Homecoming

Sorry for the posting delay, but I’ve been a little distracted for the last 24 hours because MY LELA CAME HOME! Yes, Lela graduated from the NICU with honors. Dr. Baer said that while Lela isn’t the smallest preemie she has ever discharged, she’s close to it. Despite her tiny size (only 3 lbs. 14 oz at discharge), Lela got to come home because she is (to quote Dr. Baer) a “superstar.” We like to hear that. Lela's a little over-achiever! Here she is, my second favorite doctor in the world:

We loved Dr. Baer and feel really fortunate to have her caring for Lela these past 2 ½ weeks.

So, Lela was officially discharged yesterday at 5:00 pm. Babak was on his first day of a cardiac rotation, but his attending let him out early when he heard that his preemie daughter was being discharged from the hospital. This would probably be a standard courtesy in most professions, but in the life of a resident, this was an almost unprecedented act of kindness.

We got to dress Miss Lela in some going-home clothes. This little romper is the smallest outfit we have – it’s like doll-sized - and it actually fit pretty well (thanks Aunt Robin!). Hopefully, she will outgrow it quickly. As you can see, the hat was so big we had to put it on top of her hospital hat.

Once home, Lela got to meet her big sister Bella.

Bella was less than impressed with the baby at first. But, several hours later Bella seemed to realize that Lela was alive and worthy of attention. Bella is actually being rather sweet with her. She doesn’t get too close, but she watches and listens attentively from a distance and she looks concerned when the baby cries. Bella hung out in the baby’s room all day today, napping on my make-shift pallet (see below).

Babak got to change the first diaper at home.

Then, he fed her the 9:00 bottle and went to bed himself (he has to wake up at 4:00 am these days).

I, on the other hand, did NOT sleep and instead spent the entire evening obsessively watching my baby breathe, just to make sure she was doing it. At first, I couldn’t even bear to walk out of her room for a minute. At the NICU, she was monitored constantly so skilled caregivers would know the instant she stopped breathing or dropped her heart rate. I guess I felt like I had to take over that vigilance at home. I relaxed a bit after a couple of hours but I admit that I still couldn’t sleep in my own bed across the hall. Instead, I set up a little pallet on the floor next to the crib and slept there. Well, the word “sleep” may be a bit of an exaggeration. Cat-napped is more like it.

Lela’s ready for another bottle. I’ll try to post more tomorrow. It’s hard to type when you have trouble putting your baby down. As exhausted as I am right now, I’m still overjoyed that we get to see Lela 24 hours a day. It’s just going to take a few days to adjust to being a fully time mommy, rather than a frequent NICU visitor.