So here's the Discharge till Today report:
Tuesday Night:
Partied hard in Philly with the girls who threw me a Baby Shower (I have the best friends ever. Just sayin'). Stayed up late because we couldn't sleep. And because we were putting together a changing table. And attaching the car seat adapter to our stroller. And realizing that our super cool car seat is not compatible with our super cool stroller. And spending all night online trying to find the right car seat. We've only had six months to do all this this out, right?
Wednesday:
Wake up, plan on heading to Babies R Us to purchase the correct car seat. Realize that they no longer carry it. Call the NICU. Tell them we're going to be late. Use the iPad to find a retail store that is still in business that sells the car seat (silly recession, you're shutting down all baby boutiques). Drive 40 minutes out of our way. Purchase car seat. Cringe a little at the price. (OK, cringe a lot). Drive hastily to the NICU. Realize we should have fed Caleb at some point. Get him food. Use the iPad to entertain him. Look over and see that he has fallen asleep. Wait for Charlotte to finish her feed. Wait for her to digest her feed. Wait for the NICU to calm down for 30 seconds so we could learn how to place the NG tube. Take a walk to the vending machine to feed Caleb more cookies. Realize that we will pay for this later. Take pictures. Place NG tube. Leave the NICU. Look at each other and say, "Umm, is this really happening?" Try to fit all of Charlotte's monitors in the car. Cause a traffic jam in front of the hospital. Ignore traffic jam, enjoy moment of family being together. Drive home. Try to bring Charlotte's stuff out of the car. Realize she has a lot of baggage-- literally. Wait for nurse to show up. Wonder why in the world they thought we were capable of this. Nurse shows up. Thank our Father in Heaven. Sleep.
Thursday:
Give Charlotte medicine. Give Charlotte food. Clean up from food and medicine. Give Charlotte more meds. Oops forgot to give her that medicine. Mix more food. Give Charlotte food. Has anyone seen Caleb? What time is the nurse coming again? 12 more hours? OK. Not OK, nurse called off. We can do this right? Leave Peter at home with both children to run errands. Come back. Save Peter. Why is she desat'ing? Why is she in the 70's? Start getting nervous. Call NICU. Realize we're not very intelligent and that Charlotte needs to actually be hooked up to the oxygen to receive any benefit from it. Hook up oxygen. Watch Charlotte pink right up. Watch her all night. Listen to alarms ALL night. Try not think about how much tomorrow will hurt after a night of no sleep. We wanted her to come home, right?
Friday:
Clean baby puke. Bathe Charlotte. Crap, she just puked again. And again. Wake up Peter. "Your turn." Wonder if the NICU takes returns. Remember that Jill specifically said, "No returns." Darn. Call NICU again. Plan to take Charlotte back to hospital. Know that she needs to poop. She won't poop at home, hasn't since before she was discharged. Peter notes that all moms pay too much attention to baby poop. Acknowledge he is correct. Take Charlotte to hospital for chest xray. Charlotte feels more comfortable. Charlotte poops. Charlotte stops puking, stops desat'ing. Peter acknowledges poop is sometimes important. Come back home. No nurse again tonight. Did you give her those meds? I need a chart. Make chart. Feel much better. Snuggle with Caleb. Put Charlotte down to bed. Smile because my kids are so flippin cute.
Start blogging.
And that brings us to this moment. So far, Charlotte: 3647, Us: 0
Pretty much everything is as to be expected.
Wow. That is all I can say - and that you are still in our prayers. Who needs sleep anyway?
ReplyDeleteThis post made me smile-- I bet you're loving *almost* every minute of the insanity because at least it is happening at home :)
ReplyDeleteAND-- at the end of the day, it does ALL come down to Poop-- and the charts!
So glad she is home. Joel and I are feeling guilty you got rid of all your baby stuff to us months before you found out you were pregnant. If we were within 2 states of you instead on the other side of the country (literally) we would give it back. How can we help? Anything you need or didn't get at your shower?
ReplyDeleteAlso we bbq with Jo and Josh Cragun tonight. Weird how we all know each other. Small mormon world.
s.lindstrom@yahoo.com
Sounds about right! Keep up the good work. It does get easier, I promise!
ReplyDeleteGood heavens! Let me know if I can help, although it sounds like you're managing- scares me to think about keeping everything straight! Good thing you have all that NICU experience on your resume! Yay for Charlotte being home!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteyou're doing awesome.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lot of fun! :) I can't even imagine doing all this with another small child! THAT is truly amazing. But when it's 11:00 at night and he's asleep in his bed and she finally falls asleep on your chest after all the feedings, clean-ups and alarms,(and then you do too) you just remember, "It's all worth it."
ReplyDelete