6 Months at Home!!

   As of 1pm today Emma has been home from the NICU for 6 months!! That makes 183 days at home after 323 days in the hospital since she was born. So guess what that calls for..? Another photo shoot, of course! Plus when my mom and brother visited last week, she brought some Halloween hand-me-down shirts from my nieces (size 9 months- I had to roll the sleeves up) so that gave her something new and festive to wear for the pictures.

   I definitely had the portable fan blowing in her direction the whole time since she gets hot even when she's only wearing a diaper! She seemed pretty comfortable, but started crying when we were done and she was just laying in all the clothes. Once I took her clothes off she began laughing and kicking her legs, then fell asleep a few minutes later. On Saturday, when it was 70 degrees, Michael put her and the ventilator and everything in the stroller and they walked four loops around the neighborhood. Even then he had the little fan blowing on her. I really wished I could have joined them for that, but I was working that day too.
   When looking through previous blog posts, I was surprised to see that I never posted her NICU Graduation pictures from April 30th. I didn't post much at all the first two months she was home, which is fine, because it was much more important to get the hang of her living at home and getting in the parenting groove, and taking naps during the day since I had to get up every few hours in the middle of the night to give her various medicines as she was still weaning off of those until the end of May.
   I'll post them now:

 *Baaaah ba ba ba baaaa baaaah, baaah ba ba baa baaaaahhh!* (Graduation music) I got a video of me humming the song with her wearing the cap and gown- and notice the tiny diploma! It should actually be Michael and I who get diplomas with all the medical "schooling" we got since June 2017! Haha.

 Two of Emma's primary nurses, Billie and Lori, holding her graduation sign that a lot of the staff signed with best wishes and favorite memories. I was surprised and honored how many people showed up on their day off to say farewell to Emma.

 Nurse Julie who sent us many updates and photos throughout the day when she was working. She knew how to calm Emma down with hair twirling.

 Another wardrobe change and photo with Nurse Kim, another primary! The party consisted of eating cupcakes, signing a lot of discharge papers, and talking to pharmacy and nutrition about her medicine doses and how to much formula to mix with the purified water and protein powder.

 The paramedic arrived at Noon, which I was thrilled about because I heard most babies don't leave until about 4pm. But they knew we were super eager to get her home. As we walking through the other NICU pods/ areas to get to the elevators, I remember making eye contact with another mom who was doing something with her baby. She looked disheartened that we got to leave and she didn't. I wondered how long her baby had been there. But I remember rolling my eyes and sighing whenever I would be in the elevator with someone who gasped and said (while talking to someone else) that their family member's baby had been in the NICU for 9 days, or "three whole weeks", as if that was a long time. Still I know we did not make the record (thank goodness!) which was about 18 months. So to that family, ten and a half months for us is lucky. Although it's over now and didn't seem that bad looking back, it was a long, hard time when we were in it!!

 SHE'S HERE!!!!! I left a few minutes before the ambulance so I could put our dog Sasha out on the porch and start getting stuff out of the car (medical equipment, etc and all of the wonderful gifts). I told Michael that I wanted him to ride in the ambulance with her since I got to ride with her the whole way back from Michigan. (I'm definitely going to be posting more about Michigan this weekend.)

  It's funny how I always remember saying, "She's getting so big" and now looking at these pictures and being used to seeing her now, she looks so small before! And we keep saying that she keeps getting cuter and cuter. I can't believe it. I love to see her grow and get stronger every day. She slept a lot when we got home that day and it was pretty hectic for all of us at first. We had a lot of people in the house and I was trying to get things organized while Michael basically entertained. The paramedic, Gary the respiratory therapist, Karla and Barb from the transport team, and a woman who works with the medical supply company was there. And after they left then three people from the home nursing company arrived. I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off for several hours. Oh my goodness! What a day! But such a great new beginning! :)