Going home.

We were unsure if we would be leaving the hospital as a family. As much as I was terrified to leave with our little preemie daughter, I was more terrified to leave without her. The staff told me that I could stay in my room as more of a temporary hotel for a few days. I would not get patient care or food but I could stay there to be close to Eva. I seriously thought about it but thank God they sent her home.

After a small set back on feeding, they started feeding her again and she was keeping it down. I made sure every three hours I was there for the feedings. She was moved to the other side of the NICU on day two and was given "room air" through her nasal cannula. They weaned her off of that by that evening. I was very pleased. She was a little trooper like her mom. When they peeled the adhesive off her cheeks that was keeping the nasal cannula in her nose it left red marks. I of course was not too happy with that.

We had many visitors every day and I welcomed them. I loved having people come in and see my little miracle. I also loved that I had someone to talk to. Our friend Sarah took some amazing pictures of her while she was in the NICU.

On the third day we were talking to the nurses about our options of going home. I was doing really well and I knew that they would release me. We were unsure of their plan with Eva. Our nurse said she would put in a good word with the doctor when he made his rounds. The doctor came while we were still visiting and he checked her over and talked with the nurse. He was letting her come home with us! Amazing. So the nurse told us to go get our car seat because they had to do a test to see if she could handle the ride home. We set her up in the car seat and had to wait an hour and a half. We went to the cafeteria to grab some lunch. When we got back we were ready to go.

The nurses took some pictures of us "going home." My mother in law made a really cute blossom blanket so we put Eva in that for our picture. The nurses went crazy over that blanket.

When we found our way to the car we did a little rearranging so I could sit in the back with Eva. She was so small that the extra padding didn't really help her. The whole car ride home I was nervous because she was so small. I told myself I would limit my driving with her until she put some weight on. The thought of getting into an accident with her terrified me. I just wanted her to be safe and at home. We would finally have our family of four together.