Lizzie is Here Part 2

After we arrived home, Rebecca brought Brett and Alana back home. It was so nice to see them! I had run to the hospital to hold Lizzie and got to FaceTime with the kids, they thought it was pretty cool to see their sister. At 8 that night we were allowed to give Lizzie her first bottle. Sean got to do the honors =) We felt so grateful to be living with Mom and Dad because Sean and I could go over together every night at 8 and every morning at 5 to see Lizzie. One of us would go at 11 and the other at 2. There is no way we could have maintained 4 visits a day without Mom and Dad Z! Sean and I talked about how it was actually one of our favorite parts of the whole experience visiting Lizzie in the hospital, she was all ours and we didn’t have to share with anyone (except 1 particularly pushy nurse). Rebecca lent me her breast pump while we wait for the one from insurance to come through and that has really helped since I only tried nursing once at the hospital. Breastfeeding is still really rocky, but I haven’t completely given up yet =) (*update: a combination of high stress, 3 children, extremely painful latching, a baby who preferred the bottle, and a nasty uterine infection, we officially have a formula drinking baby)

Sean and I had bracelets that let the NICU know that we were Lizzie’s parents. We kept them on the entire time she was there, I was pretty glad to get mine off!

On Friday, while Sean was visiting Lizzie the respiratory therapist came in and approved our girl to try room air. She did great and never went back. The policy for any baby with respiratory issues is that they have to be off oxygen for 48 hours before they can be discharged so we were so excited because this started her countdown to coming home! We celebrated with some Costa Vida =)

On Saturday, Sean and Brett mowed the lawn while Lana played on the swings.

It was so good to see this pretty little face without all the tubes! She needed to do a carseat test before she could come home too. They put her in her carseat for 2 hours and watch her monitors to make sure she didn’t have any dips. She did great!!

Sean bought me beautiful flowers and a new shirt =)

It is so nice to have our girl home with us!

My parents bought a fun sign, balloons, and a giraffe balloon to welcome Lizzie home! We had a chocolate cake too =)

On Sunday morning we knew that Lizzie was going to be discharged so we got all dressed and ready and worked on cleaning the house (which Sean pointed out that Lizzie actually wouldn’t care if the house was clean or not, but it made us feel better!) We arrived at the hospital at 10:30 and they told us that we couldn’t take her till about noon because it needed to be the full 48 hours off oxygen. We had brought Dad Z and the kids with us so we just hung out in the waiting room for awhile, then went back to help get Lizzie ready.

When we first arrived on Sunday morning, Lizzie was in the swing. The nurse said she didn’t want to be in her bed anymore, she just wanted to be held. So we joked that she had made a nuisance of herself so they would kick her out=)

Getting her last tubes out and her going home outfit on:

She enjoyed the carseat ride home:

Brett and Alana were giddy to finally meet their new sister! They love to hold her and help her in anyway they can!

Grandma and Grandpa also got to hold her for the first time; Brett and Alana were happy to supervise!

My Grandma was able to come out on Sunday to celebrate with us. We had a yummy dinner and just basked in being all together! When I first told my Grandma I was pregnant, I never imagined that she would be here for Lizzie’s arrival. What a wonderful blessing that we get to have her here with us still!

Sean and I were so worried about Lizzie stopping breathing. It was so weird to have her home and with no monitors to tell us she was okay. We put her in her swing for a bit, but we both got nervous with that.

Then we got her all tucked in her bed for the night. She looked so tiny in her big bed! I set an alarm to get up and pump and also feed her. After I pumped I looked over at our girl and had a very strong impression that she was just fine! So I did something very uncharacteristic of me with a brand new baby fresh from the NICU, I let her sleep! She did great that first night and I think slept for a 5 hour stretch!

Stay tuned for our next post which will be titled after one of our new favorite songs “Shut Up and Dance With Me” except ours will be “Shut Up and Cry With Me!”