On Monday February 27th I was sitting in Luke's room holding him before heading down to work when Dr. Boyle came to check on Luke. He asked how I felt about sending him home with his NG (nasogastric) tube. I told him that didn't bother me at all, I just wanted him home. He said okay, we will shoot for March 9th then....I freaked out!!!! I went to work, but seriously don't remember anything about that day because I was too busy day dreaming :)
Then on March 1st we celebrated Luke's 100th day in the NICU. The NICU staff throw a birthday party of sorts for the babies that are there 100 days. They decorated his room and sang to him and even bought him some presents! I knew how incredible these people were before, but....wow. In preparation for him going home, they also decided to circumcise him that day...I won't go into details but lets just say he did fine :) Here are some pictures from his 100 day party...
We love all our NICU friends!!!
They next week after his party was spent getting ready to go home! This involved a lot of testing. He had to have his normal newborn tests (hearing screen) which he passed. They did a test to see how much oxygen he would need to go home on, a car seat test to make sure he didn't have any issues while sitting upright in his car seat, and then the day before he went home we had to stay the night in the NICU with him to make sure we could care for him on our own :) All his testing went great! They decided he needed to be on 1/4 liter of oxygen (not that much), his eye test got MUCH better...they said the ROP is almost gone!!! Then came the day for us to stay the night. This was last Thursday. I had to work that day and again....don't even think I was there mentally :) Any down time I had was spent coordinating home health, setting up doctor appts, and making sure I had everything I needed for him to go home.
The night in the NICU with him went well in that we didn't have any real problems caring for him, but we did learn one thing...he is a talker! He can be sound asleep and making more noises then he does when he is awake! We were up bright and early at 7 am on Friday ready to go home! The doctors/nurse practioners rounded on him one more time and wrote the official discharge orders! After signing the appropriate paper work and hooking him up to the monitors and oxygen he will be on at home we were able to leave :)
Our Room :(
Anytime I have a patient with a baby in this room, I will cry :(
The long hallway that Matt and I walked down for months....
Luke's first home
All ready in his "going home" outfit that we bought when I was about 20 weeks pregnant...we thought he wouldn't fit, but he did!
The last board with his info for the day...notice the weight...CHUNK!
Stop taking pictures mom!!
Our happy family of 3 :)
In the car...moments after this I started to cry and did the whole way home!
Daddy not listening to Mommy when she said we could not get the car seat out in the garage because there wasn't enough space with his truck parked there....
2nd try....success!!
Crossing the threshold....
Welcome home Luke!!!!
(He could care less)
The days since his homecoming have been uneventful :) We have a giant oxygen tank parked in our living room with tubing that stretches all over the house and we carry an apnea/brady monitor with us at all times. We had our first (of many) doctor appointments today with his pediatrician Dr. Champley. His weight was 8 lbs. 12 oz. (80%) and he was 20.5 inches (80%). He has some pretty bad acid reflux and constipation so we are trying some new things for that. In early April we will be seeing a couple more doctors...a Developmental Pediatrician, Opthamologist, First Steps, and a Pulmonologist. Geez....
Yesterday we took Luke on his first walk...again, he could have cared less!
LOVE this outfit
Let me out!!!
I love the feel of the air :)
All together
Happy family :)
Luke with his sign that the grandparents got him :)
:)
One more picture.....This is the sign that was in our front yard when we got home. We have been laughing at the people who stop to look at it because you can see how puzzled they are...Born 11/23/11 and just now coming home :)
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