Home!

Well, Jacob finally did it, he made it out of the hospital!

Welcome Home!

We are so proud of our little boy!  He had a great weight gain Thursday, so they decided to let us go on Friday (we didn't find out until 11:30 AM).  He also got to go home with no NG tube, which is a great thing!  It was a rush after that!  Between packing up at the hospital and the Ronald McDonald house, we had a lot of work to do.  We finally got on the road at 6:30 PM after a lot of work (Angie did most of it).  It was a relief to finally get home and Jacob did pretty well on the drive without fussing too much.

Nana (my mom) was nice enough to go to the grocery store for us before we got home, so our fridge was stocked.  It is hard to believe, but it was 5 weeks since we had been home!  Needless to say, it was good to be here!  The first night went fairly well, though Jacob fussed till 1 AM :).  Nonetheless, today we are getting everything unpacked and reorganized for our new addition.

Ethan has been a great brother so far.  He has really taken it in stride which has surprised us and he is just happy to be home.

We are still waiting for Cody and Cashmere (dog and cat) to come home in the next week or so.  Cody has been fighting a pretty bad illness since we've been gone.  Our Vet initially thought it was a partially torn ACL as he was limping, then the next vet thought it was a tick borne illness after that and treated it with antibiotics, and then after that didn't work, he definitely has some form of pneumonia, which is appears to be fungal, which is being treated now.  Thankfully my mom and dad have been taking great care of him and he will hopefully be on the mend.

On Monday, we have a home health nurse starting who will be here 5 days a week from 9-5 pm for about 2 months or so as part of the Heartest Yard program (see link).  It is an awesome opportunity for us to get settled when I go back to work.  We are very thankful for it!

Angie's mom is still with us for a little while longer.  She has been such a great help, I can't even imagine what it would have been like without her.  I can't begin to express how much we've appreciated having her here.

So, this big first step of the journey is done. The next step, is still a big one.  The interstage time (between his first and second surgeries) is very critical.  We have to do whatever we can to avoid him getting sick, as his body would have a hard time with a respiratory illness especially.  There is still plenty of risk at this point and we will be working hard to keep him isolated for a while.  So no trips for him to Walmart (darn) or going out to any restaurants (like we would be able to with 2 little boys at this point!).  The good part is that now he is pretty much an infant like any other, just with a few meds.  He went home with a Beta blocker (for his tachycardia) 4 times a day, Zantac twice a day, Lasix (water pill) twice a day, and a quarter of a baby aspirin once a day.  The breastmilk he gets will still be fortified with formula as he needs more calories than a normal baby just due to the extra work his heart and lungs have to do and they want him big and fat before the next surgery (there is a ton of research that points to higher weight leading to a higher success rate on the second surgery).

Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers that have helped us get this far.  It was a tough time that we are glad is behind us, and now we just get to deal with the normal challenges of having a 22 month old and a newborn for a while.  Jacob will be having weekly appointments with the cardiologist (in Hickory, an hour drive) and normal appointments with his pediatrician.  I'll keep the blog updated periodically to let you know how it is going!  Again, thank you for all of the support.  I'll leave you with a pic of the new family (minus me)!