I finally got him in my arms!!!

A few days back I decided I was just going to start asking every day when I could hold Emerson. I figured that eventually they would have to give in and say yes! This morning, I arrived at the NICU during morning rounds and had a chance to meet the new attending for the first time. (They rotate every two weeks.) After he explained to me how well Emerson was doing and how they hoped to get him off the vent in the next few days if he continued to do well, I thought I would ask and see when he thought I might be able to hold him. To my surprise he said he didn't see any reason why it couldn't be today!
It was quite the production to get Emerson and all of his tubes and wires out of the isolette and into my arms, but once they got him there they let me hold him skin to skin for almost a full hour! (Heck, I would have been happy with 5 minutes!) I held him for the 40 minutes it took him to get his lunch (a whole 4 CC's of my milk) and then some extra time before and after that. He started to get a bit anxious near the end of the time I was holding him. It took him a good long time to settle back in once they put him back in his bed, but his nurse said that was pretty typical. Emerson has quite the feisty personality and doesn't like to be messed with. He tends to throw a little tantrum when it is time to change his diaper or flip him over into a different position. Most of the time I was holding him though he did really well, seemed very cozy and happy, and his numbers on the monitors all looked good. (Hopefully he did well enough for them to let me do it again soon!)
There are a ton more photos on our Picassa site!