never imagine. 

Week 3 ended with the joyous news of baby's homecoming on the onset of week 4. I remember that day gave me both immense joy and goosebumps thinking of what was coming ahead.