It’s official: Judah is OUT of the NICU!
Things moved *very* quickly in the last two weeks, once he was allowed to resume oral feedings. He got a mix of boob and bottle, as much as my schedule could allow and soon he graduated from one oral feeding daily to eight feeds by mouth. Before we knew it, we were up to on-demand feeding for 48 hours and he continued to gain weight and do well and so we finally got the green light to take our little guy home on Monday.
Home is still a relative term at this point. We’re staying at our friends’ house while they’re on vacation this week; it affords us some privacy and Team Zoll time while still being within 15-20 minutes of each of our parents.
The first 24 hours were certainly overwhelming: it was the first stretch of time where we didn’t have any monitors, alarms, nurses or doctors – just me, Larry and Judah. He may be a month old today, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a brand new experience for all three of us. Despite the bleary-eyed sleep deprivation, the ocassional breastfeeding fumbles and the diapers… oh my, the diapers – it’s amazing.
Every poopy diaper, every ounce of spit up, every moment of panic about “Am I doing this right?” – it’s all worth it. Because for every one of these moments, there’s the involuntary smiles, the cooing, the baby farts that make you crack up every time. For every time he struggles to latch on, there’s that blissful milk-coma glow after a good nursing session. For every moment you fight through a coma-like sleep of your own to change a wet diaper in the middle of the night, there’s the moment you sit there in awe as your partner holds your child and it just amazes you every time that you could be *this* in love with someone you’ve known forever and someone you’ve only just met.
For every PIO shot, every month of heartache, every ultrasound and trip to the RE’s office – for every day of our infertility journey – having him here in this world and a part of our lives now is worth it.
Monday, we finally finish our long journey to Judah: we head back to Massachusetts were he can meet his older (cat) brothers, Saba and Toro, and where we can finally sleep in our own beds (or crib) – and where we finally, blessedly, head home with our son.
