All By Myself

Well for only four hours a day.

My Mom left yesterday. She had been here almost a month and wanted to give us "family time". I wish she would've stayed longer. It was fun having her and nice to have a babysitter for Noah while I ran an errand. I have to limit where I take him due to his immature immune system.

David also returned to work today. He only took 3 days off last week. He was planning on taking 80 hours or 2 weeks. But, he came up with the idea of going back to work today from 9-1. This will stretch his time off, so he can work this schedule for the next 3 weeks. He can take Emily to school and still be home so I can take a nap in the afternoon, one of us can pick up Emily, and we can get dinner ready together. Today was the first day and it was awesome. I got quite a bit done in those four hours and the time went really quick.

Noah is doing fantastic. At this age (35 1/2 weeks), his brain is developing which means he sleeps all the time. We have to wake him just to eat usually. When we left the NICU they had him eating every 3 hours with a few night nurses doing 4 hours. We quickly learned that 3 hours was almost a waste, especially at night. He'd eat half of what he was supposed to and he was out cold. No diaper change or playing with his feet would wake him. So, we went to 4 hours and he's eating like a champ. Right now, he is eating at 1, 5, and 9:00 AM and PM. It works out great. I get the 1:00 AM feed as I need to pump anyway. David takes the 5:00 AM feed as he's usually up then anyway. I'm getting about 7 hours of sleep a night and so is David. We're both still a little tired, but we are so grateful that Noah is so good.

Now when he approaches his due date he will probably turn into Mr. Fussy Pants and want to be fed every two hours. I certainly hope not though for everyones sake.

Here are a few pictures of Daddy and Noah relaxing.


This picture almost makes me want to have another baby with this man, but after almost dying, I've scheduled his vasectomy instead.


Do you see where Noah is looking? He only has eyes for me...another Mama's boy.


Emily thinks Noah is a little doll and loves to hold him. She wants to feed him too, but it's a little more difficult than a normal newborn for now as he sometimes gags a little. She'll have to wait a few months.
Ben is indifferent. He's too into superheros right now to care much about the goings on of his little brother. He likes him though and is sweet to him, so that's all that matters.


His legs in this picture crack me up. He's so skinny, but I can tell that he already has my husbands legs which is a very good thing.

Five

Our princess is five today. I can hardly believe it. She is beautiful...those lips, those eyes. She makes me laugh every day. She has a flair for drama. She is smart and incredibly observant. She will notice if one little thing is out of place. She is adventurous and will try anything. She loves going to the library and swings. She enjoys getting her back rubbed and will do anything to not go to bed. She is a total night owl and hates to sleep alone. Her Dad is her favorite person in the world.

The day I went to the hospital. I had made out her birthday party invitations. I planned a perfect party complete with 40 guests. We certainly weren't up for that now. I thought about postponing the entire event for a month, but at her age, she knows it's her birthday and she wants a party. So, we invited over my cousin and her kids and her best friend and kept it small. We even ordered pizza. We usually always make something. We enjoy cooking, but pizza is certainly the way to go. Our friends let us borrow their water slide, so the kids had a blast with that. The bottom line is our girl had fun and felt special and that's all that truly matters.






Happy fifth birthday to our sweet girl. You'll always be our princess.

Blessed

Last night I got to lay with my husband in our own bed for the first time in 20 days. Being in his arms and having his body wrapped around mine, I finally felt like I was home. We talked and laughed and it was lovely. I had all of my babies under the same roof and all is right with my world.

I truly am blessed.

Home

We're home! It's been a heck of a day. We almost didn't think we were going to come home because Noah didn't have a great night with his feeds. Luckily he ate like a champ at his 9:00 feed and when the Dr. rounded at 11:00, he said we could go. I was (and am) so happy. It still hasn't really sunk in it.

What has sunk in is the exhaustion and stress of the past 20 days. I feel like I could sleep for a few days. I get 3 hours though, and I'll take it just to be home with my family.

Here are some pictures from the past few days.

Here's Noah the day he got his feeding tube out.


Daddy and Noah all ready to go home. His outfit is so stinkin' small. It's seriously smaller than Emily's doll clothing.


I think she will be a big help and a wonderful big sister.


His first bath at home. He didn't cry at all.


He did great the whole way home. I was worried if he was breathing or about the altitude, but nothing really seemed to bother him.

So far so good...

Tomorrow

We will be discharged tomorrow (unless something doesn't go well overnight)! I can't believe it. I don't think it will sink in until we are actually home.

Noah passed his altitude test and his car seat test. He's still eating like a champ and I even got to breastfeed him twice today. He latched right on like it was no problem. It's hard to measure how much he drank during those sessions, but they last from 30 minutes to an hour, so I think he got plenty.

We will have a busy day tomorrow. I have to meet David at my Dad's to return Suzy's car. That was a lifesaver. Then, we need to go to the Ronald McDonald House and pack up all my stuff and clean it. They leave you supplies and for $10 a night, they don't offer housekeeping. I'm so grateful to them for allowing me to stay there. Then, we can head to the hospital to get discharged. We have to time it right, so he eats right before we leave. So, I imagine we will leave after his 2:00 feeding.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers and that he does well overnight and at home. I just can't believe that this is almost over.

We did it!

Not Going Home Yet

Noah continues to do great. He is eating between 40-55 cc's a feed. When he was being tube fed, they only did 37. So, it's awesome that he can hold down this much on his own.

They are doing the altitude test right now. They make a little tent chamber out of his crib and put in the nitrogen. The test lasts 6 hours!

Tonight or tomorrow morning, they will do the car seat test. Since we live so far, they will leave him in there for almost 3 hours to make sure he does fine in that position. Hopefully, all will go well.

I'm taking an infant CPR course today at 3:00. Just good information to know.

It looks like we probably won't get discharged tomorrow, which is fine. I don't want to rush anything. He's doing perfectly and they won't release him unless they are confidant in how he is doing. Our nurse today said probably Wednesday. That sounds good to me.

I'm excited at the prospect of all of this winding down.

I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Not What I Planned

But in a good way.

Noah has been doing great on his feeds. He is taking the entire bottle or close to it every time. They actually removed his feeding tube today. He is not attached to anything except the machine to measure his heartbeat and pulse. I can't believe it.

The nurse told David today that Noah MAY go home on Tuesday. What??? It's only been 17 days. I was planning (based on what the nurses said) to stay here another week to week and a half. Tuesday is in like 36 hours. When I got here, he was still doing well and she said if everything continues to go well, it will be Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. If he has any hangups probably Thursday or Friday. I can't believe that I might be home by this weekend.

They are doing an altitude test tonight. Basically, they put a mask on him and put some nitrogen in it to simulate the changing altitude that he would encounter driving up to Prescott. We are about 4,000 feet higher than here. If he doesn't do well, they would send him with oxygen and he would need to stay on it for a few weeks to a month until his body adjusts.

They also do a car seat test where they see how his vitals do when he is put in that position for an extended period of time. I had to bring his car seat down so they can test him in that.

I'm not getting my hopes up, but if I could be home by this weekend with a healthy baby that's ready to leave the hospital, I'd be thrilled. Emily's birthday is Sunday, so I'd love to make her a cake and try to make the day a little special for her. I was planning a big party, but that will have to wait for at least a month. I also don't want to leave the hospital too soon and have Noah relapse at home and have to come back down here and do all this over again.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that he passes his tests and continues to thrive without his feeding tube. God willing, I'll be home by the end of the week.