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| Uhm, so during the writing of this entry I realized that I was still stuck on my night-shift schedule when we brought T home, so the e-mails I was basing his release date on were always dated past midnight! OOPS! |
Come, take a stroll with me down memory lane. Where were we last year? Frantically tossing together Tristan's nursery corner. We hadn't done a thing because you never really knew what "coming home soon" meant. This particular anniversary is bittersweet for me because he'd only be home for a couple weeks before being readmitted - but you can't readmit into HUP so we had to go next door to CHOP. Same neos, different nurses and that was a big deal. Having the same nurses would have helped so much!
But let's focus on tomorrow-one-year-ago. I was so nervous! Tristan was moving home. What if he didn't like it? I was worried. I even mopped the floors! I'm not kidding. I wanted to make a good impression. During his two months in NICU I'd had no rest between pumping, visiting, and rebuilding an entire home from scratch. I wanted this place to look like a home - like we'd lived here forever.
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| Ava came by with a beautiful blanket she'd planned to have ready when Tristan was born! Technically he's getting it early here ;) |
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| The Car Seat Test |
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We did it all in one night! Disclaimer: I know Boppies don't belong in cribs.
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It was at this point that I realized I had my dates mixed up - oh well, just another unbirthday to celebrate tomorrow! Happy first day at home day! We can make up holidays left and right, can't we, preemie friends?
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| When I arrived to pick him up I found him like this - his first styled 'hawk. SO CUTE! |
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| Here she is - the best nurse ever! |
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OK, so there is another best nurse - I wasn't going to share this picture, though, but what the heck I'm proud:
I'VE LOST 40 POUNDS SINCE THEN!
Now, back to our adventure...
Every single day I had to walk up "maternity row" as I called it - the drive-way for pick-ups. It was the only way to reach the front door. ...and every day it was a big, giant, mean smack in the head! Every day I'd see ladies living the perfect discharge dream. I couldn't wait for my moment - so I wouldn't be rolling out in bunny slippers - that's OK! I had a new perspective on seeing daylight with my son.
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| TAH-DAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! |
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| Home. Now what? |
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| Every night I sang "Edelweiss" before putting a kiss into Tristan's hand to save for later. It was a humid Pennsylvania night, but I geared up our song on my laptop and we had our first slow dance. It was perfect. |
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| In Papa's arms before bed. |
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Here's the moment I dreamed of the most: just laying down holding him.
Notice I still have my hospital band on. I'm sure I'd completely forgotten it existed...it had become a part of me. |
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Tucked in.
Our first night.
One year ago.
Tonight.
<3 |
After most of your posts about premie Tristan, I am a little weepy. I can only imagine how beautiful it was to bring him home and to baptize him recently... You are a beautiful family with big huge hearts and I am so glad that after a season of tears, God is filling you up. Your boppy comment made me smile.. when Pursy was an infant we found this "infant positioner" that boppy makes for swings and carseats and such to keep their heads off the flat surface- to prevent flat head, I suppose. We put it in her crib and she slept very happily on her back with her head cradled in this sassy brown patterned device. When she started to roll over, we took it out of the crib and looked at the tag "SUFFOCATION RISK- DO NOT USE IN CRIB". Of course my first time Mama guilt kept me awake for weeks. But she does have a gorgeous round head. Knox on the other hand, will just have to deal. :)
ReplyDeleteHAHA! Oh no! I haven't heard of that thing - I'll have to look it up. RNP's are popular with preemie/reflux parents and the only thing I've heard that isn't great about them is that they can cause a flat spot.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the kind words. It's very nice to have a calm after the storm.