Friday, March 16th - Kaia's Comments

Lauren is almost ready to come home! At 37 weeks, she is 6lbs 3oz and she is taking all of her feedings from bottle or breast! It must feel great not to have any tubes down your throat or needles in your arm after 3 months of sticks, pokes and incisions. She does still have a heart rate and oxygen monitor, and she still has a nasal canula to give her extra oxygen. But she is doing very well!!!

This has been the week of training. Not for Lauren, but for us as parents! We've learned how to give her synthroid medicine, how to feed her with a bottle and keep her awake, how to watch for color change in her face that may indicate low oxygenation of her blood, and many more little skills. We feel (almost) prepared for Lauren's homecoming and we're very excited to soon be a whole family under one roof. This weekend will be our big test. Grant and I will be staying overnight at the hospital with Lauren in a family room. (GrandD and Connor get to have a sleep over!) Lauren will be off her monitors and although the nurses will be just outside our door, she will be OUR RESPONSIBILITY!!! It sounds a little scary now, but I'm sure we'll do ok.

A few updates on Lauren: she passed her hearing test, which is great! She is now on a 'on demand' feeding schedule, which means she's waking up every 3-4 hours on her own and crying to let us know she's hungry, just like a regular newborn baby would do. As soon as she goes 5 days without a Brady or Apnea episode, she will be home!!

After all that we've been through, we are very excited to report that Lauren shows very few signs of any developmental or health problems. The biggest issue for Lauren at home will be her immune system, which is very sensitive. We have to do everything we can to ensure she doesn't get sick for the first 2 years of her life. This will obviously be challenging with our social lives and her big brother. It's likely that we'll be extreme home bodies for quite awile. It means no big homecoming party and no visitors in our house who have been recently sick. It means Purrell in every room and diligent handwashing. It means no daycare for either child for the next 2 years. It means anyone who visits must wash hands before touching her. It's not going to be easy, but it's for Lauren's health and of course we must do everything we can to give her the best shot at a healthy life!!

Again, thank you for ALL of your help - your notes, your calls, your cooked meals, your babysitting offers, your gifts, your letters, your prayers, your thoughts, your friendship and love. We feel like we've shared this journey with so many people and that has helped give us the strength to make it through.