Emilia is HOME

Here she is! At home, with us, finally, 143 days after she was born. She is 6 weeks old, corrected. After two nights of rooming in with her, we brought her home yesterday, Friday October 21. She slept through her first outing, in her car seat, all the way home. It was the first time she saw the sunlight but yesterday was quite cloudy so she didn't get to really enojoy the warmth of the afternoon sun.
She was super good last night, sleeping really well.

Having a baby at home is not easy, as I knew, but it is a lot harder than I thought. There are moments when I almost lost my patience (yeah, already, only few days after rooming in with her). But as contrary to what I thought, having her on oxygen is not the reason why it's so hard. It's just the ordinary baby things that drive me nuts, like crying, fussing, having to feed every few hours, not being able to do anything because I need to hold her, ....

So far she's been good. I hope she stays clear out of colds, flu, RSV, etc. Even a simple cold could be very serioud for Emilia because she has a chronic lung disease.

I will keep posting her progress even though our NICU stay is now over. It's truly the beginnig of a new chapter in our family.

first night of rooming in

Here I am... sleeping in the same room with Emilia for the first time. She has been quite fussy and unsettled all evening. Either it's too quiet for her or she doesn't like this room. Now tjat we are in a silent place, the only thing I hear is her crying and it sounds louder. I feel very nervous... I can't even rest comfortably..
what have I signed up for?

discharge plan

So a few days ago the doctor told us that Emilia could go home. He suggested that we rent the oxygen sat monitor until the one from the government arrives. Once we ordered the rental, the whole process was very fast. I already got a monitor and two oxygen cylinders delivered. Tomorrow the home oxygen will be set up.

I have to room in with Emilia for two days and take care of her all by myself. If nothing happens and she is okay then we can go home on Friday. They say that I need to be comfortable being alone with her and doing all her care.

Let's see how this goes. Finally going home seems to come true.

Video 4: spitting out her pacifier

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, FIRE!

When Emilia was 11 days old

These picture are when Emilia was 11 days old and on the ventilator.This is how tiny she began her life. Less than 2 lb and her head just the size of my fist. This is how small we all began.

Taking Emilia's temperature for the first time; thereafter it has been my job

I was lifting up Emilia to help the nurse change Emilia's bedding in the incubator.