Getting Home

     My due date was 6 days ago, and I'm sitting at home enjoying my beautiful, healthy 7 week old son.  What a ride it has been!  I am so grateful that Flint is home and that we are able to enjoy him whenever and however we want.  We feel SO blessed!
     Our last few days at the NICU went well as we just focused on making sure Flint was a good, consistent eater.  I am so grateful that the doctors and nurses slowed down and weren't in a rush to get us out of there until WE were ready to get out of there!  Of course, we all wanted Flint home so we could be together as a family. More than that though, I wanted him READY to be home.  It took awhile of trying different things, but he finally got the hang of nursing and I was pretty confident that all would go well at home. 
      On Monday (the 7th), they told us we could "room-in" that night and we should plan on going home on Tuesday.  You "room-in" by sleeping with your baby in a room across the hall from the NICU.  It's kind of a dress rehearsal for going home, where you can make sure everything runs smoothly but if it doesn't, the doctors and nurses are there to help.  We really didn't NEED to room-in, since Flint doesn't have any extra equipment needed for his day-to-day living.  However, he had never nursed more than 3 feedings in a row, and no one was sure how he would do if he had to nurse more than that, so we felt it could only help us.  We decided not to tell anyone we were probably coming home, because we had been scheduled for a room-in the week before, and then Flint had his eating setback.  We didn't want to disappoint anyone again, especially our kids, so this time around we kept things to ourselves in case it didn't work out. 
      Rooming-in went great, and Flint ate like a champ the whole time!  The only drawback to the whole scenario was that it reminded me why I have NEVER had a baby sleep in the same room as me.  Oh my WORD!  I forgot how noisy babies are!  Flint grunted and squeaked all night long, and even though he only ate a couple of times that night, I hardly got any sleep.  It was all worth it though, to know that Flint was finally ready to come home.
      The next morning, Brock left the hospital and went to work, while our friend who stayed with the kids the previous night got them to school.  I hung out at the hospital and waited on paperwork so we could be officially discharged.  At about noon, the nurse had me take my stuff down to the van, so the only thing left to haul down was Flint.  I got everything loaded in the van and came back up, expecting to be able to take Flint, when I was told there was a hold up.  As the discharging nurse did her final evaluation of Flint, she found that he had a hernia that needed to be fixed.  She had paged the surgeon on call and asked him to come look at it and see when he could fix it.  She said he would probably fix it right then, which would mean Flint wouldn't be discharged that day.  AGH!  Can this kid ever catch a break?  Not only was I disappointed about the possibility of not going home that day, but I was also worried that having the surgery would cause him to have another eating setback, right when he was finally getting everything figured out. 
      Luckily for me, there were no more surgical spots open that day.  Plus, the surgeon agreed that it would be better for him to go home and get really comfortable with nursing BEFORE the surgery, so there wouldn't be any major setbacks there this time around.  His surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday, the 22nd, and then hopefully this little boy can take a rest from pokes and prods!
      By the time all this was figured out, it was already almost 3:00.  My kids get out of school at 3, and our plan all along had been to be home waiting for the kids when they got there.  Brock picked them up and then ran a couple of quick errands so I could have time to get Flint home and ready for the big surprise.
      When I walked in the door of my home though, I realized that the surprise was on ME!  Unbeknownst to me, six of my friends had contacted Brock and arranged to come clean my home while I was gone.  They didn't know Flint was coming home too, they just felt inspired to help.  What a blessing it was to walk into my home with my sweet new baby, and have it cleaned top-to-bottom!
       I sat Flint down in his carseat in the middle of the living room and waited.  Just a few minutes later, I heard the garage door open and the kids started coming in.  I didn't say a word; I just sat there as one-by-one, they saw him, screamed with delight, and came over to have a better look.  It was SUCH a sweet moment!  These wonderful big siblings have been through a lot over the last several months, and it was so touching for them to finally get their time with their brother. 
       The last week and a half have been wonderful!  We've all spent lots of time cuddling and holding him, and he is adjusting to his new home.  Even though he's 7 weeks old, he's still developmentally only 1 week old, so he's doing all the typical brand newborn things. This means that between him and the 4 other kids and their schedules, I am getting very little sleep, but it is so worth it! I wouldn't trade it for anything, but now you know why it's taken me so long to get this update written and posted.  We're busy enjoying life and adjusting to being a family of 7! 
         Because we didn't know if Flint would even make it through the pregnancy, I was never able to bring myself to set up his room.  I just couldn't bear the thought of unpacking all the baby clothes and setting up his crib if he wasn't going to be around to use them. While it has added a measure of chaos to be doing all those things now, I am so grateful I get to do it at all!  It amazes me that a couple of months ago I didn't know if Flint would make it and was even praying he WOULDN'T, because I thought his condition would be so grave.  And now, he is home and looking and acting like any other baby would!
        At this point, Flint has a couple of follow-up appointments.  He had his final retina check on Tuesday and everything looked good, so at this point we can check that off our list for awhile at least.  He went to the pediatrician a week ago and weighed 6 pounds (he doubled his birth-weight in 6 weeks - what a TUB!). :)  Next week he has his surgery, and then the week after he has a follow-up with the neurosurgeon, another with the pediatrician, and one more with the occupational therapist.  After that week, it will mainly be the occupational therapist and neurosurgeon who will follow him, other than the normal well child exams with the pediatrician.  The occupational therapist and neurosurgeon will continue to monitor his progress and get others involved if necessary as Flint grows and we get a better feel for how Dandy Walker will affect him.  As we've said all along, this particular condition has a wide range of levels, from hardly any issues at all, to severely limited functioning.  Only time and Flint will tell us where he falls on the spectrum. 
         In the meantime, we are loving time with him in our family.  We all love him to pieces, and he seems to be thriving on that love in our home.  It's a good thing he loves our home so much, because that's pretty much all he's going to see for the next few months.  RSV is a BEAST with preemies, so we're not really going to take him ANYWHERE until Spring is here.  It will be hard to juggle everything going on with one of us needing to stay home with Flint, but we are grateful we have that challenge!
        We will continue to actively pray for miracles in Flint's behalf for a very long time, and are so grateful for all your support! I am just so amazed at the miracles that this little boy has already shown me, and I feel so blessed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It's so tiring when you're trying to GROW! :)