Sweet homecomings...

Yep, you read it right! We're HOME for good, with Titus. (HUGE sigh of relief) It feels so good to be at home with the whole family together. (Titus is happy, too!)

The past few days have been great. Titus is now officially over 6 pounds (6 lb 1 oz last night!), and had a lot of last appointments. He had his eyes checked again, and everything looks great so far. He got circumcised (and handled it fairly well, considering...), and passed his car seat test after one failed attempt. The first try he got about half way through (45 minutes!), and his O2 levels lowered into the 80s and wouldn't come back up. There was a LOT of action in the NICU at the time, so the nurse suggested we try again in the middle of the night when stuff quieted down. I slept while they tested him again, and he passed just fine. This morning he got a couple shots (one the last dose of the meds that help his body produce more blood cells, which have been helping as his numbers were up this week, the other was a pseudo vaccine against RSV), I picked up his vitamins from the pharmacy, and we were discharged. Nick came and picked me up with our cooler in tow to pick up all the milk I had pumped over the past 5 weeks (what they hadn't used in the NICU for Titus' feeds, i.e. the EXTRA), and there's so much the cooler wouldn't close! Anyone know anybody who needs to feed a baby? I could be feeding twins right now! We definitely won't use it all, since Titus is nursing so well. Nick has been joking about making cheese or ice cream...

Once we were all set to go we went and visited all the units we've been intimately working with since this whole story started. We stopped in at the postpartum ward first, as that was the staff I got to know the best. Most of the nurses hadn't met Titus yet, so it was fun for them to see him and for us to thank them and say good-bye (or see ya later really). Then we stopped in at Labor and Delivery, and finished up at the NICU. Here's a photo of us with the chief neonatologist, Dr. Welch.

We have been so blessed to have such amazing doctors and nurses such great care of us. I truly cannot thank them enough for all their compassionate, hard work. Things would have been so much more difficult without such caring people taking care of Titus and me!

Then, it was off to home...

A friend of ours spent the afternoon with Stella and Ezra while a team of ladies came and cleaned and tidied up the house in preparation for our homecoming. The kids made signs to welcome us, which was very fun! Stella wrote the sign herself. They were both proud of their work!

The kids immediately asked to hold their brother, of course! Ezra was super cute, especially when he noticed Titus had a booger in his nose. He looked at me and said, "Titus have booger in nose? Mama, get it." Then I told him we could just leave it alone, and he proceeds to grab Titus finger and say, "Me show Titus how get booger," and tries to stick Titus' finger up his nose for him. Oh, dear, the mischieviousness has begun. I can only imagine the tricks Ezra will teach his little bro in the future...

We've had a very nice evening together as a family under one roof! Dinner was ready and keeping warm when we arrived (thank you again, my friend!), and we spent some time hanging our and getting unpacked (and opening the 10 packages Nick picked up from the PO!). Now we're settled and Nick's enjoying spending some QT with little man.

Gotta love it! Thank you all again, from the bottom of our hearts, for everything; every prayer, well wish, facebook note, phone call, etc. Without the outpouring of love and care we've experienced, our family would be struggling right now instead of rejoicing. We love you all and look forward to introducing many of you to our little, but getting bigger daily, Titus very soon!