Cameron’s Home

Tanya spent a lot of time this morning on the phone with the doctors and nurses.  When we went to sleep last night, we were pretty convinced that Sophia was going to get a blood transfusion today.  They did some more tests today that showed her red blood cell count was on the rise and was now in the acceptable range.  It was still on the low side, but it was enough that they didn’t want to do a transfusion.  As routine as transfusions are, we still weren’t thrilled at the idea.  We’re glad she didn’t need one.

Sophia still had issues with more of her feedings last night.  The extra “at least 72 hours” that Sophia earned with her first desat episode is actually going to be more like a week.  We won’t know for sure when Sophia is coming home until much closer to when it actually happens.

Meanwhile, Sophia won the cute parade today in the NICU.  She was sporting head to toe pink cuteness…

It’s sad to see her feeding tube back in.  It’s a simple thing, but it still makes us feel like we’re so far away from taking her home…

She was more alert today, however.  She was really enjoying her binky.  I had to run out to the military personnel and insurance offices to iron out some paperwork errors for the kids.  That trip cost me most of the afternoon with the twins.  While I was away, Sophia got “assessed” by one of the occupational therapists.  From the way it sounds, it was every bit as much of an assessment of Tanya.  Sophia breast fed perfectly.  I guess she does well under pressure.  This is not a picture of her breast feeding…

Before we left for the day, I was able to spend some quality time with Sophia.  Because of her desat issues while feeding, Sophia took a break after she fed with Tanya and got her next feeding through the tube.  I didn’t get passed out on or barfed on!

Tanya spent some great time bonding with Sophia too.  Sophia acted like she didn’t understand why there wasn’t a breast involved in this feeding…

In case you missed yesterday’s news, Cameron got to go home today!  Since Sophia didn’t get to go home, most of the photos from today are of Cameron.  Sophia will get her turn soon enough.  The car seats we bought were specifically designed to handle preemies, but Cameron still looked tiny in it…

Here’s Cameron’s old crib.  Empty!

Here’s his monitor.  Disconnected and off!

Cameron was a sport about his car seat.  He was a little fussy about it, but put up with me learning how to strap him in…

I strapped him in then checked to make sure everything was snug.  Cameron’s 5 lbs 2 oz today.  I’m glad he wasn’t any smaller…

Take me home!!!

Seriously!?  The straps are as big as he is.  He’s now about 2 lbs heavier than when he was born – that’s about 66% bigger.  I can’t imagine what he’d look like in the car seat back then…

To make sure he was comfy and safe, we removed his little strap pads.  I could get him a snugger fit without them…

Before we left, I said goodbye to Sophia.  I did that by taking some more pictures of her…

She woke up enough to blink at me a few times.  See you soon, little girl.

It was in the 40’s and windy outside, so we added an extra layer over Cameron to keep him warm.

It was terrible to leave Sophia at the hospital.  It felt like we were abandoning her.  Before we left, Tanya took a few minutes to give Sophia some love…

Here we are ready to leave the NICU with Cameron!

You will not believe this.  To leave the hospital, Tanya wasn’t allowed to walk and I wasn’t allowed to carry Cameron.  Tanya had to sit in a wheel chair and hold Cameron’s car seat.  Really?  This is the doing of evil lawyers…

Here we are escaping with Cameron out the front door…

We packed Cameron away in the back seat (well, we really just clicked his car seat in place) and posed for one last picture leaving the hospital…

It was  a 45 minute car ride home.  Cameron was pretty uneasy for about the first 15 minutes of it.  After that, he did pretty well.  I definitely don’t recommend giving your preemie his first car ride at night.  He was tough to see and he didn’t like us turning the light on to look at him.

Once we got home, Tanya did the honors of bringing Cameron inside.  Here’s his first few seconds in our home…

Tanya quickly found her way to the cuddle couch and lit the fire.  They were cozy and warm…

The cats were a little baffled at the new addition to the family.  The sniffed and looked confused.  Then they posed for this photo…

One slightly scary thing is that Tia, the cat on the right in the photo above, weighs more than 3 times what Cameron weighs.  Cameron’s working on that though.

Our cat Tobie stopped by to sniff Cameron a few times.  Cameron makes some funny little noises that Tobie didn’t understand.  I’m sure he’ll learn…

Here’s Cameron’s “going home outfit” from grandma…

It amazing not having to deal with wires to hold your kid.  He’s like…a kid!

After the couch cuddle time, Cameron got a bath.  He ate some dinner and racked out.  What a day!

His new bed is much less evil-hospital-like.  It might even be comfy…

It’s awesome to be home with Cameron.  Our joy is tempered a bit because Sophia is still fighting to get out of the hospital.  For now, we’re on a “split ops” schedule.  I’m going to stay at home and take care of Cameron while Tanya jets back & forth to the hospital to finish teaching Sophia the things she needs to come home. We’re definitely looking forward to having them both at home.

Since we’ve been home, we’ve learned that Cameron is more afraid of the dark than he is of a quiet room.  Neither are very comforting to him right now.  I’m sitting in the twins’ nursery writing this while Tanya gets some rest.  When I’m here (making noise?), Cameron sleeps really well.  We’re going to ween him off noisy bright rooms as soon as we can, but I’m guessing Sophia will have to work through that too.

In the morning, I’m turning over the keys of our airplane to its new owner.  I’m really sad to see it go.  That plane let us travel all over the country (including a trip to see a friend pilot the Space Shuttle on his first mission to space) and enabled lots of extremely short notice trips to see Tanya’s mom when she was battling cancer.  With the twins, the plane doesn’t fit our family any more.  Besides the dual-college fund, I’m going to start saving pennies for our next plane…someday…

3 thoughts on “Cameron’s Home”

  1. I wouldn’t be too worried about weaning the twins off of bright lights and noise. The ability to sleep through anything is something I would have loved to have had when mine were little!

  2. I’m soooo happy for you guys!! Welcome home Cameron!! I agree… make all the noise you want… they will adjust. I used to run the sweeper when my twins napped… heck… I even ran it in their room a couple of times when they were sleeping… didn’t bother them a bit. I hope Sophia gets to come home soon!!

  3. I have enjoyed following your blog on your twins. You are very blessed and I am soooo happy that Cameron is home!! Sophia is right behind him! Have a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year…. I will keep all of you in my prayers.

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