Home Sweet Home

Well, we made it! Exiting the doors at Aultman's NICU marked the end to another chapter in this emotional story. Audrey's 44 day home in the NICU ended. We begin the new chapter with Audrey at home. I know, I know...where are the pictures? I will upload some as soon as I figure out why my computer is not reading my SD card.

Let me first start by saying Audrey's first week has gone well. I was so leary about her coming home without a monitor. I surely thought she should be on one just in case something would go wrong. Well, God must have known how concerned I was and provided Audrey with a built-in model. I'm not kidding one bit when I say, my beautiful little Audrey grunted all night long. Seriously, all night. At 2 am Kevin finally said, are you sleeping? Surely not. Who could? There was no doubt she was breathing. Funny thing was while we were tossing and turning, she was sound asleep through all her grunting. Needless to say it was a long night. By the end of it, Kevin was in Dawson's room, Dawson was in bed with me, and Audrey was sound asleep just as Lane was waking up. Doesn't leave much sleep for Mom in there anywhere.

The boys are just in awe over Audrey. Dawson says she's his girlfriend, such innocense. Lane just looks at her and smiles as long as she's in her pack n play, carseat or bassinette. If Audrey is in Mommy's arms, he's dying to be held and no longer interested in the "intruder." Dawson loves Audrey so much, he constantly wants to hold her or touch her. I have to share a funny Dawson story with you. On the second night that Audrey was home with us the boys sat down to eat dinner and I finished nursing. Audrey was quite fussy. OK, she was wailing. She doesn't have the entire nursing thing down yet and gets quite impatient. So, I hear Dawson ask Kevin "Daddy, do we get to keep Audrey forever?" Smiling, and surely proud of the sweetness oozing out of our son, Kevin said "yep, we get to keep her forever". Dawson didn't skip a beat and replied "What are we going to do about the screaming?" I don't know that we stopped giggling soon enough to answer. That's Dawson, so sweet and innocent, yet so beyond his years.

Audrey's homecoming will be a true adjustment for everyone. I really no longer know what is normal and the boys don't either. We will completely have to redefine that in our household. I know that I said in a previous post that my boys wouldn't know what to do when I come home and Audrey is out of the hospital. I knew they would be bored and not nearly as spoiled as they have been the past 7 weeks. I learned how truly bored they would be with me when Dawson asked if he could go watch Nina paint. I explained to him that Nina wasn't painting a picture she was painting a room in a rental. He said "I know, can I pleaaaase go with her?" He did. I imagined they would return in a few minutes after he had his fill of just how boring that could be. Well, to my surprise Dawson returned home 2 hours later. So there you have it, my son would rather watch paint dry than spend a day home with mom.

It has been an amazing road traveled over the past 8 months. The TTTS is over. My pregnancy is over. Olivia's service is over. The rush of trips to and from the NICU is over. Audrey is home. It is only now when everything has slowed down that true healing can begin. I again thank you for your continued prayers for our family. They are much needed and much appreciated.

This post has been quite long as I've been working on it bit by bit. I must say sleep deprivation, a preschooler, a toddler, and a newborn don't allow much time for blog writing. I really wanted to post this about a week ago to let you know we have survived and it just didn't happen. So, here it is, my first post exactly a week and a half after we brought Audrey Olivia, our little miracle home. It's now 11:15 pm and I hear the precious sound of Audrey's sweet cry. Motherhood is calling.

Love,

Jenn