The End of the NICU - Through Day 15

NICU Day 13 (Saturday, Oct 6):
Saturday morning Nana was flying home to Oregon.  We woke up at home and had a package from Aunt Rochelle and Uncle Scott.  They sent a tee-pee for Addison and so we had to assemble it first thing.  It has been a huge hit at our house and Addison loves that Dad can come in with her and that they read together.  

Because of all the things going on at the hospital - our camera has mostly been up at the NICU.  There are very few pictures of Addison and Nana together and they have spent a ton of time together and done a lot of really fun things.  I left the camera one afternoon for my mom, but forgot that I had it set for the light scoop, and she didn't check to make sure it was working.  Sadly - not one picture turned out and, even with Photoshop, not one of them can be salvaged.  Luckily she'll be back one month from today and we'll be able to get more pictures of Addison with Nana.  Here's one I snapped right before my mom and I left for our last trip to the NICU before dropping her at the airport.  Her deciding to come out last minute has been the greatest blessing for our family and she will be greatly missed!

Oliver and I traded off being back and forth to the NICU to do all of Claire's feedings today.  Our neighbor offered to sit at our house during priesthood so that I could go and feed Claire and Oliver could attend conference.  We have watched/listened to various talks off and on today but we haven't been the most diligent.  Luckily, they are so easy to access after-the-fact!  Nothing exciting happened at the NICU today - which we are grateful for!  Just one more day and a little bit and we will be done.  I didn't actually bring the camera to the NICU today at all - but luckily our night nurse is up with the times and has an iPHONE so she let me take some pictures of Claire and emailed them to me.  I would be sad to not have documented one day of this experience but my phone just isn't cool enough to take and send pictures :)

NICU Day 14 (Sunday, Oct 7): 
Oliver and I traded off and on to go the NICU today - except - Oliver's parents graciously came out to our house (after driving back from the St. George Marathon this morning) to play with Addison so that we could give Claire her bath.  Claire always eats well after her baths.

One of the last things that Claire has to do to get out of the NICU is pass her car seat test.  She has to sit in her car seat for 2 hours while being monitored to make sure that she can hold her oxygen levels.  She sat in her seat from 8-10 Sunday night and passed with flying colors.  

After her car seat test, I fed Claire one more time and then it was time for her to receive her ampicillin which is one of the antibiotics she takes.  As I was dressing her for bed I thought her PIC line looked a little strange and asked the nurse to look at it.  She looked at her PIC line site and felt concerned as well and decided that she could give Claire her antibiotics without checking with the charge nurse first who was off assisting with a C-section.  It was already after 11 pm and the only reason we were still in the NICU was for Claire's 11pm and 7am dosage of ampicillin.  Instead of waiting for the C-section to play out and the charge nurse to return, I decided to head home and asked the nurse call me as soon as they decided what to do about her PIC line and how to administer her last two doses of antibiotics.  

I went home feeling frustrated.  I knew they wouldn't move her PIC line for two more doses of antibiotics but I also worried about them sticking her again to find an IV site because I am just tired of the NICU sticking Claire - period!  However, I want her to come home, so whatever makes that possible is also okay.  Oliver actually wasn't feeling well and so he was already in bed when I got home - I lay awake waiting for my phone to ring and playing out possible scenarios.  I got a call about 1:30 am saying they had removed her PIC line and spoken to the neonatologist and decided to give her one dosage of rocephin which is an injection in her leg.  The rocephin is mixed with lidocaine which just made me feel wonderful.  Oh - by the way - we have to mix your daughter's antibiotics with a numbing medicine because it is most likely painful going in and we need to numb her leg for awhile after as well.  AWESOME!  Seriously - couldn't her PIC line have held up for just two more doses!  The nice thing is that the rocephin is a three-day time release antibiotic and so she only needed one dose to replace the two doses of ampicillin.  We were getting so close to being done - now the only thing standing in our way is her hearing test!  I got a few hours of sleep before Monday morning.

NICU Day 15 (Monday, Oct 8):

We woke up to an alarm Monday morning - anxious to go and get Claire.  All Oliver has wanted since this delivery was scheduled - was to come home as a whole family.  We woke up Addison and took her with us to the NICU at 7 am to make that dream possible.  They gave us permission to have Addison come in to room 1 and watch a Dora video while we worked on our discharge paperwork and Claire had her hearing screening.  

Claire's hearing screening went well and she passed in both ears!

I then removed all her leads and got her dressed to come home!

This is the first time she has been un-tethered for 15 days!

After signing a few more papers and agreeing to pay our bill - or trade our house to cover it - we were finally ready to go home.  We took Claire down to room 1 and Addison was waiting to climb into her car seat and give her a kiss.  

We headed down and loaded into the car.

Addison talked to Claire the whole way home and gave us a play-by-play of everything she was doing.  

She was excited to help carry Claire inside.

And we were just glad to finally feel like we're starting life as a family of four!

So - this is the end of the NICU saga and the beginning of our lives with two girls!  We just can't wait!