Maddy Comes Home! (Now what do we do?)

After our last post, you probably didn't expect to be reading this. But hey, the roller coaster goes up, the roller coaster goes down. So how'd it happen? Yesterday Elaine got a call in the morning from the babies' regular doctor, Dr. Kao. The night before, Dr. Kao had left for the day when Maddy had the brady, and the doctor covering the evening shift wanted to play it safe and keep Maddy there. Dr. Kao learned about the decision the following morning and decided that Maddy was OK to go home. Still, we hesitated to post anything until we actually had her home.

As I write this, it's 9:30 in morning and Maddy is (mostly) asleep in her pack-n-play just a few feet from our sofa. Below is the complete photo documentary.

Maddy and Milo hanging out together one last time while Maddy is a patient. The little girl will be back each day to visit Milo along with Mom & Dad.

Nurse Brandi ceremonially removes Maddy's ID tag. It would have been strange to realize now that she was the wrong baby. She's ours!

A small contingent of the great medical team who cared for Maddy. That's Cheryl up front holding Maddy for the last time as a NICU patient. No doubt we'll still harass them all for advice in the coming months.

Maddy's first breath of fresh, clean East Bay air.

Nurse Brandy hands off to Elaine and now she's ours.

Elaine carefully inspects the baby to make sure there are no warranty issues. "Hey, wait a minute! There's a hemangioma on this baby's head! Where's customer service?"

I like this picture because it captures -- completely by accident -- a bunch of pertinent things. The baby is front and center with Mom arranging her; the hospital (and Elaine's hospital room) are in the reflection, and there I am in the center taking a picture and trying to be useful.

Elaine got to take the hand-off, so I took the honors and carried Maddy inside the house.

Lucy senses that things are about to change.

Maddy gets her first bath at home. Then it was off to bed. Maddy's first night home started off pretty sedate, but she was restless throughout the night. We're thinking the new surroundings, routines, and some heavy gas pains kept her fussy. We did manage a couple hours of sleep.

The morning after our first night of full-on parenthood. Elaine looks a bit shell-shocked, but she's feeling better now. Luckily Aunt Antina was on-hand to help us out.

Of course, the little man has to hang out in good ole' room 15 for a little while longer, but we'll all be heading off to visit him later this morning. He did very well with his feedings last night and this morning. If he keeps it up, he should be home before too long. No baby left behind!