Welcome Home Austin!!

We finally got to bring our sweet little Austin home Wednesday afternoon!  They let us know on Tuesday that his stats were doing really well and the most recent labs and xrays had all come back with positive results and he would be able to be discharged on Wednesday with oxygen.

  

The Home Medical Supply company came and taught us how to use his oxygen tanks and how to monitor him once we get home. It seemed daunting and kind of stressed me out but it turned out not to be too bad. 

To prepare for having his oxygen tank while home, the NICU has a "room-in" option for parents to spend the night at the NICU in a hotel-like room with the baby while he's on his monitors.  We decided for just me to stay the night there with him since I'd need to be up every few hours to feed him and Dan was finishing up getting the house ready for Austin to come home. We got all settled in and they brought Austin in for the night. I did have to check in with the nurses whenever Austin woke up to eat so they could record his stats but other than that it was just us. It was a pretty good night considering I haven't had to stay ip at night with a baby for almost 2 years. I guess it's kind of like a bicycle...haha, you don't really forget.  The nurses came to take him back to his room around 6am in the morning and I was able to get another couple of hours of sleep before being up for the day since I was pretty tired.

The whole morning was spent finishing up any teaching stuff that's required for NICU discharges and making sure we understood all his oxygen equipment. Finally about 4:40pm, we finally checked out and drove home! 

 

 

We got him all settled in and the Home Medical supply company brought over his oxygen humidifier and all the extra and back-up tanks.

 

 Dan picked up Ethan from my parents and brought him home to meet his little brother for the first time. He knew it was a baby and since we've been practicing how to say "Austin" and "Baby Brother" he'd repeat it after us. He seemed pretty interested in who the little bundle was and kept pointing at him.

Our first night at home actually went really well. Austin is an awesome sleeper! He would sleep for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours between feedings and it was enough for me to get some good sleep as well. Today, we've resting, spending time as a family (Dan was able to stay home this week), and getting used to Austin's sleeping schedule. I have to say, the NICU was sure great for establishing a schedule. Austin consistently sleeps 2-4 hours between feedings and then goes right back to sleep! It's awesome! I didn't even try to start a schedule with Ethan for weeks! Austin already has one and he's only 9 days old!

I absolutely love having all my boys at home with me! It's such a great feeling to finally have all our family together. I'm so grateful for Austin's quick and continued recovery and for him to be home with us. We are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends who have been praying and thinking of us and little Austin! Thank you!