Katie Rose’s Face, photo by Harold Davis.

When we got to the hospital today we were delighted to find Katie Rose without tape on her face. She’s been off her oxygen cannula for a few days, but they left the tape cannula holder thingees in place in case she needed to go back on oxygen. You can see the setup in this photo.

So the absence of the tape things was a sign of medical confidence that she was fine on room air, good news indeed, and good to see Katie’s face unbound, but better news was coming.

We learned that Katie Rose can now eat as much as she wants. She gets to determine the pace, provided it is at least 100 mililiters a nursing shift. Digesting this positive info, we were startled when Norma, the social worker, came up to us, and told us that Katie Rose is coming home Monday.

Of course, there’s some insurance stuff to deal with, paper work, and a car seat stress test. As Norma put it, after they’ve taken care of Katie Rose this long [it’s been eighty days] they’re not about to kick her out before she is ready. If something seems off in Katie’s performance between now and Monday, they’ll delay her release. But at this point it seems like Katie is coming home.

Our girl is coming home. We’re very excited and the boys are singing (to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”), “Katie’s coming home, Katie’s coming home, Hi ho the Dairy-o, Katie’s coming home!”