Homecoming!!!
108 long days after my water broke and our journey began, Marco is finally home! All day I've been in disbelief that it was finally our turn. Our turn to joyfully go up to the front desk at the hospital and announce we'll be leaving with our boy. It was such a shock - we really thought we had at least another week, but a few days ago Marco decided it was time to start eating for real.
Last entry I spoke about the swallowing scan they did to see how he was eating. They tried two things after that: faster nipple (for easier flow) and thicker food (Similac for Spit Up) for his reflux. It was magic. He gobbled up that formula like it was the most natural thing in the world. He went from 10-20% of his feeds through the bottle, to 100% in a little over 3 days! We got the call on Saturday that he was doing great and they thought he would be able to go home on Tuesday this week. My first reaction was to cry from happiness. A close second was to say "oh crap". We had so much to get done - take all the baby stuff out, clean everything, raise the crib (it was still in the lower toddler position,) wrap up urgent items at work, buy diapers and formula, etc.
But here we are - HOME WITH OUR BOY!!!
Two things:
Breast isn't always best: When we first got to the NICU, the doctors insisted I pump and feed him my milk. At a certain gestational age formula can potentially be dangerous for babies -something about the stomach. Once we were past 34 weeks however, the story changed. Formula turned out to be the only thing that my Marco could successfully drink orally! Go figure. I was hoping we would be able to at least thicken my milk and feed it to him, but no such luck. Thickening breast milk is difficult - most people try rice cereal, but something in the make up of the milk dissolves the rice too quickly so the milk thins out again. Too risky for Marco, who chokes and turns blue in the lips and face if he drinks thin fluid. So - at the end of my long pumping journey, turns out allllllll that milk is just going sit there! [pause for tears]. I'm holding out hope that he grows out of this soon so that we can use it - but if not, I suppose we'll donate. (Any new mamas out there -let me know if you want it!)
Diaper Rash: We almost didn't get to go home today because Marco has very bad diaper rash, to the point where his tush is bleeding/raw. They asked me my comfort level in treating it at home and I laughed - this is my third boy (that I'm bringing home), a little diaper rash isn't going to scare me away!
In all honesty, I cannot believe how fortunate we are that diaper rash is the worst thing Marco has. Seriously - it could have been so much worse, and we heard that repeatedly from the doctors.
- We live 5 minutes away from a top NICU and 20 minutes from one of the best Children's Hospital in the country, maybe the world
- I held him in until ~28 weeks, which helped significantly
- He was only intubated for a few hours - allowing his throat to heal quickly
- His eye sight is great so far (preemies tend to have trouble with this). They typically do tests every two weeks, but the doctor said she didnt have to see him again until his 6 month check up - which she very rarely says
- He had no brain bleeds
- He's going home on no medications aside from iron enriched vitamin D (all the stuff he was on during his stay resolved naturally)
- His only issues aside from reflux are a misaligned urethra and a hernia in the groin, which will both be solved through easy surgeries two weeks from now
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