We read a lot of "Oh the Places You'll Go" in the NICU. The above is the very first line in the book, and it pretty much describes how I feel about tomorrow, because tomorrow we are finally going home. It is hard to believe that after 117 days in the hospital we will finally be bringing our sweet little man home. We are coming home on 120cc of oxygen, but other than that, we are just 8 pounds and 13 1/2 ounces of baby fabulousness.
We did the "rooming in" with David on Thursday. It was quite the experience. The baby was fine....all the beeping from the machines outside the door and all the people coming in every 2 hours was not. I'm still glad we did it though, and I feel better about our first night home. He passed his car seat test, where he sits in his car seat for 2 hours to be sure he can breathe and maintain his heart rate while in the car, and Charles and I took infant CPR.
They called me yesterday afternoon and said Wednesday was our day to go home. It is very exciting and scary. Wondering if everything is ready, if everything is clean enough....thinking about how different everything will be and how I'll never sleep again. It's more change for our little family. I am still unsure as to what to expect, but I figure we'll just figure it out when we get here. Just like we did when we entered the NICU, we quickly found our footing as to our visit "schedule" and what we needed to bring back and forth. It will be the same at home as we figure out where to place the oxygen, where he sleeps best, and who handles what feeding.
A little bit of leaving is kind of sad. I will miss the nurses who have helped my son get to where he is...I almost teared up thanking them for taking care of him today when I left, and I got upset when I realized halfway home that I had forgotten to say goodbye to someone. I will get to see some of our doctors in our high risk clinic followup...not to mention the cardiologist, neurologist, opthamologist, and urologist follow ups in our future....so thats not quite as sad!
It's also sad to be leaving with only one baby. Even though I delivered 4 months ago, part of time has stood still. I went in with two babies, but I am leaving with one. But that one baby is a little miracle who was lifted up in so many prayers to make his way home to us, and I could not be more thankful. I feel so blessed to be able to finally be under one roof as a family. I am looking forward to changing diapers myself, being able to hold my baby whenever I want, bathing him (hasn't had a bath in 4 mths!), dressing him, feeding him, and just doing all the things I haven't really been able to do as his mother. Yes, I got to do some of those things in the hospital....but its different. You don't really feel "in charge" of your baby when he's in the NICU. You can feel a little more like a visitor or a babysitter than a mother.
I am so thankful for anyone and everyone who prays for us and I wish you all could come see David. We do have to be extra careful of people coming into the house, especially with cold and flu season. I want to keep our daily "foot traffic" to a minimum, with only clean, non smoking adults who have thoroughly washed their hands. I know it may seem a little silly, but I really want to make sure that David stays as healthy as possible. Thank you for all the prayers you have ever prayed or continue to pray for us. Please ask the Lord to keep David well and away from sickness when he comes home. As excited as I am that he is coming home, I am very aware that the hospital is only a few sneezes away, so please pray that we stay healthy when we get home.
So...thats the deal. Home tomorrow. Can you believe it??
Pretty sure David was giving his input on next year's crop.....
Really not a fan of the car seat....
Ehhh....maybe its not so bad!
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