Scarlett's Homecoming

WOW!  Just titling this post made me breakout in tears 48 hours later.  I thank God that His will was for my kids to come home!  We are so fortunate.  I cannot thank you enough for your prayers the past  18 weeks

This song has been in my head for the past couple weeks, and in my opinion makes an excellent soundtrack when looking at the pictures below.

I am currently typing with my baby girl on my chest, sitting in my recliner. *Most of this was written on Sunday afternoon, but I didn't have a chance to add pictures so I didn't publish*

At home, we are adjusting.  Brutus is happy we are home but jealous that he is not getting much attention.  Nana Vallera came in Friday night and stayed through Sunday afternoon.  She is planning on taking some time off once Grayson comes home, but we already miss her immensely.

For now, Scarlett is sleeping in a bassinet in the living room.  The oxygen compressor weighs about 30 pounds so it is movable but cumbersome.  In the future, I may take it up and down the stairs so they can sleep in their cribs.  For now, Trish is sleeping downstairs and breast feeding.  As long as she eats enough, it is easier to feed the baby than pump and wash all of the pump parts.

Here are the rest of the highlights from this week:
Thursday: Grayson had surgery to repair his groinal hernia.  While in there, they confirmed it was a double hernia and repaired both.  The surgery went well.  The only down side was that he was an add-on, and they didn't get to him until 6:30pm.  His last meal was at 11pm on Wednesday night, but he was able to get some Pedialyte at 2am.  Otherwise he relied on an IV until Friday at noon.

He is recovering well.  One of my worries was about his fluid intake.  The surgery team pumped him full of fluids (at least 140ml when he normally is limited to 20mls/hr) and the jury is still undecided about how his body is handling the lack of diuretics (lasix).  But he seems to be doing really well getting rid of everything so far!  On Sunday, he returned back to his pre-surgery weight of 9 pounds, 3 ounces.

Friday: We  spent the morning at the hospital meeting with several people discussing life at home with Scarlett.  Our "village" will have a Pediatrician (We decided to go with Melissa Parsons from Emerald Pediatrics after referrals and reading reviews) as well as other Neonatologists with the BPD clinic. We will also have home visits from Respiratory Therapists and Occupational Therapists.

We were discharged around 1:30 and drove our daughter home!

My two beauties! 

Our parade.  I think we would have had a lot more fan fair being discharged from Riverside but we broke out and that's all that matters.

Hopefully we don't spend too much time at Children's but I want to take their pictures with the owl to show them growing. 

Brutus meeting Scarlett for the first time! 

In her bassinet. 

Aunt Kaila and Uncle Phil came to visit on Friday evening!

Saturday: We started trying to figure out the logistics for the immediate future.  Trish and her mom went to visit Grayson in the morning.  I fed Scarlett her 9am bottle and barely put her down again until her 6pm bottle.  Then I went to the hospital to visit my little guy.  While I was there, we found out we were moving rooms again.  Now that the Rhinovirus break out has run its course they decided to switch up room assignments again.  We are in another quad but still have a window.  By the time I was there, Grayson was definitely recovered from his surgery.  He woke up "hangry" (anger due to hunger) about an hour before his care times.

Scarlett showed her personality again Saturday night/Sunday morning.  She likes to sleep and did not eat very well for Trish.  So poor momma struggled to get her to eat for a while then ended up pumping anyway.

Our first bath at home. 

Sunday: Ethan was at his mom's this weekend but she brought him over to visit.  He hasn't seen Scarlett in person since the last weekend of November due to visitor restrictions at Nationwide Children's Hospital.  The schedule caught up with Trish and she is currently taking a nap.  Once she wakes up we will probably play paper-rock-scissors to see who gets to visit Grayson.

Monday: Scarlett had her first Pediatric appointment!  I believe this is so the pediatrician can get a baseline.  Trish did a great job getting her and the equipment in the car.  The doctor's office is directly next door to my office so I met her there and helped unload.  We liked the doctor but I am not sure if this will be the right home for us.  We were supposed to be able to wait in the exam room but spent more than 30 minutes in the lobbys, one of them with sick kids all over the place.  I am hoping it was a mistake made because we had to fill out new patient paperwork and one of the doctors called in sick so our doctor was double booked.  We will give them another chance with Grayson's initial well-baby appointment then make a decision from there.

At this point, Grayson is mostly on observation mode.  If he is doing well off lasix and post-surgery on Wednesday/Thursday, they should make the decision to set him up for his Saturation Study, Car Seat test, and desat test.  I don't know if we will need to meet with everyone else this time around.  We will need a second oxygen compressor delivered but we already have his Apnea monitor.

If all goes well, Grayson's trip to the zoo could be as early as Friday/Saturday and we are hopeful that it won't be later than the 17th/18th.