Home again, home again, jiggety-jog
After 88 days in the NICU, Nathan is finally home!
If you’ve been keeping track of the details, you’ll remember that yesterday, Monday, was Nathan’s third swallow study and that with it came a bit of irony – if he’d passed, he would have spent three more days in the hospital to be observed eating unthickened milk. But he didn’t pass, so after a long day in the hospital, at 6:30pm we left Beth Israel as a family of three. Loaded down with boxes of thickener, bags of syringes, alcohol pads, refrigerated meds, needles (no fun!) and more plastic bottles than I ever thought I’d own, we’re starting a new chapter in our lives as parents.
It’s been 24 hours since Nathan moved in and I love having him home. And I hate bottle feeding. I don’t now how anyone does it. I am sure it is the right choice for plenty of families, and I recognize that Nathan’s bottles are extra complicated (mama’s milk frappe with extra powdered calories warmed to just beyond room temperature so that it actually flows through the nipple anyone?) but it’s just not for me. At least it wouldn’t be it if Nathan could swallow thin liquids. It is so hard not having the convenience and bonding of just being able to feed my baby whenever he’s hungry, and add to that often being stuck at the pump when he’s hungry so I can’t even get a bottle together for him – even having been at it for only one day, it makes me a pretty grumpy mama.
So what have we been up to in the past 24 hours, aside from expressing my growing hatred for pumping and newfound dislike of bottles? Well, Nathan’s peed on the wall twice and decided that his bassinet is for exploring and complaining about but not for sleeping, Tim splattered the kitchen in mama’s milk frappe and I’ve just tried to keep up with the boys. We’ve been making up songs, trying to remember where this or that baby item ended up and wondering where sleep fits into this parenting gig. And we’ve done a lot of just sitting around together. Being in a new place without all the dings and beeps of the NICU has been quit a change for Nathan, so he hasn’t slept much today, Maybe that means we’ll get some sleep tonight?
comments
Hooray and congratulations! I can't imagine what it's like having a 3-month-old new-born... and I can't wait to meet him!
Also, now that he's home you totally need a new blog-description subheading up there!
Did a little happy dance — and said a prayer — as the T pulled through the Longwood stop this morning. "Nathan's home! Hooray!"
Hang in there!