Day 52: Surprise!

It was so nice that Scott came home. Susanne loved the extra time she was getting with him. It was exciting for Susanne to think that she would have an entire extra day with all of her boys. Every second counts!

Scott was so sweet and started off the morning by making Susanne one of his breakfast specialties. He was even able to make it fit Susanne's dietary restrictions, which, let's be honest folks, is difficult.

With full stomachs, Scott and Susanne were now ready to go visit their son. When they arrived, the nurse seemed very anxious about something. Within seconds, the nurse couldn't hold it in any longer and she told them that Paxton would be able to go home tomorrow! Scott and Susanne had to ask her to repeat herself. She confirmed that Paxton would, indeed, be able to go home tomorrow. They could not believe their ears. This was what they had been waiting to hear for such a long time. It almost seemed like a cruel joke. Susanne was so excited that she jumped up and down, squealed just a little bit, and hugged the nurse. Scott was just in complete and total shock. Could this really be happening?

There was a lot of unanswered questions and anxiety associated with the thought of being discharged from the hospital tomorrow. It almost felt like there was not enough warning, which was odd. The hospital had become a second home, at least for Susanne. The thought of finally going home was very excitng, but scary at the same time. Scott and Susanne had almost become dependent on someone else being in charge of Paxton. It had been this was since he was born. The nurses and doctors told them when they could touch him, change his diaper, bathe him, hold him, or even look at him. It was going to be weird for them to be in complete control of their child's care. They were ready to finally get to be real parents, but unsure if they would be successful. They could not wait to get him home and start the next chapter in Paxton's big adventure.

After talking with one of the doctors about the plan for Paxton once he left the hospital, Susanne and Scott realized that they were in for quite a challenge. It appeared that Paxton was going to have numerous appointments throughout the weeks to come for the appropriate follow up. In addition, depending on who the appointment was with, Paxton may need to see certain doctors or therapists multiple times in any given week. Also, Paxton would be going home with his NG tube in place. He would be receiving his feedings primarily from the NG tube until he was able to take enough from the bottle to gain weight and thrive. Between working on oral feedings, giving the NG feedings, administering medications, pumping, and doctors appointments, Susanne and Paxton had their work cut out for them. They kept reminding themselves that it would all be so worth it. Susanne and Scott tried to get all of their questions and concerns addressed before leaving for the day. Even though they still felt uneasy about the "BIG DAY" tomorrow, they were comforted by the fact that someone would go over detailed discharge instructions before Paxton went home.

Scott got to attempt to feed Paxton a bottle today. He did very well for it being his first time. Paxton was still only taking a small amount orally, but from what Susanne and Scott were told, this would be a long process and to give it time. Patience would be the key to success. Unfortunately, Paxton vomited a small amount shortly after his feeding. Susanne and Scott decided that any subtle movements immediately after feeding, even changing his diaper, caused him to spit up. For the following feedings they held him in their arms for at least thirty minutes after Paxton was finished eating before moving. This seemed to cure the vomiting issue. This was confirmed by the nurses who said that when he had received his previous feedings in his bed and was left alone to digest his food for a short time, he did not have any issues with vomiting. Paxton thought his parents knew the simple rules of life, like don't swim for 30 minutes after eating. Duh!!!

Susanne was informed this week that she needed to take home all of her breast milk that she had pumped and stored at the hospital over the last seven weeks. She knew it would be a lot because the NICU had her start storing it all at home after the third week of being here. Scott and Susanne picked up the breast milk before leaving for home. The nurses could not believe how much there really was. There had to have been at least 100 bottles or more. Yikes! Next stop was Home Depot to purchase a deep freezer.

Scott and Susanne made it to Home Depot before it closed. They got a sweet deal on a pretty large deep freezer. The smaller freezer that they wanted was out of stock so one of the employees gave them a larger size for the small freezer price which just so happened to be on sale. It was really sad that they already had a mini deep freezer at home that was full to the max. In addition to that, there was no more room in their refrigerator freezer. They even got so desperate at one point that they used Moppy's freezer to store the overflow. This freezer purchase was long overdue. Susanne was considering opening up a milking parlor where she could sell her milk. The free gift for purchasing her milk would have to be Oreo's. They are milk's favorite cookie, you know...

After getting the deal of the century, Scott and Susanne spent the next thirty minutes trying to fit the freezer in Scott's car. No matter what they tried...nothing worked. Of course it had to be 10:00 pm at night and they only knew two people with cars big enough to haul this thing to their house. They had to phone a friend and the lucky winner was....Aunt Julie. Even though she had to work the next day, she was so kind to drive 45 minutes from her house to the Home Depot and then another 45 minutes to make the final delivery. Luckily, her ride home from Scott and Susanne's house was only another 15 minutes. I guess that's what friends are for. Thanks Julie!

Scott and Susanne would like to thank the Randall family again for the wonderful meal that they prepared for them. If it wasn't for this food, Scott and Susanne would not have eaten for the last two nights. Thanks guys.

Thinking about tomorrow, Scott and Susanne headed off to bed, too excited to sleep.