Home at Last, Part II

(Yep, that's my reflection in the door...great photographer that I am!)

After Adam’s tube was out on Friday, we started hearing the word “home” several times from the nurses at the NICU. Sunday morning, I was determined to be there when the doctor came to do Adam’s assessment. It was then that the doctor said Adam was doing well and even though he was not yet 35 weeks, it had been 5 days since the caffeine was stopped and Adam had not had a heart rate drop. After talking it over, we were told that if he continued to gain weight and did not have any events, we could take him home on Tuesday, Dec. 9th, which would be his one month birthday and 7 days since his last event. The doctor asked if I was okay with taking him home and I told him I would take him right then if he would let me!

All of the going home preparations began on Sunday. He received two shots on Sunday, which I hated, then he had his car seat challenge. We brought in his seat and the base, and he was strapped into the seat for one hour with his monitors on. He passed this, too. He also had an eye exam which was worse than 5 shots if you ask me. I cried and cried, and then came home and cried more. His eyes were dilated, then numbed, then this metal thing was used to hold each eye open for the exam. They were puffy, red, and even more light sensitive than normal, and he held his eyes as squinted as he possibly could for about 10 minutes! It was pitiful, and I don’t want to think about it anymore (though we have to do this again in a couple of weeks)…

(Here's Uncle Scotty installing the carseat late Monday night in the hospital parking garage!)

On Monday, everything was still on track and more preparations were made. On Tuesday I came in ready to take him home. I fed him, then his pictures were taken and I put him in his “going home” outfit. We were practically out the door, just waiting for the doctor to come by when Adam got a little choked and had a heart rate drop. This made my heart drop too! Fortunately, the doctor there on Tuesday said that she would feel more comfortable sending him home on an apnea monitor (we could have been told that he had to restart his 7 day count). So we completed an infant CPR class and monitor training, then David and I spent the night with Adam in a room on the pediatrics unit to do “Care by Parent”. This was basically to help us feel comfortable with Adam and the monitor. This was fine, except the nurses came in to take his blood pressure, which he hates, even more frequently than it was taken in the NICU!

Finally, once we saw the doctor, received our instructions and had our questions answered, we were able to leave with him around noon on Wednesday. It was WONDERFUL to get to bring him home!