Birth Story-Part 3-Home!!

About two days ago I was at the hospital to visit Surprise and found out something I hadnt realized. The amount of food that she was expected to eat to go home didnt top off... and they were no longer worried about her sugars... The sugars were the reason she was supposed to be in the NICU! A nurse was about to feed her when I showed up. She said that she gave her a bottle with 48 ml and she only ate, such and such amount. I was like, I thought she only had to eat 43 ml. Come to find out that as she gained weight the amount of food expected to eat went up. So it was kind of a vicious cycle. She couldnt eat the amount expected got gavashed, and gained weight then was expected to eat more. ALSO they were giving her extra calorie human milk fortifier that made her gain weight faster. When I took it all in it seemed hopeless that she would ever go home. I left that day barely holding my emotions at bay. Once my hubby got home (the only person on earth that I dont feel stupid crying in front of) the dam broke. I told him what was going on and asked if he would come with me the next day to talk to a doctor. We wanted her home, there was no reason why we couldnt feed her ourselves, even if she had to be gavashed.

The next morning we called her pediatrician to make sure we didnt go up there saying this was all ridiculous without seeing what he thought first. He said he was totally comfortable with us taking her home, he didnt see why she needed to be up there anymore. So we went, when we got there one of the nurses that I really liked was Surprises nurse for the day. We told her that we wanted to see the doctor and went on to tell her what we thought about all this eating business. She agreed with us! One thing I really liked about her was she realized Im a mom that has three other kids, that Ive nursed, taken care of, and havent starved my kids. The doc came in, R told him what we thought. The doc clearly didnt want to let her go home. So he set up an ultimatum, because he couldnt legally hold her there if we wanted to take her home. He said if I (me) stayed the rest of the day and night, and the baby ate good for me and gained weight, with the feeding tube pulled out, he would sign off and let us take her home. I called my mom to see if she would be ok with me staying the night (she was taking care of the kids). She said whatever got the baby home. R had to leave for work, he said he would come stay the night with me. I went home real quick to get under ware and my toothbrush then went back to the hospital. I asked my mom to get people praying (it was a Wednesday night, so a lot of churches had prayer meeting). So in the state they live in there were two churches praying. I called a good friend from church and asked her to be praying and she said she would write it on the prayer board that night. My sisters church was praying, and her mother in laws church was. Its amazing the peace and confidence that comes with knowing people are praying for you. I went back to the hospital and my nurse/angel was feeding Surprise and she said that she chugged the whole 50 ml (the new expected amount) in 10 minutes! I calculated that there were 7 bottles till the next morning. One down, 6 to go. The nurse had to leave that night at 7 and I sent a plea heaven ward that another good nurse (one thats not a huge stickler for the small things) would follow her. Seven o clock rolls around and I see which nurse it is, it was my second favorite one! Another nurse who believed in me being a mom of three other children, that I know what Im doing. Surprise ate another bottle good, then the next one she kind of fizzled out on. I was worried and kept trying to get her to eat the rest of it but she would look at me with her huge eyes and lay there with her lips pursed like, hey mom Im not hungry. I started to stress a bit. When the nurse came in I said that she only ate 30 ml. The nurse said "Im not worried about it"... Really?! R got there and I told him it was going to be a really long night since I had to pump and feed the baby a bottle every three hours, I told him that he could go home if he wanted to. He wanted to stay with me... I love him :o) We shared a twin bed all night, not super comfy but having him there was such moral support to me. Anyway, Surprise rocked the bottles the rest of the night, even eating 55 ml instead of the 50 ml. This is so amazing because the day before she was only eating about half her feedings!

The next morning the doc came in, it wasnt the same guy. This one was very nice and totally ok with her going home. He signed off on all the papers, he even signed the car seat test (when babies are below a certain weight they have to sit in the car seat with things hooked up to them to make sure they dont stop breathing) as normal since he had other things he had to do and that way after her car seat test we wouldnt have to wait around for him! I couldnt believe it! Surprise was going home!! We did have to buy a new car seat before the test since ours was to old according to the NICU standards. I whispered to R that whatever they wanted we would do, this was the last hoop we had to jump through.

We took Surprise in to the pediatrician before going home to give him paper work and go over the what he wanted us to do about the human milk fortifier and her "acid reflux" (I dont think she has it, one nurse decided that she did and everyone now thinks she does... She doesnt spit up and R pointed out that shes the least fussy baby that we've had!). Come to find out after we called the pediatrician the day that we talked to the doctor he called up for us and told him to let us take our baby home! I heart our pediatrician, hes great! Oh, I asked him if there was something preventative that we could do about the blood sugars next time we have a baby (since this has happened two times in a row) he said that I probably produce to much insulin and told me to come by next time I get pregnant and he'll print up some stuff to take to my OB. Hopefully this wont have to happen again.

We took our baby girl home today! We are amazed and thankful for the outpouring of support from friends and family. Notes on facebook, prayers, meals, phone calls, babysitting favors... The body of Christ is amazing. We're blessed.