Getting Ready to Go Home

We have a day in mind to go home!!!  I can not believe I am even saying those words.  I feel like today has been total chaos trying to dot all of our I's and cross our T's.  I arrived at the hospital earlier than normal today because I wanted to make sure I was present for rounds.  Dr. Munson is the NICU doctor for Makinley this week and I wanted to talk to him in person.  Makinley has been doing very well with her feeds and we feel it is time to go home.  She doesn't have a large appetite but she is meeting the minimum requirements to go home.  When they arrived for rounds - I let them go about their normal routine and waited until they asked if I had any questions.  This was my chance and I was excited about it.  I looked at Dr. Munson and half jokingly and half seriously said, "Are you looking forward to discharging us this weekend?"  He has a great sense of humor so he took it all in stride but at the same time he knew I meant what I said.  "We are looking forward to going home this weekend and we think Makinley is ready."  He did not agree with me 100% but he said we better make sure things are in order then.  I knew that was his subtle hint that he thought he could make that happen.  I was ecstatic - thrilled - anxious - happy - and yet I didn't realize how much stuff had to be done before we could be released.  I am glad we had a few days to complete everything!

Makinley now weighs 8 lbs 13 oz.  She passed her hearing test with flying colors on Monday.  She also passed her eye exam with Dr. Tufty.  He felt her eyes looked great and therefore we do not need to follow up with him at all.  Below is a picture of Makinley taking her car seat test.  This can be a challenge sometimes for preemie babies.  They have to keep their oxygen level above a certain level for an entire hour.  If it falls below that number they fail and have to try again the next day.  They even have a cool "program" for the car seat test on each child's monitor.  They start the engine and you can watch on the screen as the "car" progresses towards the end of the hour.  Thankfully Makinley passed her test on the first try.  She only scared me once by dropping her oxygen for a split second.