- She's over 7 pounds now
- She successfully completed "12-hour request"
- She successfully completed "24-hour request"
- She successfully completed "24-hour on demand"
- And you know what that means…she got to come home!!!
On Sunday night we were weighing her before giving her a bath. In order to get an accurate weight we had to take off all her clothes and her diaper. I think you know where this is going. I was carrying her to the scale and she peed. All over me. Leann was absolutely delighted. As was the nurse. I smugly informed Leann that I'd gotten the luck of the draw because Lillian would be pooping on her some time in the near future.
To give you an idea of how much she's grown, here are some before (left, just a few days after she was born) and after (right, the day she was discharged) pictures. My head is bent funny in both pictures, but that was by design—Leann says I always look stoned when I face the camera.
After we completed the "24-hour on demand" the nurse gave us all of Lillian's things that we could take home (e.g. some diapers and wipes, prescriptions [2], but not her Halo) and Leann dressed Lillian up in her "going home" outfit, complete with headband.
We put Lilli in her carseat (which is still way bigger than her) and the nurse carried her downstairs while I brought around the car.
We were really excited to get her home. And just for the record, she's so much easier to take care of at home.
We cut off our NICU bands forever! There were many great doctors and nurses who took care of Lillian while she was there, but we're glad to be done with it.
Grandma Martin came to stay with us for a while to help us adjust to having a baby at home. She's been a lot of help.
Here's Lillian before one of her baths at home. When the bath was over, I took Lilli out and handed her to Leann who wrapped her in a towel. Then Leann started squawking. I think we all know what happened. (If you can't guess, read my prediction above.)
The occupational therapists that worked with Lillian at the hospital told us that her development doesn't start until her due date (in other words, until August 26th, Lilli is still "in the womb"). Thus we're supposed to count her baby milestones (e.g. rolling over, sitting up, etc.) from her due date, not her birth date. According to the charts we've looked at [3], she shouldn't try to pick up her head for another month or so. She doesn't go for very long in this video, but she's already able to lift her head for as long as 10 seconds!
Since she's home, now, I can count any lilies I see on my way to campus as Lilli's lilies since we don't have to go to the hospital anymore.
Notes:
[1] For more about her unexpected arrival, see here. For week one milestones, etc., see here. For week two milestones, etc., see here. For week three milestones, etc., see here. For week four milestones, etc., see here. For week five milestones, etc., see here. For week six milestones, etc., see here.
[2] For the time being she still has to have calories supplemented into her milk twice a day. She also gets iron sulfate (because she's anemic), poly-vi-sol (a poly-vitamin solution), Prevacid (for her acid reflux), and BioGaia (another probiotic, this time Lactobacillus reuteri). Since the iron sulfate makes her constipated (which for little babies means it comes out the consistence of green algae), we sometimes have to give her a glycerine suppository.
[3] e.g. this one. Also, one time at the hospital we played a game where I would move out of her line of vision. She wasn't able to follow me, but she did know where I was going and would find me within a second or two. I haven't tried playing that with her again, yet, to see if it was real.
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