Home Sweet Home

Sophie is now home! Which means that we are happy. And tired.

Friday was a very emotional day for me. I was saying goodbye to my "job" for the last 10 weeks, which was both sad and happy. As I've said before, everyone at the NICU was wonderful, and it was a safe haven for Sophie. Saying goodbye to some of the nurses who helped us out and were so friendly to our family was hard. But it is very exciting to bring Sophie home. The best part of leaving was the excitement that Owen showed in bringing Sophie home. He was jumping around with delight. On the ride home he told me to stop crying, and I explained to him that it was a happy cry. Keith and I realized that kids don't have happy cries; I wonder at what point that changes.

Keith's parents took Owen Friday night so that we could focus on Sophie. That was a big help. Our afternoon/evening/morning was spent figuring out feedings, medicines, where to put all the supplies, and trying to get some sleep. Our house is slowly getting cleaned up and organized. Sophie actually did sleep pretty well, but gets rather upset whenever she has a dirty diaper, which is often. We were told to give her a continuous feeding at night - she gets 315ccs over an 8-9 hour time period. I have to add milk to the pump once during the night, but that is much easier than trying to warm up milk when she wakes up hungry. We are still up and down multiple times during the night, making getting enough sleep difficult.

One day time feeding takes a lot of work:
1. Mix up the breast milk with some Neosure to add calories (which you can do ahead of time for the full day's feedings).
2. Put it in the bottle and warm it in hot water.
3. I can try breastfeeding a couple times a day, which usually involves Sophie trying to latch on a couple of times, maybe sucking for a few minutes, and then falling asleep.
4. Then try the bottle, during which I have to look for cues that she needs to stop (not focused or about to choke). She generally takes about half of the bottle before going limp or being too unorganized.
5. Burp (usually a couple times).
6. Then set up the pump, which involves priming, attaching to Sophie, and setting the rate.
7. If she's due for any meds, we do that during her tube feed.
8. Pump myself.
9. Clean everything.

This can easily take 1.5-2 hours total. Compare that to breastfeeding:
1. Breastfeed for approx 30 minutes.
2. Burp.

Ok, so I'm over simplifying breastfeeding (especially to start), but it really is the easiest way to feed once you get the hang of it. We're still getting used to everything, so I'm hoping we get more efficient at the whole process. I really hope that we will be solely breastfeeding some day.

Owen has been wonderful so far. He hasn't really shown any jealousy so far. He has said "Hi Sophie!" to her many times, and brought various toys and books to her. The worst thing that he's done is take her pacifier and put it in his mouth (good thing we have three!).

From Sophie comes home

Today he was playing with the letters on his fridge and I helped him spell out our names:

From Sophie comes home

He doesn't quite have the left to right thing down yet. :-)

We are now a family of four. I can't help but look back at the fun I've had with my brother and our family growing up, camping, sailing, swimming, etc. And although things are a bit tough and tiresome right now, I know that one day we will be making our own family memories. And that makes me cry. A happy cry.

From Sophie comes home