There's no place like home

It's really good to be home. Really really good to be home.

Alana was discharged from the NICU at IU Health North on Saturday, June 25. It's hard to believe that was just a short week ago, but it was. I've never been so happy to go home! And as wonderful as the hospital was, I really don't want to go back any time soon.

Brett and I both stayed at the hospital with Alana until the 23rd. She was off of oxygen for a while, but her oxygen saturation started falling again, and the doctor ordered that the little nose breathing tube be put back on. So we felt like we took a little step back. It was really frustrating at the time, but not two days later, she was off her oxygen, her numbers were up, and she was eating really really well. It was like Alana was a new baby!

We pretty much had the routine down in the NICU. Alana was nursing and then taking the rest of a feeding from a bottle since she was off of a feeding tube. Thank goodness for those hospital-grade pumps because she got that "liquid gold" milk from me! YAY! It's worth the extra effort. Night feedings were rough. We would spend an hour feeding her and putting her back to bed, leave the NICU and go one floor up to a sleep room, pass out in bed for about an hour and a half, wake up to an alarm clock, and start the whole process over again. Not a lot of sleep, but it was good for us to be there for every feeding.

On Friday morning, which would have been the 24th, Brett had to go back to work for four days. He left at 4 am, like normal, so I was solo for a while. I really wasn't looking forward to sitting in the NICU all by myself for who knows how long, so I called my sister and asked her to come sit with me for a day or two. Sisters are great, aren't they? Carla sat with me all day on Friday. It was nice to have some female company and some new conversation. Plus, when I went back to the NICU for Alana's 9 am feeding, I noticed that there was no oxygen tube! So even though Brett had to leave on Friday, I woke up to one less cord on Alana and the prospect of spending the day with my sister.

Friday started our 24-hour watch in the NICU, where we all stared at the monitor to make sure that Alana's oxygen numbers weren't going down. Staring at that blue number got old after a while, especially when it would drop in the upper 80s when it was supposed to be in the mid to high 90s. There were several times when I would blow in Alana's face, making her take a deeper breath, causing her numbers to jump back up to where they were supposed to be!

I took all the Friday night feedings myself, which was a little rough. The night nurse, Kim, was my saving grace though. She sat up with me during a 2 am feeding and talked with me the entire time. I think she could tell I was about to pass out from exhaustion, and she mentioned she could take the 5 am feeding if I wanted. I jumped on the offer and came down to the NICU at 8 am, after almost 5 hours of sleep, to find her oggling over Alana. She ended up doing the 5 am feeding and, since her other babies in the NICU were sleeping, she sat and cuddled with Alana for almost an hour. Wow. How many nurses would do that? (Actually, there were several night nurses who would come cuddle with Alana if she started crying. They all said they couldn't help scooping up a pudgy, cuddly, NICU baby. A 9-pounder in the NICU is rare, so Alana was well loved!)

Carla ended up spending the night at our house with my parents, who were watching the girls. She came back the next morning. Alana's numbers where still great, so I was eager to hear what the doctor would say during morning rounds. I ate breakfast and walked the NICU, watching for any sign of rounds. By 9:30, the doctor came through with all the nurses and nurse practioners in tow. They went through all of Alana's numbers, and the nurse practitioner suggested that it would be a good day to send Alana home. The doctor nodded, said ok, and with that, we prepped to leave! The nurses gathered all of our discharge paperwork. I went upstairs to our sleep room, showered, and packed all of our bags. We gave Alana a bath, and I fed her. And poof, we were in the car by 12:30 on Saturday afternoon and home about 45 minutes later. Ah...home.

The girls are doing so well with Alana. They love to help me change her diaper or clothes. They both stand on chairs by the kitchen counter and watch me give Alana a bath in the sink. They both holler for me when Alana starts crying and tell me she's hungry. And they refuse to just call her Alana. Ugh. I hope they grow out of it because I'm getting a little tired of them referring to her as "Alana Michelle." Or, as Claire says it, "Lana Shell."

Last Wednesday, we took a family trip to the doctor for a checkup for Alana. When we left the hospital, she weighed 9 lbs 7 oz, which wasn't too far away from the 9 lbs 14 oz from when she was born. I was floored when she weighed in at 10 lbs 4 oz at the appointment. She gained almost a pound in five days! Her cheeks are rounder. Her skin is smoother. And on a good night, she will sleep in 3-4 hour time blocks. It's great! I think the trip to the doctor kind of rattled Sophia though because I kept having to assure her that, yes, we were going to take Alana home, and she wasn't going to have to stay at the hospital again.

Alana is already starting to grow out of some of her 0-3 month clothes. We have a bunch of little sleepers and some premie clothes that someone gave us when Sophia was born. We have obviously never used them since our babies are so big. Brett and I have decided that we're going to donate all those clothes to the NICU at the hospital. After Alana had only been there a few days, one of the nurses changed her in to a little pink sleeper, and it just made my day. All of a sudden, she looked like a good, healthy baby. I think all parents should have that feeling, and if we can help by taking in a box of clothes, then we will. We're scheduled to go back to the pediatrician in a little over a week, so I think that we'll take some clothes to the NICU then.

Brett has been enjoying his vacation time. He doesn't go back to work until July 9, so he's been off for almost two weeks. I'm going to miss him when he goes back to work! He's been taking the two older girls in the morning and letting me and Alana sleep in until...whenever. It's been really nice.

I've been feeling great after this c-section. It's probably been my best recovery ever. I think that being in the NICU so long was a distraction from pain. I haven't taken pain medication in a long time. I keep trying to live my day like "normal" but have noticed that, by mid-afternoon, I have to stop because I just hurt. It will be nice when I feel 100% again.

So this holiday weekend has been going well. We've enjoyed visits from both of our parents. Brett assembled our new patio set that we FINALLY got from Home Depot after quite a bit of run around. The girls' tan lines are getting darker and darker from swimming in the blow-up pool. We've taken a few drives in the car but haven't really been "out" much. With Claire getting sick during this time of year when she was only a few weeks old, we've decided to keep Alana out of crowds for another few weeks. I was able to go to the Carmel Farmer's Market yesterday with Sophia, Claire, and my parents, so that was nice. Again, it will be nice to get back to "normal" and be able to make grocery store trips and outings to the library. And I miss my ladies from the playgroup! Can't wait to go to the next gathering.