Coming Home!

Really good news from the NICU team, Lilah will be coming home within the next couple days. I knew the day was comign soon, but when I arrived at the hospital yesterday with Randy and Ryan, the nurse came in and told me she tried calling me because she wanted to discuss some thing we have to do before she comes home. I asked well when will that be, and she said hopefully by her due date, which is Thursday! First thing I have to do is take in her car seat today, so they can do a carseat test. They are going to have to check out my jeep to let me know the best way to transport her oxygen tank. It has to be secure because if something were to hit it or puncture it, it turns into a giant missle (her words). Both Josh and I are going to have to watch the CPR DVD, and a DVD on Shaken Baby Syndrome. They said they would try to fit her hearing screen in last night, so we can get that out of the way. She'll also be needing her hepatitis B shot. We will have to go through all her medications and when and how to distribte them, and she will be going home with an oxygen tank and a monitor so we will have to learn how to do all that too. She asked if I am going to be ok with all this, and I said I don't care what I have to do I just want her home. She said it'll be a lot of work, and I probably won't be going anywhere anytime soon, but this is they way to get her home. I am a little nervous about having her home, but so excited. I was telling Josh last night, it feels like we are going to pick up a kid we adopted, it feels somewhat like we didn't even have a baby. When you give birth and take a baby home you never lose that connection, because they go straight from being inside you to being beside you. Not that I don't feel a connection, but it's almost like you have to get to know your baby all over again. Strangers have essentially been her parents over the last month and a half, and now I have to step into that role. I have come to realize over the past weeks that they know more about her then I do. I am hoping that everything will come natural and easy and it'll feel like she was always here. I am also a little nervous about bringing her home here to the hectic and crazy environment that is the Berthiaume household. I am hoping that she won't be too stressed out. Then again she won't be getting poked and prodded on a daily basis, so maybe she will like it better. Who knows. I will also have many follow-up appointments in the next couple months, so it looks like I will be having a busy summer. I am actually looking forward to the sleepless nights and the diapers and responsibility This is what I have been waiting for!!