Mama I'm Coming Home (Revisited)!

Yesterday was such a wonderful day!! We finally got to pick up our little guy from the hospital...

Mom and Dad came down for the big day, as did Holly's mom Nancy. Of course, Chris came along. He was so excited about the whole deal that he was practically bursting out of his skin! We had to leave them all in the waiting room while we collected all of Matthew's goodies, and I came out at one point to go get the car. When I got to the waiting room with everything Chris came FLYING around the corner screaming at the top of his lungs, "BABY MATTHEW!!!" Completely adorable...

We finally got everything together and the nurse wheeled Holly and Matthew out of the nursery. Not sure why they have to wheel you out when you've been out of the hospital for 3 days, but whatever... Anyway, here we come rolling down the hall to a welcoming wall of smiles, hugs and camera flashes, as well as continued screams of "BABY MATTHEW!!" from Chris. What a cool experience!

The whole situation reminded me a bit of when Annie and Hope (my sisters, who are adopted and from Korea) arrived on their respective airplanes to Houston, where we lived at the time. You could cut the excitement in the air with a knife, and it was a great experience for everyone.

After we finally left the hospital, we went out to lunch with everyone. I know, I know...everyone tells you that you should wait two months or some nonsense before taking your baby out in public. What I can tell you from our experience with Chris is that has to be BS. We took him out when he was a week old, and haven't stopped since then. He's turned out absolutely wonderfully! But I've gotten off the topic...

We went out to lunch at On The Border, where Holly and I met and fell in love, and where most major events in our lives have taken place (met, fell in love, got engaged, first meals out for both of our kids, etc.). Lots of fun, and we ran into an old friend that I used to work with, so we got to show off the boys.

We also made a quick stop at work to show off everyone, then finally made it home by about 4:00. PHEW! We were exhausted! More to come later...

Mama I'm Coming Home!

WHOO HOO!! Just got a call from the doctor, and she said Matthew is looking great and will be ready to come home sometime in the late part of tomorrow morning! Can't wait, and I'll be sure to upload pictures!!

Movin' On Up!!

GREAT NEWS!! Last night at about 10:30 or so, my parents were down visiting Matthew when they overheard one of the nurses say, "The Johnston? Yes, they're up here...Oh! Just bring me one of the wooden cribs, then, please." To the average person, that probably means about jack...but to us, it meant that it was time for Matthew to leave the ICU and head to the transitional nursery!!!

Naturally this news caused Holly and I to jump in the van and haul ass down to the hospital so we could see him sans wires. And what a great trip it turned out to be! Not only did we get to spend nearly two hours with him, but we got to feed him, change him (twice!) and take his temperature, too. It was just like having him home (except for the whole institutional sterility thing)!!

He's slated to pretty much just spend today in transitional room, and we should have him home tomorrow!! Needless to say, we're overflowing with excitement. Can't wait to bring him home to meet his litle brother!

Hittin' The Bottle!

The day just keeps on getting better!! Not only did we get the call this morning that the numothorax was completely gone, but this afternoon we got to bottle feed him!

We went up to visit this morning at about 10:30, and the nurse on duty gave us the rundown. She told us that she'd like to keep an eye on his SATs (oxygen saturation levels...typcially between 90 & 100%) and his respiration to see how things went, and then would consider bottle feeding.

When she checked him for his 11:00 assessment, though, she found out that he was way ahead of the curve, and decided to lessen the amount of oxygen she was giving. We gave this a few minutes' worth of testing, and she thought his breathing was great. That being the case, she offered to let him try the bottle. Cool!

Holly got to hold him while he ate, and he drank like a champ! Even got his burps out without any assistance...guess he really IS a Johnston! :-) Holly continued holding him for almost two hours after that, which gave us ample in-between time to make it feeding time once again at 2:00.

MY TURN! I got to hold and feed Matthew this afternoon, and loved every minute of it!

Holly's getting her staples taken out right now, and we're slated to leave the hospital in about an hour or so. We're trying to figure out whether we want to risk the emotions of going back up to see him one more time, or whether it'd be better to check on him tomorrow when we come back for CPR classes...guess we'll have to see!

It's the Easter Buddy!!

Yesterday I finally got to hold my little guy! What a wonderful experience! Up till then, I'd only gotten to hold him for a minute or two in the OR after he was born. They pretty much took him straight from there to the NICU, though, so it wasn't much. Yesterday, though, I got him for almost an HOUR!

Things progressed pretty well yesterday, as the "Lorax" is now completely gone, and they're looking into bottle feeding him sometime today or tomorrow. I wish like crazy that I could say that he'll be coming home with us this afternoon, but it's just not in the cards. The good news, though, is that the doctor we talked with this morning said, "He should be home with you in a few days." That's the first time anyone has given us any kind of timeline, so it's encouraging.

Holly's doing well, and the pain is starting to subside nicely. It'll be nice for her to get to spend some time with Chris, I think, as it'll remind her what we're waiting for. The whole fam damily came down yesterday, and Holly's mom made a really nice Easter dinner including ham, potatoes and all the fixins. We hijacked a private dining room in the hospital cafeteria and celebrated Easter right here at the hospital. That sure got a few funny looks!

After lunch we had a quickie visit from the Easter Bunny in our room for Chris. He got a nice basket of toys and candy, and promptly went to work destroying the Easter grass from the basket. Even put some on Annie's (his aunt's) head (see picture)!

Anyway...we're going home this afternoon at about 4:00, so we'll leave Matthew in the capable hands of the NICU staff and look to hear more from them as he progresses. As I get more information I'll post it here. Thanks for visiting!

Happy Easter...No More Lorax In Matthew's Thorax

What a great morning so far! We got a phone call this morning from the NICU doctor informing us that the numothorax (I misspoke before when I called it a hemothorax, but I still don't know the difference) is almost completely gone!! WHOO HOO!

Please excuse the title of today's update. My sister Hope came by to visit yesterday, and said something pretty funny. When I asked her if Mom had filled her in on Matthew's situation, she said, "Yeah. He's got a Lorax in his thorax or something, right?" Loved that! Guess we'll have to buy the book now...

Anyway, they took off Matthew's Astroboy helmet thing this morning at about 10:30, and replaced it with nose plug thingies. They're providing him with an oxygen mixture of about 30%. Normal air is about 21%, so he's almost there as far as what he needs to be doing.

They'll start feeding him sometime late tonight or tomorrow, we hope. They're holding off on that for right now because they want to see how he handles being off of the strong oxygen. All in all, a pretty cool day!