Thursday, July 14, 2011

Welcome Home!

It feels SO WONDERFUL to having our baby girl HOME. Just typing that makes my heart jump for joy. I just need to type it again, our baby girl is HOME.

On Monday, July 11th Andy and I headed back to McLeod to try our "overnight" stay with Whitney once again. We could tell immediately that this night would be different than the last, since the nurses practically wheeled Whitney into our room as soon as we arrived. We were told she passed her second car seat test the night before so there would be no need for a car bed (yay!) and if she did well while staying the night with us she would be cleared to go home in the morning.

A representative came by and showed us how to use the apnea monitor and got that set up on Whitney. The monitor isn't nearly as bad as we were thinking and it really does give peace of mind. It is about the size of a shoebox and is very portable and easy to move throughout the house. An ear piercing alarm goes off if her heart rate gets too high, or low, as well as if she stops breathing. The alarm also likes to go off if Mom and Dad forget to plug it in and it gets low on battery, or if she is too wiggly and one of the electrodes falls off. So far only the latter has happened and she seems to be doing great.

Once the nurses left us alone it was a pretty surreal moment. Andy and I alone with this little girl, what do we do now??? The first night there was really easy and she was so good. We probably only woke up 10 times to check on her (hahaha) The worst part about the stay was having to watch a Shaking Baby movie (how horrible) but we also got to learn about CPR and practice on some test babies. The babies were in a bag and Andy got his taste on what it would be like to have triplets!

The night went fine so the doctors and nurses were OK with sending her home. We were released around noon on Tuesday and almost sprinted out of the hospital, we're free! Whitney's doctor couldn't stress enough how good she looked. He reminded us of something he told us 2 weeks ago...regardless of what all the tests and results may say, one of the best ways to judge how a baby will do later on in life with a brain injury is how they look at the time of going home. He said if someone were to be walking through the NICU and saw her, they would wonder why she was there, she looks like nothing had happened to her. She was doing and reacting just like a term baby should, we were so proud of her. Another nurse said she never would have thought Whitney's progress would happen as quickly as it did. She admitted that she would have expected her to go home with a feeding tube and many more monitors and didnt expect her to be feeding as good as she was.

So needless to say, after the exhausting few weeks it really did feel great to have her in our car and on our way home.
She has been such a content little baby so far. Andy and I have yet to hear her cry, but the doctors and nurses reassure us they have heard her and it is nothing for us to be worried about. Each day her "squeaks" get louder and louder though, so I'm trying to enjoy this quiet time as much as possible, because I think she'll get her lungs in the next few days. With her not crying it has caused a bit of stress on reading her needs and wants. Since she is so content we are just guessing right now on when she is hungry etc. She does show lots of signs of hunger and needing burping etc, but it's unusual to not hear her crying cues.

We cannot express how proud we are of Whitney and how well she has done in these past few days. The love and support from our families, friends, coworkers and so many others has been remarkable. I do believe all the prayers have made a positive impact and cannot thank everyone enough. We always knew she was a miracle but seeing now what she has gone through and the fact that she is home and doing so well really makes that miracle so much stronger.




6 comments:

  1. Sarah, I'm so, so, so happy for you both at this news!!!!! How amazing that she has pulled through so well - you will all continue to be in my prayers! Enjoy your beautiful little girl!

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  2. WHEN CAN I COME OVER!@??!?!?!?!?! I love her green flower onesie! Picked out on Mommy's birthday :) her pink skullcap - she is ready to be a gangsta' :) LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

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  3. So many happy tears for you to finally have your baby girl at home. Whitney is just beautiful, congratulations again!

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  4. Sarah you are so blessed! She is absolutely gorgeous:) You and your family have been in our prayers. I am so happy to hear such wonderful news! What an amazing little girl you have:)

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  5. This is a very special little girl. And Sara, we are powerful! I believe that together we all CREATED this outcome. We won! :)P.S. I LOVE your yellow walls. So happy!

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  6. There is a REASON this sweet little girl is here. Maybe it was to make us all depend on God more, maybe it was to help some believe in miracles and maybe we will find out in the future (president maybe??) LOL but I feel 100% in my heart that she is here for a very special reason and right now it's to cause joy and happiness in the White household. Love you guys!

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