They Said the Magic Word!

So Wednesday started out as usual...Got up, ate breakfast, pumped a few times, then headed to WakeMed to see my boy. I got there just before rounds (as usual), and Dr. Kicklighter says something about thinking about discharging Tyler soon. Whoa...I still had the 2-3 week timeframe in my head, and we hadn't even hit two weeks yet. Then he says they'll order the circumcision (which is done by the OB) and Hepatits B shot and if all goes well they'll discharge him on Friday! (he also said that at the time we were the only patients in that section of the NICU covered by private insurance, which surprised me!).


My mind started into overdrive about all the things we needed to get/do before bringing him home and I called Eric to let him know - he was at work and would need to let them know since he was planning to take some time off when Tyler comes home. He was as surprised as I was about the Friday time frame. Plus I was trying to not get my hopes up just in case something went wrong (been there done that while I was on bedrest!).


Wednesday evening's visit and Thursday's both went well. We took the carseat up there for them to do the carseat test (they put him in the carseat for an hour and monitor to ensure that none of his vitals change). We also took an Infant CPR class. And Friday morning we headed to WakeMed for (hopefully) the last time for a long time. Dr. Rush from my OB's practice did the circumcision at 10 am (just before we got there) and he tolerated it well. We were there from 11-3 on Friday, doing a couple of feedings, meeting the pediatrician (so far we like them a lot!), Dr. Rush came by to say good luck and congrats (which was sweet of her; she is the one that admitted me on 12/17, and discharged me on 3/2), and watching a video on baby care.


Then we packed everything up, and headed downstairs. Tyler got to see the world outside the NICU, breathe some fresh air, get his first car ride, and was introduced to his first home (with a stop at Subway - lunch for mom and dad! Tyler and I waited in the car).

He's settled in at home nicely. He does pretty much the same thing he did at the NICU - sleep, eat, poop/pea. The cats are intrigued and a little inquisitive, the dog is slightly less interested. He likes his pack and play as well as the bassinet that Nick and Kristen loaned us. We were up every 3 hours last night with feedings/changings so we took a little catnap today. Gotta get used to those, I guess.

Monday we go to the pediatrician for a check up. I have been working on breastfeeding with him but can't figure out if he gets enough out of it. When we were at the hospital they could weigh him before and after to determine how much he'd taken and the most at one time was 16 ml. His feeding schedule has a minimum of 35 ml, so that means he's taking a bottle after breastfeeding, and it ends up being a 2 hour ordeal to breastfeed, fix a bottle, pump, and clean everything. So, Eric and I have decided I'm going to pump and we'll bottle feed him with my breastmilk. If my supply doesn't keep up with his feeding amounts we'll supplement but hopefully if I keep up with my pumping it will work out. This way we can tell exactly how much he is getting and he is getting the best nutrition early on.

And, we got an non-itemized bill for my 2 days in L&D when we got to WakeMed, plus my 74 days in antepartum/postpartum (so it does not include the delivery or NICU time)....the grand total for that was $94k. Phew! Very glad to seee the "This is not a bill" on the statement. And even more thankful for insurance; I am sure we'll have some insurance battles to get this all settled out, but at least the majority should be taken care of.
It's kind of hard to believe that after everything we went thru, starting last May when I met with Dr. Meyer at Carolina Conceptions, to now, that he is here and healthy.