One Week

I've been meaning to update long before now, but to be honest with you it's more fun to cuddle with Jax now that we're wire free and home! So here's our last week or so of life...

A week ago on Saturday, Jax was well on his way to finishing the 8 bottles. By that night, he was on the last bottle that needed to be drank in order for him to come home. I'm not going to lie...we made sure we weren't there for the 8th bottle because I'm pretty sure neither of us wanted the pressure of trying to coax him through those 60 mLs. He was 14 mL short of finishing the eighth bottle.

On Sunday afternoon, my parents and brother were in town so Tanner could see Jaxon. While Tanner and I were in the nursery, the nurse pulled out his feeding tube. I was surprised that she did, since we were told that he had to keep it in until he had finished the 8 bottles. My mom came in for a bit and we left when they were starting his car seat test (sitting strapped into his car seat for 90 minutes to make sure there are no respiratory problems, etc). This was another thing that confused me since we were told he couldn't do that either until the 8 bottle thing had been completed.

On Monday, Josh called the NICU over his lunch break to check and see how Jax was doing (he wasn't feeling very good, so he couldn't go to visit). The nurse told him Jaxon would be going home on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how his PKU scan went that night. By the time I got there after school, they had already hooked him up to the machine and taped on his plastic mustache to measure his breathing. If he "failed" the scan, he wouldn't come home until Wednesday because Tuesday night we would have to room in at the hospital with him to learn how to work the monitor. He would also be hooked up to that monitor 24 hours a day for who knows how long (one nurse said most are 3 to 6 months, but it could be just for one month too). If he passed the scan, he would be coming home on Tuesday. The lady that set up the monitors had told me that she would pick up the machine early on Tuesday morning and we would have results later in the day.

Tuesday morning (10am), I got a phone call from the hospital. The nurse told me they had the results from his scan and asked me when we wanted to pick up Jax to take him home. Since I was at school until 11:30 and Josh's lunch break wasn't until 12:30 I told them we'd be there over his lunch break. When I got off the phone, the kids wanted to know if I had been talking to Josh or the hospital (apparently those are the only 2 people that call my cell phone?). I told them that I would be getting to pick up Jax after school that day and we all did a happy dance. ;) One of the kids that has been particularly interested and worried about Jaxon stopped mid-dance and asked me if he had passed the "backpack test." I had told them about the scan on Monday and that if he failed the test, he would come home with a backpack with a computer in it and would still have to wear the stickers on his belly. He looked pretty relieved when I told him Jax had passed the test ~ he told me he had been praying that Jaxon would pass the backpack test and would be able to come home soon.

They weren't kidding when they said Jaxon was ready to go ~ when we got there, he was all packed up and ready to go. We signed the paperwork and walked through those lovely doors for the last time. (Not really the LAST time, since we have to go back for preemie clinic and other appointments, but you know what I mean.)

Since that day, it hasn't been too bad ~ Jax is pretty mellow (now, anyways). It is SO nice to have him home. I am glad to be away from the NICU. The nurses were amazing, but it's nice to be able to cuddle him without things beeping at you or nurses asking you questions. Plus...our cars are so much happier...I did the math, we put on over 800 miles between home and hospital in the 20 days that he was there.

We are so glad to have him home. He's kind of nice to have around. And cuddle. Or just watch sleep, I'm not picky. We kind of like him a little bit.