Daddy got his wish… All three kids at home for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. He and I have always been HUGE Olympic fans, especially during the summer games. We were so excited to bring her home that day before the opening ceremonies!

It has been a very mellow weekend, as we are just hanging around the house. Hannah has not been eating AS much as she did in the hospital, and by trial and error, we have now realized that she likes the ready-made formula much better than the powder AND she doesn’t like the soft playtex dropins nipples. So, we have gone with the recommendation of the occupational therapist from the NICU and have gone with the Soothie brand of bottles.

Dr. B called last night, Saturday night, to check on Hannah. Caught me by surprise because it said “private caller” on my caller ID, which usually means my parents. He just wanted to check on her and find out when our appointment was. When I told him it was 11:30 AM on Wednesday, he asked if I would bring her in Monday morning for another platelet count. He is obviously worried a bit about her because I found it very unusual, but comforting, that he would take time away from work on a weekend-night and check up on her.

I’m starting to figure her out a bit more. When she is cranky and bobs her head up and down while on my chest that means she is hungry. She is really good at lifting her head a bit while on tummy time, which shocked me because she is so little!

E and A are doing much better. A won’t leave Hannah alone and is constantly kissing her and “fixing her” clothes, blanket, etc. We have actually had to tell A to leave Hannah alone sometimes because she can be a bit smothering.

On a separate note, I quit my job last week. Because I started FMLA early because of bedrest, I would have had to go back to work in a couple of weeks, and with everything going on with Hannah and doctor’s visits, I just wasn’t ready to deal with that yet. We will have to tighten up a bit, but I know this is best for me, Hannah, and really our whole family in trying to get back into a routine. Fortunately, my bosses understood and have made me eligible for rehire when I want to come back.

Camp tomorrow for E and A. DH is going to take them in the morning while I take Hannah to Dr. B’s office for another platelet draw. I’ll have to bring Hannah to both kids camps though to pick them up — not looking forward to that! I’m going to have to use the stroller because even though I have seemed to recovered quickly, carrying the car seat with her in it for a longer distance than just a couple dozen feet or so is really taxing on my abdomen

OMG, what a whirlwind day! It’s 2:30 AM, and I’m wide awake after just feeding my beautiful daughter IN MY OWN HOME! I’m going to be a wreck tomorrow, but it is so worth it.

To make a very long story short, my favorite NP and day nurse really spearheaded the drive to get Hannah home sooner than later (waiting for the 80). They talked to the neonatologist who is in charge of her care, and he agreed that if the head of the Hematology department downtown agreed it was okay that we could bring her home tomorrow. Then, my NP talked to Dr. B, our pediatrician and to Dr. H, the Hematology head, and they said “if they want to pick her up tonight, that is fine with us.” My NP said “you can wait until tomorrow if you want.” Yeah right!

Since Hannah has been asymptomatic from day 1, since DH and I have been so diligently visiting and taking care of her (they called us “responsible parents), and since they feel that this is something that we can work on as an outpatient, they agreed to let her go!

After all those phone calls, I called DH to tell him the news and he high-tailed it home! With E and A in tow, I had to bring Hannah’s car seat to the hospital for a car seat test. Basically, Hannah has to sit in her car seat for one hour to make sure she has no breathing or other issues. They only do this for babies born before 37 weeks (Hannah was 36w1d). She passed

After that, the four of us went back to the hospital to pick her up. The kids were much more excited than I thought they would be. It was so fun to see them googling over her. We left as a family of five at about 8:15 PM tonight. Just having her home was so surreal! We were ready for her, but at the same time, we really weren’t ready. We are going to have to make a run to the Carter’s outlet tomorrow and/or Children’s place because all of her sleepers are 0-3 months, and she is still in preemie size clothes (even though she is 6 lb 11 oz again – back to her birthweight at discharge).

I also have to go see my OBGYN tomorrow for followup and to see if they got my platelet antibody test results because the Hematologist is waiting for those, as it my pediatrician and the neonatal team. We also will be see Dr. B tomorrow afternoon for another blood test (for platelets and bilirubin) and to come up with a plan of action since he is taking over the lead. We really have the best pediatrician — I found out today from the NP that he has been in constant contact with them since the beginning, and he was thrilled to see they decided to release her and figure out what is going on as an outpatient.

Anyway, thank you all for your prayers and well wishes! I can’t wait to start sharing more of the fun things now! We still have a way to go until her platelets reach normal, but at least we can do it with her safe in our arms here at home with her family.

Went to my general doctor this morning. My BP was 150/100, which is still high. We talked a bit about how my BP was in the normal range (120/70 and 118/74) on the two days after delivery of Hannah and how my BP seemed to increase once all hell broke loose with her having “a mass” and everything that followed that. So, he isn’t sure if I have chronic hypertension, remnant pregnancy-induced hypertension, stress-related hypertension, or a combination of two or all three. He decided to put me on a low-dose BP medication, lisinopril 10 mg a day, for the next two weeks. I’m also to monitor my BP twice a day to make sure that I don’t dip below normal or if I feel weak, lightheaded, etc., I am to call him immediately. In two weeks, he will decide whether to continue this medication or increase it.

I took A to visit Hannah at the hospital this morning. We were there over an hour, and she was absolutely fantastic! I guess just not having both kids there at the same time is the key!

While we were there, Susan, our favorite NP, came up to me with a down face. She said “Well, her numbers stayed the same at 64 this morning.” Her day nurse and I both looked at her and said “that was from yesterday. No labs were drawn today.” Susan was very surprised and disappointed. She absolutely adores Hannah and told me that every day she comes in, she immediately looks for Hannah’s labs to see how she is doing. When we told her that it rewritten for tomorrow morning, she said she wanted them done immediately. She didn’t want us to wait until tomorrow because SHE wanted to know how Hannah was doing.

I just got the results of the labwork, which technically was a 32-hour lab. Her platelets are at 68. Needless to say, I was disappointed. I joked that I wanted to steal her out of the NICU and bring her home. She knows how bad we want her home, and she told me some more POSITIVE news…she just got off the phone with Dr. B, our pediatrician. She is having a meeting with the neonatologist in charge of Hannah’s case and is going to talk to him about letting us bring her home earlier than waiting for 80! She doesn’t know if he will let us do it, and I don’t know what Dr. B had said to her, but she is going to push for release knowing that we will do whatever it takes and however often it takes to get Hannah’s condition resolved. I told her that I will even drive to the hospital twice a day if I have to so she can get lab work done.

I won’t know the outcome of this “afternoon meeting” until later on today, possibly evening. But gosh, I am just praying that they let us bring her home and recuperate her. We know she is slow going in her platelet regrowth, but according to my general doctor, 68,000 is out of the danger zone for internal bleeding, so maybe they can consider that.

PLEASE let this meeting go into our favor! I know they only want to do what is best for Hannah, and they don’t want to release her if they feel they are putting her health in jeopardy, and I DO appreciate that and respect that. I just really want her home…