Happy Birthday to Me!

For my 31st birthday, I got the most amazing gift: my baby got to come home!

Yesterday, we took CPR training and were expecting to get trained on the home monitor so we could room in at the hospital for the night to get comfortable with caring for Turtle. Of course, nothing is ever THAT easy, and we ran into a snag with the insurance company. Apparently, they were having issues with their vendors, and none of their network providers wanted to give a monitor (an issue that left us all furious with no answers).

Our social worker finally contacted an out-of-network provider who was not only happy to provide the monitor at a negotiated rate, but would also send a rep out to train us at 6pm (we got this call at 5). So we threw our stuff together and flew to the NICU to do our training and our rooming in.

The monitor wasn't bad. The alarm volume is piercing, and there are a lot false alarms due to leads not being attached correctly (frustrating as anything). It's relatively easy to use, but it's nerve-wracking when the machine is having issues. We have to log everything that happens in detail and so far, we have only logged two bradys (although there are a ton of apneas, but we're not really counting those because he's been breathing the whole time those have gone off).

Our night went great. DH and I switched off feedings (Turtle is on a perfect 3 hour schedule) and we had a fantastic night.

The physician's assistant also met with us to tell us that the MRI was perfectly fine, and that Turtle has a small hole between the walls of the atria in his heart. No one is particularly concerned about it - they feel it's something that will heal on its own although we are going to keep an eye on it.

This morning, they did the carseat test on him (apparently he screwmed the whole time, but passed). DH too me to Panera for breakfast and then we went home to do final prep. DH also brought me the most gorgeous flowers.

At lunchtime, we went back to the hospital and did the usual waiting around while they prepped everything. And hten it was time to go. We wheeled him to the car in a little wagon and loaded him up. Our nurse told us to keep an eye out for the annual NICU reunion picnic, and asked us to come back and visit.

The pediatrician squeezed us in this afternoon on our way home from the hospital. He was very pleased: Turtle is up to 7 pounds, 1 ounce (up from 6 lbs, 5 oz as his low this week). He's got a hearty appetite and we have appointments with the cardiologist in 6 months and the sleep apnea clinic in June (part of the requirement for the monitor).

And now he's home. He's had a rough day so he's been doing lots of sleeping, which is ok. Oscar, Molly & Bentley are completely not interested in him and all is normal again.

Mom cooked us a yummy dinner (pasta with pink sauce and spinach patties) for my birthday, and we finally popped open the bottle of champagne DH brought when Turtle was born.

I think it's pretty much the best birthday ever.