I thought this day would never come! It's been surreal really. Like, Brian and I have looked at each other several times and just said "Wow. We have 3 babies." And they all live at our house!
The doctors and nurses - everyone really - warned us that the end is the most frustrating part of the NICU experience. That's because the babies start off so sick, then just when they seem healthy, they have to learn how to eat. No one really understood this. People asked us why James was still in the hospital every day. Everyone said "he's so big" and "he looks great" so he should be home, right? Logan and Mason just got it. James didn't. And it bought him an extra month in the NICU. I kept telling the doctors and nurses that he liked it there. Maybe he did. They spoiled him!
James finally made a major turnaround once we thickened his feeds. Like night and day really. Special thanks to Andrea, James's occupational therapist who worked with him every day, for noticing he was struggling and speaking up. That made all the difference in the world. We had 1 potential hiccup at the end. James wasn't gaining weight (actually he was losing weight for about a week!) so he HAD to gain weight. Luckily he turned it around and started gaining again.
The doctors and nurses - everyone really - warned us that the end is the most frustrating part of the NICU experience. That's because the babies start off so sick, then just when they seem healthy, they have to learn how to eat. No one really understood this. People asked us why James was still in the hospital every day. Everyone said "he's so big" and "he looks great" so he should be home, right? Logan and Mason just got it. James didn't. And it bought him an extra month in the NICU. I kept telling the doctors and nurses that he liked it there. Maybe he did. They spoiled him!
James finally made a major turnaround once we thickened his feeds. Like night and day really. Special thanks to Andrea, James's occupational therapist who worked with him every day, for noticing he was struggling and speaking up. That made all the difference in the world. We had 1 potential hiccup at the end. James wasn't gaining weight (actually he was losing weight for about a week!) so he HAD to gain weight. Luckily he turned it around and started gaining again.
James has done great at home! He seems happy (most of the time). And I hope this doesn't jinx it, but he's gone along with Mason and Logan's schedule, which allows us to sleep! I'll write about our schedule later this week. The boys turn 5 months on Monday September 29 (tomorrow for me, today for most people reading this), so I'm going to post again this week for that and I'll give a complete update! This post is just about James!
Here's some pics of James at home!!
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| Laying in his bed with his giraffe |
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| Sleeping in his bed (that's right, he sleeps in his bed!!) |
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| Playing with the bouncy seat |
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| Sunday morning on the back porch with Dad |
And a few of James with his brothers!
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| After church this morning. They did great! |
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| Mason, Logan, James (Brian knows to put them in order for pics now!) |
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| Mason, Logan, James |
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| James and Mason |
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| Mason and James |
You know what's really weird? We haven't gone to the hospital the past 2 days. Yesterday I only left the house to go for a run (a slow run with some walking but still a run). And you know what's weirder than that? I miss it! The hospital was like our second home for the past 5 months (almost). We grew close to our doctors and nurses. And we miss them already!
Here's a picture of us with Gwen, one if our primary nurses, right before we left with James! She was so awesome!
Thanks Gwen! And thanks to our other primaries too! Thanks Audra, Sheila, Erin, Larissa, Lisa, and Lori (even though she left us to have her own baby!) We couldn't have made it without you! We'll miss seeing you every week!
2 comments:
Congratulations!!! I am so excited for you that James is home! I remember the day my last triplet came home from the NICU and what an amazing day that was for me after 6 weeks of having my babies split up between home and hospital. She was only there for 80 days so I can only imagine how long and difficult your journey has been. For me, the day Reagan was discharged was just as exciting as the day they were born- more so, actually, since it wasn't nearly as terrifying. Let the real fun of life with triplets begin! Congratulations!
~Andrea
Oh, its so great to see them chubby and cute and at home. What a wait -- 5 months, but how wonderful that today they can help these babies survive and thrive. Now the fun begins! (I'm a friend of John's.)
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