Going home Friday

The discharge process has begun and we will be taking Micah home on Friday. Yes, home home. Not to another NICU. I did all of his g-tube care and feedings today, along with giving him his medication this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll do the car seat study (he has to spend 2 hours in his car seat to make sure he doesn't desat, etc.). I haven't decided whether I'm going to "room in" with him on Thursday night. They're leaving it up to me, but the neonatologist said that if I wanted one more night of sleep to feel free to take it. :-)

Micah actually did pretty well with his oral feeding today. Over his 3 mid-day feedings he took about 80 cc's orally. Not bad. He probably would have taken more but I stopped his last one because he was breathing too hard. When he gets to that point, he's probably burning more calories than he's getting.

I'm so excited to get on with our next phase. But it involves so much more than when we brought Nathan home from the hospital. Home health will be coming in twice a week to weigh Micah and check our supplies. Micah is on three medications for his heart. There will be speech therapists and physical therapists visiting Micah at the house (and eventually occupational therapists). There will be visits to the cardiologist. There will be visits to the surgeon for follow-up. Feeding him is a bit more involved than feeding a "normal" baby. And nevermind the fact that he has a button on his belly with a flip top that opens directly into his stomach. Whew, that makes me overwhelmed to put it all down in print. But it's a good reminder that God's grace is enough: He will provide me with the strength I need for each day (and hour and minute). "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." (Matthew 6:34)