Home for a little over 2 weeks

I have not had much time to blog with us being home. Things are so busy lately. Good thing tho, this past week was Spring Break and we kinda had some leisure time - didn't have to get up early in the morning and take the kids to school, we fed Kadin when he wanted and slept when he did. It has been great, however, tomorrow begins a new school week for the kids and we must be on a more regular schedule starting ... uumm, tonight!

Kadin has been doing VERY VERY WELL since we have been home. He has not had any episodes of not breathing or anything of the kind. We have monitored him very closely and until today, we kept both the apnea monitor and the pulse oximeter on him. Any time he would move his feet his pulse ox would set the alarm off - this gets very annoying in the middle of the night. His pediatrician in Angelo did tell us that we did not have to have the pulse ox on him during the day when we are awake, it would be better to have it on him at night when we are asleep. So ok, today we were finally comfortable enough with how he has been doing to take that off of his foot and just rely on how he looks and sounds. So far, he has loved it ... we noticed that when he would be laying on a blanket kicking and playing around, he would not move the foot that had the pulse ox probe on it. He would kick the other one, but it was like his foot was chained down with that probe on it. Now, he has a kick-fest and it's great to see him so active.

He has appointments in FW on the 23rd. We are not looking forward to the travel, but will be excited to hear what the Dr.'s will have to say.

I am sure he still needs the oxygen ... when he throws it up 'tween his eyeballs, he desats regularly. I am not sure how much desatting is "ok" or what the rules are for that, but it seems at other times he does ok for a few minutes. I don't condone chance taking where that is concerned. If the Dr. thinks he can be weened, I'm all for it. She knows better than we do, of course.

We have had lots of visitors. Not many have touched him or gotten very close, but we have had some "lookers", if you will. Kadin is taking what seems like a lot of milk during the day, too. I am starting to wonder if he needs maybe something more, like maybe cereal?? I know his pediatrician mentioned it the other day but I thought he said in a couple of months we can start him on that. He is taking 100 ml of milk regularly and last night he took a bottle at 11 then at 1 wanted another one and FINISHED IT. But then he also slept from 2 til 8 this morning! YAY for mommy and daddy ... just about a full night's sleep!

I am really enjoying the luxuries of cooking and cleaning at my own pace, not having to get dressed and run to the hospital (though I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!) - the words of a wise nurse ring thru my ears when I start revelling in being at home ... she said that once a baby is released from the hospital, he goes home and really starts to flourish. He is held by mom and dad, he is in the family's element, his needs are met by the ones who love him most, etc ... and they really start to grow and develop quickly! After being home for 2 weeks now, I can see exactly what she was talking about. When Kadin cries, at first we let him cry for a second to see if he will soothe himself back to sleep or whatever ... if not, we pick him up and see if he just wants to be held ... sometimes this is the case! Then of course, we eliminate everything else like changing diapers and feedings. It's pretty awesome how we can communicate with him ... just like it's supposed to be.

The hard days of the NICU are fading swiftly. No mistake here though ... those days were hard and tough, touch and go, uncertain yet full of joy - and they will never completely be forgotten. I am thankful for those days because they changed my life forever. The life we are living right now is what we were waiting for the whole time and I am eternally grateful to our God who has allowed us to have what we have ... I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.