Home Sweet Home

Here are a few more photos from the remainder of our hospital stay...

Day 10-Friday, August 20th: Nicholas was serenaded by a nice man playing a guitar. A few of his requests were: Old MacDonald, Bingo, and The Wheels on the Bus. Mommy and Gramme joined in the singing with Nicholas echoing the e-i-e-i-o's in Old MacDonald. This was also the day the mommy was trained how to use Nicholas's new ventilator. Day 11-Saturday, August 21st. We got the good news today that Nicholas would have his g-tube surgery on Monday afternoon. That means more days in the hospital, but going home with a g-tube instead of an NG tube makes mommy and daddy feel so much better. Plus Nicholas doesn't have to have a tube coming out of his nose anymore!

Day 12-Sunday, August 22nd. Nicholas had some more visitors today. First, mommy's friend Abbey stopped by and brought Nicholas and baby Ella some gifts. A giraffe & duck puppet for Nicholas and a duck lovie for baby. Later in the afternoon Uncle Kris and Aunt Jami stopped by and brought him a huge stuffed froggie. He was really spoiled during his hospital stay!


Day 13-Monday, August 23rd. Today was surgery day. Mommy was kind of a mess all day stressing about the g-tube surgery just because watching your two-year-old leave your side crying is never an easy thing for a mommy to experience.
Mommy, Gramme, and Daddy gave Nicholas lots of loves all day
And Gramme helped Nicholas prepare for surgery by wearing the cap and mask to show him what the doctors would look like. He was wheeled down to the operating room at 3:30 p.m. and we were able to be with him in recovery at 5:00 p.m. so thank goodness we didn't have to wait too long to see him.

The surgery went great and Nicholas did really well. He had a bit of pain medication after surgery started his feeds through his g-tube six hours later. He is such a little trooper!


Day 14 & 15-Tuesday, August 24th & Wednesday, August 25th. Nicholas spent time recovering from his surgery and mommy and daddy learned how to feed him through his new g-tube. Finally on Wednesday afternoon Nicholas was discharged from the hospital! After 15 days at Doernbecher's we were so ready to be back home. We had been talking about going home for a few days, but I don't think Nicholas quite believed us until we pulled into the driveway and he started saying "home!" He was talking up a storm and laughing when we walked in the door and we could tell he was thrilled to finally be back home.He especially loves his room, but isn't sure what to make of all the equipment in there now. I think he thought we would leave all that at the hospital!
We would still like to get some darker curtains to block out daylight when he naps and a nicer light fixture on the ceiling. Hopefully we will be able to get these things done in the next week or two.
In other news...I went to my 36 week doctor appointment last Tuesday and it sounds to me like baby Ella may just arrive before her September 20th due date. I am 3 cm dilated, 60% effaced and the baby is in the head down position at -1. These are all good signs that labor is close at hand, but we are hoping that she will stay put for a couple weeks so that Nicholas can have some mommy and daddy time before little sister arrives. And we need a bit of time to adjust to Nicholas new equipment and his new feeding and sleeping schedule. Plus we have just a couple of things to finish in the nursery before it is finished...I will post photos soon!
Again, thanks so much for all the prayers and support during Nicholas's hospital stay. We appreciate all the emails, phone calls, and visits!