Thursday 

We wake up early and excited. We get to bring our son home today. Mom calls as we are getting ready. Michael has eaten like a little champ and has produced a ton of diapers. She has had a blast spending the night with Michael. 

I rush around and get ready as quickly as possible, only stopping to pump a few times. We get Jake up to get ready for school. While he’s eating his cereal Vince tells him that Michael is coming home today. Jake is so happy. 

After Jake leaves Vince and I load up the car. We decide to make a quick trip to Target. After all, this boy has only one outfit. If he spits up all over it, he will have nothing else to wear. At the store we make a mad dash to the baby section. Okay, so it isn’t a mad dash. I’m actually using one of those riding carts because I’m feeling a little sore and very tired. The events of the week have caught up with me. I feel like a dork driving the cart around, but I want to save my energy for Michael. While in the store we are grabbing outfits, booties, hats, etc. and tossing them in the basket. I don’t think I’ve ever shopped that quickly. 

We check out and start heading to the hospital. Mom calls again. Michael is awake and they are “talking.” How wonderful! 

We get to the hospital and rush to his room. Mom has been up pretty much all night with him holding him in her lap. I am happy. I hated seeing him lying in the crib with all those wires and monitors. Mom catches us up on the events of the night. I review his input and output logs. What a miraculous change from just 48 hours ago! On Tuesday he consumed only 145 ml of food and produced only 5 diapers in a 24 hour period. On Wednesday he consumed 339 ml and produced 8 diapers. Today’s results are even better – 400 ml and 8 diapers. Even the nurses were commenting on how much he has improved. 

We order some lunch and Mom heads home. She will need to pick up Jake and then come back to the hospital to bring the three of us home. We’re not sure what time we will get to leave, but we expect it to be after 4:00 p.m. That is when the cultures from the spinal tap should be complete. It’s just a waiting game now, so Vince and I settle in and just enjoy the peace of the day. It’s a much calmer environment that it was just yesterday and the day before. Our hearts are at peace. I even manage to take a nap. 

4:00 finally comes. The nurse (her name is Dianne) tells us it’s time to take our boy home. She leaves the room to start processing the paperwork. Vince calls mom and tells her we’ve been released, then starts to put Michael in his street clothes. I scurry around the room packing everything. Just as Vince starts the changing process, Michael has a very big poop – you know, one of those explosive ones that gets everything messy? I guess he left his calling card . . . 

We give him a sponge bath and put his clothes on. It’s so nice to see him in real clothes. Dianne returns to remove his IV. While this is occurring she asks why this little boy is even here. He is clearly a little boy! We share with her the miracle that had transpired. She has tears in her eyes. 

We’re ready to go. We sit down to wait. We have huge, goofy grins on our face. All of the sudden it occurs to us that we don’t want to wait here. We’ve been in this tiny room for too long. Our son has been here even longer. The hospital has a huge model train display downstairs. We decide to hang out there.  

We leave the room and head down that way. I am so happy it feels as if my heart is going to burst. We get downstairs just as my mom pulls up. We jump in the car and head home. It’s a hour and a half drive due to wicked traffic, but we don’t care. My family is all together with no one in the hospital for the first time. Jake is sitting next to Michael just watching him. He is so proud. Vince and I keep looking at each other and smiling. I’ve never been so happy to sit in traffic. 

We get home and settle in. It’s absolute bliss to be home.