Praying God sees this thru

Today I went to the hospital to nurse Isaiah. (My dad was in town so he went up there with me and my mom.) It was a pretty good session. He was on for about 2-3 minutes then slept, then on again for about 2 minutes. He seems to have that down pretty good. Just gets really tired so he has to rest.

I wanted to get an update so I asked for Dr. Holcomb to come to the room. I guess you can say I "summoned" him. hehe Anyway, when he came in, he started talking to my mom about the football game and gave her condolences about the Colts loss. They talked about football for a few then he looked at me and said, "when are you gonna take him out of here? He needs to get out of here." I asked him if he was trying to tell me something. He just smiled and turned around to work on the computer. He was on that thing for what seemed like forever. I was just sitting in the rocker and holding Isaiah while having a conversation with my parents. Dr. Holcomb called someone on the phone and asked him to come to Isaiah's room. It was Tammy the Nurse Practitioner.

When she got there, he turned around and looked at me. I thought I was getting some not so good news. He basically said he was ecstatic about the the progress Isaiah had made over the last few months. So pleased that he should mention the the "D" word.........DISCHARGE! I was like....hold up.....are you serious? Don't kid me about something like that. He said, that it wasn't like I was taking him home the next day. We needed to discuss the milestones that Isaiah needed to hit but we needed to get the discharge . Things like nipple feeding at EVERY feed, gaining weight, etc. He was stopping the morphine all together. Isaiah would probably need the Silidefyn (a.k.a. viagra) for the pulmonary hypertension. Another Dr. would be coming tomorrow early evening to look at Isaiah's hernia. There are some treatments that Isaiah would need, but they could be done on an outpatient basis. He needs to have an MRI before leaving, he would be "circumcised" prior to leaving as well. The Dr. also said he was 99% sure Isaiah would be sent home on oxygen. He then told us that if things progressed like they were, Isaiah could be going home in a couple weeks. I almost fell out of the chair. I know my heart skipped a beat.

My mom then reminded me that we would probably be moving into our new house in two weeks. Tammy chimed in and told Dr. Holcomb that he was forgetting about Isaiah's surgery for his hernia. He stopped to think for a moment then turned to me and said....make it 3 weeks before discharge. I thought about it...two weeks is when he was originally due (Jan. 20th). So three weeks. I had just went by work earlier in the day and notified them that I would be returning next week. Should this happen in 3 weeks, I won't be back at work very long before going out again to take care of Isaiah.

Dr. Holcomb asked me if I had selected a pediatrician. I told him yes, we were using the Micah's pediatrician. I wanted to know if we needed to call her to so she would know what kind of care Isaiah needed. He said he would notify her and have her come over the week before discharge so she could become familiar with his care, what to look for and what he would need once we began seeing her. Since they were so close (the office is located on the back side of the hospital in one of the Medical Buildings). He's familiar with her and thought it would be a good idea. That way if she had questions, the nurses and nurse practitioners could help her since they are very familiar with Isaiah's care. Dr. Holcomb asked if I knew what bottles I would be using at home. I told him Dr. Brown's and he said to bring them in tomorrow. I can also start bringing in clothes for Isaiah to wear. How wonderful. My little one can wear clothes now!

We need to have the car seat put in so the bases would need to be installed. I have to find my old pal, Officer Mark, as he installs like no one else. But I can't get the set installed until I know he will pass his test. There are lots of seats that won't work because a preemie is too small and may not meet the minimum requirements of the seat.

All of this was so exciting. I was on cloud nine. I ran to the parent room to call Antwan. I just couldn't wrap my head around the idea that I may be taking my baby home soon. When we got to the car, I started to freak out a little bit. I had this thought that up until now, the nurses took care of him. If something happened, he would be there for the nurses and Dr.s to fix. But when he comes home and something should happen, would I recognize it and be able to help him. (I spoke with my girlfriend and she graciously reminded me that God did not bring Isaiah this far and make him such a fighter just to have something happen at home.) Thank you Rell! You know what I need to hear. I know he wouldn't be going home unless he was ok so I finally left it in God's hands because he knows what is going to happen and I now he is the one in control.

So now, we're in a mad dash to start getting ready to move, get the necessities for the house, and get what we will probably need for Isaiah. Thinking about it now, That's a lot of stuff! OK...now I'm feeling the stress. I have to start my list. Oh geez--how am I gonna get thru the next few weeks and keep my hair in tact? We'll just be praying it all falls into place!