On Wednesday, May 30, I would have been 40 weeks pregnant. It also marks 80 days in the NICU for the girls.
Yesterday was filled with an assortment of tasks to complete before Abigail came home. I set the pediatrician appointment, Matt let his office know he'd be out for a few days, and we gathered our things together and headed to the hospital to spend the night there with Abigail ("rooming in"). The cool thing about this was we'd be completely responsible for everything for her, but there was a nurse on call if we needed anything or had any questions. So, basically, a test run for us before taking her home.
Dr. Breed suggested to us we should have dinner before rooming in, so Matt and I decided to eat at North By Northwest, which was where we had our rehearsal dinner the night before we got married. Neat symmetry, I think.
After dinner and arriving at the hospital, we threw our overnight stuff into the room and headed into NICU3. It was food time for the girls, so I fed Hazel and Matt fed Abby. Hazel ate 120 milliliters!!! In about 25 minutes! Abby put back about 80 or so too, which isn't too shabby.
Rachel escorted Abby to our room, went over a few things, and then left us to it. Just the three of us for the first time. No wires, no monitors, no nurses ... no supervision. :) The first time I took her out of the crib, I automatically adjusted - without thinking - to make sure no wires were pulled. No need to worry about that anymore!
To skip over the minutia, it was an eventful uneventful night. Matt and I took turns getting up to fed her/change her/make sure she was warm. We didn't get much sleep, partially because of Abby and partially because the room air was stifling and the mattress and pillows were springy and old. We both visited Hazel, who was just down the hall. Rachel came by to check on us.
Late morning, Dr. Breed came to check on us, Lisa (the charge nurse) walked through the discharge paperwork, and later in the afternoon Gladys helped us put Abby in her carseat, cut off her HUGGS tag, and officially discharged us. We visited Hazel and told her goodbye (and to come home soon). Then we were headed home!
And...then we hit rush hour traffic, probably the most stacked I've seen it in awhile. It took us almost TWO HOURS to get from the hospital (north Austin) to our house (south Austin). Part of that was due to a needed detour for food (Abby's first drive thru - PTerry's) and a quick stop at Walgreens for some Boudreaux's Butt Paste. As Matt put it, seems like we keep encountering obstacles in getting the girls home.
We finally got home, fed Abby again, settled in, and enjoyed the idea of having a baby in the house. Becky dropped by with some drinks and our first official food delivery (chicken enchiladas - yum), but the evening was ours. I had Abby on my chest - it was really, really, nice.
Pics in another post! I'm tired and will be up at the first shift tonight/tomorrow. :)
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