Not Your Typical Friday the 13th

Day of Life: 80

When I arrived at the hospital this morning, I saw that Tera's nurse had been having some fun through the night. She made this hat for Tera.

She's rockin' the big bow!

I arrived fairly early. Early enough to see Tera's pediatrician when she came around to check on her babies. She had been out since Monday, but before she left, she had encouraged me to hold out on the crib for a few extra days. When she came in this morning, I assured her that I held off the Neonatologist as long as he would let me. She laughed and said I had done a good job, then did her morning exam on Tera. Her temperature was still good, and she had eaten well through the night. The pediatrician started talking to me about the phone calls I would need to make on Monday. I would need to call the Pediatric Ophthamologist in Dothan to schedule her next follow-up eye exam. UAB would make all of my well-baby check-ups for me, and I would have to come back to Birmingham for a cardiology follow-up to check on her PDA.

Wait a minute! Why is she telling me all of this?

I asked, "Are we going home?" "Not today, but if all goes well, she can be discharged tomorrow."

I know they have been preparing us for about a month that this day was coming up soon, but it still seemed completely out of the blue. My stomach was in tiny knots, but I wasn't quite as scared as I thought I would be when this moment arrived. The doctor kept telling me things I need to know when I get home. I'm not sure if I can remember them all now, but they'll come to me when I need them. I'll need to check Tera's feet to see how cool or warm she is and not depend solely on the thermometer. I'm not supposed to go to church, the mall, or the grocery store for at least six weeks. We're also not supposed to have visitors come into our house for that long. She'll have two rounds of the RSV vaccination in the Fall - the first in early October, the second in early November. She'll continue to have her eyes checked until her vessels are mature, and she'll have cardiology appointments until her PDA closes or until it starts causing problems for her. I'm sure there's more that will come to me later.

The doctor left after that but came back by with the Neonatologist during Rounds later in the morning. He is adamant about keeping her temperature high. The first thing he says is to keep two hats on her. Check!

He also said that we would need to keep the thermostat set high at home. Check! Barry likes it to stay warm in the house anyway. After hearing Tera's report and checking her out, he agreed that we were ok to go home tomorrow.

I called Barry to give him the news. While he is very excited that Tera is doing so well, he wanted to talk to the pediatrician and ask her everything he could think of to assure himself that she really is ready. We made a plan to talk to the pediatrician first thing Saturday morning and also requested that we be discharged Sunday instead. That would give us time to figure out what to do with Canon and time to get some last minute things that we need for Tera at the house.

I waited until the doctors left to play dress-up for today. I didn't want her to have been unwrapped right before they came in.

Nonna and Poppa came by after lunch to check on Tera and hold her one last time (hopefully) before she goes home.

Then, it was time to start making plans. I left the hospital, much to the nurse's delight. She was eager to get to hold and feed Tera without my interruptions! I packed up a few things at Lydia's
and went to Babies R' Us to get the necessities - diapers, wipes, q-tips, hats, socks, etc. The plan for the night was for me to drive to Prattville to meet my parents, Barry, and Canon. My parents will take our second car back to Greenville with them so that we will only have one car to bring Tera home in. Canon will be staying with Nonna and Poppa for the week, and Barry will come back up to Birmingham next weekend to get him. He's still having some bad diapers, and while I'm almost positive it's because he's cutting teeth, we don't want to take any chances.

I came back to the hospital for an hour or so to see Tera before driving to Prattville. She had gotten her fifth and final immunization, Prevnar, while I was gone. This shot isn't supposed to effect her in the least. When I got to her room, this is how I found her:

I have been nervous about her riding in a car seat, especially for this three-hour drive home. Her nurse today had me bring her car seat inside, and she set her in it while she was still hooked up to the monitors so that we could see how she would handle it.

She did great! She doesn't have the floppy head issue that Canon always did - and still does at times. He gets so relaxed when he sleeps that his head falls down into his lap. I was so worried that Tera would have this same issue, but she doesn't seem to after today's Car Seat Test.

I left her then to go meet Barry, Canon, and my parents. Amelia and Ceil were with them, and we all enjoyed a big dinner together at Jim N Nick's. Barry and Canon were the last to arrive at the restaurant, and Canon immediately wanted me to hold him. He even laid his head on my shoulder for a few minutes. I, of course, loved it!

After saying good-bye to my parents (not sure when I'll see them again if we have to stay couped up inside with no visitors), Barry, Canon, and I piled into our family vehicle and headed north (possibly) for the last time for a long time.