Day...Who Cares, We're Home!!!

Hello!! Sorry it's been so long since I posted, who knew having a baby at home would take so much time?!?!?! I'm working on this post all day!! I uploaded the pics this morning, am typing now in the afternoon and will no doubtedly finish this post sometime tonight!! (Edited to add: I started this post several days ago and am just now finishing it!!)


Well after 105 days in the hospital, Joshua is now home!! He arrived home around 6pm Thursday evening (Christmas Eve). It is such a joy and blessing to have him here with us. I just can't believe it has happened. We're adjusting to our new life as a family of 5 and dealing with the celebrations around Christmas and Joshua's medical care. It's been a lot to juggle and we're not yet completely settled in. The first three nights a nurse came to help us set up his IV feeds and make sure we knew what we were doing, now they feel very confident in our abilities and only will be coming once a week to check on him, draw blood, weigh him and things like that. So we're officially on our own now. We are responsible for preparing his bags of food, running the lines and hooking it all up to his central line. We also have to flush the line when we hook him and when he take him off of it. He is hooked up 21 hours a day with a 3 hour "window" in the evening where he's not hooked to anything. We also have to keep track of his input and output. We write down whenever he has a bottle (10ml a time), how much IV food he has and we weigh his diapers to keep track of the output. It takes about 90 minutes a day to do all of it. It's not too bad and we're learning how to work everything in. It's all worth it to have him home!

He's doing really well at home. He's having regular poops, lots of gas and no spit ups. If he continues to do so well and is able to regularly up his feed amounts he may not have to ever go back to the hospital for a stay and surgery!!! I really believe that he is getting better. I just know it!!! He's gaining weight (up to 14 pounds now!), and has never had a better week as far as spit ups and things go, so I really feel good about saying I believe he is doing better!!! We email his surgeon daily and he's very pleased with how well he's doing. Praises to God!!!





Bundled up and ready to go...and not real happy about it!! He calmed down and fell asleep on the drive home though.

Being carried through the doors of the NICU by one of our favorite nurses. He's free!!!

His first elevator ride! My three babes together at last!!

So the next morning, was Christmas morning. Joshua and I spent the night downstairs. He slept half the night in the bassinet insert of his pack n play and the other half in my arms in the rocking chair. He and I were up around 6, but we waited to wake the family up until 7! Noah and Abby were very excited and came running!!

Joshua ended up falling back asleep during the present opening, so he didn't notice all the cool Wubba Nubs and other things we got him!!

Noah of course got lots of Legos. He loves Legos!!

Abby loves stuffed animals more than anything and was so thrilled with her stuffed rock house full of dinos!!

Stocking time!! They got a few small gifts and build a bear gift cards. We also got tickets for the Harlem Globetrotters in Noah's stocking and tickets to the Mary Poppins broadway show when it comes in April in Abby's stocking. I think they were pleased.

Even Jasmine had a few things in her stocking!! She is finally getting used to the crying baby and his noisy pumps!! She was afraid of the pumps the first few days, but now she just ignores them. She's done plenty of sniffing Joshua and seems to have accepted him into the pack!!

I so love them in their matching pajamas!! They are so cute!!

All three kids got new 'wheels' for Christmas so we took them all out for a ride. Noah got an electric scooter from my parents, Abby got a scooter from us and Joshua got his stroller!! It was chilly but sunny and nice out. I was able to push both the stroller and the iv pole. I never thought I'd be doing that, but I'm just so thankful to have him home!!

Because Joshua has a central line in his chest, we're still doing sponge type baths here with him at home. These are pictures from his first bath at home. I wash his body with those Huggies bath wipes and then give him a full shampoo because he has so much hair!! He's a pretty good sport about it but sometimes gets mad about it!!

This was from Joshua's first family outing. We went to church and lunch on Sunday. He slept through church and had a bottle at lunch, so he was happy!! I thought Noah and Abby looked so cute and so grown up!! I mean Noah's going to be 10 in a month, aaaahhhh!!

And finally just a cute photo of the baby!! I couldn't wait to get him home and dressed in all the clothes I got for him. In the hospital he could only wear button up sleepers because of all the wires and tubes. But at home he just has the one set of tubes, so he can wear just about anything.

So that's it for now. I'll really try to update more often. Now that the holidays are over and things are settling down, it should be a little easier!!