After 103 days in the NICU Julie came home just in time for Father’s Day…
Julie came home yesterday evening!
Sarah and I stayed in the hospital Friday night. We arrived promptly at 11 pm after a long day of shopping, negotiating with the hospital staff, and preparing Julie’s room.
The night went well, but naturally, by the time we were all down and snug for the night, the staff began their excursions – x-ray at 4 am, blood samples at 5 am, and the night nurse coming in every 30 minutes just to make sure I didn’t catch a cat nap. No wonder people are sick in hospitals!
Sarah and I learned the rest of our tasks for Julie related to feeding, cleaning, meds &
respiratory therapy. We had a chance to relearn our laboratory technique – mixing formula, fortifying breast milk and measuring meds.
The doctor gave Julie a final checkup and gave her clearance to leave.
It took several trips with the stroller filled to get all Julie’s stuff down to the SUV. The
hospital staff loaded us up with supplies to get us started. No one could believe how much Julie had accumulated in less than 15 weeks. We were just about ready to leave when we decided to start Julie’s 3 pm feeding (now delayed to about 4:00 pm – it’s a LONG story).
Our first night home was uneventful. Julie rested comfortably most of the night and did all the things she is supposed to do. I took the second shift while Sarah was attending a shower for Julie. Sarah took the graveyard shift and bunked with Julie. I started 1st shift @ 6 am (Oh my!) and on it goes…
Julie has more appointments with the docs now than when she was in the hospital – heart doctor, pediatrician, lung doctor, oncologist, developmental doctor, and therapists. We will have some in home visits, but mostly we will be driving back down to the hospital.
I’m going to try to get to church this morning (haven’t missed yet), but I suspect that Julie and Sarah will need to rest. Sarah didn’t get much sleep over the past couple days. My rations of sleep and food have been halved (I could more than afford to lose some weight). Now that we are home, we hope to get to some sort of normal schedule. OK, “normal” is probably too optimistic so let’s say “reasonable” schedule. No? How about “workable?”
Oh, never mind. We’ll just muddle through the best we can like we did before Julie came.
Praise God for bringing Julie home and a happy Father’s Day to everyone!
Andy and Sarah Horn
The continual delays at the hospital meant we didn’t get home until Saturday evening. My niece, Heather, met us immediately when we finally arrived at home to take Sarah to a baby shower. Postponed and rescheduled over and over again, Sarah finally agreed to a day and time a month before. Little did we know that Julie would arrive home on that day and as it turned out at that hour. So, the ladies quickly took Sarah away before I had a chance to unload the car.
I put Julie into her room still in her car seat and then carried load after load after load into the room. I close the garage door and went back into the nursery when I noticed it – Julie had a dirty diaper.
As you recall, I hadn’t changed Julie’s diapers during the entire time she stayed in the hospital. In fact, I had never changed a diaper in my life despite serving in church nursery for years as a teenager and having a niece and nephew. I always managed to find someone else to change the diapers. Now I stood before my child, alone.
I cheerfully broke out the diaper changing stuff from the bags and boxes I had carried in from the SUV and laid out a changing station. Then I changed my first diaper of my first child (I didn’t change Julie’s diapers in the hospital, but I observed carefully) like a pro.
Happy Father’s Day!