Homecoming

One day the doctor told me the insurance company was asking "is he coming home tomorrow?". EEK! He said, "No, not tomorrow...but maybe Friday if he starts gaining weight." Whoa. Are you kidding?! Our baby is coming home..??! Are you sure he's ready??

Okay so after the initial shock set in....we started getting ready...it's now all down to one moment. The Thursday night weight check. He gained!!!! That means, he's allowed to come home.

Homecoming. It was such a wonderful day. So many emotions. It marked the end of a long, 117 day, NICU stay. It marked the beginning of a new journey...one in which we were bringing home this "newborn" baby. We'd ended one long chapter, and opened another. We would face the challenges that any new parent would face. We didn't realize how challenging chapter #2 would be at the time, but we just felt overwhelming lucky to be bringing our healthy baby boy home with us.

Walking out of the hospital just gave us this amazing sense of freedom! This huge weight was lifted off our shoulders. We knew what a miracle it was that we were so blessed. At the same time, it was so odd to think that he "should" have been born, and we'd gone through so much with him already.

I was thankful the drive home was only a short 5 miles. I let my husband drive the vehicle holding our precious cargo.

When we got home, the first thing we did was take a picture of him on our doorstep. Next, we gave him a tour of his new home. Finally, we all went on a walk together in the neighborhood...WIRE FREE. It was so nice to hold him with no wires. As in we could move around and not trip...no beeps and false alarms...just us. At home!

Being home was the adjustment for all of us. While it was so incredibly difficult to have a baby in the NICU, it was also very difficult, in a completely different way, when he came home. His biggest struggle continues to be reflux and slow stomach motility. Thankfully, these problems are relatively minor and helped with medication. We are so fortunate that these are all the more struggles we have endured.

Probably the biggest source of stress, besides reflux, was that we were afraid that he would get sick. Micro preemie lungs are not fully mature for a couple years after they are born, and so if he were to contract RSV it would be dangerous for him. In an effort to help him to thrive as much as possible, we decided to do a quarantine. He did not go in any public places for a year. We were very restrictive of visitors in our home - never sick - always washed hands - and very few. He was not near any other children until RSV season was over (October-April in our state). We washed our hands like crazy people to ensure that we didn't bring anything home. Thankfully he did not get sick until he was 12 months adjusted, after RSV season ended.

The doctors were right. He did better at home than he did at the hospital. :) He thrived with us at his parents, loving him and catering to his needs in our own environment.

Praise God!