GETTING CAUGHT UP....
Coming home and preparing to come home was pretty tough!! We thought we were ready, but honestly, mentally, I wasn't! You get so use to having nurses do everything and tell you what they think, experts there to let you know everything is fine and to be there just in case it isn't! We came home Sept. 14, one day after the girls' due date. Sept. 13 put us at 3 months in the NICU!! Sounds crazy now....an entire summer spent in the hospital and away from home!!
You have room in days-basically where you practice doing everything on your own. We decided to take 2!! Let me just tell you-a couple and baby stuck in a hospital room, not able to leave, and NO entertainment gets to be VERY long and stressful!! We discharged on a Friday morning..., Thursday was about the most stressful day anyone can imagine! I have people coming in telling me all these things about how to work her apnea monitor, if this goes off do this, if this goes off this cable is bad....getting texts about the oxygen being delivered, how to deal with the regulators, what kind of tanks we wanted, cannulas, how much of everything we needed.....the pulse ox and how to set it all up and everything I'd need. How and when to give her medicine. As if this wasn't enough, the picture people were in trying to get good poses, then make us decide pics we liked and a package, etc. WOW!!!
Friday finally comes! I never thought about going home on oxygen and what all that would entail....but let me just say it's a lot of crap to be attached to a baby!! And trying to get out of the hospital with everything was nothing that came easy!! But we did it!! Less than half way home, her apnea monitor goes off (btw is extremely loud and very different than the hospital alarms), I freak smooth out!! Completely froze!! Normally we would stimulate her back but she was so tight in her car seat I wasn't sure what to do!! So I started pushing my fingers against her chest....yes, kind of like CPR! Sorry, I know, I kinda freaked out!! Nearly start crying and by this time, ready to go back and terrified of being at home alone! We finally get the alarm reset and back on the road. We picked up my niece Tatum at school (a huge surprise to her b/c she'd never seen the babies and was just dying to finally see them!). We get home and get everything unpacked (remember, we've been living in a camper for the past 3 months, so our home wasn't quite ready!). She's attached to the oxygen and monitors, so whoever holds her has to stay in her "designated area" as there are too many cords to haul around the house. About 8 pm, as we're finally getting all settled, her pulse ox starts reading very crazy numbers-her heart rate was 61 (normal is 120-160) and her sats very low as well. None of us knew what to do! So everyone is freaking out, it's a mad house!! AGAIN, we're ready to go back to the NICU!! Little did we know, the pulse ox reads inaccurately often and most likely it wasn't right! Tatum, Shane and I all sleep in the living room with Timber in her bassinet and all monitors attached. I watch the pulse ox ALL night long! Just making sure her numbers are staying up! We were sure glad to get the first night over with!!
The following week was stressful, but each day got better! I wouldn't even shower without constantly checking her numbers as I was showering! You get so use to seeing numbers-just watching them in the hospital, it's hard to think she's okay without getting the confirmation from the numbers. Even going into the kitchen to make a bottle-I'd run back to the bedroom as fast as I could make it just scarred something may have happened!
By the forth week home, we started to wean her oxygen and even leave it off for a few hours at a time. At the end of that week, she was off! The nurses told us she would be on oxygen for a few months, we're glad that wasn't the case! Imagine trying to carry your baby from room to room with all that crap attached to her! It wasn't fun! And I'm sure glad I got to enjoy my sweet girl without all of it before going back to work!
A SENSE OF NORMALCY
My maternity leave is coming to an end! :( Tomorrow I go back to work, so I've been trying to get things around home caught up. Everyone keeps asking if I'm ready, yes and no! It's honestly been so different than I could've ever imagined! I thought I'd get so bored and had all these projects around the house I wanted to do! Haaa!! I cleaned closets, that's about it!! I just lay in bed and hold my sweet girl sometimes until noon!! Pretty crazy if you know me very well! We read everyday! Hopefully that will pay off one day! I've become a huge pintrest fan and am addicted to reading people's blogs!
But, I'm excited to get back to work and get out of the house some! I feel like I have been snowed in for 6 weeks (we can't get her out and in the public b/c her immune system is still very weak). Having purpose and a schedule everyday will be good for me!
ALL ABOUT BABY TIMBER
She has quite the personality now!! She loves to read and rock! She loves her butt to be pat on when she's held! We have finally outgrown most of our newborn clothes! That's a long way from where I thought we'd be...I thought we'd be in NB until Christmas! I definitely over shopped for NB clothes! We've been taking walks in our jogging stroller and she LOVES it....which makes mom very happy!! She has the biggest grin after a bottle or when you're baby talking to her! She'll start giggling her body and then a big grin follows! Absolutely love it!! Today her in appointment she was 8lb and 5 oz-20 inches long! Very small for her age, but still growing every week!!
We're ready to meet our new cousin-Aunt JoJo should have her within the next 3 weeks!! We've got all kinds of fun Christmas activities scheduled with our cousins (again, I've been on Pintrest A LOT!). Timber will also start staying with her Izzy this week and hopefully get to be around Addie before too long! We're so glad she'll have 2 cousins so close in age for her to be close to.
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