Last Saturday, we were told by a nurse practitioner she was hoping to get us home in the next two weeks. That timeline was pretty rough for me to hear because my maternity leave would be over by then. But then something wonderful happened and the doctors who did rounds switched staffing and we had a new doctor. The first thing he asked was why she still had her feeding tube in. After a few excuses were given, he told them to take it out. Callista ate between 50-60 ml at each feeding for 24 hours. We were then told we could go home but no earlier than Wednesday (much better timeline). So we brought our car seat on Tuesday so the car seat test could be done in case we did get to go home on Wednesday. The doctor stopped by and informed us that we could go home that evening if we wanted. Well YES we wanted to! And so without being prepared what so ever, we got her car seat test done, our CPR class completed, and had everyone and their brother stop by to finish "teaching" (nutrition, etc). And by 8:00pm on Valentine's Day, we loaded up our baby and headed home for the first time. Wow, that was such a good feeling!
I'm so thrilled I can finally introduce my Callista to all of my family and friends. At this point, I am the very anal mom who makes everyone wash their hands and use hand sanitizer before touching or holding her. Hey, we worked so hard to get her here and we've all been through so much, it's within my parental rights I think ;) Everyone asks me if I'm getting any rest and I happily reply "no I'm not". Why am I happy about this? Because now her daddy and I are the ones taking care of her, not some random nurse who doesn't know her or doesn't take their time with her. I'm so happy to be getting up at 3am with the love of my life after all this time.
We had our first pediatrician appointment yesterday and we were happy with the results. The doctor said he was really impressed with her range of movements and told us we obviously did something right to do what we did. He gave us a few things to do for her legs to help her build some more tone in her legs and to help her feet flexes (I don't know if that's a word?). He also told us to just feed her whatever she wants for now, and she'll build up her own tolerance to bigger feeds as she gets older. Which makes me feel better since Children's Hospital had us paranoid that she was going to starve to death if she didn't eat 60 ml every time, all the time.
As for now, we have a lot of appointments in the next few weeks with Help Me Grow, BCMH, her evaluation team, neuro, audiology, and our first Myelo clinic (nervous about that one...). We know we still have a lot to go through, but right now, her "abilities" are the least of my worries, because I have a beautiful little girl who needs exactly what every other infant needs: to be fed, changed, and cuddled profusely.
Please share with friends and family that Callista's benefit dinner is next Saturday, February 25th. We appreciate the sharing and hope to have a great turn out. Love you all!
Congrats! She is beautiful!
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