Excuse Us, Did We Hear You Correctly?
Greetings to everyone.
Today's events went something like this. Rebecca and I arrived at the NICU for our Discharge Class, a one-hour training session on how to handle our preemie at home. The class covered CPR, managing choking, crib safety, bottle safety, baby-proofing the house and several other items. In the class were representatives from the Parents' Advisory Board. This board is made up of parents whose children have come through the NICU and they help advise the NICU on how to improve their service and make things better for the parents who come after them. The three ladies in attendance this morning were a wealth of information. My only suggestion to them was "where are the husbands?" They did say they had a "token man" on the board, but he couldn't make today's meeting. Apparently, my suggestion volunteered me for the position, and I may take it!
After the class we visited Xavier. As we approached his pod, Valerie (who cared for him once early on) greeted us with "I hear you're leaving us Monday."
The announcement stunned us. It was a train that came out of nowhere and it took several hours for Rebecca and I to recover from the shock. Just Friday (yesterday), Allison told us it would be between 1700 and 1800 grams and was unlikely to be next week. What happened?
A new doctor rotated into the NICU today, that's what! Plus, Xavier in his desire to go home, put on 60 grams and is now at 1685 grams (3 lb, 11.4 oz). I guess the new doctor thought that was close enough.
Xavier must pass two more tests: 1) his "room air" test; and 2) his car seat challenge. The room air test is a test where his oxygen tube is removed for :40 minutes and he must not desat or have any Bradys. This will happen tonight.
The car seat challenge, though he keeps is oxygen tube, he must do well sitting in his car seat for :90 minutes. We are hoping to have this test tomorrow.
Rebecca is going to Wyoming Sunday morning to participate in a change of command at the Wyoming ANG and to celebrate the retirement of the current wing commander, Col. White. The plan is for her to spend the night in Wyoming and return Monday.
Monday, I had hoped to schedule some time with my manager to work out how best to support the client in Arizona with the new release of software they are testing (the release for which I am the primary developer) when Xavier comes home. I announced my intent to take a few days off, but at the time I thought it would be a week or so out at least.
Needless to say, Val's announcement caused us to fast-track several things! It is exciting Xavier is mere hours away from being home! And, as with everything else revolving around Xavier, we find ourselves on a compressed time schedule which has ambushed us. (I originally wrote it snuck up on us, but Rebecca strongly disliked that term. "There was no sneaking," she contended)
Rejoice with us, Xavier is coming home! Thank you for your prayers, they have made this day sooner than expected. Awesome is our God!
This is Xavier's discharge worksheet. Though not yet physically checked off, several items have already been achieved.