Home, Sweet Home

After spending twenty-four days in the NICU, we were finally able to bring our sweet baby boy home!  To most of you, twenty-four days in the hospital may seem like an eternity.  For us, this short amount of time is nothing short of miraculous!  As we entered into this journey, we were prepared to be in it for the long haul.  We had read dozens of stories of other strong little O babies, and most of them spent the first few months of their lives in the hospital constantly battling breathing and feeding issues.  So when Hayes was taken off the ventilator after such a short time, we were amazed!  And when he began to tolerate feeds at higher and higher amounts, we were ecstatic!  But when the doctors said that it was time to start creating a discharge plan, we were in shock!!

The days leading up to the big homecoming seemed to race by in a flash.  One day the word "home" was mentioned during rounds, the next day Hayes was freed of all of his tubes and cords, and finally...it was time for the nurses to hand our little guy over to us for a night of Care By Parent.  (This is kind of like a trial run before actually leaving the hospital with our bundle of joy!)  Hayes spent the night in a special room with us, and we were left to meet all of his needs - from dressing changes to middle of the night feeds.  I guess this transitional night was a success because the following day all of the wonderful staff at Children's Memorial Hermann were waving good-bye to us as we headed to our home, sweet home!

Care By Parent (...that means us!)

Good-bye NICU!!!