July 14

Had a nice morning visit with Ryan today.
Big news.  On Thursday night, Nancy and I said farewell isolette and put Ryan in a crib.  He was technically ready a week or so ago because he was 2000 g and was regulating his own temp, but we wanted to play it safe with the serratia bug and all.  He's doing well in it. He's like a 'real' baby, and likes to be swaddled.  They put a blanket across the top to keep the light out, and because he's still on all the monitors and probes, he's allowed to have comfy rolls and to still be on his tummy.   Apparently when they reach term (36 weeks) they're not 'supposed' to be on their tummy's anymore, but when their lungs are still bad, they make some exceptions.
As for the Serratia, the typing came back, and it turns out that 5 kids had the same strain, 2 had the same strain, and 1 had it's own strain.  The 2 and 5 mean that they were passed within the NICU.   We haven't been told where Ry fits in there, but I'm thinking he's one of the 5 because he had had 2 negative swabs, then a positive one.  I was very upset when I found out because it could mean months of his nurses having to wear gowns and gloves when they handle him.  We also got moved to a different part of the unit, so now we're right in the middle, next to a sink and a garbage. It's even brighter and noisier than our old corner. Hopefully once this 'outbreak' settles down, we'll be able to be moved to a better area. There have been no more new cases as of yet, so hopefully things will calm down soon.  I could rant for another couple paragraphs about why I'm bothered by this whole thing, but I won't.  It's done. Nothing can be done to change it.  Moving on.  People are still allowed to visit us in the NICU, the same as before - everyone just has to be conscious of hand hygiene, but that's not anything new. 
I'm due to post some pictures, looking back at the camera, there are many.  Stay tuned.