Going home!

Sorry no update for so long, but things have been crazy.


Robbie finally managed to wake up last Sunday night and was pulled off the vent that evening.
He was slowly weaned from the extra oxygen and back where he started by Tuesday.


They moved us back down to the step down unit Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday, Dr. C came by and asked if he was going home on oxygen. Both one of our primary nurses and I said we didn't think he'd need to, so he said "Better turn him down, then." and turned down his air flow again.


On Friday, they turned his oxygen OFF. That's right, the big boy has been breathing room air just like you and me for 5 days now.



They also told us he'd likely be going home in 5-7 days! I was so excited and nervous. We didn't have his room ready at all!



Fortunately, his crib came in on Friday morning (after having been told is was backordered until November) so we were able to get things going.

Over the weekend, we were told that the magic day was Thursday!

On Tuesday, I came in and they said he could actually go home Wednesday.

But we weren't quite ready. There were a few things to be done first, one of which was to take CPR, which was Wednesday night (tonight!)





So tomorrow is the big day.

It's been a very busy week. He had to pass a hearing test, a car seat test, prove he was okay with oxygen. We had to learn to work his home heart monitor & infant CPR, plus learn some car seat safety as well. Fortunately ALL of those things went well.



Robbie is still struggling to gain weight even though he eats a ton. They've now started adding some high calorie formula to his breastmilk but he doesn't like it quite as well so now feeding time is a little challenging. Fortunately he has a great pediatrician who will work on it with us so I feel safe going home. At least, as safe as can be.



It's weird not to have a monitor to look at. His home monitor is just a small piece of equipment with blinking lights.. not nearly as informative as what I'm used to. It also fastens to him under a belt which is really annoying because it goes right under his armpits, which is how I take his temperature. So just to take his temperature, I have to undress him almost completely, then turn the monitor off and undo the belt. Then put it all back on. he doesn't like it and neither do I.

But it's definitely worth it to know that he's okay.



Tonight, we're "rooming in." basically we're al the hospital in a room with Robbie. We do all his feeding and cares. It's sort of a dry run to make sure we can handle it and don't have any questions. It's not required for discharge, but we wanted to do it just to make sure.



Tomorrow- we head home!



Some pictures from Robbie's last days in the NICU:


Robbie passing his car seat test:





Dr. Chao comes to say good-bye:



Robbie's BFF Gavin:


Our night primary- Mindy


Day Primary- Dara: