Nolan's Home!!!

Happy New Year! Kolleen and I are happy to announce that little Nolan is finally home with us. Although we will miss the wonderful nurses, doctors and staff of the Legacy Emanuel Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, we are grateful that our son was finally able to come home and celebrate New Years with his mom and dad. As you might imaginge, we were changing a diaper when the clock struck midnight.

The speed at which Nolan's turn-around happened surprised Kolleen and I even though we had heard that this could be expected with Inter-Uterine Growth Restricted babies, like Nolan. When Kolleen arrived at the NICU on the morning of Saturday, December 30 she noticed immediately that his high-tech Isolette had been replaced by a more conventional crib. Upon further examination she found that Nolan's feeding tube had been removed. Soon thereafter he was approved to face his "Car Seat Challenge" which would prove whether or not he was safe to travel home with us. Even better, Nolan was now on "ad-lib" feeding, meaning he had a minimum amount that he needed to eat but could eat more if and when he wanted.

This had all come about because his feedings and weight gain for the previous 24 hours had been so impressive; Nolan had fed either by bottle or breast 8 times in 24 hours and had gained nearly 100 grams which is approximately 3 ounces. We spoke with the on-call neonatologist on Saturday morning and he told us that we should schedule our "room in" for that night or the next because our little boy could home with us on New Year's Day. Rooming in is where parents spend the night with their baby at the NICU prior to discharge to familiarize themselves with caring for the child on their own.

We roomed-in on Satuday night and got a total of 4 or 5 hours of sleep. Needless to say, Kolleen and I woke up that morning looking forward to getting caught up on our sleep on Sunday afternoon and evening. Instead, the neonatalogist informed us that because Nolan had fed so well with us on our "sleepover" that we could take him home on Sunday afternoon.

Although we had so wanted to have Nolan discharged from the NICU, we found it very sad to say goodbye to the wonderful nursing staff that Kolleen and I had grown so fond of and reliant upon. We were excited and scared at the same time. Would we be ready and able to give Nolan the kind of care that he had been getting in the NICU?

At the time I'm posting this message to the blog Nolan has been home for more than a day. He's eating well, sleeping a lot and crying a little. Please pray for Kolleen and I that we will feel God's presence and love in our time of anxiousness and fear. We know in our heads that we will be good parents but we sometimes forget when his demands seem overwhelming.

I would like to have made more blog entries over the past week and half but I have found it very difficult to find the time. Also, I'm a perfectionist so I get it my head that I don't have enough time to make a Pulitzer Prize winning entry so I don't make any entry at all. Enough about me. Nolan is the reason for this blog so I'll make sure to mention how much Kolleen and I love our little peanut. Welcome home, Nolan!

Love to all,
Dave

PS. More pictures and information to come.