Finally Home
So we finally made it home on 4/6/12. It was a week later than anticipated but finally came. The day before our original discharge date, Brent decided to stop cooperating and dropped his heart rate (bradycardia) too many times for the doctor's liking. His reflux may have been the reason but they wanted at least a 48 hour period with no significant issues. They allowed the "bradies" that occurred when feeding and didn't consider those an issue. After two failed attempts, he finally passed his car seat test and we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
After 122 days since we first left NJ, we were finally on our way back home. Brian had already taken most of our stuff home the week before but as soon as we heard the news we were leaving, he rushed back to the Nugget House and packed up the rest. I was pretty nervous before we left. Now we had to take care of this little boy all by ourselves. No help from the nurses, no breaks, no sleeping.
Brent came home on a monitor to watch his breathing & heart rate. He is on caffeine twice a day so the docs need to monitor him until he's off to make sure he doesn't need it anymore to breathe. We are looking at the beginning of June, at the earliest to lose the monitor. It's going to be quite strange to have a baby not hooked up to some kind of wires.
The first night was rough. Brent makes a lot of little noises and grunts. On top of that, his reflux is bad making him pretty uncomfortable through the night. We tried to put him in the bassinet but he wasn't having it. We slept in the living room the rest of the first week. It just seemed easier having the kitchen so close and easier to grab him when he wanted to be held. Week two seems to be a bit easier. We switched his formula from Neosure to Infacare and I think it's helping his reflux a little.
Breastfeeding has been a challenge at home. I'm so tired and with a low supply to begin with, pumping and feeding is a non-stop affair. I'm not going to lie, it's so much easier to grab a bottle then nurse and pump, but I feel way to guilty to keep it up. I wanted to give the new formula some time to set in to see if it helped his reflux before I started to nurse again. Unfortunately, it's decreased my supply even more. I can't even pump an ounce in a half hour session (that's all I could do before). Because of this, that is why we had to supplement formula in the first place. So I'll give him what I can and supplement as long as he needs. As long as he keeps growing. (He was 5.8 lbs on 3/21 and 5.14 lbs on 4/9)
I have to say though, having him home is really nice. Just being home is really nice. It took a few days to get our lives back together and unpack, but we are getting there. We immediately set up his room and slowly worked through the house. I thought I would start back to work in a few weeks, but now, I'm thinking a few months. But Brent is doing great and we have some follow up sessions scheduled as well as Early Intervention services. So far so good.
Early Intervention came out today and did their exam. There wasn't much to "examine" since he's only 6 weeks and 5 days but he managed to stay awake during the visit. His due date was 4/20/12 so he's 6 days corrected. He can lift his head and move it side to side while on his stomach. He responded to the bell and light tests and act just like any other baby.
