One Week Home

We have been home a week now and are starting to settle in to our routine.

Grandma Emmitt spend two nights and two days with us and helped a ton!

We had an appointment with the pediatrician and cardiologist this week. Daniel’s feeding tube is out now, hopefully for good! He is taking his bottle well and the pediatrician has given me the green light to nurse Daniel for half of the feedings.

The cardiologist thought that his heart looked pretty good, but wanted to keep Daniel on oxygen for at least another month. So, we got one tube out of his nose this week. Going to the cardiologist brought me back to reality – the reality that Daniel will always have heart disease. The problems he was born with have been repaired, but there will always be the possibility of further complications. I pray that I won’t be that overprotection Mom, the one always worried about every little move. But, for now, it is tough for me to take my eyes off from him.

He started smiling this week. I know most people say that when babies smile they are just passing gas – but on Daniel it looks like he is really thinking some happy thought. I think he might have at least one dimple too!

Here are some more pictures for your enjoyment!

If you want to know what time it is...

Three days home and we are sleepy! Daniel is on a feeding schedule. He has to have a bottle every 3 hours – 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00, 12:00 and so on. He gets “Mommy food,” but I have to add formula to the milk to add calories. Andy has done such a great job with the feedings that we haven’t had to use the feeding tube since we’ve been home!

Last Friday, when Daniel was discharged, we were unable to have his “little boy surgery” done – we probably wouldn’t have gotten home until midnight if we would have waited for it to be done. We did dress him up in the cutest outfit and he of course puked all over himself right as we were getting in the car. We were SO glad to be heading home that it didn’t matter.

We have appointments with a pediatrician on Thursday and his cardiologist on Friday. We’re hoping that the feeding tube will be able to come out. The oxygen is an interesting thing. We have a huge green tank in the middle of the living room and 75 feet of plastic tubing. We have no idea how long he’ll have to be on the oxygen or the feeding schedule.

We are sleepy and the days just seem to fly by. Daniel is amazing though! He is becoming more alert every day. He is currently laying in Andy’s lap and just staring up at him. When we were in the hospital all he did was sleep, so we are seeing changes in him already!

The best thing for us all is being home. I am feeling so much better. We are starting to get into a routine, thanks in part to the feeding schedule. We truly appreciate all of the cards and gifts that greeted us when we got home. I have a ton of emails and will try to respond to them as soon as possible - just know that we appreciate all of the well wishes!

We have been so overwhelmed by the generosity of our family and friends. We don’t know how we are going to thank you all. Please know that we are praying for you as well.

Blessings!