Our time with Zoe in the NICU...

From the day we met Zoe on April 5th until the day we brought her home on April 16th, we visited our girl in the hospital as often as we could! Thankfully, the hospital wasn't terribly far from our house, so we got to see her nearly every day.

We were told that skin-to-skin contact between parent and baby (aka kangaroo bonding) is wonderful for the child's brain development and also for the attachment and bonding process. We loved snuggling our little sweetie, feeding her bottles and getting to know her better with each visit.

During the first several days, she was still spending most of her time inside of an isolette. Although she was already capable of maintaining her own body temperature, the isolette kept her warm, so her body could focus all of its energy on gaining weight and growing.

Yawwwwwn!

Looking back, I can hardly believe how much she has grown over the past five and a half weeks since we met her!

This little chick outfit was a preemie size that I had already washed and dried in the dryer, and it was still swimming on her! She wore the same outfit yesterday, and the hat fit perfectly!

We spent lots of time marveling at how "fearfully and wonderfully made" she was...everything just in miniature! During the time that we knew her in the NICU, her weight was between 3 pounds 2 ounces (the day we met her) and 3 pounds 15 ounces (the day we took her home). A petite lil' princess!

In Daddy's hands.

The wires were monitoring heart rate and oxygen saturation.

Nana came and visited her...

And Aunt Jilly came to meet her:

And Mama couldn't get enough of her!

Jill made Zoe the banner to decorate her isolette!

And even though our baby was in the NICU, that didn't stop us from staging a photo shoot right in her room! This kind nurse even made her a headband bow out of pink tulle.

Our time with Zoe in the NICU was so precious, and we are thankful for the excellent care she received there!

Soon, the day would come when we would get to bring her home....