Gonna Make This Place Your Home

Zachary on Halloween as we prepare to leave the hospital.

Zachary was discharged on Wednesday and made it home just in time for Halloween! He weighed five pounds and one ounce, and was 18.5 inches long. It is amazing to remember that just a little over three months ago when he was born he was just one pound and nine ounces. He has come so far and shown so much strength through his many challenges.

We were so relieved and happy when they unplugged him from the monitors and cut off his ID and security bands. It was all we could do to not run out of there with him before they could change their minds!

 At the same time we were sorry to say goodbye to the amazing nurses, doctors and staff at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit who have taken such wonderful care of him. After spending so many hours there, we have gotten to know many of the staff well, and feel inspired by their commitment to sick and preemie babies like Zach. Most of all, we will miss his four "primaries", nurses who were with Zachary from the beginning. These four extraordinary women: Janet, Helen, Loretta, and Dawn, have taken care of Zach like he was their baby. We will miss them but hope to stay in touch and visit the NICU staff when we bring Zach in for doctor's appointments.

Two guys burping

Now we have been home for 2 days. We are still adjusting to the new routine of life with a "newborn" and Zachary is getting used to his new surroundings - he is a lot calmer with background noise and lights than with quiet and darkness. In a way we feel lucky that we have gotten to know him so well prior to bringing him home. We are champion diaper changers at this point! We feel pretty comfortable caring for him though we still stand over him periodically to check that he is breathing. Typical new parent behavior.

A home health nurse came to check on him the morning after his discharge and said he is doing well. She also weighed him and noted that his weight was slightly more than the previous day, and that that was a good sign since he is no longer receiving half of his feedings with fortified milk. Another nurse will visit Saturday and he will see a pediatrician early next week to make sure he continues to be healthy and gain weight.

Because he was born so early and is still really small, Zachary is especially vulnerable to illnesses. A common cold or flu for another person likely means rehospitalization for Zachary in the best case and possible permanent lung damage in the worst case. His doctors want us to limit his contact with other people as much as possible during the the flu season (November- March), so we may be a little antisocial this winter and we apologize in advance if we are overly obsessive about hand sanitizer. Depending on how he does we hope to have (healthy) people start visiting in small groups in the next couple of weeks. Get your flu shot!

We can't express how grateful we are for our friends and family, who have supported us through this journey. Your compassion and kindness to the three of us have touched us deeply. We have said many times that we believe that the reason that Zachary has done as well as he has has a lot to do with the tremendous amount of love coming his way from around the world. Thank you.

The title of this post is inspired by the lyrics of "Home" by Philip Phillips. Sometimes we sing this song to Zachary to sooth him and the lyrics, although cheesy, also speak to us as we focus on our role as his primary caretakers during this next phase of his journey.

A few days after he was born

Today